BFB High (with a continuous plot wow)

Chapter 12: In Denial

"Physically well," Teddy signed, not wanting to worry her father too much.

"But not well emotionally?" Teddy's father guessed.

Teddy slowly nodded in confirmation.

"I guess I'll have to tell your mom once she gets home from work," Teddy's father sighed, before pausing. "Are you going to visit her again tomorrow or do you think it'll make things worse?"

Teddy frowned. Did we really make things worse for Penelope by visiting her? Teddy thought. Unsure of the answer, she simply signed to her dad, "I don't know."

"I see," Teddy's father replied softly. "Well, have fun with Leah."

"Thank you," Teddy signed to him before going ahead and refilling Rain's food and water bowls. As soon as she finished, Rain came darting in from the living room.

I see he's back to his usual spot in the living room, Teddy thought. I wonder what he was doing upstairs on my bed yesterday. She simply shrugged and walked upstairs.

Teddy found Leah sitting on her bed, looking worried. Upon seeing Teddy enter the bedroom, her face quickly brightened into a smile. "Hey Teddy!" she called out in a chipper voice as she scooted over and patted the spot next to her. To almost anyone else, Leafy would seem fine but all these years of being close friends and neighbors gave Teddy the experience to know better.

"What's wrong?" Teddy signed.

"You get right to the point, don't you?" Leafy mused before sighing. "I'm worried I did something wrong that made Penelope push us away."

Teddy blinked. "Didn't you hear what Nadia said?"Teddy signed. "Penelope's always been stubborn about not receiving help from other people."

"She's never refused help from me before!" Leah exclaimed.

Somehow I doubt that, Teddy thought, but she didn't say so out loud. She simply thought about it further. But maybe that's part of the problem. Leah always insists on helping everyone regardless of whether the person needs or even wants it. Now, in a situation where Penelope should be leaning on her friends, could she be worried that Leah is forcing her help onto her like Leah usually does with people? Come to think of it, Leah came out of Penelope's hospital room a fair bit later than we did. What was she doing in there?

"Teddy, what are you thinking?" Leah asked.

Teddy shook her head. "Nothing," she signed. She thought about asking Leah what she was doing in the hospital room after Teddy, Nadia, and Mrs. Lemon left, but she decided against it. Instead, she signed, "I think Penelope just doesn't want to see us like that because she values our opinions."

"She doesn't want us to see her like what?" Leah asked, cocking her head to the side.

"So helpless," Teddy signed.

Leah startled. "Penelope's not helpless!" She glanced at Teddy in shock. "How could you say that about our friend?!"

"It's not what I think, but what Penelope's probably thinking of herself," Teddy explained.

"Oh," Leah said in realization. She sighed. "But she shouldn't feel this way because she's not."

"I know," Teddy assured Leah. There was a pause for a while, before Leah spoke again.

"...To be honest, there's another reason I agreed to talk to you at your house," Leah admitted.

"Sure, what is it?" Teddy signed.

"Connor."

Sorry if the quality of the chapter's image or these author's notes seem rushed, but Spring Break is a lot shorter than I remembered. So I have to hurry to get things done before I become busy with the next quarter. With that being said, I hope you all have a great Spring!

UPDATE: Finally added the image for this chapter and deleted the Tumblr link + disclaimer at the start about missing image. Before I started working on the image for the next chapter, I figured that I should try and see if I can actually put the intended image within the most recent chapter now, and I actually can. That's all I changed this chapter, so you don't need to reread to understand anything.