Lost Love

Chapter Two

Joseph sat within the crowd of people in the stands of the wrestling match. He was in the second row, sitting next to Stella's father who had adopted Zeak. Stella sat on the other side of her father, holding her knees to her chest. Zeak was wrestling a man who weighed 40 pounds more than him. Even though Joseph's eyes were on Zeak's match, his mind was with Nikita. She hadn't texted him back in weeks. Zeak and Joseph knew where Nikita's orphanage was, but the counselors wouldn't let them visit her no matter how hard they tried. Suddenly, he felt a small vibration in his pocket, as Zeak pinned the man to the ground. The referee called out, "1... 2... 3... that's it. The final match goes to Zeak. The crowd cheered, but Joseph and Stella remained silent. Joseph wanted to check his phone, but he figured he would wait until later.

After the match and hitting the showers, Zeak met Joseph and Stella out at the entrance. "So what did you guys think? I got you some good seats right?" He asked. "I know these are just the preliminary matches, but just wait for the real tournament."

"It was cool. You did a good job and won." Stella said happily, but her face held a gloomy expression. She always seemed to wear that expression, since Zeak had told her about what happened to Nikita. She never did get to truly apologize to Nikita.

Joseph was looking down at his phone, as Zeak looked to him for an answer. "Well, squirrel what did you think of the match?"

"It was okay. It seems Nikita texted us in a group chat, finally." Joseph said without taking his attention away from the screen.

"Really, it's been several weeks since she last texted us. What's her excuse this time? Do I need to beat up someone?" Zeak said, getting closer to Joseph to try to see the screen. Stella looked their way with some worry on her face, but quickly looked at the ground. Stella's father gave Zeak a sideways look, when he heard the words 'beat up'.

"It seems she let someone borrow her phone again." Joseph said with a sigh of relief.

"Ugh, how many times do we have to tell her not to do that? She's lucky that strict orphanage let's her keep that phone." Zeak said, trying to grab the phone from Joseph.

"Dude, get your own phone. She texted you too." Joseph said, pushing Zeak back by his face.

"I left it in the locker room, since I have to talk to the coach before I leave anyhow." Zeak said grumbly. "You know I could beat easily beat you, without even trying."

"Yea, but you won't. After-all you've turn over a new leaf. I'll surprise you when the student surpasses the master." Joseph said, attempting to text Nikita back with one hand.

"Ha! It'll be a long time before you'll surpass me." Zeak said, as Joseph rolled his eyes.

"Zeak how about you go grab your stuff and talk to your couch, so we can head out." Stella's father said, grabbing ahold of Zeak's shoulder.

"Ok, I'll go do that." Zeak said, walking off towards the locker room.

Stella's dad drove them home with Stella and Zeak sitting in the back seat. Stella laid against Zeak's shoulder falling asleep. She had changed so much, since she heard what happened to Nikita.

+++

The day after Nikita was saved and taken to the hospital, Zeak and Joseph went to school despite their worries about Nikita. Joesph stayed quiet and remained distant from others. He just wanted to get through the motions of school and get to the hospital to see Nikita alive and awake.

Stella ran over to Zeak before classes started. She had seen the news reports, but didn't want to believe they were actually about Nikita. How long had the abuse been going on? Had Nikita been dealing with it the whole time Stella had been bulling her? Zeak stood still and silent, as Stella stared into his eyes and dared to speak. "I-Is it true? The news said a girl about 16 years old was nearly killed in her own home. The girl fit Nikita's description, but is it really her?"