Chapter 46: A Sister’s Concern

It was a snowy afternoon when Jane finally got out from school. Before she left, her mother asked her to look for her little sister, who apparently skipped the rest of her afternoon classes. She was handed over a thick jacket to give to her little sister in case she was able to find her. Asking around school didn’t help her at all, as no one knew where Avegaille ran off to.

‘Why do I always have to do this?' Jane asked herself as she continued walking on the sidewalk. She looked around but nothing looked unusual. It was almost getting dark as night time was drawing near and she didn’t want to stay outside for too long.

Struggling still to locate her little sister, Jane decided to pass by the park that was close to their house, to clear her mind. She looked around and the area was mostly quiet, save for some people doing their night walks and some couples making out by the benches.

'Seriously? Those lovebirds should get a room…' Jane thought to herself, disgusted at what she just saw and quickly walked away.

After getting away from all that, Jane finally found a spot she could have to herself without any distractions. That would have been the case, until she noticed an unusual figure sitting by the other side of the tree she was standing in front of. She went closer to it, out of curiosity. Upon seeing who it was, she sighed with relief.

“Hey shrimp, I’ve been looking all over for you!” Jane exclaimed as she stood in front of her little sister, who was sitting on the ground.

Avegaille did not respond at all and her eyes were dull. There was some snow on her head and some on her shoulders, a sign that she had been there for quite some time. Jane didn’t hesitate further and crouched down. Then, she dusted the snow off from her little sister and put on the thick jacket she had with her around her body. Avegaille finally snapped out from her dull state upon noticing the person in front of her.

“Jane?” Avegaille lifted up her head and stared at her for a while.

“Geez, what’s wrong with you? Sitting here for hours in the cold. Mom’s worried about you as well.” Jane stood up and gestured her hand in front of Avegaille. “Come on, let’s go home together.”

“I don’t want to…” Avegaille curled up and pressed her face against her legs.

“Look, if you’re gonna sulk like that, do it in your room. At least, you’ll be warm,” Jane insisted as she grabbed both of Avegaille’s arms and pulled her up, until she was standing. “I know there’s something bothering you and you don’t want to talk to anyone about it right now but… at least don’t make us worry by going off somewhere where we can’t find you.”

Avegaille couldn’t say anything else and just hugged her sister tightly while crying. Jane started stroking her head, calming her down. After a while, both of them walked together without saying anything until they got home.

.-.-.-.-.-

It was almost eight in the evening when the doorbell of the Stewart residence rang. Jane was in the living room, watching the TV, when she heard it. Her mother was busy doing some last minute work while her little sister already fell asleep after they got back earlier. Jane found it unusual for someone to visit at this time of the night. She quickly got up from her seat, ran out of the living room and to the hallway, until she reached the front door. While she wasn’t expecting anyone at this time, she had a gut feeling on who it might be.

'If there’s one person crazy enough to disturb someone at this time of night, it has to be her!' Jane thought to herself as she opened the door with a very weary look in her face. She looked around outside and saw a navy blue Lexus car parked in front of their garage driveway. Then, she looked down and saw Nicole May standing in front of her.

“Sorry to disturb you at this time of the night…” Nicole May muttered. Around her arms were a couple of notebooks and sheets of papers, all arranged neatly. She was glancing left and right until she looked at Jane. “Is Avegaille still awake? I kinda wanted to give these to her… The teachers told me to hand them over to her.”

“She’s already asleep but since you’re already here, why don’t you come inside for a bit?” Jane stepped back and Nicole May stared at her surprisingly. She took her hand and pulled her inside the house. Then, she slammed the door shut. “Truth to be told, there’s something I wanted to discuss with you.”

“Eeh?” Nicole May looked really confused and started panicking in her mind.

“Let’s discuss this in the living room,” Jane continued and started tugging Nicole May’s hand, trying to lead her to the living room. However, she was too nervous to even move from her spot.

