"So... I have to tutor him today" I sighed, I was explaining to the girls what happened on saturday at Ryle's 'cause I missed school on monday; Soph was a bit sick and mom being mom was drinking, since she can't take care of herself how would she be able to take care of a seven year old?
Ava, Lily and Julia all shared a look before simultaneously bursting into a fit of laughter, I rolled my eyes. After a few minutes they all settled down and Julia spoke, "Be nice, Phoebes. He was just trying to be sweet, Ryle doesn't seem like the type to grope women in their sleep often"
"Yeah, I mean Jacob told me that he's really against all that harassment towards women stuff, remember how he was at the party?" Ava spoke. "I get that but at the same time he is Ryle West, you'd expect him to not give a single flying fuck about me, yet apparently he does"
"Okay, well, on the Ryle-caring-about-Phoebe topic, he asked why you missed school yesterday, we didn't know what to tell him" Lily shoved a slice of an apple into her mouth. "He did?"
"Mhm" Ava hummed, "So why didn't you come to school yesterday?" she continued. "Soph was feeling sick and no one could take care of her" I explained, leaving out the part about mom not being able to take care of her kid because apparently a bottle of vodka was ten times more important than her daughter.
After that the girls dropped it and I went about my day, until...
"Bee?" That was... no, he was away for university it just, it could not be him. I looked up from my desk and as funny as it seemed to see him standing there, the purpose to why he'd come here was far from funny.
The teacher spoke to him and with a pitiful look she waved me over, I left all of my stuff on my desk but Miss. Watson stopped me. "Bring all of your stuff, Phoebe" she said seriously, I was scared of what had happened. A certain someone's eyes -- Ryle -- were on me, the fast beating of my heart was far more loud for me to care about anything or anyone else.
I did as told and then walked outside with him, I closed the door.
"Weren't you at Yale?" I asked, "I wanted to surprise you and Soph. EJ was helping me but... something happened, Phoebe. Something really bad happened."
Shit, he called me by my first name.
That man was not the Noah I knew, the funny, happy older brother that always cheered me up when I felt down. No, this was a grown ass man scared or worried about something, maybe both. I never saw him scared.
"Noe, what happened?" I asked, my eyebrows furrowed and without realizing, I was starting to fidget with my fingers. "It's Sophie" he sighed.
My world as I knew it stopped, my heart stopped, my breathing stopped, everything stopped, I stopped. I froze and choked out; "Is she..."
He knew what I meant but I didn't, I didn't want it to happen, she's a baby, my baby. I can not loose my little sister. I didn't want Noah to answer, I wanted to sew his mouth shut so that if it was what I thought it was, I would not hear it. Not again.
"No, God no, Bee. She passed out in the middle of class, her heart stopped for a bit and they called an ambulance. She's in the hospital right now, alive. Elijah is there already."
I let out the biggest sigh of relief of my life, then, a tear slipped. Then another, and then a whole waterfall.
"Oh Bee..." he sighed with worried eyes, Noah pulled me into a comforting hug, his hugs are the best. He is taller than me so he rests his head on top of mine, his well-built chest is the perfect comforting pillow and his arms make me feel safe. It was always that way since we were little.
My big brother started caressing the back of my head until I calmed down, after a few minutes the manic sobbing stopped and I pulled away, Noe cupped my cheek and spoke in a comforting manner.
"I already spoke with your principal, okay? You have your bike?"
"Mhm" I hummed, I had just gotten it from the repair shop yesterday. "You think you can drive?" he asked, he didn't now if I would be able to process my emotions and not crash while on the road.
"Yeah" I sighed and rubbed my eye, I then realized that all my mascara had come off, "Shit" I chuckled while looking at my dirty hand. "Why don't you go wash your face, okay?" he asked in a soothing tone.
"Okay. Is... is mom there?"
"No, no one knows where she is. Knowing her she'll be back home in a couple days high or drunk. Maybe both" he shrugged, I nodded.
-
The first person I saw when I walked into the waiting room was EJ, I ran towards him and hugged him tight, "what happened?" I asked, holding back sobs.
Elijah sighed and pulled me away from the hug, Noah caught up to us.
"She has type one diabetes" Noe sighed. "What? But she's healthy and I don't let her eat a lot of sugar and-" EJ cut me off from my rambling by interrupting me. "It's genetic, you don't have anything to do with that, remember how dad had diabetes?"
That made sense, "how do we go about this?" I asked, my older brothers shared a sorry look. "She has to get her insulin but it's expensive as fuck, Phoebe"
"Okay, take it out of my college fund" I said determined, I already had a full scholarship waiting for when I finished school so I didn't really need it, Noah shook his head no. "That's for your future, Bee. I'm not letting you waste that money.
"Okay well first, if that money saves Sophie then it's not going to waste, second, I have a full scholarship and don't need the money" I explained, "What if your grades start slipping and you get kicked out?"
"My grades will not slip, they never have and they never will. Next month I turn eighteen and I get the money. How much does it all cost?"
"Insulin is almost ten thousand per year" Noah sighed and rubbed his temple. "Okay, I have that and I can work for it, is that it?" I asked and I didn't like the look that they shared. "Ambulance is 1200 and since she doesn't have an insurance we owe the hospital 37,000"
My jaw dropped, where would I get that money from? We would be in debt and-- we would have to sell the house. Where would we live?
"I can... this rich family I'm babysitting for, I can ask them to babysit for more hours so they can give me more money, I can go to work at the diner again and--" I started.
EJ put his hand on my shoulder, "Phoebe" he let out a saddened sigh and I broke down. Elijah hugged me tight and Noe joined the hug. "Wh-what wi-will we-we d-d-do-do?" I choked out, barely able to breath.
"Shh" he caressed the back of my head and pecked the top of it, I just sobbed into their arms. Just then my phone started ringing, I pulled away from our sibling hug, "I'll sell this" I said about my phone before picking up, I didn't even check the caller ID. I walked a bit away from them but I felt their eyes on me.
"Pho?" Great, it was Ryle.
"What" I basically demanded. "How are you? What happened today at class?"
Right, I forgot that we were in the same class. "Family stuff" I didn't sound vulnerable but I definitely looked like it. "What stuff?"
"Family stuff, that's all you need to know, Ryle." I sighed, "But I--"
"If you called to ask if I'll be able to tutor you today, I can't. I'll try to make it but I don't know if I'll be able to" I cut him off, annoyed.
"I called because I wanted to know if you're okay, I don't give two fucks about the tutoring. I called to check in on you"
His words had an effect on me, my breath got clogged up in my throat. "That's so very nice of you but I don't need your pity" I shot back, "God, It's not pitty, Phoebe. Have you ever had someone care about you?" of course that I have people that care, what's his problem?
"Yeah, I have people that care about me so stop pretending that you're on that list. I'll see you tomorrow at school" I hung up before he could say a peep. "Was that-- was that a boy?" Noah asked, baffled. EJ chuckled, "she's almost eighteen, get used to boys Noah"
"Have you gotten used to our little sister dating?"
"He hasn't, who said anything about dating?" I shot back before EJ could answer, Noe chuckled.
"Family members of Sophie Avery Monroe?"