Louis's Pov
I kept staring at her empty seat until Sam kicked me in the shin. He looked at me worried and I just gave him a smile telling him not to worry. It's already been two days since that incident and Shaden still didn't turn up to school. It was almost the end of the school day and I can't get her out of my mind after what happened on the terrace.
Now that I think about it, I think she and I have a thing for meeting on the terrace. It's the second time this week. But the only difference from the last time is she didn't hide herself from me and she cried in my arms until Sam rushed in because he apparently heard her screaming. She was in fact screaming and she also threw her phone across the terrace and started hitting her hand against the floor until I held onto her and she resumed her outburst by hitting me on my chest. I can't imagine I am telling this, but it actually hurts like hell but I didn't have the heart to stop her. She looked very broken. But Sam wasn't there to see all this. He wasn't there when she was speaking to some person on the phone.
It was me. Just me, who saw her yelling into the phone, just me when she started crying so hard and started begging for something in her native language, just me who got to know one of the many secrets she is trying to hide. I can still remember every word she spoke in English the other day, that memory is still very fresh. It is her secret and I intend it to be that way. Because, once people get to know about it, they will start to get suspicious of her and I don't want to add this to her already existing problems.
Sam and I had a small talk last night about Shaden; he wanted to know what happened to her. I can't lie to him, he is my best friend. So I told him that it is her secret and she didn't want anyone to know about it. He didn't press on it any further but said that he didn't like seeing her suffer and I agreed with him.
"Hey! Hello? Down to Earth to Louis." Jordan waved his hand in front of my face.
"Yes, how can I help you?" I asked in a high pitched voice and he rolled his eyes at me.
"I was speaking to you, you weren't listening." He said with a pout and I looked at him apologetically. "So listen, I know you are really good at English and I almost failed in my English exam. And they will kick me out of the team if I don't have proper grades, but coach requested the Principal because of the upcoming tournaments and so now they want me to write some essay or some short story. I don't know what to do, can you please help me?" he asked fidgeting in his seat.
"You didn't have to explain it you know, should have just asked me what you wanted. I think we will need around half an hour to finish whatever you want, so let's meet after your practice. We will go to Sam's place and finish your work." I said giving him a small smile.
"Why are you guys going to my place?" Sam asked and I gave him a bored look.
"Because." I said and he rolled his eyes.
"I am coming too." Haru announced.
"I have nothing to do after practice; I guess I am coming along with you." Eli said with a shrug and even without looking at Mabel I knew that she would be the next one.
"I will come with you." there you go. She is always with either of them.
"Everyone, feel free to invite yourselves to my place." Sam Said sarcastically.
"Don't mind if we do." Brendan said, adding himself and his girl friend to the list. Jessica smiled at him and kissed his cheek in agreement.
"Yeah, let's all go to Sam's place. We have an upcoming game and we should have some fun time before facing all the stress because of the tournament." Casey said to which a small smile bloomed on Sam's face. I just raised my brow at him and when he caught my look, just glared at me.
After school all of them left for practice and I walked towards the staircase on the east wing beside the Chairman's office. Most of the times it is deserted because the Chairman comes here very rarely. I sat on the stairs leading to the basement. I was working on my new song when I suddenly heard some noise from above. It was the Chairman with some other guy.
He was a young guy but I am pretty sure that he isn't from this school. Hell! I am pretty sure that he can't be a school kid, he looked older than that. He kind of looked similar. He wore an unbuttoned red flannel shirt over a black V-neck shirt and had a helmet in his right hand while he was rubbing his forehead with his left hand indicating that he was tired.
"I can't stop her. She hasn't stopped crying since the day she came to my college with her bleeding fists. I think she should come back to school. At least that will distract her." he said in a tired voice. The chairman sighed heavily before leaning back at his cabin's door.
"I know. Lina told me that she wasn't even responding to her calls or texts or even she isn't letting anyone inside her house. I am really sorry Cam. I know this is very stressful for you, especially because of your mom's condition and all your responsibilities as the head of the family. I am really sorry you had to go through all these." The chairman said patting the guy, Cam's shoulder.
