Life's A Pain

Chapter 10

Ashton was scrolling through instagram when he saw a notification that Crystal texted him. That was a bit odd because, yes they were friends, but they mainly only talked in group settings. So her texting him was a bit odd.

He decided to check his messages and was a bit shocked at what he read.

"Hey Ash! I had Kaitlyn (from support group) over today and I know that you go to the same school as her. She told me a few things that made both me and Sierra concerned, and was hoping that you could keep an eye out for her at school? I would tell you more but I can't break her trust."

'Huh that was definitely not what I expected,' Ashton thought to himself.

He began to wonder what was up with Kaitlyn, and slowly his mind put together the pieces of what at least part of the problem may be. He decided to text back his suspicions.

"Does this have anything to do with her asshole friends?"

Crystal was quick to type back with "..."

Ashton decided to tell Crystal how he came to that conclusion.

"Last week, either on Monday or Tuesday, one of Kaitlyn's friends screeched really loud in the hallway about Kaitlyn going to a support group and 'weren't they enough.' That friend and one of the other girls continued to berate her for wanting to go."

"That made me wonder if Kaitlyn was going to join our support group. I had known for a while that Kaitlyn has had medical problems, and when she was absent, her 'friend' would tell people it was just an act and that she was doing it for sympathy and attention. I never believed it because in my Sophomore year, she was in the nurse's office crying and throwing up from the pain. There was no way she could have been faking it. I have tried to counter the rumors, but because they were coming from her so-called friends the people were more believing of her."

"I don't think Kaitlyn knows what they are doing when she isn't there. They, to her face, might I add, demean her and put down her decisions. After she went to our group, her friends were extra harsh and asked if they knew anyone who went. Kaitlyn said no, despite her knowing that I was there and that her friends knew me."

"After hearing that conversation, I started paying closer attention, and noticed that two of her friends seemed to be maliciously hiding something, while the other seemed to know what was going on, but didn't say anything."

"If this has anything to do with trying to counter the harm Kaitlyn's friends are doing to her, then count me in."

To say that Crystal was shocked at what she read was an understatement.

It was one thing for Kaitlyn's friends to lie and not invite her to a concert, but it was a whole nother thing for her friends to be spreading rumors about her faking her illness.

Crystal herself knew what it was like to be accused of faking her illness, but at least they told her to her face! To spread rumors behind Kaitlyn's back was despicable. She hated Kaitlyn's friends and she hasn't even met them yet.

She was glad that she now had Ashton looking out for her at school. She knew that he would do everything in his power to stand up for Kaitlyn when she needed it.

"Thank you for telling me this, Ash. And thank you for trying to look out for Kaitlyn and counter the rumors. She is such a sweet girl and doesn't deserve this."

"I'm not going to tell you any of the details why, but I had an idea for something that we can do for Kaitlyn, we just need to involve the others from our group."

Ashton smiled when he saw Crystal thanking him and was wondering what Crystal had planned, especially as it involved the whole support group. He was glad that Kaitlyn had other people looking out for her and who were friends.