Daffodils

Chapter 10

I couldn't slept the whole night. I was thinking all the possible reasons as to why Lisa was worried about her moms fight. It's not like, they fought for the first time or something. The night passes like that. I kept thinking about her and the alarm goes off. I saw the clock and it was already 6 in the morning.

I sighed and got up from the bed. I took a quick bath and went downstairs. My dads were shocked that I didn't take an hour for a bath. But I made an excuse that I was feeling sick. I had my breakfast and left for school.

"Hey, Rick." I heard someone was caling me from behind. I turned back and saw it was Kim. He was sprinting towards me.

"Hey. Breathe, Kim. Breathe." Kim gasps for oxygen. I tapped his back and helped him stood straight. We both started walking side by side. Talking about school and our daily life. It was always a fun moment when we talked. I loved to share each and everything with him. I forgot about all my problems whenever I was with him. But I couldn't forgot about Lisa. I didn't want to think about her, but I couldn't do anything about that until I got to know everything.

"Is everything okay with you?" Kim asked. He sensed that I wasn't in mood today.

"Yeah, ofcourse. What would happen to me?" I chuckled lightly. But he wasn't convinced with my reply. So I again started speaking.

"Actually I was thinking about Lisa. You know, she ca-" I stopped myself.

"What?" He turned towards me and asked.

"I-I said that...... I said that, you know, she called us in every little things, but now.." I somehow managed the situation.

"Yeah, it was weird. But.. there's nothing we can do right now." I nodded and we both continued walking to our school and talk about normal stuff.

As we reached school, the school bell rang and we ran towards the class cursing at eachother for walking slow. We reached on time and sat on our seat. I saw Lisa sitting at the back seat. Head hung low. I wanted to talk to her. But she told me to wait till lunch break. We decided to bunk the classes after our lunch break. I will make an excuse to Kim.

Teacher started teaching. And I and Kim were dozing. I couldn't get sleep last night, that's why I was dozing. And he was dozing because I was dozing.

Soon the lunch time arrived. All seven of us had our lunch and left for the classes. I excused that I need to leave the school as I had some work. I went straight to the park where I and Lisa decided to meet. I reached there. But Lisa was nowhere to be seen. I sat on one of the benches in park. I waited for 10 minutes. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked back.

"Hey." She smiled weakly at me.

"Hii. Come sit." I replied back. She sat at the other end of the bench.

"Lisa." I called her name. She raised her head and looked at me.

"You didn't tell anything to Kim, right?" She asked in a hurry.

"Yeah, I didn't tell him. But could you please just tell me already what's going on?" I asked. She just hung her head low and didn't say anything. Suddenly I saw a silver bead falling on her hand.

"Hey! Hey! Hey! What!? Why are you crying?" I slid towards her and took her hand in mine. I wiped her tears.

"I'm going to tell you everything. I can't.. can't handle this alone, anymore." She held her tears back and raised her head to speak.

"That's why we are here, Lisa. Go on."

"My parents...m-my mom's.... They are getting divorced."

"What!?" I couldn't trust my ears at that moment.

"Yes. That's..... that's why I was disturbed. I don't know how to take this. I don't know how could I live after this. Our friends will going to taunt me. You k-know they...they even told me to choose one of them. Rick, how-how could I choose between them. They both are the reason of my existence. How could I chose one among them, Rick. How could I?" She blurted out everything. And that was the exact moment when she burst into tears. She laid her head on my lap. I caressed her hair. I was in total shock. I didn't know what to say, what to do.

"Lisa, I'm here for you, okay? Whenever you need me, I'm always just a call away. You don't have to worry much. We'll handle this together." I console her and tried calming her.

"Thank you, Rick. I don't want to share this with anyone. But I guess, I can rely upon you. I don't know. Just, thank you."

She closed her eyes and lying peacefully. I didn't want to break the silence.

----

We heard the school bell and realised that school got over. I called my dad to pick me up because I wasn't in the mood to have a talk with Kim on the way back home. I messaged him that I'm not going with him and he replied positively. And Lisa left with her friend.

"Rick, we need to talk. Come sit with us." As soon as we reached home, dady called me. I never saw him that serious. I decided not to argue and just follow his commands.

"Yes, dady." I sat in front of them.

"Look, we always supported you at every step, right?"

"Yes...but why are we talking about this right now. Is everything okay?"

"We are observing you since few days and you are acting weird. You never locked yourself in your room, you never skipped your meals. But you are doing these things. What is bothering you, Rick? You can tell us." Dady said in a slightly disappointed tone.

"Yeah, and please don't give excuses of your school stuff. Because you aren't serious about your studies and we know that." Dad added. And I understood that I can't save myself from this, but I can't even speak the truth.

"Actually, it wasn't about school since beginning." I replied.

"We know, Rick. Now tell us." Dad pat my shoulder lightly and gave an assuring smile.

"It was.....it was related to Kim actually." I lied. Because I didn't know what to say other than this. "Kim and I were best friends. Then we explored eachother and fallen in love. But I feel distracted lately. I don't know. I'm scared that what if I hurt him someday. What if we ended up hating eachother. What if someone came between us. I don't want to lose him dad." I spill lies. I made up that excuse on the exact moment but it felt weird. It felt real and that made me really sad.

"Rick, Kim is a nice guy. And you both are together because you both were bestfriends, you know eachother very well and you both accepted eachother the way you are. Nobody will come between you. I know Kim, he can't love someone other than you." Dad said in a calming voice. I knew that Kim will never love someone other than me. But...I was scared about myself.

"Rick, it's totally fine. It's starting for you guys. And he's your first love. Feeling that way is completely fine. But don't get distracted due to this. You have your own life too. Balance both the lives and stop stressing about this." Dad and I looked amusingly at dady. We never expected a serious speech from him.

"What? I can talk seriously too. Stop giving me these looks." Dad and I laughed really hard.

"Yes dads, I'll take care of both of us." Dads started moving.

"Umm, dad." Both turned around and looked at me with questionable eyes. "Should I go for a sleepover....with Kim." I was a bit nervous for asking this question.

"Why so suddenly?" Dady asked.

"I feel like it. I mean..it will be-" Dad and dady started laughing. "What?"

"Nothing, dady was just joking. Ofcourse you can go."

"Thanks, dads." I jumped in excitement and hugged both of them. At that moment, I really wanted to meet Kim. Only he can help me come out of this situation. I can't tell him about Lisa, but his mere presence is enough to lighten my mood.