Madness, Sadness, and Love

Friday - Part 2

As soon as the ear-piercing bell goes off, I shoot out of my seat quicker than lighting. I shove my way through the hoards of art students trying to squeeze through the classroom's door, and I sprint past all the students cluttering the halls. Once I'm outside of the highschool building, I glance my friends hanging around next to our flag pole. I figure that I can spend a teeny-tiny bit longer at school before rushing home and revealing the letter with my hermanas and hermanos, so I stroll over to the small group of teenagers. I look around and notice that they all look rather sad.

"Hey guys! Hunk-a-dunk how ya doing?" My best friend, Hunk, looks at me with tears threatening to spill out of his eyes. That worries me. He's usually the most cheery one out of the whole group! Ever since me and Hunk were in preschool, he's only cried on a few occasions, one being the time he broke his arm in 2nd grade after falling from the top of this very flag pole... (We were hanging out after school and I dared him to climb it, telling him that it would impress the highschool ladies. But nobody knows that except me and Hunk)

"Lance, It's... I mean.. you might wanna head home bud."

"What? Why? What's up Hunk, why is everyone so sad?" I look around and see that all of my friends look distressed in some way. Allura is there crying, Hunk just looks sad, Coran is frowning, and... "and where is Pidge?" I'm just so confused at this point.

"Listen, Lance" Allura says in a stern but kind voice. "If you trust us, and you want to know what's going on, go home and talk to your family. Just trust us, please..."

"But-"

"Please Lance, please go"

"Ok... I guess?.. Bye?.." Usually I would need more convincing, but seeing all of my friends' sad faces really worried me. I slowly turn away from the group of crying teens, casting them one last questioning expression.

With every step I take away from the group, another question pops into my mind. How in the world does this include my family? If it includes my family, why do all of my friends know about it before me? Does this have something to do with Pidge? Why was Pidge gone in the first place? Ugh! This is too confusing! I look around and realize I've already made it to my neighborhood, and I've started sprinting.

I try to distance myself from all the pesky questions flooding my mind as I near the front door of my family's one-story rustic home. I knock on the wooden door once, before entering and wiping my shoes on the dirty welcome mat. After taking off my coat and hanging it on the rusted hook that's nailed to the wall, I call out to the house notifying everyone of my arrival. The first thing I hear is a sob from Maria's room. Why is my little sister crying? I walk further into the small house and turn down a hallway, knocking on the first door to my right. The sobbing halts as soon as my fist hits the door.

"Hello Maria, it's Lance. I just got home and heard you crying, what's wrong hermana?"

I don't get a response, but some shuffling occurs behind the door and I can make out some hushed conversation. After what seems like an eternity (really only a minute), the door to her room swings open.

"Pidge?!?"