.Rise And Fall.

.Rise and Fall. (68)

Stars don't disappear, they keep blazing
Even when the night is over
And I will still be here, stargazing
I'll still look up, look up
Look up for love.

~Kygo.
....

|Chapter: 68|

"Pumpkin... about last night...", Ethan started as he try to catch his breath.

"Yes I acted like a jerk and I'm sorry", I finished.

"No! I mean I know how important that competition is for you as a captain, so I'll join no matter what." He smiled making me feel like a horrible person. What if it is really important? Why did I have to act like a female dog?

I shook my head no at him, I couldn't help the guilt building in me. "We can manage. Please you don't have to do this if it's really important. I'm not mad at you I swear."

After a long argument he convinced me that he can delay whatever that was but never once told me what it really was. He seemed to be hiding things, then again with his cheerful behaviour it was hard to believe. Ethan Morish was a good guy, no doubt. But there was something in his features I can't really point my finger to.

"So you never told me, why did you leave Hemberly in the fourth grade?", I asked as we walked to the free class where we are suppose to meet out team.

He rubbed the back of his neck. Again. "Uh.. after my parents were divorced, me and mom came here to live with her natives. Two years later I was again sent back to live with dad, by the time you already left the town."

I nodded. "Oh... You're back again to live with your mom here?"

He stopped walking, so did I. I waited for him to answer while he looked like he was trying to escape the situation. I was about to stop him from answering when he said, "Two months ago, she died in a car accident."

I was dumbfounded because I knew the pain of losing someone dear, I went through that in my early stage of life. It wasn't easy, till this day it never has because of the memories. "Sorry...", I said slowly. "Please don't think I'm trying to pity you. When I say I can understand, I really do", I quickly added.

"I know pumpkin." He smiled but there was so many emotions behind it, which made me doubt was he really doing good after her death or its all fake. Shutting my mind, I returned his smile without minding about the nickname. I actually liked, it was so Ethan.

The rest of the walk we barely spoke. We greeted the team and started to work on our formulas. Ethan got most of it correct in the beginning and he was faster in calculating longer problems than us. He was doing good but then in the middle of the practice session, he started rubbing his eyes after every five seconds like to clear his vision and even forgot some words.

"The derivative of the composition of two functions is given by the ch.. cha..", Ethan trailed off, shaking his head.

"Chain rule?", I asked.

"Yes chain rule", he said.

"Are you okay? You look stressed Ethan."

"I'll be fine, just a small headache", he assured me with his smile back on his face. Although I wasn't satisfied with his answer, I let the matter slide for the time being and nodded my head to continue.

After an hour, we were done and I started to pack our stuffs when Nick texted that he was waiting outside, at the door for me. He was in his soccer practice the whole time. I was more than happy when he didn't turn the coach's offer of playing in the team down. He is extremely sweet to me and when I tried pointing out he was being extra at some point, he'd say, "I'm trying to make up for the three weeks I was without you."