The Secrets That Tore Us Apart

9

Jack didn't see Emma in school all week. He was getting worried and wondered if she was sick or just a professional at avoiding him. That weekend he debated whether to go over to her house or not, but decided against it when he didn't want to risk running into her family.

Jack was bored and out of his mind. He needed to do something, see someone. When he didn't, he only thought of Emma. He wondered if she would pick up if he called. Probably not. 

Jack called Eric to ask if he would want to hang out, but Eric and his family would spend all weekend cleaning and organizing their entire house. So Jack walked over to Nathan's house instead. 

A messy and irritated looking Nathan opened the door. 

"What?" he asked when he saw Jack.

"Do you want to hang out?" Jack asked.

"I'm busy" Nathan said.

"Busy with what?" asked Jack.

"Who is it?" someone asked from behind Nathan and an even more messy looking Hannah appeared from behind him.

That was when it clicked for Jack. "Oh, sorry" he apologized.

Nathan was giving Jack a look that told him that him and Hannah had almost been at the good part.

"I guess I'll go then" Jack said and turned around and begun walking down the driveway. 

"Jack!" Hannah shouted from behind him and Jack turned around to see Hannah run towards him. She stopped in front of him and slapped him across the face. 

"Hannah!" Nathan yelled. 

"That was for Emma, and you know why" Hannah whisper-yelled before she turned around and walked back towards the house. Jack heard Nathan ask Hannah what she had been thinking, but Jack knew.

And Jack understood now why Emma hadn't showed up last week. And he understood why Emma didn't pick up her phone or answer his texts. And Jack understood why Hannah had slapped him.

Emma knew.

Everything.

Nathan came down the driveway. "Sorry 'bout her. I don't know what that was about" he apologized. 

"I know what that was about" Jack said and tried to stop it. But a tear made it's way down his face. "I messed up. Big time"

"Sh*t man, what happened?" Nathan asked.

"Can we go inside and talk? Hannah can be there too" Jack said. 

Nathan and Jack went into Nathan's house. Jack went through the house and out to the backyard while Nathan went to get Hannah. They all sat down by the pool with their feet dipped in the water.

No one said anything for a while. Jack didn't know where to start.

"So, you messed up. How?" Nathan asked.

"Do you remember all the times you asked if I could hang out last year and I said I was going away to my grandma, on trips with my parents or on trips with Olivia and Bella?" Jack asked Nathan and Nathan nodded. "I wasn't going on trips. I was going to the hospital. My mum had cancer and practically lived at the hospital when she got worse. She didn't want anyone outside of our closest family to know so we told people she worked abroad, but really she was at the hospital"

Jack stopped talking and tried to figure out how to continue.

"A few days after my mum got diagnosed, you and I went to the beach, and that was the day we met Hannah and Emma for the first time" Jack looked at Hannah. "You have to believe me when I say that Emma was the best thing that I have ever had. She brought me joy on the darkest days, she was my sunshine. And I loved her. I still do"

"Then why?" asked Hannah, referring to the "ghosting".

"Right when summer had begun my sister Olivia called me telling me that our mum had gotten worse. I went to the hospital to be with her and she died later that same day. I got so sad and couldn't get out of bed for four days straight. I couldn't tell Emma that my mum had died. because then I would have to admit that I had been lying about her being sick in the first place. So I avoided her. My dad got me out of bed by getting me a counselor job at a summer camp. And most of the female counselors were being really clingy and when I had received enough angry messages from Emma for not responding, I gave in to Stephanie. But no one else at camp. The only other one was Jasmine. I have hated myself all summer and even more when school started again and I saw Emma again"

"Why didn't you tell her?" Hannah asked. "She would've been there for you. Through it all"

"I know she would've. But my mum wanted no one to know. I asked my dad if I could tell people now that she's gone, to explain my recent behavior, and he said that I can. And I tried to tell Emma earlier this week, but she never showed up, and she didn't show up to school for the rest of that week either"

"That was the day she found out about Stephanie and the rest" Hannah explained. "Even though there apparently wasn't a "rest""

"I'm sorry man" Nathan said giving Jack a side hug.

"Me too" Hannah said. "But you deserved that slap then and there"

"And now what?" Nathan asked.

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"Are you going to try to talk to Emma again or let her go? What's the next step, now that you've told us?"

"I will forever try to talk to Emma and I hope you will help me, now that you know" Jack hopefully looked at Hannah.

"I'm still not okay with how you treated her" Hannah said. "But I can try to get her to listen"

That was all Jack needed to hear.