Teenage Trauma 

Chapter 1 - February 5th, 2023 ~ "We're in this together."

3rd Person POV

Present Time ~

"You good Cupcake?"
"Yeah, just a couple of new scars and bruises, that's all. No need to worry bout' me Ivan."
"Are you sure?"
"Of course I am Rosie."
"But are you really really sure?" Carly chuckles as she and her 2 best friends chat on a park bench under the shade of a tree in New York's famous Central Park. The bench was made of wooden boards and was a little wobbly because of its uneven lengths of the legs. The park was nice and quiet while the sun shined brightly in the sky as wind gushed once in a while. The young kids were playing happily in the playground while their parents watched in awe. Watching these kids grow up with decent parents made Carly—well—jealous and happy for them. Her friends' parents were not the worse and not the best kind of parents. They were the kind of parents who care about their education and were very strict about it. So Carly couldn't spend much time with Ivan and Rose. Their hangouts always happen once or twice a week so they try to enjoy the most of it. Spring was coming up. Which meant Summer was coming up. Which meant summer break was not far away. The trio loved summer break because of the extra amount of time they get to spend together. They all are each others' happy place and will always depend on each other. The three were wearing matching T-shirts, (which if they positioned themselves side by side, the t-shirt will say 'We Are Bffs'), and were wearing loose pants.
"Yes I am Ivan. I can assure you I am one hundred percent sure." Carly said in a playful tone.
"Oh ok, good to know." Ivan's face formed into a playful smirk. The trio then was followed by a comforting silence, enjoying each other's company while the afternoon air gently blew their faces.
"Y'all wanna go grab some drinks and have a walk?" Rose asked the two, looking at Carly and Ivan from the left for an answer.
"Sure."
"A walk wouldn't be too bad. Race y'all to Starbucks!" And just like that, Ivan started running.
"Cheater." Carly and Rose mumbled, and soon the girls were off. A few minutes later, Carly and Rose finally reached Starbucks and found Ivan leaning against the glass wall with his arms cross and a playful grin.
"What took you guys so long?"
"Oh shut up, you knew I would've beaten you if you hadn't had cheated." Rose replied between deep, heavy breaths. Ivan placed his hand on his chest and made an expression that signalised that he was 'offended'.
"I did not cheat," the dark brown haired Canadian scoffed, "and besides, even if I did 'cheat', I would've still won."
"That's likely." Carly finally said sarcastically after catching her breath. "Anyways, we are here at our destination. And I could really use a drink right now." Rose and Ivan agreed and they all decided to go in.
"Ladies first." Ivan said as he opened the door and gestured for them to enter.
"Why thank you kind sir." Carly said, in the same playful voice. Rose came after Carly and just chuckled as she said, "Thanks cheater." The trinity ordered their drinks and went to sit down in a table.
"So, what have y'all been up to lately? Cause' I dunno about you but I've been working all day on the math homework. It's like mega ultra Turboflex hard ya know what I mean." The red haired British girl said with a sigh.
"I-"
"Well-"
"You can go first Cupcake."
"Nah, I insist you go first Ivo buddy."
"Ladies first-"
"Quit making a fuss about of who goes first. That's wasting our hang out session. How bout' Ivo go first?" An impatient Rose interrupted the two's argument on who goes first.
"Alright fine. But next time Cupcake goes first. All I've been doing is taking care of Tucker and doing homework. I've also practiced basketball and soccer shooting."
"Noiceeee. How's your little squirt doing huh? Say hi to Mr. Tucker The Turtle for me." Carly said, exaggerating Tucker's name a bit.
"Yeah, say hi for me too."
"I will, I will. He's doing fine. Just a little lazy recently. Just like, ahem, someone." Ivan turns to Carly with an eyebrow raised.
"Oh please, I haven't been that lazy. All I've been doing is taking care of Jerry and Hammy and doing just as much homework as you guys are doing. I'm not that lazy."
"Eh, you got a points." Ivan backed down. The triad takes a sip of their chocolate milk.
"Ya know, I should've paid for our drinks, just saying." Rose says as she takes a sip of her drink.
"Nah, I shoulda done that." Carly said, mimicking Rose's action.
"Hey, you both know you guys deserve a break." Rose and Carly rolls their eyes.
"Weren't you saying I was lazy a second ago?"
"I agreed you were not after you pointed the work you've done out." Ivan raises his hands up as if he was in trouble, then takes a sip out of his drink. After they finished their drinks, they went out and started walking in the warm windy streets. Carly always had some kind of feeling when she was with them, especially Ivan. She felt protected and she cared just as much as they did. But that's not the emotion she was looking for. This feeling of hers was—different. That feeling sort of included happiness—loads of it—and...love? Carly couldn't quite put it together, she had this, this feeling that made her heart do summersaults and give her stomach butterflies. The feeling of comfort and joy was involved and was always the feelings when she is near her friends.
"Do you ever feel that feeling where you just feel loved and love?" Carly wondered aloud, breaking the silence.
"Yeah." Both of them said in unison.
"Why you ask? Something's wrong?" Ivan asked in concern.
"Yeah, you usually ask us something that is out of the blue. What's wrong? You good?" Rose asked, causing Carly to shake her head and look down.
"Nothing."
"C'mon, we're your friends. You can tell us." Rose pointed out.
"You mean best friends." Ivan added. Carly gave a sigh as both worried friends turned to look and wait for an answer. Should I tell them? My feelings that just—feel abnormally different. I think I should. But what if they judge me? After mingling and arguing whether or not she should tell her best friends the feeling she had, she decided to tell them, "Well, every time I hang out with you two, I get this feeling that something has to do with love or somthin'. It just makes my heart and me—just feel—love? I dunno." Carly decided that she was not ready to tell them about the heart summersaults and stomach butterflies she'd been getting when looking at Ivan.
"I recently felt that too so you're not the only one." Ivan said in a soft but loud-enough voice to comfort her.
"Yeah, same." Rose added reassuringly. Carly looked at the two and gave them a weak smile to thank them, her facial expression clearly showing her loneliness as she thought back on how she barley had any love for anyone or had been loved by someone until now.
"Remember, you're not alone." Rose said thoughtfully, as though she knew what Carly was thinking.
"Yeah, whatever you go through, we go through. The same goes for the three of us." Ivan gave a reassuring smile as he joined in the conversation, "We're in this together." Carly smiled in appreciation and stared down her toes while thinking how lucky she was to have friends like Ivan and Rose. As the newly grown leaves rustled due to the light wind, the trio saw 2 swings just aside on their right.
"We might be too old for this but wanna go swing?" Ivan gave a hopeful and quirky smile before receiving the girls' nods of agreement. The three walked over to the swings, Ivan and Carly reaching a swing each first and started swinging like there was no tomorrow. The wind breezed on and past their faces as they went up and forward, then down and backwards. Once in a while, one of them would stop and let the other friend have a go. This ended until the sunset starts to approach with a hint of a mixture of beautiful colors combined. The three said their goodbyes and farewell hugs, then went their separate ways back home. But for Carly, home was sort of a nightmare, so she decided to take a longer route than normal to navigate her way back. All Carly can think of as she walked was what Ivan and Rose had said. It was true that they were best friends. It was also true that they were not alone and they had each other. But what's even more remarkable is that they were all in this together. No matter how many scars and bruises they get, they would all be willing to go through that tough moment with one another. The more Carly thinks about it, the more she realises that they were and are in this together.