Don't give up on me ✓

[40] A Kiss

'Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together' - Woodrow Wilson

Chapter 40: A Kiss

"When is Mrs Maythorne coming back from Paris?" Zander asked Emily.

"I have no more information other than what I told you when you last asked me 45 minutes ago," she said, folding the laundry.

We had all gathered inside the laundry room, hoping to weasel more information out of her.  

Mrs Maythorne had been in Paris for another week now, along with all the prisoners they had freed. 

"Well you said soon and I don't know what exactly that means."

"Neither do I," Emily answered, handing him more white sheets to fold, "Mrs Maythorne has to get passports for all the children to bring them back here. That takes time."

"So we're going to have 21 kids move in?" Hugo asked, looking at all the washing liquid on the shelf,  "I'm moving out if that's the case."

There was a mountain of laundry in front of me. With five boys living in this house... there was a lot of laundry.

"She's trying to locate homes for them first," Emily told us, "We obviously can't support a house of 28 people. I would quit," she joked, "And we wouldn't be able to raise these kids with the attention they deserve."

"We're not getting rid of all of them, right?" Zander asked.

"Don't worry Zane, your girlfriend will be coming back," Emily said comfortingly, "She'll be here soon. I'm sure she's very grateful you saved her."

"I never even got to see her. I was beaten up so bad..."

"Don't beat yourself up about it all over again," Nate said, "Focus on getting healthy. You'll be reunited soon."

Zander lowered the sheet in his hand, losing track of his thoughts. Emily took it away from him, "Go on now. Go have fun. You don't have to do my work for me."

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

I felt for Zane.  He had been searching for the love of his life since he got here.  She was trapped inside a prison and he devoted all his time here, searching for her.

Then, the moment he found her in Paris, he was knocked unconscious and gravely injured.  He was sent home with us, while she was in Paris with Mrs Maythorne.

I hadn't witnessed any of it.  I had also been too injured to leave my bed, that I never really saw the prisoners.  I wonder if she missed him as much as he missed her.  He'd gone to the ends of the earth for her.

Meanwhile, I was avoiding everybody. 

Every single living, breathing human. Avoided.

I had never imagined a world without Jesper and here I was, living it.

The pain I felt inside of me wouldn't go away. It wasn't a physical pain like the lightning strike or my bite marks. It was heartache. It hurt.

Jesper didn't show up to breakfast anymore. He left early to train for football before school and he came back after dark.

The boys gave me a lift in their car. It was getting cramped with Zane and me in the backseat and Hugo and Nate up front. Nate kept looking at me in the rear view mirror. I avoided him too.

The one place Jesper couldn't avoid me was in class. He sat in front of me. I had been waiting for this class all day, for the chance to see him. Maybe he would look at me, maybe he would see how sorry I was and forgive me.