Kyle
Jack stormed into the room, throwing himself onto his bed. He picked up his phone and texted someone.
"How'd it go?" I asked as I scrolled through my computer.
"How do you think it went?"
"So they were arguing?"
"Yeah, and then we argued. I told you. He's never in a good mood when he talks to Shirley, and he's stressed about Diana, too."
"She hasn't changed her mind at all?"
"Nope." Jack shook his head.
I sighed stressfully, massaging the back of my neck. "Well, the more we wait-"
"Shh. Gimme a sec." He raised his phone mic to his mouth. "No, he didn't want to talk about Shirley. She's on him about Diana. I guess we're going to have to convince her ourselves not to go."
"Who's that?"
"Amelia."
"Alright, we have a few minutes before work, so let's just talk to her." I put my computer to sleep and rose from my chair, stretching. "Maybe if we approach her nicely, she'll consider not going."
He rolled his eyes, but got up anyway, and we headed to the room. Tentatively, I knocked. She didn't answer at first.
"Diana, you in there?"
A thump. Then a drawer closing.
"Listen, um... could we talk to you? Just for a bit? Please?"
Still no answer.
"We can hear you. Please, we're not coming to bug you. This is serious," Jack said.
A sigh. The doorknob rattled and she revealed herself.
"What do you want?" she asked.
"Um..." I glanced at Jack awkwardly. "Could we come in?"
She gave us a confused look, then shrugged and stepped aside. We looked around her room as we moved to sit on her bed; we hadn't seen what she'd done with the place.
It was weird seeing it so clean and neat. Everything was organized and placed in proper order. A complete contrast to Amy's style; messy with piles of papers, stuffed animals, and art supplies everywhere.
Even our rooms were 10 times neater than usual because of Diana. How did she learn to clean so well? I pushed down the rising guilt as she sat at her desk, writing in a notebook.
"What did you want?" she asked flatly.
We glanced at each other. I held up my hands and nodded at Jack to continue. I'd gotten us in the room; it was his turn to contribute.
"Uh, well, we... we were wondering... about you going to school."
She sighed. "For the last time, I'm not changing my mind."
"Diana, there's other schools you can go to. It's not like-"
"I saw the other schools. Not interested. And I don't want to go alone."
"Are you sure that's it?" I asked.
"Why should you care?"
"Well, we care because... because of the effects that'll... how you'll..." Jack sighed, looking at me pleadingly. He was never good at expressing himself well.
I rolled my eyes and continued. "We're worried that this might affect them a bit... negatively."
"How?" She turned in her chair, glaring at us. "They're embarrassed, right?" She scoffed. "Join the club."
"Not exactly embarrassed." How would I explain this without telling her the truth? That wasn't an option.
"Then what? What's the big deal?"
"Well, Diana, we've seen your file," I pointed out. "Are you sure you want to go to school after all that's happened? You could get expelled again."
"That was when I was younger. I know how to control myself better now." She turned back to her notebook. "It's not going to be as bad as before. I'll make sure of it."
"I wouldn't be too confident. I mean, people might-"
"People can go 'suck an egg' (not her exact words)." She shifted in her seat as she spoke, playing with her hair.
"But you were fine with going online before. Did you really change your mind just because Harry poured soda on your head?" I said.
She turned to face us again. "No, of course not. I was already thinking about it. It seemed... I don't know, more interesting than I initially thought. There's classes I want to take, things I want to do. I might as well make the most out of it if I'm only staying here for six months. Supposedly." She wrung her hands together, massaging her forearms.
I narrowed my eyes. She seemed really... tense? I wasn't sure.
Once again, she turned back to her book. "It's great that you're looking out for your little brothers and everything, but I'm still going to school. I could walk instead of getting on the bus, or pretend I don't know them, or do whatever so I won't embarrass them, if that's what you're worried about. It's simple."
I looked at Jack with dread. Considering lots of Summit alumni went to Greenfield U, we would be almost as affected.
"Are you done?" Diana said, annoyed.
I sighed. "Yeah, forget it." I left in a flash. Jack followed, closing the door.
Honestly, she would regret it. People at their school weren't going to be welcoming towards her when they saw her. What would they say? About us, about our parents?
Amy, please... I need you...
When we got to work later in the evening, I was more stressed than ever. I didn't realize how angry I looked as I walked up to the desk Nicole and I managed every evening.
