If love could win

The sleepover

"Mom, I am pregnant," Sara said to our mom. We sat down at the kitchen table together. Sara looked down into the teacup. Twirled the teaspoon, anxiously. "And I need to get an abortion."

"Of course, mi amor," my mom said. She did not know what to say. That was pretty clear. Just like me, she had no idea that Sara had a boyfriend. Well, now an ex. Sara had broken up with him. Thank god. I did not know what I would do if they had been a couple. My sister and one of the biggest assholes on the face of the earth. I did not know what she saw in him from the whole beginning. He was just a junkie. Not better than our father, even if he wanted to believe that. He had an old noble name. A royal second cousin, who hated his guts. "Do you want to talk about it?" Sara shook her head.

"No. I just want to forget it," she said. "Pretend like it is not happening." Mom was worried. Obviously. Her teenage daughter was pregnant. And she was upset.

"Did he do something to you? Something you did not want?" mom asked. I understood why she would think that. Sara sat there, looking like someone had died.

"No," she cried. "But I regret it now, because I know now what he had done to Simon." Mom comforted Sara and helped her call the hospital. Sara got an appointment the next day.

"Do you want me to come?" mom asked. Sara nodded.

"Yes please," she said. They hugged. I smiled. Sara and mom had not had the best relationship before. Sara had felt like mom did not do enough to leave our father and she had held it against mom. She did not realise that mom had been as scared as us. That she had done what she could to get out without losing everything. Mom had worried so much about Sara. And me. God how worried she had been when the tape was released. And I did not want anyone to worry about me.

"Everything will be fine, Sara," I said. "You have me and mom." She hugged me tight. Sara was not a big hugger.

"Thanks. You always have me too. Okay?" I nodded. Smiled. Maybe we could rebuild our friendship. I had felt like she had changed when we transferred to Hillerska. But so had I. To her I had. I had fallen in love for the first time and I was not as available as before. Before, we had done everything together. Now, I was just happy to see her in class. We did not hang out like we used to.

"Okay," I said. "Would you want to have a sleepover tonight?" When we were little we would take the mattress from the beds and put them on the floor and sleep next to each other. It was a long time ago now.

"Okay," she replied. She smiled. I dried some tears from her cheeks. The hours went and soon we were laying next to each other on mattresses on my bedroom floor.

"How are you?" Sara asked me.

"I am fine," I replied. She looked at me, like she did not really believe me.

"You don't need to pretend in front of me, Simon," she said. "I know you have had it really tough. It is okay if you are not fine." I could not lie. It had not been easy. Wille had lost his brother. August had leaked an intimate video of us. We had been through a trial. The whole drug thing and Wille being scared that I would be caught and thrown out. And Wille and I had a roller coaster of a relationship since the night when I kissed him on the movie night.

"I am fine now though. It would not hurt if things calmed down now though," I said. "Things have been a bit intense lately." Sara laughed.

"You don't say?" she replied. "I would have crumbled into tiny pieces if I had to go through half of what you have during these past months, Simon. You are the strongest person I know." I hugged her. She had been through a lot too. She had been scared to even go to school, just a year ago. Because she was so severely bullied at Marieberg that she could not even walk into the building without someone pushing her around. Spitting at her. Calling her mean things. Even if people at Hillerska had not been the nicest to either of us, being that we both were outsiders, it had been a thousand times better than what she had to endure. Well, except the sextape and my breakup. That had maybe been comparable to the bullying Sara went through.

"You are just as strong, Sara," I replied. I had always had friends that supported me. I was not alone. Rosh and Ayoub had my back at all times. Sara had not had that support before. Rosh and Ayoub would of course help her out when people were mean to Sara, but they were always my friends. Sara wanted to have friends of her own. And now finally she had found somewhere she felt like she belonged. Sure, she had made mistakes like being with August. But she had not known what an asshole he was at the time. "Even if you might not see it yourself." She smiled a little.

"Thanks," she said. "I love you Simon."
"I love you too, Sara," I replied. "We might not have told each other that enough lately." We had grown apart more and more. Become more and more independent from each other, which was good in some ways. But I had missed her. Especially since she moved in at Hillerska.

"No.I am thinking of moving home," Sara said. "Living at Hillerska was not really what I had thought." I looked at her. Living at Hillerska was her dream.

"Are the girls not nice to you?" I asked. Sara looked at me like I was this crazy protective person. Maybe I was. I just wanted her to be happy. And I thought she was happy at Hillerska.

"No, they are amazing. But I have realised that I miss you and mom too much. Those kids at school have a really sad day to day life. From the age of sixteen their parents just send them away and barely see them a few times every semester. That is sad," she said. "I am the privileged one who has my brother and mother so close." I smiled. I would love it if she stayed at home. If we could have the relationship we used to. Me eating spaghetti too loud and her telling me to behave. Us throwing popcorn at each other when watching movies in the living room. Nights like this, when we would lay on the floor next to each other and just talk.

"Come home, Sara. I have missed you too," I said. She nodded.

"I will," she said. We hugged. My phone buzzed. It was a text from Wille saying good night.

"Is it prince charming who wants to talk on the phone?" Sara teased. I laughed.

"It is Wille, but he just wanted to say good night," I replied. Sara tried to take my phone and read for herself. She did not really believe me.

"That is really cute, Simon. He did not just tell you good night though. He said he loves you as well. Have you told each other that?" Sara said. "I did not know I shared blood with such a romantic person. Are you sure you were not switched out at the hospital or even adopted?" I laughed.

"He told me he loves me before he went home for Christmas," I said.

"And what did you reply?" she asked.

"I wished him a nice Christmas," I said. Sara and I laughed.

"Simon! Why did you do that?" she replied.

"Well I took your advice and protected my heart for once," I said.

"When did you tell him you love him too then?" she asked.

"You know that day when the man from the royal court came to take Wille out of Hillerska?" Sara nodded. "I told him I loved him that day."

"You two are too cute," she said. Maybe we were. I loved him. And he brought out sides of myself that I didn't know existed.