Love and Family | Port Orthos 4

chapter 18: harlow's surprise

chapter 18: harlow's surpise

~harlow~

       Kiro has to stay at the hospital for a few days while under observation until the doctors can find out what's wrong with him. At first, I thought it could have been appendicitis, but it the doctors confirmed that it wasn't.

       Fern hasn't been taking it well. I mean, that's her best friend. Her other half. Fern and Kiro are always glued to each other's hip, so for him to be unwell in the hospital is affecting her a lot.

       Dad and Poppa are letting Fern spend the entire day with Kiro instead of going to school. If she went to school, she would just feel overwhelmed and would likely have a meltdown while worrying about Kiro. They know it's no big deal to miss a day or two, especially if going to school would only cause a meltdown. Dad and Poppa always tell us to prioritize our mental health more than anything so if there's anything preventing us from wanting to go to school for the day, they're fine with us staying home.

       We're so lucky to have such understanding parents.

       Kaylee walks up to me while I'm at my locker before first period. "Harlow, is everything okay with Kiro? I heard that he was admitted to the hospital during school."

       "Wow, people talk fast," I say. "He's doing better. I think. He's still there while the doctors try to figure out what's wrong."

       "I hope he feels better," Kaylee says.

       "Yeah, me too," I say. "Fern's there with him, so she'll give me any updates if there are any."

       "You know, I'm still surprised that Fern and Kiro are not a couple," Kaylee says.

       "I think everyone is surprised when they find out Fern and Kiro are just best friends," I say. "Even I'm surprised daily, and I know for a fact they're not dating."

       "Weren't they on the list for the best couple superlative last year for people to vote for?" Kaylee asks. "That's what made me believe they were dating."

       "Yeah, some people in the yearbook committee thought it would be funny to sneak their names in without Kiro noticing," I say. "Kiro thought it would be unfair for them to win when they're not a couple, so all the votes towards them were voided."

       "Ah, that makes a lot of sense. I know a lot of people were wondering why they didn't win when so many people voted for them. They're really cute together."

       "They are." Even I voted for Kiro and Fern, but I wouldn't let either of them know. Kiro would have glared daggers at me and Fern would have just been extremely confused why I voted for them when I know they're not a couple, and I wouldn't be able to tell her I mainly did it to pester Kiro.

       I may bug Kiro all the time, but I would never reveal that he's in love with Fern. That's his business, not mine. Doing so might just ruin their friendship if it makes Fern feel too awkward and that's the last thing I want. It's why Kiro hasn't told her at all. He would rather stay friends with her and not date her at all than not have her in his life.

       If only other guys were like that and didn't throw a fit whenever they were stuck in the friend-zone. I was once friends, or at least I thought we were friends, with a guy who called me a bitch when I turned him down. I was dating my ex-girlfriend at the time, so of course I was going to turn him down.

       During lunch, I hang out with Kaylee like I normally do. A lot of the times her boyfriend hangs out with us too, but I never feel like the third wheel with them. Unlike when I hang out with Fern and Kiro, which is funny since the former is a couple and the latter is not.

       Kaylee and I decide to eat lunch in the cafeteria since there are a lot of options there. We find a table to sit at and as we're eating, some girl walks up to us. "Hi, are you two Harlow and Kaylee?" she asks.

       "We are," Kaylee says. "I'm Kaylee and she's Harlow. Hi."

       "I'm Sera," the girl says. "You're also friends with Kiro, right?"

       "If you're going to ask us to give him your number, I'm just going to let you know now that he won't accept it," I say.

       Sera shakes her head. "No, it's not that. I just heard that he wants to find out who's behind the list and... I think I know who's behind it. I overheard my brother talking to his friend on the phone and he didn't exactly say he made the list, but he said something like, 'I'm not scared of Kiro. It's probably just empty threats anyway'. And I know Kiro has been looking for the person behind the list, so... Yeah. And I totally don't care that I'm possibly snitching on my brother. He's a good brother, but what he's doing it so mean."

       "Who's your brother?" I ask.

       "His name is Viktor," Sera says. "He's in the eleventh grade."

       I furrow my eyebrows at the name. No way it's the Viktor in my class. The one that stood up for me against the guys who would not stop talking about it. The one who said the list is sexist and reeks of an early 2000's teen movie.

       "Viktor?" I repeat. "Is your last name Frazier?"

       "Mhm. You know Viktor then?"

       "Yeah, he's in my class," I say. "And it's weird that it might be him because I was arguing with two of my classmates about it once, and Viktor took my side. He even called the list sexist."

      "Maybe he was pretending," Kaylee says. "So no one would suspect he's behind it. Either way, we can't just accuse him until we have more proof."

       "If I ever hear him say anything more about it, I'll let you know," Sera says.

       "That would be great, thanks," Kaylee says. "We'll also try to find some proof."

       "And we'll leave Kiro out of it for now," I say. "He doesn't have to know until we have proof." Besides, I want Kiro to focus on himself right now and not have to worry about all of this while he's in the hospital.

       "Thank you for letting us know," Kaylee says to Sera. "It must have been hard since he's your brother."

       "Yeah, I still can't believe it," Sera says. "He never really seemed like the sexist type, so I still don't know why he made that list. But I don't care if he's my brother, I'm not going to defend him."

___________________

go sera!

kiro would lowkey break out of the hospital if harlow told him they might know who made the list.