Chapter Thirteen: A Bigger Story

"Sometimes the truth is so unbelievable, that it's easier to believe the lie you tell yourself." -Anonymous

The whole night was ordinary for Patricia, well ordinary for a Patricia with no recollection of anything Sibuna related. As for the rest of Sibuna, things were far from ordinary. "What are we going to do?!" Nina said in a harsh whisper. "Our most valuable person right now doesn't remember anything! She can't stand Eddie, doesn't know me or KT, and is glued to Joy's hip."

"Calm down, Nina!" Fabian advised his girlfriend.

"Fabian," Nina said with the stress creeping into her voice, "what you see on the outside is actually a calmer version of what's going on in the inside right now. So when you consider that I suggest you back off!" Fabian stuttered backward, unsure of what to say about Nina's sudden outburst. KT put a hand on his shoulder as to say 'she's just stressed out, confront her later'. Over the past year, the two had become like long lost brother and sister and they were close, but still in a sibling way.

The four continued to talk late into the night, and they finally came to the verdict that it would be best to let Patricia stay how she is right now and see if the memory comes back. It was pasted midnight when they finally broke up their meeting and Nina and KT went upstairs to their room.

At first they tried to not turn on the lights so they wouldn't wake up Patricia, but Nina soon ran into something and KT tripped and landed on the ground. "Ok," KT said while pushing herself back up, "if the light doesn't wake her up, the noise certainly will." Nina understood and she flipped the lights on. They looked around and the room was empty; Patricia wasn't there.

"Don't freak out," KT said. "She's probably in Joy and Willow's room."

"Yeah," Nina said with a sigh, "she's probably in there." KT rushed past her and Nina said, "No need to freak out; she's just a room a way." She kept repeating the line to herself as if with every time she were to repeat it, it would become more and more true. KT gently opened the door and sure enough, the hall light flashed past the bright streak of red and they saw a figure lying on the ground with a pillow and a blanket. Nina and KT both sighed and went back to their room. They were soon asleep and their dreams were surprisingly peaceful despite their hectic day.

The next morning, Patricia avoided all of Sibuna. She ignored Nina and KT as they got ready and barely blinked an eye toward Fabian and Eddie during breakfast. Everyone was silent during the meal because no one knew what to say. Patricia got up to put her bowl in the sink and Eddie got up to see if he could catch a few words with her. It was unclear exactly what happened, but somehow they ran into each other. Patricia dropped her bowl on the ground and shouted, "What was that for, Weasel?! Why don't you watch where you're going?!" Eddie was stunned speechless. Even before they were friends, she'd never treated him like this. It had always been a bit of a joke between them, but this was just pure… he didn't want to even think it because it was so painful to even consider the idea, let alone live it… it was just pure hatred. She scowled and picked up her dish. She shoved Eddie aside and slammed the dish in the sink.

Jerome said jokingly, "Oh… trouble in couplevile? Good luck, Eddison." Eddie gave Jerome a smirk and walked off.

"What was that this morning with Eddie?" Joy asked as they walked down the hallway earlier.

"The guy's a jerk what else would there be?" Patricia said as if it were no big deal.

Joy stopped and stared at her best friend, "Did you guys break up? You know, you're supposed to tell me when these things happen. This is totally un…"

"Joy!" Patricia shouted. "What are you talking about?!"

"Did you guys have an argument? Here's the answer to this problem, no he will never stop with the Harry Potter references. Can we move on from this now?" Joy stared at her friend for an answer and when she didn't get one she finally said, Eddie is your boyfriend, or he was if this is true. You've never been that mean to him. What's going on Patricia?"

Patricia's face was full of disgust. "That… WEASEL is NOT my boyfriend. He never was and never will be. I have more sense than that." Patricia crossed her arms and stared accusingly at Joy.

"Jerome was right," Joy said as Patricia walked off. "That must have been one big fight." The two walked off to class and Joy didn't push the whole conversation since she thought that this was one of their biggest fights. Little did she know, there was a whole lot more to the story than a little fight.