Chapter 16

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Adeline's POV:

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Adeline's POV:

I hear some talking downstairs while I read on my window-seat. I keep reading until I hear a knock on my bedroom.

"Come in." I say, not looking away from the book.

"Hey, Addie." I hear Eddie say. My head snaps up from my book a bright smile on my face.

"Ed!" I say in happiness and rush to him. I pull him into a tight hug, which he returns. "I missed you." I tell him.

"I missed you too." He replies. I pull away and look at him, checking his injuries. He still has the white cast on his arm, but there's a change. Along the white, there is the word 'LOSER' in black marker.

"Who did this?" I ask, pointing to it.

"Gretta." He tells me, I look to it and smile.

"I can fix that." I tell him. I then go towards my desk and grab a red marker. I hold his cast as well as I can with my fingers, and then I use the pen to change the 'S' for a red 'V'. "There, now you're a lover not a loser."

"Thanks, Addie." He replies, pulling me in for another hug. Which I return, I then feel tears in my eyes. As he pulls away, he sees my teary eyes, and as one falls, he wipes it away with his thumb. "Why are you crying?"

"I think these tears are just overdue." I reply, he nods and hold me close to him. After a while the tears stop, and we just sit together. I grab my book and go back to reading, Eddie sits beside me and reads over my shoulder. I lean my head into his chest.

"Dinner's ready." Father says, poking his head in the room. We nod and I put the bookmark into the book. Together we then make our way downstairs and have a nice roast dinner. Throughout dinner Eddie and I just talk about random things while the adults discuss work and things. Suddenly, my name is what brought me away from Eddie and into their conversation.

"Adeline, give us a random fact about the English language." My father says.

"Oh. Um, the word 'testify' is based on the Ancient Roman practice of making men swear on their testicles when making a statement in court."  I tell them. They look in shock, whereas Eddie looks in amusement.

"A fact about women." Mother says.

"Women blink nearly twice as much as men." I tell them.

"A fact about the body." Father says.

"The human thigh bones are stronger than concrete." I say. Mrs Kaspbrik is sitting there in shock as I come out with these random facts.

"A fact about England." Mother says.

"There was a point where Christmas was made illegal in England." I tell them.

"Can you give us some facts about lions." Mrs Kaspbrik asks. I nod.

"Lions, differing to other cats, are social animals. They live in groups called Prides, these have around 30 lions. There will be 3 males, about 12 related females and then their young. The size of the pride depends on the access to resources, the less the resources the smaller the Pride. They keep track of their Pride by roaring, a lions roar can be heard up to 5 miles away. Despite the stereotype of male lions being fitter, it's actually the female lions that do the hunting. This is because they're smaller and more agile than males. Lions spend roughly 16-20 hours of the day sleeping or resting." I ramble. Mrs Kaspbrik looks shocked. "Can we go back to our conversation now?" I ask, gesturing to Eddie they nod. I smile and go back to Eddie, he laughs as I roll my eyes. After dinner Eddie and I go back to my room where we talk about the other losers. Turns out he hasn't seen anyone other than me, his mother has been keeping him in his house.

"I just miss them. We've all been friends for so long, and now we just aren't seeing each other." He says, crying. I pull him into my side.

"I know. Even though I haven't been in the group for that long, I still miss them." I tell him. "If you wanted to know, Stan completed his Bar Mitzvah."

"That's good." He replies.

"He did a speech at the end, it was great. But his father wasn't happy." I say with a laugh. He smiles at me. "I'm sure we'll see them soon. But I just fear what will bring us together. Whether it will be someone getting over their issues or something bad happening."

"Yeah, even though we're not facing IT, I'm still scared that whenever I turn a corner IT'll be there." He replies. I nod.

"I know what you mean. I feel the same." I reply. From downstairs we hear the parents laughing. "They have it so carefree. If they knew what we'd done, if they faced what we have..."

"Yeah." He replies.

"'Growing up is losing some illusions, in order to acquire others'- Virginia Woolf." I quote. He smiles at me and I smile back, I look into his eyes and he looks into mine. We just sit there looking at each other. Then a knock on the door snaps us out of it. "Come in." I say, and my mother opens the door.

"Eddie, your mother says it's time to go now." She says, he nods and gets up off the floor. I follow his example and walk downstairs with him. He puts his shoes on and then turns to me, I pull him in for a hug.

"See you soon." I tell him. He says the same in response. We then say our goodbyes and he's left, just as quick as he appeared. I sigh as I watch him leave.

"You miss your group of friends, don't you?" Mother asks. I nod without looking at her.

"I'm going to bed, goodnight." I say turning and making my way to the stairs.

"Night." They both reply.

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