Renga Benga

29 - Therese

"You...you what?" Cedric stuttered. Everything that's been happening for the past few days has been too much for him to handle, and he didn't know what to do with all the nausea consuming space in his head. Suddenly, his mother popped out of nowhere like a ghost in a horror movie.

"Cedric, I see you've met Mario...I need to speak with you now." she said hurriedly. Seeing that Mario wasn't leaving just yet, she shot him a glance and said sharply, "In private." Mario picked up all of his things and bid them a goodbye before shooting off in another direction.

"Wait, who are you?" Cedric still couldn't help but ask. He hadn't completely regained his memory, thanks to the impact of the crash. The woman opposite him couldn't help but smile: yet it was a smile that looked sad in every single way. Her eyes drooped, no matter how much she wanted it to seem alive and accommodating. She just must have been so tired of all that's been going on in her family.

"I'm your mother, Cedric honey." she replied, patting him on the back gently. "That man, Mario, was in a car accident with you. You knocked your head pretty hard when it came in contact with his windshield, so you've been unconscious for the past three days and--"

"Wait a minute!" Cedric interrupted, causing his mother to stop mid-sentence. "That man said I was out for two years!"

Mrs. Mondero couldn't help but sigh, as she had to recite all the facts she knew to her amnesiac son. "Mario got in much more trouble than you...he's gone crazy because he bumped his head on the steering wheel after he hit you with his car and landed on Camille's front yard. Unfortunately, Mario was unconscious and his foot happened to step on the gas and he sped right up to a tree so hard that it fell on him. The car was wrecked and it took a long time for the paramedics to get him out of the car. He lost a lot of blood...I heard he broke his leg and most of his ribs. Ever since then, he's been having a hard time in remembering things, and he has a lot of episodes in which he makes up stories and acts like a psychotic person. Fortunately, nothing happened to you. Except for the fact that you forgot everything, and a little cuts and bruises on the side."

Cedric now understood everything that had happened to him, but he still had the faintest idea on why he couldn't recall a single thing in his life. Someone smacked him on the head and a voice said, "You idiot! You don't wake up for three days, and when you do, you don't even remember me?! You made us all worry on how we could take care of you and serve you and all that, and you don't even have the decency to thank us? Idiot!"

She hits him again hard on the head, and Cedric's memory of the prom, the accident and the unfortunate incident he witnessed between Chris and Camille that eventually led up to the loss of his memory came flashing back. He was flooded with indescribable feelings of pain and jealousy. "I was just going to give Camille her purse back."

He finally decided what he had to do, and so he turned his back and searched for his father immediately to order him to check out so they could all go home. He needed to see Camille again: she might have thought that since he had lost his memory, he had also forgotten her kiss with Chris, but there was no way that was getting out of his mind.

Meanwhile, Camille was very sad, as she pondered on how just one simple and absolutely stupid mistake between her boyfriend's brother could attract so much irreversible consequences. Though Chris still kept on calling her and sending her gifts, as if his brother wasn't a complete amnesiac who was still stuck in the hospital, she chose to respect her relationship and throw all her second thoughts in the trash...along with Chris's gifts.

She ended up walking outside by herself, considering the fact that it was such a sunny day. Her walking around the neighborhood ended up in her finding a bench in the park for her to sit on. Many SHSians lived in her village, but she didn't want to encounter anyone who could possibly recognize her and interrogate her on what happened to Cedric. She transferred from a very visible park bench to one that was in the deep recesses of the grassy field.

Just when she thought she would be able to enjoy absolute solitude and serenity, another dreaded voice spoke behind her. "It's nice, isn't it? Seeing them happy, not knowing what problems they'll have to face in the near future." Camille turned around to find her classmate, Melissa, standing behind her. She never even got the chance to talk to her before, mistaking her for just a scrawny and quiet girl who preferred to be alone. Little did she know what deep thoughts lurked in her head.

"What do you mean?" she asked, not getting any part of what she said.

"I mean, you're 13. Cedric is 13, and Chris is what...15? I don't know why you haven't punched him in the face after seeing his advances towards you." Melissa said, impatiently.

"How do you know all of this?"

"News doesn't take that long to spread, honey. Just because you've never been able to see me chit-chatting around the 7-Diwa classroom in the past, doesn't mean that the gossip isn't attracted to me so much that it practically sticks to me wherever I go." Melissa replied, popping the gum in her mouth. Wow, she was sassy.

Camille felt chills going down her spine. "What else do you know?"

Her classmate shrugged and examined her fingernails. "Not much, really. I know that ever since the crash, all of your friends have been suffering in their relationships too. And before you open your mouth, yes I mean Kisha, Dylan, Luke, Angel, Zac, Ryen, Shannaya, Calum and all the other couples that could have possibly been formed in a seventy two-hour period. All the girls think that the boys are actually with Chris, and that they planned in doing this to you and Cedric."

"How do you know all of this?" Camille asked exasperatedly, as she threw her hands in the air in surrender.

Melissa disregarded her question, and proceeded to push out item after item that she knew about the different students in Diwa and their respective partners. "How do I know what? That Dylan actually knew Kisha before he bumped into her, because he was secretly her stalker? Or how Luke is still keeping in touch with his Australian ex-girlfriend up to now? Or that Calum was just dared to say that he actually had a crush on Shannaya by his cruel best friends? Or that Zac is still cheating on Ryen with Chloe, and he wasn't just practicing his serenade during prom night? Or that Chris is actually gay, and he just really hates his brother because Cedric's mom was the other woman of his father? Don't ask me how I know, but believe me when I say that I do know all of these things, Camille."

Camille felt like she was in the face with a big cold hunk of salmon. She couldn't contain all of the secrets she's been hearing, and although she had no idea who Melissa was before this day, she had this eerie feeling in her that wanted to believe everything that she was saying...no matter how negative and life-changing they all sounded.

She was about to answer back, when she saw Chris from the corner of her eye. Camille couldn't hold it back...she charged towards him with anger gleaming in her eyes.

**********

LONGEST CHAPTER IN DA BOOK YO

TYSM THERESE FOR YOUR LONG CHAPTER AND SMALL PENMANSHIP IT HURTS ME EYES -.-

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