The Lost and Found

Chicken Barbecue and Corn

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT: Finn Parker

"Jesus! Stop! That hurts!"

"No! It's just a little bit more! Come on, let me do it!" he argued back.

"No! Ow, that freaking hurts, you moron!"

The nurse entered with a clipboard on her hand. She was an old lady with a gentle smile and warm brown eyes. Other than that, she looked tired.

"Let her rest. Don't force her into things she doesn't like." Olivia, the nurse, told Jack. He frowned and pouted at me.

"Yeah, but she needs to walk. And I was just doing some exercises I found on the internet."

"Well, your 'exercises' suck. Now I think I snapped a nerve."

Jack rolled his eyes. "You're so dramatic. I was just trying to help you."

"Help me?" I laughed humorless. "You were trying to kill me."

He scoffed and waved me away. "Wow. Somebody give her an Oscar."

Olivia stared at us disappointedly. "You children are so loud and disrespectful. When I was your age, I was-"

"You were roaming around with dinosaurs with stick canes and leaf clothes, yeah, yeah, we get it." Jack said. Olivia silenced her with a glare.

"Now, now, hush both of you. Finn needs to sleep." she told me. "And you," she pointed at Jack, "go wait outside and read a newspaper or something. I'll call you when she's good to go."

Jack grumbled but went along with it. "Fine."

Our clinic was pretty fancy than the ones I saw when we were visiting other schools. It was also a whole lot better than the other rooms in our schools. This room was the only one - besides the principal's office - that has TV and a fridge stocked with real food. And by real, I mean junk.

"Here." Olivia placed a cold glass of milk on the table beside my bed. "I'm going to get Joni to bring you cookies or something." I think she's the only person in this school - aside from Mr. Brown - who's actually nice.

I nodded and forced a smile. "Thanks, Olivia."

She waved me off. "Oh, no, dear, that's nothing. I love feeding the crippled." she winked. "Now, I have something to discuss with you."

I drank half of my milk with one gulp. I only decided to stop since I had cookies on the go. "Okay. What about?"

Olivia smiled and leaned closer. I could practically feel her breathing against my ear.

"Have you used protection?"

Protection? "Um, what? What do you mean?"

She gasped. "Oh dear." she stood up from the stool and paced around the room like a caged lion. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear."

I laughed nervously, still wondering what she meant. "Yeah, oh dear. Oh dear. I don't know what you're so anxious about."

You see, Olivia's never been a clear talker. She just jumps right into the question, without giving you a start or background or anything so you might just - under worst circumstances - get the wrong idea.

"Olivia, what are you talking about?" I asked, more confused as ever.

But she just ignored me. She kept on walking back and forth, muttering stuff to herself, shaking her head. She was acting like a lunatic on drugs.

"Will you please-"

"How long?" she cut me off. "How old?"

"Um, I just twisted it this morning-"

"No!" she rolled her eyes and groaned impatiently. "How old? How old is the baby?"

Baby? BABY? What does she mean baby? A baby? What does she think? Was she thinking that... I was... we were... eew.

"Don't worry, Finn, I won't tell anyone." she said with a small smile. But I could tell she was afraid. I mean, it wasn't always you'd find a pregnant student nearing graduation. And I wasn't pregnant.

I took a deep breath, trying to keep my voice steady and calm.

"Olivia, calm down. I'm not pregnant. And protection? With you? That dork?" I scoffed. "Please. I'd rather have sex with a rat or be a virgin for the rest of my life than do it with him."

"Who's a virgin?" Derrick, a male nurse who's ten years younger than Olivia, smirked as he entered the room with a tray of cookies. "I bet my buttons it was you, Olivia."

Olivia narrowed her eyes at him. "I am not a virgin." she defended, crossing her arms. "I may not have children but I am telling you, I had boys lined up for this back in high school." she gestured below her.

Derrick cocked an eyebrow. "Oh? Well, I find that hard to believe." Olivia threw a cushion at him. And she's a good thrower. I think she used to play bowling and joined competitions not many years ago.

They kept bickered as I finished the platter of fudge chocolate cookies and brownies. Olivia said she baked them and I couldn't help but ask her for more sometimes in exchange for pulling out weeds in her lawn. And I hate pulling weeds.

Spongebob was airing on Nickelodeon that time and immediately, the time when Kim asked for the Spongebob condoms came into my senses. I wonder how she was doing right now. It seemed like I missed school for ages. But I didn't care.

Without any reason, the memory of the little road trip and our first ever, real conversation clouded my mind. It was funny, actually. We've been schoolmates - maybe even classmates - for the past few years since kindergarten and we hadn't talked once. Well, I guess the time I was asking for his sandwich back in first day of elementary school doesn't count.

He was always the quiet boy. And I was the loner girl. I don't know much about him but I always noticed him just around the corner, scowling and his face twisted into an annoyed expression that says, 'I hate you all'. And I had that one too.

Reading is my passion that no one knows about. I had books. Everywhere. In the bathroom, under my pillow, in my locker, in my gym locker, heck even in my sports bag. It just made me feel... I don't know. Creative, perhaps? Like when I was in town, reading as I walked down the street (stupid, I know, but it was a freaking emotional part), with this different scenes crowding my head, all moving in motion, how I wanted it to be, how I had pictured it to be.

He probably thought no one noticed but I did. He reads The Hunger Games during lunch too instead of stuffing his mouth with chicken barbecue and corn.

Then the time when we were actually alone. Back in the room. Fighting for one side of the bed. Then the time he dared me in the woods. Alone, at night and how he actually followed me and hugged me when I was sobbing like a pathetic loser that I was. It actually showed he cared, I could feel it. But was it true? Does he actually care? It's confusing. Sometimes... he's just... so damn... confusing.

Then it hit me. Why was I thinking of him anyway? I mean, I should be eating my cookies now, watching a freaking sponge living in a pineapple with a purring snail as a pet. And remind myself repeatedly with condoms and I'm back to square one.

I wiggled my foot a little bit to see if it still hurts and sure enough, it still did. I grimaced, but the pain lingered for a while and I tried to drown myself in the show in front of me.

Condoms... Road trip... Campfire... The woods... His warmth... His eyes... His... his... his smirk. Damn his smirk. And his... the sound of his beating heart against my own. It felt so... I don't know. It was confusing me and I couldn't stand it.

Then a bounce on the mattress jerked me back to reality.

"Hey," he said, hovering above me, his lips stretched into a small, anxious smile. "You're an idiot. You really scared me."

Speak of the devil.