Not Important

Confessions, funny outfits, and outbursts

I've packed all of my stuff, and I am now in the car with Brian.
"So...how've you been, Brian? Are your kids alright?", I ask him, really wanting to know if he can handle everything that's happened to him.
"Yeah, I guess. Things are going a little bit better. I've been thinking about getting a baby-sitter for the children whilst I'm at work, because my eldest can't be trusted to feed the other, and will probably set fire to the kitchen", he says, and we both chuckle with laughter.

"So how are you?", he asks, completely catching me off guard.
"Well, things are...in the middle", I tell him, not wanting to lie to him.
"That's good".
"So how's Kerry doing, do you know?", I ask him, knowing that Kerry hasn't been acting herself recently.
"....well, I'm not sure if I should tell you", Brian says, his smile dropping into a tight-lipped smile.

"What? Is she okay?", I ask, generally worried about my new friend.
"Okay, I will tell you a bit of it. But, promise me you will not repeat this to a soul", Brian says, glimpsing at me with a serious expression before turning back to face the road.
"I promise".

"She has...problems. Yeah, let's go with problems. And a while back, these problems had caused her depression. Her parents didn't really see eye to eye with her in this problem, as thought she had done this to get attention or something. But she was really ill, and it's gotten better. But, now, she's not doing so good. That's why she's invited all of you girls to hers for a sleepover- to take her mind off of it", Brian explains, and this confuses me even more.

What is wrong with Kerry? Is it as serious as it sounds? Or maybe worse?
.......

"Devon!", Kerry says, giving me a hug that would crush my bones if she squeezed any tighter. I hug her back. Leaning back, I take a look at her to see if it's a problem that I would notice. I don't see a thing. Although, she has a little bit of red ringed around her eyes, that you would only see if you looked closely. She's been crying.

She takes me by the hand and hauls me up to her room, using the stairs. Why she didn't use the elevator, I don't know. Maybe she just likes trying to pull my arm off.

We enter her room, and I find that nobody is in here. She puts my bag on a made-up bed for me. Then, she hauls me back down the stairs and into the game room. As we enter, everyone looks up and sees us.
"Devon!", Georgia and Niamh say, running up to give me hugs. I hug them back, getting used to this hugging thing they have going on.

I look for Rachael, and find her on Pac Man. She's hardly blinking, if blinking at all. Her face is set into determined frown, as she moves the stick. Her score is really high. She moves around quickly on the screen, and that is until she is cornered.

Game over.

"Noooooooo!!!!!!", Rachael screams, sounding like a dying cat.
"I was so close", she moans, not knowing I'm standing right behind her.
"Yet so far apart", I say in a dramatic act, putting my hand to my head. She turns around, her face contorting into a smile. She hugs me.
"You're finally here, D! I feel like I haven't seen you in months!", Rachael says really loudly.
"You saw me on Friday. That was only two days ago", I explain to her, giggling.

She pulls back, but keeps her hands on my shoulders. She scrutinises me, making me feel really uncomfortable. What is she doing?
"Something is up with you", she says, her eyes searching every inch of my face.
"There's nothing wrong with me, Ray", I say, smiling at her. She's a great friend, one of my best friends. We have come really close since we met not a while ago. She is probably the only one in the group who isn't a girly-girl, other than me. I'm kind of confused as to why I hadn't noticed her at school before I was introduced to her by Kerry.

"There is something very wrong with you. You giggled. You don't giggle", she says, narrowing her eyes at me.
"Knock it off, Ray. Take a chill pill. Let's play some games!", I tell her, and she lets the matter go. We run off to play some games. We even play Pac Man, one on one, and Rachael wins. She's addicted to it. We played the damn game nine times before I finally got we off of it.