Keeping Secrets From Brother ✓

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Chapter Thirty-seven

Today is day one. Whatever happens from here on, I need to make the most of it. I need to get the courage to tell Justin and deal with any other loose ends, like letting Nick know what's going to happen and give him an apology for not doing this sooner. First things first, confronting Charity.

Here I stood in front of the school a nervous wreck with Eli. He wanted me to settle things with Charity right away. I didn't want to. Not for my sake, but for hers. She's better off not being my friend. She has enough problems; mine shouldn't be added on top of it. I don't understand how she could forgive me for this. Eli seems to think everything will be all good and cheery afterwards. We'll see about that.

There is one thing I'm thankful for. Joe isn't here today. I'd rather have his friends watch me than have Joe hanging around the school waiting for an opportunity to pounce. He'll be back tonight though. Then I have to avoid him like the plague for two days. If I make it that far.

I'm curious about Samuel. Where did he run off to after leaving the grocery store yesterday? Did he get help for his wound, or did he really plan on dying somewhere and bleeding to death? Am I an awful person for not telling someone about him? Could I have saved him if I reported a man running around injured? I don't know if it would have made a difference.

It got later and now we wondered whether Charity was coming to school or if she was going to skip another day. How many times could she skip school without failing or getting in trouble for it? Someone is going to eventually force her to go to school. I wonder if she is staying at her grandmother's, or is she at her dad's. I don't exactly know what her dad looks like or where he lives. Actually, I hardly know anything about Charity. She said she had a dark past that I might not accept. What things could she have done to think that way?

  "I don't know," I said to Eli, "I don't think she's coming. Class is going to be starting soon. We'll be late if we don't leave now."

He sighed. "I called her last night, she said she was coming." He scanned the area with his eyes.

"Maybe she'll come later. If I don't get to class the teacher is going to bite my head off."

Eli chuckled. "Since when did you start caring about school?"

"Since my last report card. If she's coming to school then she'll be in second period with us."

"Oh," Eli said remembering something. He opened up his bag and pulled out a folder. "Here, with everything going on yesterday I know you forgot to do the essay, so I wrote one up for you."

"What?" I asked taking it. I opened the folder and saw the entire essay printed out on paper with my name on it. "When? How?"

"If you care so much about your grades, you won't refuse my offer. Don't worry, I read through it and made sure it sounded like something you would say."

"How did you possibly have time to do this after your house was destroyed?" I asked shocked.

He smiled. "You do crazy things for love." After giving him a confused look, he pointed to the school door. "Get to class," he said. "I'm going to wait a few more minutes for Charity."

"Thanks for this." I held the folder up. "It means a lot."

 He nodded and pointed again to the school telling me to leave. I turned around and walked inside. As I continued to class I couldn't help but think about what he said. You do crazy things for love. What's that supposed to mean? The only thing I can think of is Joe doing crazy things for his obsession of me. The obsession that he calls love. Although, I'm pretty sure Eli wasn't talking about that. Is he implying that he loves me? No, that's silly. He wouldn't, would he?