𝙎𝙐𝙉𝙁𝙇𝙊𝙒𝙀𝙍, 𝙇𝙐𝘾𝘼𝙎 𝙋𝘼𝙍𝙆𝙀𝙍 (𝙂𝙊𝙊𝙎𝙀𝘽𝙐𝙈𝙋𝙎)

8

"he wasn't like this earlier in the morning—wait the worms had multiplied when they chased us. so maybe they all exited his body during the attack and now he's like this." leilani's tears continued to fall as she looked at her pet frozen on his back as his mouth and eyes were stuck open.

"i'm sorry for crying guys, this is very embarrassing. there's so many people in my room right now and it's not even as clean as it usually is, it's just that ever—" lucas stopped the girl by putting his hand on both of her shoulders. "it's okay, lei. we don't care about your room or that you're crying, we're just here to help you out." he reassured her.

"lei?" justin mouthed to isabella who stood next to him and shrugged. justin only smiled softly as he watched the two.

"there's so much going on, i haven't even properly met you two, i'm sorry." she kept apologizing as she wiped her face whilst looking over at james and isaiah who stood there with sorrowful looks.

"leilani, why don't you go take a breather and we'll all see what we can do for..." isabella trailed off. "simon." justin finished for the girl. "yeah, simon." isabella nodded. "i'm pretty good with animals, actually." james spoke up, awkwardly. "really?" leilani's voice was high pitched as she tried to hold back her cries. "y-yeah, totally." isaiah was sending his best friend a disapproving look as he spoke.

"okay, i'm gonna go to the bathroom and clean up my face." she rushed out of her bedroom and entered her bathroom immediately.

"really dude? you barely know anything about toads!" isaiah whispered yelled at james. "i'm sorry! i panicked, she just looked so upset and it broke my heart!" he defended himself. "does anyone know anything about toads? could he just be in shock?" margot asked. they all looked around. "justin, dude, you gotta know something about toads." isaiah said. the boys eyes widened before speaking. "um, i was actually terrified of him, so was leilani..she just got used to him overtime and i never did. all i know is that they live for about ten to twelve years and this guys death bed would've been in two years from now. so it's either better that he died now or—" isabella punched the boy in the shoulder. "ouch! i'm sorry! look, she and i just got into our first big fight and the first thing i said to her afterwards was that i think her beloved pet is dead! i can't stop thinking about it so now i just feel like a jerk." he rambled.

the teens all stood there looking at him as he expressed himself. once it quieted down, they all just stood there.

"so the toad?" lucas pointed behind him to the tank. "hey siri," james spoke, gaining everyone's attention. "how do you revive a toad?" he asked. "come on, man." isaiah was still shooting the teen boy disapproving looks.

"how about we start by actually touching it? cpr maybe? pouring water onto him." margot suggested. "yeah, pouring water, who has water?" lucas nodded. "we're in a house, lucas. there's water in every faucet." margot said. "right, yeah." he nodded. justin quickly exited the room and went downstairs to get a water bottle.

on his way back up the front door opened which made his eyes widened as he headed back down.

"hey, jus." the boy let out a sigh in relief seeing that it was only dylan. dylan was much calmer in situations like this. "hey, dad..um wait before you go and ask lani about school i just want to warn you that there's about five other teenagers in her room.." justin trailed off watching as dylan's face flickered into utter confusion. "what?" was all the older man could say. "so, we have other friends, and they all decided to come over after finding out that simon could possibly be dead so they're all here to comfort her." he explain. "simon's dead?" dylan placed his things by the door and quickly made his way upstairs.

"by the looks of it, maybe?" justin quickly followed after him. "what do you mean maybe? why do you keep saying maybe?" dylan stopped in front of leilani's door. "because she said he was perfectly fine this morning and now he looks paralyzed on his back." justin finalized as dylan entered.