In her maths period before lunch, Evie stared at the empty seat beside her. Miss Trilby's voice droned on in the background about trigonometry, but Evie wasn't listening. Abel never missed class. Even when he wasn't feeling well. On the rare occasion that he did, he always left her or Tommy a message. But that morning, Abel never arrived at their house to walk to school together. Assuming he had gone early to practice, Evie and Tommy left for school.
When the bell rang, Evie hastily packed up her things and shoved past her classmates into the hallway. She hurriedly pulled out her phone to check her messages. Nothing.
"Hey, Evie, I was just wondering -" Jacob Ponte had stopped by her locker, his broad, green letterman jacket clad shoulders entering her line of vision. He leaned his hockey stick against her locker door.
"Not now, Jacob," Evie replied, without looking at him. She quickly shot off a message to Tommy to meet her at their usual lunch spot.
"Always playing hard to get," Jacob teased. Evie finally looked up at him, preparing to find an excuse to get away, but he was holding a rose. She expected to see the usual smirk pulling at his lips, but instead he wore an earnest smile.
"So the ball is coming up. Wondering if you wanted to go with me." Normally, Evie would have blushed, but she was preoccupied at that moment. Her phone flashed, showing a reply from Tommy. I'm here.
She looked back up at Jacob. "I'm really sorry, Jacob," she said, and she truly was sorry. She pushed her belongings into her locker and slammed it shut. "I really have to go." Before Jacob could reply, she raced down the hallway into the courtyard.
Evie found Tommy by their spot next to the fountain. He held his phone to his ear, listening while wolfing down his sandwich. Seeing her, he asked, "Have you seen Abel? He wasn't at training. He's also not answering my calls."
She shook her head. "He wasn't in maths either. He never skips class."
Tommy shoved his phone back in his pocket, thinking. She was right, of course. Abel was paranoid about losing his scholarship. And for him not to answer, it had to be bad. Something was wrong.
"I want to see him," Evie said, glancing around for the teachers on duty. Tommy nodded in agreement. "Let's go."
After a short bus ride, Evie and Tommy stood outside the place Abel and his mother rented. It was a small but well-maintained townhouse, with pot plants hanging from the roof and lining the small verandah.
Evie knocked on the door. Silence. She knocked again. After a few moments, the door opened, revealing a disgruntled looking Abel, wearing a ratty old T-shirt and his pajama bottoms.
He stared at Evie, and then looked over her head at Tommy who appeared from behind her.
"What are you guys doing here?"
"We wanted to see if you were alright," Evie said and held up his lunch like a peace offering.
Abel sighed, rubbing his tired eyes, and opened the door the rest of the way.
"I suppose you better come in," he said.
From the hallway, Tommy spotted Abel's mother sleeping on the couch, her face too pale. "What happened?" He asked, striding forward towards her.
"She collapsed this morning. She's been overworking herself again, trying to make rent. I needed new basketball shoes this month, which hasn't helped."
Evie grabbed Abel's hand, looking up at his worried face. "Why didn't you tell us? We could've helped." Abel didn't look at her but gripped her hand back. "You know why."
She did. Too proud and too stubborn. He wouldn't accept their help and definitely not their money. It was hard enough at first to even convince him to have a meal at their place.
Tommy tossed him a bottle of water and gestured towards the lunch Evie had placed on the counter. "Eat. I'll see what I can cook up for Mrs. Moon." Abel opened his mouth to argue, but Tommy shook his head. He tilted his head towards Evie, who was kneeling beside Abel's mother and tucking her blankets closer under her chin. We're your friends, he seemed to say. We care.
For the rest of the afternoon, the three of them watched over Abel's mother. Evie and Abel went to the grocery store to save her from having to make a trip, despite Abel's complaints, and Tommy cooked dinner.
It was the smell of his cooking that eventually woke Vivian up. In her sleepy confusion, she got up in shock, to see Evie, Tommy, and Abel sitting cross-legged on the floor beside her, watching TV, each eating a bowl of pasta.
"Mum! You're awake, how are you feeling?" Abel grabbed her glass of water from the coffee table and handed it to her.
"I'm feeling much better now. I'm sorry darling, I must've given you a fright."
She looked at the three children, who stared worriedly at her. Tommy, too mature, Evie, unwaveringly kind, and Abel, who always seemed to see right through her. Tears burned at the back of her eyes.
"You cooked?"
"Tommy did," Abel said.
She touched each of their faces gently, first Abel, then Evie, then Tommy, before getting up to go to the kitchen. When she found her pantry stocked to the brim with groceries, she couldn't help but let a tear slip out. She turned to say thank you, but when she looked back at them, she found them laughing at the TV. Tommy was pointing at the screen, holding his stomach in laughter, whilst Evie had fallen backward in hysterics, her pink socks kicking the air. Even Abel, her beautiful, solemn Abel, had begun to laugh in earnest. But he wasn't looking at the screen. He was looking at them.
YOU ARE READING
Growing Pains
Romansa"You left me. You. left. me. You ran away. How do I know that you won't do it again the next time something goes wrong?" As kids, Evie, Tommy and Abel were best friends. Kind-hearted Evie brought Tommy and Abel under her wing. Until one horrible da...