"Who spit in your coffee this morning?" Nicole quipped as she wiped down the surface. "Was it Jack?"
"Diana," I said shortly, adjusting the ID badge around my neck.
Nicole raised her brows. "Diana spit in your coffee?"
"No." I sighed. "We were trying to convince her not to go to school, but she's not giving in. She wants to go, and we can't stop her."
A customer approached the desk, forcing us to briefly pause our conversation. Nicole instantly put on a smile, which made my knees melt. I loved her smile.
"Welcome to Electrocubic! How may we help you?" she greeted.
"I'm looking for a game for my son... I looked in your videogame section, but I don't see it. Any chance it's in stock?"
"What's the name of the game?"
"Um..." He took his phone out of his pocket. "Evoline: The Empire of Daemons."
"Okay, I'll search it up right now, sir." She turned to the computer and typed in the game.
"What should I do?" I asked, continuing our conversation. "It's not like I can force her to stay home or anything."
"I don't know, Ky." She shook her head. "I guess... you have no choice but to deal with it." She turned back to the customer. "Uh, here we go. Sir, the game is sold out, but we should get a new shipment in two days, so you can come back then. If you want, you can give us your phone number or email so we tell you when it's here."
"Thank you." He opened his email and held out his phone for Nicole to put it in the customer list.
"You think you can talk to her somehow?" I tentatively asked.
"Me? What can I do?"
"I don't know. You have a way with people."
"Have a good day, sir." She looked at me. "Kyle, I hardly know Diana. I doubt she'll listen to her foster brother's girlfriend. She's only seen me once."
"She might like you better."
She sighed. "She's going to keep making decisions like this just to ruin your lives because you guys are nasty to her. My advice? Stop being nasty to her."
I scratched my nape, the guilt rising again. "It's not that I want to be nasty..." I could feel myself turning red in shame. "It's just... our parents changed. But we can't say anything to them. It's not fair. It's... it's sick. God, how did they get so crazy? I love them, but... why did they have to do this?" I clutched my head.
"She doesn't know that. It's not her fault."
"Yeah, I know. I just don't want to... you know."
Nicole nodded understandingly. "Yeah. I know."
Another customer approached the desk. "Excuse me, where can I find SD cards?" she asked.
"In that section over there, by the televisions." Nicole pointed.
"Thank you." The woman left.
"Honestly, this all feels like a dream," I said to Nicole, echoing my past thoughts. "Maybe I just fell into some nightmare after Amy passed. Maybe it was too much."
"If that's true, then I guess we're so in love that we wound up having the same dream," Nicole joked dryly.
I gave her a half-smirk. There was a long stretch of silence.
"I don't understand." My mouth opened to continue, but my voice stuck in my throat. I took a few moments, trying to find the correct words. "Is this... like a punishment? Is God punishing us for... being so horrible to Amy? Were... were we that bad?" My voice shook and I swallowed. My throat painfully tightened.
Nicole gazed at me. "Kyle, you loved her. We all did. And she knew that."
"Yeah, we loved her, but we didn't show it. We were so mean... and we still haven't changed."
"Kyle..."
I could feel my eyes watering. "I know there's a lot I'm doing wrong. But am I doing that much wrong? To deserve this?"
As a third customer approached, I quickly hid my teary eyes away, breathing deeply and wiping them discreetly.
"Welcome to Electrocubic," Nicole greeted.
"Where are your wireless earbuds?" the man asked.
"They should be right there, to your left." Nicole pointed at the adjacent section.
"Nic... I feel like I'm in quicksand," I continued. "Everything's crashing down around me, sinking deeper and deeper... there's just no way out. I can't call for help, I can't pull myself out."
She approached me and took my by the shoulders, pressing her forehead to mine. "Kyle... I know this is hard for you. It's hard on all of us. I wish I could help you somehow, or come up with some bright idea. But if it's quicksand we're stuck in, then all we can do is stay still and hope we don't sink any deeper. Because the more you fight it, the more it'll pull you down."
I only stared at her hopelessly. The anxiety was overwhelming.
"I don't know what's going on, either. I guess the best we can do is hold hands, lean back, and... try to relax."
I nodded, sniffling. She reached up and wiped a stray tear from my cheek.
"We're in this together, okay?" she whispered.
I nodded again. She reached up and kissed me softly on the lips. We sunk into the moment for just a few seconds before parting. We needed to get back into 'work mode'.
What would I do without her?
Thoughts on Kyle and Nicole?