Just then, both of them heard footsteps coming from the stairs. They saw Avegaille, who was still sleepy and slowly stepped down from the stairs, until she was standing with them.

“Jane, I’m hungry…” Avegaille grunted and yawned. She was still half asleep and didn’t realize that her sister was with someone.

“There’s some pizza left in the fridge, eat that or something,” Jane replied exasperatedly.

Without any further questions, Avegaille slowly walked towards the kitchen. Then, Jane turned to Nicole May and noticed how unusually quiet she was.

“Come on, we still got plenty of things to talk about,” Jane said as she went behind Nicole May and started pushing her until both of them were in the living room.

The two of them sat down on the sofa and Nicole May put down the notebooks she was carrying, on the coffee table. Then, she turned to Jane, who had a very serious expression in her face.

“W-What exactly is this about now?”

“Let’s see… how about we start at what happened earlier with my little sister?” Jane started.

“I’m not the right person to ask about that… why not ask either Phil or Elizabeth about that instead?” Nicole May suggested nervously and quickly got up from her seat. She slowly stepped back until she was standing close to the exit, leading to the hallway.

“You sure know how to avoid answering a question…” Jane remarked sarcastically as she stood up and stared at her.

“Nicole May?”

Upon recognizing whose voice it was, Nicole May quickly turned around and saw Avegaille now standing in front of her. She got even more nervous that she couldn’t speak properly.

“I didn’t realize you were here…”

“Aah, I-I just came here to drop by the stuff the t-teachers told me to g-give to you!” Nicole May stammered and quickly stepped out of the living room. She was still a nervous wreck and didn’t want Avegaille seeing her like that. While she had a chance to get away, she got close to the front door and hollered, “I’ll see you tomorrow at school!”

Avegaille stepped out of the living room as well and at that point, Nicole May had already left and slammed the front door shut.

“Oh… I’m sure there was something we planned on doing earlier… but what was it? Hrm…” Avegaille mumbled to herself as she closed her eyes. Her mind was all blank. The more she tried to recall what it was, it just ended up giving her more headaches. “I’ll just have to ask her about it tomorrow then.”

.-.-.-.-.-

“You sure about this? She’s not gonna go crazy on me, is she?”

“What are you so nervous about, Emily?”

Both Naz and Emily were standing in front of the newspaper room, next to the stairs that led to the second floor. There was an hour left before their first class started. Their usual routine was to hang out at the newspaper room but with what happened yesterday, they had second thoughts about doing so.

“What if Elizabeth goes all mad again?” Emily asked nervously. Her hands were fidgeting and she started pacing around.

“I won’t…”

Emily became stiff as soon as she recognized whose voice that was and slowly turned around, facing Elizabeth.

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“Yo, Lizzie!” Naz greeted as she waved her hand. She tilted her head to the side. “You feeling okay now?”

“Yeah… I wanted to apologize for what happened yesterday…” Elizabeth replied and lowered her head. “I should have controlled myself better there.”

“It’s okay, you really don’t have to,” Emily said and laughed nervously. Then, she turned the door knob and pulled the door open. “Come on, we should get inside since it’s still early and all!”

As the three of them got in the newspaper room, they spotted Nicole May sitting on one of the chairs, with her laptop on the table. She was staring blankly at the laptop screen and didn’t move an inch. Naz quickly went behind her and held on her shoulders.

“Nikki! What are you looking at there?” Naz asked as she peered over her shoulder and took a good look at what was on the screen. However, there was nothing on the screen. It was completely turned off. “Huh?”

Both Elizabeth and Emily each pulled out a chair from behind the table and sat down on it. It took a while for Nicole May to realize that there were other people already inside the room. She shook her head and looked around, still somewhat in a daze.

“Are you all right?” Emily asked, looking very concerned. Usually, she would start teasing Nicole May but she wasn’t exactly in the mood to do so right now.

