Their Princess

Ch. 19- Tre (Edited)

Jaden's POV:

Hearing what Aria had seen happen to her mother struck a bit too close to home. 

"Uncle Lawrence," I called in an attempt to get his attention.

Ever since Aria had been dismissed, he sat there zoned out and silent. Hearing his name being called out, he lifted his head to acknowledge me but his eyes were focused elsewhere.

"If what Aria had said was true, and she had seen everything that she had said," I began. "She needs to see somebody- a therapist or a professional."

Lawrence shook his head in dismay, and I was taken aback.

"What do you mean no?" My voice raised slightly. "If Aria has just been carrying that load of guilt this whole time, you do know how that can affect her mentally, right?"

"No Jaden, he's right," Adrian puts a hand on my shoulder. 

"What the actual fuck, Adrian?" I say pushing his hand off, stunned by his agreement. "That's your little sister."

I never truly cared about Aria like that and I still didn't, but who would willingly make a kid go through this alone?

"Jaden, we can't let this information out to anybody, and you of all people should know how they have spies all over the state," Adrian explains, sitting himself down in the seat across from Uncle Lawrence.

"So you're just going to let your own suffer to keep this under wraps?" I scoff. "You do realize how fucked up that sounds?"

"Jaden, if you've been around Aria, you would know that she would deny a therapist." Lawrence slams his hands down on his desk, clearly getting frustrated with my antics. "She hasn't talked to anybody in this family about how she has felt, including her assistant. She's isolating herself and wants to keep it that way."

"And we aren't the type of people to force her to see a specialist-" Adrian began but I cut him off.

"You guys got me help when I needed it the most by encouraging me because we're family," I said, making my way to the door. "Is that not what Aria is?"

I let that soak in their heads as I stormed my way out of the room, slamming the office door causing me to wince.

Uncle Lawrence is going to shoot my head off for slamming it.

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Aria's POV:

I've been walking around the halls in a daze, feeling numb in a sense. 

I couldn't describe it, and I hated that I couldn't understand what I was feeling. Humans knew the difference between sad, happy, and whatever.

For me, it always seemed to be mixed up in a big bowl until it all balanced out to nothing. Just numbness.

Lawrence had sat there in silence and I couldn't tell what he was thinking before he let me go, saying that he would begin funeral preparations for my Mom. He had asked if I wanted to take part or if I wanted to know how it was going, but I wanted nothing to do with it.

People could call me a terrible person for all I care, but I had always been petty as a child. Since I was young, I hated admitting to the hurtful truth when things didn't go the right way. 

I would always try to fix it, but the more I got involved, the worse the situation had gotten. That's why I sort of took a step back in getting involved. 

Feeling a tough hand on my shoulder spinning me around caused my fist to swing at the person automatically.

"What the-" Jaden began, as he caught onto my wrist and backed up a bit.

Realizing it was just Jaden, I dropped my hand before quietly mumbling embarrassed at my sudden actions, "My bad."

"Don't worry about it, I should have called out to you instead," He began rambling but I was already walking off.

"Wait, hold on!" He says jogging back up to me. "Want to go out and do something?"

I looked at him weirdly as I looked at him for any sight of lies or something but he seemed genuine.

"Nah," I mumbled in response, shaking my head confusedly.

"How about some food or ice cream?" He just wouldn't drop it.

"I'm not that hungry, Jaden,"

"Okay," He said to himself as he pondered before it seemed a lightbulb went off in his head. "Do you want to play basketball with me and Jeremiah?"

My ears instantly perked up at the sound of it and I gave him a little glance. It had been forever since I played ball and I wanted to leave this place. 

I stay silent and he takes that as an answer before walking off in the opposite direction. 

"Alright, just grab your things and meet me in the foyer!" He hollers throughout the hall, catching the attention of any workers and I rolled my eyes.

Where does one get so much energy, I don't know but he will need that soon once he sees my handles.

I speed walk to my room as I try not to show how excited I am and grab all my equipment. Grateful for all my items being brought from Canada, I grab all the familiar clothes before looking for my shoes.

Two shoeboxes held some of my core memories. 

One was the pair I had gotten for Christmas by Mama even though we couldn't have afforded it. She had taken extra shifts whenever she could to buy me this now, beat-up pair.

The other memory was too fragile and it hurt... A lot.

My fingers brushed over the smooth surface of the box as I gingerly opened it. The shoes had rarely reached my fingertips with colours splashing all over the exterior.

Tre loved ball and he got me into it. Through basketball, he showed me another world. He showed me what a real friendship was. 

Although we were little kids and Tre used to be a troublemaker along with his sister, he was so mature for his age. He knew how to appreciate the little things in life in and out of ball.

"I like playing basketball because you can feel everything when you're playing, Ari," He said dribbling the ball skillfully. "Now watch this one splash!"

A little smile crept on my face at the memory of the little boy I once used to be friends with. Tre, Talia, and I always made big plans to go elite and become the Big Three.

The door behind me suddenly opened and it abruptly took me out of my thoughts.

"You coming or what?" Jeremiah said, popping his head through the crack of the opened door.

"Yeah, I'm ready," I say before shutting the box carefully and grabbing onto my old shoes and my ball.

I follow Jeremiah out before making sure to take a quick look back at the shoeboxes sticking out of my bag.

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