"Come on Richard, she is my best friend and I love her. I can't let her go through all this on her own. She was always there for me when I needed her and you should know that she isn't a burden for me, I just can't help but feel sad for her. I mean, she is too young to go through all these shit." He said with a small smile. "Anyway, I need to go. My sister just texted me that she is with her right now. I think I can finally speak to her. Thank you Richard. Thanks for everything you are doing for her." he said and walked away while typing down something on his phone.
It didn't take me too long to realize that they were in fact speaking about Shaden. He must be the same guy I saw the other day with Shaden. So they both are best friends. For someone so young, she really has an old guy as her friend. I mean he is in college.
Are you really asking me to wait three more years until I turn eighteen? Three more years-
Her words kept ringing in my ears. I didn't understand rest of the sentence since it was in her native language. But I at least know something which no one knows about her. She is a fifteen year old girl acting as an eighteen year old.
She is too young to go through all this shit!
His words came back to me. So he knew it and so did the chairman. What is going on with you Simba? What are you going through? What is your big secret?
***********
"He really needs a tutor." Arianna said exasperated.
"Come on Ari. He is just being stubborn. We cannot entertain this by attaching some fancy name to it." Mr. Bennett told her in a defensive tone.
"Are you serious Abby? Is it really hard for you to accept the fact? I even got him tested. He has dyslexia. I can't believe that this is coming from you of all the people. You know better than others that grades are not everything and yet you are doing this? If Anna heard this, she would have been very disappointed in you. I am pretty sure this is not the attitude she is expecting you to show towards any of her sons."
"I would like to think I know better about my sister." he said looking at her heatedly.
"But do you? What do you think your sister would have done if Theodore was diagnosed with dyslexia?" she asked with her hands on her hips. Her husband just looked at her with a defeated look. She finally sighed, "Look, I know you have a lot of pressure because of the company. But you can't ignore things like this. At least promise me that you will think about this. Okay?" she asked holding his hands and looking over at him with love and he slowly relaxed under her touch and nodded his head. He turned around to find Sam who was giving him a cold look and then he looked at me. I felt very uncomfortable to be caught between a family's private matter.
"Louis." He said with a nod and I nodded back and greeted him. The rest of our group was in the gaming room. He then walked out of the room after realizing that he wouldn't get any response from his son. As soon as he left the room, Sam lost his cold composure and hugged his mom warmly as a greeting.
"Hi Mama Bennett. You look very stressed. Is it about Theo again?" I asked feeling sad for the woman in front of me.
"Yeah Louis, the doctor said its fine until he gets a good tutor. She said that it is common for many people around his age. Apparently, telling him that he needed therapy for this would make him more conscious about his symptoms. So we need a caretaker who is good with children and won't be a complete stranger. I am looking for some people around but your dad is against this." she said turning towards Sam.
"Of course he isn't fine with it. It would be a bad for his reputation to have a family member who can't read properly." He grumbled and his mom glared at him.
"Samson Bennett. Don't you dare speak ill about your father. He loves you and is just stressed with everything happening with Ruby. He doesn't want to take over the company and your dad is really mad at him at the moment."
"Come on mom. Why would you want to force the company on Ruby when Donn is more than willing in managing it? Cooking means everything to Ruby, let them just be a chef." Sam said walking over to refrigerator and grabbing two big bottles of coke. "I am going up. I have my friends over."
"Friends other than Louis or those girls?" his mom asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile on her lips.
"Yes mom, friends other than Louis and those girls. I mean there are three girls over there but all of them are just friends." He said with a laugh and started walking out of the kitchen with me trailing behind him.
"So all the girls are just friends?" I asked Sam with a smirk over my face.
"Yeah?" he said with a tone hinting at warning.
"Casey?" I asked smugly.
"Yes Louis, Casey too." He said with a straight face.
"Me too? For what?" she asked standing near the door leading to the gaming room.
"You are one of those people whom I defeated in eating competition." He replied coolly.
"That was because I just burnt my tongue earlier that day." She defeated herself.
"Yeah sure." Sam said smirking at her, she just stuck her tongue at him and grabbed one the bottles from his hands and walked inside sitting beside Ashton.
