His Sunflower

Chapter 25

Grandpa came over a few days ago, he brought the twins and the rest of my stuff from their house. I'm permanently moving in now, unless something happens to either of my parents again. Then I might have to move out. But it's whatever.

Max and Clara were really happy to see mom, and while I hadn't seen my baby siblings in a few weeks, I decided to just stay in my bedroom. Over the past two weeks, I grew progressively more hurt at the fact my mom almost died, and every time I looked at her, I felt like crying. So I've been keeping my distance. I know it's wrong, since she's my mother, but every time I see her, I can't help but think she almost died, and a lot of the time I think it's my fault.

Ethan has been trying his hardest to tell me it's not my fault, but I don't believe him. Unless my mother tells me to my face, swearing to me it wasn't my fault, I will continue believing it.

I walk into my Western Civ classroom, seeing Ethan immediately get up from his desk and hugging me tightly.

"Zoey! I was so worried, you skipped school Thursday and Friday then didn't talk to me all weekend, I thought something bad happened!"

"I'm sorry Ethan, my dad sorta took me on an unexpected trip for the weekend. He said he thought it might make me happier."

"Did it?"

"I wasn't around my mom, so I guess it worked."

Ethan sighs and pulls me over to his desk, he sits down and pulls me into his lap. This has become Ethan's new thing, to have me sit in his lap whenever. "You need to try fixing things with your mom. I hate seeing you so upset all the time."

I play around with Ethan's hair, making tiny little braids in his hair. "I'm always like this." That's a complete lie. The past two weeks I've been a little distant from reality.

"That's a lie Zoey. I can see you're upset. You know it's not your fault."

I don't believe Ethan, but I don't tell him that. I just continue braiding his hair. We've both gotten in the habit of coming early to this class, because we like the privacy. Well Andy, Ms. Dowell is still here but she leaves us alone for the most part.

"Zoey, sorry to interrupt but I just wanted to know if everything's ok?" Andy asks from her desk. "You haven't turned in any of your assignments, and I've heard from all your teachers you've always gotten perfect grades."

"You said you turned in all you assignments and homework Zoey!" Ethan says.

"What? No, I didn't say that. I said..." oh shit. I did tell him that. Oops.

"Zoey, I'm literally going to lock you in a room with your mother and not let you out until you say what you need to say."

"I'm fine Andy- sorry Ms. Dowell. I'll turn in my assignments really soon." As soon as I do them all.

"Zoey, seriously, I'm not joking. I will lock you and your mom into a room." Ethan says looking me dead in the eyes.

"I know." I say. He's really not joking. Ethan has said multiple times how he hates seeing me upset, and if me and my mom talking will make me feel better, Ethan will do anything to make it happen. The bell rings, and slowly kids start coming in, so I quickly get off Ethan's lap and sit at my desk.

"Hey, you wanna come over for dinner again?"

"I would, but my dad told me I have to eat dinner with them tonight. Apparently it's rude to purposely avoid eating dinner with my family. But that's just because last time I ate dinner with my mom, things didn't go too well."

Ethan frowns. "Bummer."

"Hey, I can ask if you can come over for dinner. I'd appreciate having you there, you'll definitely keep me from losing my cool."

"Alright."

I quickly text my dad, asking if Ethan can eat with us tonight, and dad says he can.

"My dad said it's fine."

Ethan smiles. "Sweet, I can't wait to meet your family."

"Wish I could say the same." I mumble under my breath. I really hope nothing bad will happen tonight.

Class starts, and Ethan and I get partnered up for a history project. Which makes me happy, I probably wouldn't have worked with anyone else but him, so I'm glad we're together.

...

Lunch rolls around, and I'm waiting at my locker for Ethan, he always meets me here and then we walk to the cafeteria together.

"Hey sunflower!" Ethan says happily jogging towards me.

"Sup dork."

Ethan grabs my hand. "Come on, let's go eat. I'm starving!"

"You're always starving." I roll my eyes. It's true, he's always complaining about being hungry.

Ethan shrugs. "Wanna hear a joke?"

"I thought we got past your jokes." I say sighing, yet a small smile plays at my lips.

"Yeah... my jokes are bad. But they make people happy, so I always tell the bad jokes."

I swing my hand holding Ethan cold stiff hand as we walk. Ethan chuckles, like he always does when I swing our hands.

"Hey, did you know you're my best friend?" Ethan asks as we sit down, Ethan practically pulling me onto his lap.

I nod. "Did you know you're my best friend too?"

"I do." Ethan keeps one hand around my waist as we eat, and when we finish he wraps his other arm around my waist and rests his head on my shoulder.

"I really hope you can be happy again." He whispers.

"I am happy Ethan. Just happy and stressed."

"I don't like seeing you stressed." I can just hear the frown in his voice.

"I don't like feeling stressed." I lean my head onto Ethan's head, and we stay like that until lunch is over, and we go back to school.