ThunderLife

Chapter Twenty-Two: Explanations

Addison's POV

"No no no no...." I say worriedly, pacing around the room as Diego just looks at me.

"What's wrong this time?" He asks as he drinks his water.

"To my calculations, — and a lot of thinking — Chase might be, may be, I don't know — working with Ryan in her plans or something!"

Diego puts his glass down and stands up. "What can we do about that?"

"I don't know." I sigh, "In this case, I think Ryan is playing with everyone's hearts and the friendships."

He nods. "Don't you think Chase is a good guy? He treats Kira kindly. He's polite. He's —"

"Acting!" I cut his sentence off.

"That could be, but what if he's just doing it for something, like what happened with Audrey,"

"That is true, but that doesn't change the fact that Ryan Newman is a big fat meanie who plays with friendships." I say angrily.

"Hey, calm down." He says, patting my back, "I noticed that Ryan hasn't given up yet so I think she has a big reason behind all this."

"Yes, that can be true." I reply as I try to relax. "C'mon. My mom wants you to stay for dinner. Thanks for being a great friend, Diego."

He just smiles and we both go down the stairs that leads to the living room.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kira's POV

"What pizza would you like, Kira?" Chase asks me as I just scroll down on some pics on instagram. He was looking through the menu across me.

"You choose," I reply and just liked some random photos. I suddenly landed on a photo posted by littlejgriffo, which is Jack's username. Couldn't get my mind off him.

As soon as the waiter leaves, Chase faces me. "Kira, you seem distracted. What's wrong?"

I thought it was time so I texted Jack "its time". "Nothing. Just tired..."

"Kira, that's not like you to be tired. It's —"

"Hey guys!" Jack cuts in and sits beside me.

"What are you doing here, Jack?" Chase asks, seeming annoyed. I struggled to hold my laughter.

"Oh, me and Kira just wanted to say something to you." He replies, putting his arm around me in the process.

"And what is that?"

"WHY ARE YOU WORKING WITH RYAN?" Me and Jack ask in unison as Chase grows wide eyed.

"What? Pfft. Where did you get such lies like that? Uh —" he says as I just raised an eyebrow. "You know it's none o your business, right?" He continues, his face going closer to us.

"Actually, it is, so if you would be kind enough to explain, we'll be happy to let you go after." Jack says in a tone that has anger and persuasion going closer to him too.

"You don't scare me —"

"Boys! We're here to talk, not have a wrestling match!" I cut their stare-off off, if you know what I mean. They both sat back down. " Now just answer our questions, Chase."

"Why should I —"

"Do what the lady says, Chase!" Jack cuts in as he glares at Chase.

Chase sighs and gives up. "Fine. Shoot."

"Why are you working with her?" Jack asks, crossing his arms.

"She told me we could date after I —" he looks worriedly at me, " — Break Kira's heart."

It was my turn to get mad. "SHE — WHAT?!?!" I screamed and made a move to strangle Chase but Jack held my waist back.

"Kira. Calm down." He says but I just sit down angrily.

"Hmph." I mumble, blew the strand of hair covering my face and crossed my arms in anger.

"Why did you agree to that?" Jack continues.

"It's a long story." Chase states, quite sadly.

"We have time," I say angrily.

"You see, I had this big crush on her ever since I met her in elementary but she didn't feel the same way. And when she asked me to do it, I said yes instantly because I still had this huge crush on her." He explains, trying to calm down. "But when she explained the whole thing, she told me if I backed out, she would hate me forever."

"Wait, how do we know you're not lying?" Jack asks suspiciously.

"Jack, he's not." I whisper to him.

"How do you know that?" He whispers back.

"I see sadness in his eyes. I know he's not lying."

"Okay." Jack agrees and we both face Chase again.

"You know what Chase," I start, "You don't deserve a girl like her. She's blackmailing you like what she did with Jack."

"I know, but before, she seemed so kind. But now, she was sometimes constantly angry and some things that she couldn't concentrate." Chase says, still in a sad tone. "Sometimes, I have pity on her, you know? I was the only friend she had on elementary. When you and Amber came by, she ditched me. And I was sad. But when she went running to me again, I had hopes that she was a good person."

Me and Jack thought about Chase's big explanation. Wow, that affected me so much.

"C'mon. If what you're saying is true," I stood up and showed my hands to the boys, "Let's help Ryan. I know she has goodness in her heart. She might have another big explanation coming ahead of us."

The two boys looked at each other, then to me and nodded. They took my hand, and off we were looking for Ryan Newman.