Jordan and I already finished doing our work on his English work. It went by pretty well and fast. All of us were speaking and playing on X-box. All of us looked over at Jessica when she groaned out aloud.
"Why? What's wrong?" Ashton asked.
"It's the cheer group chat room. They always keep gossiping. And this time it's about Shaden." She said with a frown.
"Is it Pro-Shaden or Anti-Shaden?" Jordan asked.
"Neither. Someone saw her in super market with some apparently hot college guy and they clicked a picture of her as evidence that she is happily roaming around with a hot guy after the stunt she pulled out against our mighty leader, Emily. They are literally invading her privacy." She said rolling her eyes. I know who the guy they were speaking about is. He really was a good looking guy.
"Show me the picture." Haru said grabbing the phone from Jess's hand. He looked at the picture with a surprised look on his face and blew a low whistle. "She is so damn hot. Why can't she come to school dressed like this?" he said with a smirk. Elijah hit him on his head and took the phone from his hand.
"Nothing about her expression tells that 'she is happily roaming around with a hot college guy. Look at her, she looks so sad." He said passing on the phone to Jordan and which went on until it reached me. A 15 year old is not supposed to look like this, she is so damn hot. Her legs, though not very long, were well toned. She had a total black inner shirt, black shorts and a blue vertical stripped long open coat which was carelessly hung over her thin and small frame. She put no effort in her dressing but she still looked very beautiful. But her eyes looked very tired and she was slouched over the counter waiting for the Cam guy to return.
"Do you think she is dating that college guy?" Bell asked and I immediately denied making everyone look at me in amusement.
"Yes Louis, go on." Elijah said with a smirk.
"Well. That guy came to school to speak to the Chairman and I overheard him telling that he is her best friend. And when he was leaving the school, I saw him leave with a girl who I think he is dating because he kissed her." I said in a matter of fact tone. Of course the last part was not true but I so really wished it was the truth. I just don't know the reason but I don't want her to be in love with anyone.
"For all we know he could be her brother people." Jordan said and we all agreed to him.
"But that girl, she has got some attitude dude." Ashton said in a dreamy voice.
"Which girl?" Ruby asked walking in and taking a seat beside Casey.
"There is this new girl in our school. She is smoking hot and she has got some guts. Like two days ago, when few girls were annoying her she tried to remain calm but once they spoke some shit about her religion, she snapped and hit the wall with her bare hand. Her hand was bleeding but she didn't show any pain on her face. She gave Emily a piece of her mind and walked out in the coolest way possible." Jordan summarized.
"She sounds tough. But that must have been painful." Ruby said hanging their hand loosely around Casey.
"Oh! Believe me it was really painful." Casey replied wincing. And we looked at her confused. "I found her in the bathroom trying to remove the rings on her fingers and it was messy because her skin was broken and bleeding and getting those rings out of her fingers was like, ooh." She said shuddering.
"Right! I forgot that she has all those rings on her hand. She has like what? Five rings?" Sam asked.
"What the fuck. She had five rings on the hand she punched the wall with? Is she stupid?" Ruby asked scrunching their nose and we all nodded.
"I think you both would have been great friends." Mabel muttered under her breath. But when she raised her head up she realized that Ruby was looking at her amused.
"Why would you say that?" Ruby asked with a smirk. Mabel blushed at this.
"Say what?" she asked shyly and I raised my brows at this. Everyone else already shifted to another conversation, so no one else was paying attention to them.
"That I could become good friends with this new girl."
"Just because." She said but when she saw the look on Ruby's eyes she just sighed. "Both of you like violence and both of you are extremely good looking." She said, the second part under her breath, but going by Ruby's smirk, I knew that they heard her loud and clear.
"Kids. Come on here, dinner is here." Sam's mom yelled from the hall. All of us sighed and walked into the large dining hall to already find Sam's other four siblings and three cousins already seated there.
"What the hell dude? It looks like we are sitting down for some community meeting?" Brendan said with surprise written all over face.
"Why does everyone get soo surprised when you see my big family? It's not that surprising people?" Sam said exasperatedly.
"Yeah right." All of us said rolling our eyes for emphasis.