The Girl With Many Names

▪︎ Chapter Thirty ▪︎

"Where's my little brother?" I asked, the panic rising up again.

"I'm so, so sorry Dani. When we went to get corndogs, I never left his hands, I held him close to me throughout until it was time to get money from my purse to pay for the corndogs. I paid him and when I looked, Tyler wasn't there. I've searched everywhere for him Dani. He asked me about the toilet on our way to get the corndogs so I assumed that's where he might be but when I checked, he wasn't there. I'm so so sorry Dani, I promise I'll find him" she rushed out, tears rolling down her cheek as she breathed heavily and Thomas went over to hold her.

I stared at her in shock until I felt Blake's hand on my shoulder.

"You mean to say that right now, my little brother is all alone somewhere and you don't know where?" I asked very slowly, trying to process what I had just heard. She nodded as the tears rolled down her cheeks faster than before. The news finally settled in and I almost collapsed.

"Dani!" Blake called, catching me before I could reach the ground.

"B..Blake, my little brother is missing" I said, looking up at him as the tears started to flow and then I burst into more tears as I remembered my mom "My mum is going to kill me, I'm dead, I'm so dead, I'm so dead.."

"Calm down Dani, we'll find him" he reassured me as he hugged me and I cried into his chest.

"The school's empty now, where in God's name will I find my 6year old brother now?" I exclaimed, pulling away from him "He's not familiar with Arlington, he's never been here and we only just moved to New York! What if he's been kidnapped?" I said the last part with the Vipers in mind. They may have decided to use him as collateral to get what they want or maybe they just want to kill him! I started to pace, trying to shake the negative thoughts out of my head.

"Calm down Dani, please, we'll find him" he repeated, holding me.

"I'm so sorry" Clover kept mumbling as she shook with tears.

"He should still be around here somewhere, let's go for another check" Thomas suggested.

"Good, that's a good idea" I said as I sprinted towards the end of the hallway, all three of them in tow. I had no idea where to look but I prayed to God silently that he was still on school grounds.

After 20 minutes of searching, I couldn't take it anymore and I broke down on the floor, crying.

"Shhh, it's okay Dani" Blake said, sitting beside me as he hugged me and tried to reassure me that we would find Tyler.

I said nothing but cried. A lot of things were going through my head, ranging from VPR to a random psychopath who kidnaps children and makes them sleep in the basement, feeding them nothing but broccoli and water. At the moment I was so not grateful for my wild imaginations.

I was still caught in thought when I heard a faint voice call my name. I stood up, immediately recognizing the voice because he called me Reina. He doesn't call me that anymore but maybe he was just too scared.

"That's him! I heard my brother's voice!" I exclaimed, standing up and wiping my tears.

I traced the voice which was still calling my name to the one place we were stupid enough not to look, the girls' toilet. Of course he'd be in there, he probably didn't know the difference between male and female toilet. I pushed open the door and went in, calling his name.

"Tyler? Tyler where are you?" I called just as I opened one of the stalls and found him sitting on the floor, crying.

"Reina!" He called, running to hug me as I crouched.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry Tyler. I shouldn't have let you go with Clover. I'm really sorry" I apologised, hugging him tightly.

"Sorry for making you cry Rei-" he started to say as he pulled back, but I gave him a look "Dani, sorry Dani" he finished and wiped my tears.

"It's okay Ty" I said, smiling now. I was so relieved, you had no idea.

"Sorry Clover" he said, going over to meet her "I just wanted to use the toilet so I left and came in here. When I was done and wanted to come out, so many people had come out and the place was full. I got scared and ran back in"

"It's okay Tyler" she said, hugging him and he wiped away her tears too "I shouldn't have let go of you"

"I know you" he said, walking over to Blake and straining his neck to look up at him.

"Oh yeah?" Blake said as he picked up Tyler, a knowing smile on his face "You do?"

"Yes, you're the one that carried my sister home that other time right?" He asked, making the smile on Blake's face grow. I felt heat creep up my neck and I scolded myself internally for having the ability to blush at such a moment. I mean, I almost lost my brother!

"Hey look at the time! We better get going" I said, interrupting what Blake was going to say.

"Wait Dani, I don't know him yet" he said pointing over at Thomas.

"That's Thomas. Say hi Thomas" I replied.

"Hi Thomas" he obeyed, grinning widely at Thomas.

"Hey there Tyler" Thomas replied, mirroring his grin. He brought forward his knuckle for a fist bump and Tyler did the same. After the fist bump, Blake dropped him and he ran over to me.

"Now we can go" he said taking my hand.

We all left the girls' toilet. Luckily, there was barely anyone around to give us wierd stares because whatever the reason was, two and a half guys walking out of the girls' toilet did not look good. What? Tyler's barely a guy.

"Sorry for the trouble Clover, but do you mind dropping us off?" I asked Clover as we got to the parking lot.

"Uh, I don't think so. My curfew is nearing and my mom would throw a fit if I was late" she said. Okay, I was not expecting that, but then I realized what she was doing when she said "Blake could drop you off, right Blake?"

"Sure, no problem" he replied as I tried shooting daggers through my eyes at Clover. I knew she was doing this on purpose and she knew that I knew that she was doing this on purpose, yet she did it. She was so stubborn, I vividly remember telling her not to try unanchor any ship but she just wouldn't listen.

A light tug on my hands brought me back to the moment.

"Dani?" Tyler called and I looked down at him.

"Yeah?"

"Can we go now?" He asked, yawning. Aww, he was already tired, didn't blame him though, even I just felt crashing on the nearest thing comfortable and then waking up in my bed the next day, but not all of us had the liberty to do that.

"Sure" Blake replied and then picked Tyler up, resting his head on his shoulder. He probably also noticed how sleepy he was.

"Bye guys" Blake and I said our goodbyes and so did Clover and Thomas.

I then followed Blake as he led the way to his car. I watched as he walked really gently to avoid waking up Tyler, who had dozed off and that little gesture, made me happy. Day after day, I find new sides to Blake Harper and I've never been disappointed.

I caught myself before I started to overthink as that's what I was best at. Blake unlocked his car, opened the backdoor and laid Tyler on the seat. We got in and he drove out of the parking lot.

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Hey guys! What's up?!

Drama filled chapter huh? Who would have thought he was in the girls' toilet, yeesh!

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