Gifted Children

Chapter 12

Isabelle and Nick sneaked into a room, and Nick let out a heavy sigh. Isabelle could tell something was up, and that she wasn't going to get it out of him easily. She walked up to him.

"Hey, what's up?" She asked him.

Nick looked at her and mumbled something, but then replied with, "Nothing, I'm fine."
Isabelle looked at him with a worried and sad face. "I know there's something. You were acting.......... I don't know, just not like yourself."

"Izzy, really I'm absolutely fine," Nick said, beginning to get angry.

"Why can't you just tell me? I care about you! I want to know what's wrong so that I can help you!"

"I told you THERE'S NOTHING WRONG!" Nick yelled as he banged his fist on the desk in the room. This caused water to come from nowhere and send Isabelle flying. She hit the wall with a grunt of pain.

Nick looked in horror at what he had just done. Isabelle looked at him with hurt and scared eyes. 

"W-why did y-you do th-that?" Isabelle stuttered out a response. "I just wanted to help you. I-I really d-did." Her voice got quiet at the end, and she looked down. Nick had no idea what to do.

"I was scared."

Isabelle looked up, still hurt, but this time also confused. "What?"

"When he shot you, th-that guy at the park, I thought you were going to die. When Markus began to heal you, seeing you in pain made me want to cry," Nick explained to Isabelle. "But when you woke up, I got a second chance. To take care of you. To save you," he continued.

"Why did you want to keep that from me?"

"Because I realized that any of us could get shot at any given point again. What if it's you, huh? What if you're too broken to fix? To heal? What if you died and I wasn't able to help you?" Nick asked question after question and began to cry as he did so. 

Isabelle stood up, but instead of talking, just rain up to him and hugged him as tight as she could. It took Nick by surprise, but he hugged back not even two seconds later. Isabelle looked up at him.

"I'm not gonna be leaving for a long time, Nick. You're stuck with me for a while."

Nick laughed, and then kissed Isabelle on the forehead. Then he realized that he really did hurt Isabelle.

"Izzy, I'm so so sorry for hurting you. I-I just got mad, and-" Nick was interrupted by Isabelle.

"It's alright. You're fine. I don't need you worrying about anything else," Isabelle reassured him.

"Is there a bruise on your back now?"

"I don't know, wanna check?" Isabelle asked him.

"Now you're just making me sound weird," Nick laughed.

"Here," Isabelle said as she lifted her shirt.

Nick blushed a little bit, then asked her, "Are you sure you wanna take off your shirt in front of me?"

"Don't worry, I trust you. Unless you feel uncomfortable?" Isabelle asked him.

Nick looked at her, then shook his head. "No. It's fine."

Isabelle smiled at him, then took off her shirt. She turned around, and Nick's heart sank. Across her whole entire back was a dark black and blue bruise. Isabelle turned to look in the mirror, and stared for a while at the dark, large bruise.

 She put her shirt back on and sat by Nick, who still had his head down.

"You're mad at yourself aren't you?" She looked at him sadly. "It's not just your fault."

Nick looked up, his eyes red and puffy. Isabelle just realized that he was crying. 

Nick questioned her, "Who else's fault could it be, Izzy?"

"I kept pressuring you to tell me what was bothering you. I should've just let you keep it to yourself."

Nick narrowed his eyes and looked back down at the floor.

"I can't believe I did that to you. I hurt you so badly that there's a bruise the size of your whole entire back. And all because you cared about me."

Isabelle picked up his chin and made him look at her. She held his face between her hands. 

"Nicholas," she paused for a while, "I still love you. You made a stupid mistake. But that doesn't mean that you are stupid."

Nick looked at her, then hugged her. Isabelle could tell this wasn't just a small hug like the ones they gave each other most of the time. It was one full of love, tight and emotional. She was caught off guard by Nick speaking.

"I've never heard you say my full name before."

Isabelle started to laugh, then looked him in the eyes. She kissed him as long as she could, just to show him that she still loved him. They laid down and fell asleep.