L A N A
"I still can't believe it," Carmen muttered. We sat in the waiting room while Isha was getting her injuries treated. Jada and Carmen arrived at the hospital with Diego and Kiana ten minutes after I called them and told them what happened.
Everyone sat in silence, wearing an expression of anxiousness, shock, and anger. Everett sat across from me, head tilted backward and eyes drifted closed. He seemed tired but the expression on his face clearly said anxious.
"I'll go check if there are any updates," Diego said, giving Carmen's hand a small squeeze before getting up and disappearing out of the waiting room.
"Any info on Carlos?" Kiana asked. Her face was so pale, I thought she might pass out. She and Isha had gotten closer over the past few months. Isha hadn't told us how close though. I wondered if they were dating.
Jada, whose anger glinted sharply in her eyes, shook her head. "No. Not yet. He probably sent his boys or left town with them after they left her there."
For once, it was pretty clear to me what was going on in Jada's head. First, he cheated on Carmen, then he raped me and now he has made his boys beat up Isha. What was next?
"What were you and Everett doing at school so late?" She suddenly asked, surprising me.
I blinked. "We-"
"Hey! We can go see her," Diego said, hurriedly appearing at the doorway. We all got up and hurried after Diego through two corridors before we all entered the room she was inside of.
She was seated on a hospital bed, silent and still with a saddened face. I almost burst into tears again when I saw that her forehead and arms were covered in white bandages. The small cuts on her face were still there but they weren't bleeding anymore and she also had a black eye.
Tees blurred Carmen's vision, but Diego gave her hand a small squeeze. She inhaled sharply through her nose and was the first one who got to her, pulling her gently to her chest and wrapping her arms around her. Jada and I followed, completing our group hug. I exhaled as I felt their arms around me. It had been a while since our last group hug.
After pulling away from each other, Kiana came over and hugged her too. Isha sighed and wrapped her arms around her. When Kiana gently pulled away and carefully stroked Isha's cheek, something changed in her eyes. Something was definitely going on between them.
"You okay, Isha?" Everett asked, standing next to Diego. Immense concern glinted in his eyes.
Isha nodded and offered Everett and Diego a stoic smile. "Yeah. Don't worry about it. I'm fine. Thanks for being there, Everett."
At those words, Everett's eyes met mine but I quickly looked down but not before Isha caught us in the action.
"Dammit. I'm going to kill Carlos," Jada said, balling her hands into fists as the anger across her face increased.
Carmen looked equally enraged but behind that anger, there was agony and guilt. "Me too. How fucking dare he?"
Carlos. I just wanted him to be erased from our lives for good. Was that too much to ask for?
After the nurse told us all of us weren't allowed to be here together, we decided to get out of the hospital and go home.
"I just need to talk to Lana alone for a minute," Isha said when Carmen put her arm around her to help her off the bed.
Jada and Carmen exchanged a puzzled look that matched my face before they all left the room. As soon as the door shut behind them, leaving the two of us alone, Isha surprised me by quickly saying, "You're in love with Everett,"
I froze. "What?"
"Lana Takumi, you're in love with Everett Weston."
I blinked twice in disbelief. "Did you crack your brain? You've gone mad. I'll go get the doctor."
She grabbed my arm to stop me from moving. "No, wait!"
I turned to her, giving her a firm look. " I don't like him." That was probably the biggest lie I had told.
"Swear it on The Sirens," she said, sharply.
I scowled before turning and heading for the door.
"Yuuki Takumi."
I froze.
"Swear it on the Sirens that you're not in love with him."
I turned around and met her eyes. Isha frowned when tears blurred my eyes as I whispered, "I can't."
That was when Isha's face softened and she opened her arms for me. "Oh my fucking God. Come here."
I practically threw myself into her arms, burying my face against her chest before asking, "How do you know?"
Reading her chin on my head, she rubbed my back. "Lana. You're my best friend. I can see everything. You've been smitten with him lately. Always blushing a little and smiling back when he smiles at you. Plus, when you found me, it was pretty oblivious from your puffy eyes and red cheeks that you had been crying for a while. So what happened?"
Oh, god. Oh, no. I squeezed my eyes shut but Isha drew back and cupped my face in her hands. Her black eye looked so bad from up close. How could anybody hurt an amazing, sympathetic and generous person like Isha?
"Lana. This is huge. You're in love with Everett. You have feelings for him," she said, herself trying to make sense of the words that left her mouth.
"It doesn't matter anymore," I murmured, dropping my gaze.
"Why?"
I stayed silent.
"Lana. What did you do?"
I heaved a sigh. "We got close in the student council room today. I...We almost kissed but I pushed him away and had a breakdown in the bathroom before I left and found you."
"Oh, Lana...," Isha trailed off, frowning. I tucked into her with my head on her chest and closed my eyes as she wrapped her arms around me once again.
"I can't be with him. I can't touch him. I can't even kiss him," I confessed, my voice breaking.
Isha sighed and met my gaze with genuineness on her face. "Listen. Fears are fears. Nobody can just switch off their fears. It takes time. But if you want to be with Everett, you have to try to come out of your shell and slowly get rid of this fear. The only way to do that is to practice."
I sighed. She was right, but I was so scared to be vulnerable and to open myself up for others. I had no idea and no experience with that. This was all so new to me. These feelings, these emotions, this attraction, and this comfort I found in Everett.
"Does he know about Miles and Carlos?" She asked, gently.
I shook my head. "No."
"About your depression?"
"I'm sure he suspects."
"You know you need to tell him, right?"
"Yeah. You want me to say to him, by the way, I've been raped twice, been depressed for four years, have PTSD, and can pretty much not stand skin contact with boys which means I can't kiss or have sex?"
"Lana."
"And of course, my cerebral palsy too," I added.
"Hey. You said yourself he respects you," she softly.
I shook my head. "This isn't about respect. This is about...enduring. Will he be able to endure all of this? I may seem delicate and quiet but I carry so much shit with me, it's fucking destructive."
Isha wipes my tears and smiled, encouragingly. "Lana. Stop it. You're not destructive. You're a lot more than what you think you are and you have so much more to offer than depression and PTSD. You're selfless, smart, cute, loyal and so caring."
"I don't-"
"-Are you guys done?" Carmen popped her head into the room.
Isha nodded and I pulled myself together as Jada and Carmen walked in, Everett trailing after them with a distracted look on his face as his gaze was dropped to his phone in his hand.
"Ready to leave?" Carmen asked. Isha smiled and nodded.
"Everett, your clothes have blood on them. I don't think you should go home like this unless you want to be bombed with questions by your parents," Isha said.
"Tell them you're staying with a friend," Carmen suggested.
"I can't reach Ali," he said, frowning as he was typing a message to him probably.
Suddenly, Isha nudged my arm. I glanced at her briefly before blurting out three words that surprised us all, especially Everett, "You can stay with me."
****
Author's note: Hello! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. More coming soon:)
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