✮Ｓｔｅｐｈａｎｉｅ✮

CH. 21: COMPANY

"Where's your other half?" Andrew mentioned.

"Leave her alone. Go find someone else to pick on, maybe Nicole," said Emlyn.

"That witch," Andrew replied.

"Emlyn finally got the girl of his dreams," Richard said after a while.

"Oh, shut up," Emlyn gave a poker face.

"Yeah, shut up Ricky, don't let the girl know he likes her," Andrew said out loud and a blush appeared on my face. I was flattered even though I knew that they were only teasing me with their common words of flippancy.

I was dying to talk to Arthur. I felt lonesome and uncomfortable. Emlyn's care towards me made him take note of what I was feeling inside and he said to the rest, "Okay guys, let's do something fun, a game called random questions."

"I'm in!" Said Andrew.

"In!" Said Richard.
I gave a smile of approval.

"So, here's how the game goes, I'm the game master..."

"And why do you get to be the game master?" Andrew disrupted.

"Uh, cause I brought the idea."

"Well why'd you get to bring the idea of what we should do?" Richard questioned and I sighed loudly.

"Can we just focus guys? Look, Steph is getting bored already."

"Well, why do you care so much about how Stephanie feels?"

"Yeah, why do you care so deeply?"

"Because... Uh..."

"Cat got your tongue?" Richard said again.

"We were playing a game! Can you guys just stop being silly and let's do this thing if you're interested. I was gonna state the rules."

"Well, I thought the game already started. You said 'random questions' and clearly, we've been asking random questions," Andrew said and Emlyn growled, "That is not how it works!"
All three of us laughed.

"Don't mind them, Emlyn, proceed," I said.

"So, I'm the game master and I direct the questions to whomever I please. It's a combination of general and personal question so when you give your answer, we all get to share our opinions on your answer. Copy?"

"Roger that boss."

Gradually, I was starting to feel bright and better. Mrs Kayla was right when she once said, "At one time or another, all you need is just the right company to help cheer you up when you feel blue, and sometimes, all you need is to get involved in a productive or an amusing conversation with those that matter to you and you'll bounce right back up!"

"First question goes to Ricky. Is it more acceptable to tell your problems to your parents or should you share them with your friends?"

"Parents!" Richard answered.

"I disagree!"

"Chillax Andrew and let the dude explain. Ricky, explain."

"Well, your parents gave birth to you and they deserve to gain full knowledge about what's going on with you, not some stranger."

"Friends are not strangers. As a matter of fact, they could be one's family."

That seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to navigate the topic to that of my own parents. "Yeah, Ricky is kind of right but at the same time, parents never give their kids the opportunity to open up to them. They don't build that level of trust. They tend to be busy, strict, over-protective, they lack understanding and whatnot."