“Oh… good morning…” Nicole May muttered and stared at the laptop screen again.

“Hey, you went to Avegaille’s house yesterday, right? So, did you get a chance to talk to her?” Naz asked curiously.

“I was too much of a nervous wreck and Jane being there as well just made it worse…” Nicole May groaned and pressed her head against the table.

“There, there…” Naz started rubbing Nicole May's back, trying to comfort her.

Elizabeth had been listening to the two of them for a while now and wanted to say something, however, something else was bothering her. She turned to Emily, hoping to get her to start talking normally again.

“Yes? Is there something else you wanted to talk about?” Emily asked nervously, upon seeing Elizabeth staring at her.

“Look… if you’re still nervous around me because of what happened yesterday, please just forget about it.”

“That’s not really something I can do so quickly but… all right then,” Emily muttered and laughed nervously. “Anyway, what are we going to do with Rustford here? We obviously can’t get anything done if she’s sulking like that.”

“I said something to Avegaille yesterday and now, this mess happened…” Elizabeth sighed and hung her head low. “Now, I don’t even know what to say to her if I see her again.”

“Lizzie, if you want, I can join you if you’re gonna talk to Avegaille,” Naz chimed in and grinned at her. “We’re still friends, you know?”

“Yeah, I’ll come too, at least to help ease the awkwardness,” Emily added as she stood up from her seat. “We’ll drag Rustford along with us too. She can’t say ‘no’ at all!”

Nicole May lifted up her head and stared at Emily exasperatedly. She had no idea what Emily was talking about, but hearing her say her last name was enough to get annoyed at her.

“You guys…” Elizabeth started chuckling and smiled at them. It had been a long time since she felt that she actually did have friends. She thought for sure that they would stop talking to her after that incident but that wasn’t the case. Most of the time, she would always be by herself and only talked to people if she wanted something from them, for as long as she could remember. “Sure, I don’t mind…”

.-.-.-.-.-

“I don’t want to go to school today!”

Jane stared at the book that was on her desk and sighed heavily. The teacher in front was discussing more on the book the class just read. She recalled what happened earlier this morning before she left home. Her mother had asked her to get her little sister ready for school but as soon as she got to her room, her little sister refused to leave her room. No matter how much convincing she did, her little sister just kept herself locked in the room.

“Nothing that I could do about it…” Jane muttered to herself. “That shrimp is probably overwhelmed with everything that’s happening lately…”

Madeline overheard what Jane was saying and grabbed on her shoulder. “You wanna talk about it during lunch break?”

Jane turned surprisingly to Madeline and then, looked away while nodding slowly.

“I’ll take that as a 'yes' then.” Madeline smiled and started humming.

Then, the bell rang and the teacher in front made some final announcements to the class. After that, most of the students got up and left the classroom. Jane and Madeline were about to get out as well but then, the teacher called them out. The two of them approached their English teacher, wondering what she wanted from them.

“Miss Stewart, I heard from the principal that the student council was planning to set up some sort of Christmas party for everyone in the school before winter vacation starts, is that correct?”

“Ah… that’s right, Miss Hopkins…” Jane's voice trailed off a bit and was very nervous. She totally forgot about the paperwork that her mother handed over to her two weeks ago. She was mostly busy worrying about her little sister who was in the hospital during that period. ‘I’m sure those documents are in the student council room…'

“How is the progress going?” Miss Hopkins asked curiously. “If you need any help, I can pitch in some more ideas.”

“We’re already making the final arrangements for it. Most of the students are really excited and even volunteered to help with the decorations and the program flow during the party,” Madeline replied confidently. “Plus, we got sponsorship from a certain family, so we didn’t have to worry about the expenses at all.”

“Wait, what?” Jane was really stunned at what she just heard and turned to Madeline, raising an eyebrow. Miss Hopkins was so focused on Madeline that she didn’t notice Jane’s reaction.

“That’s good to hear. I’m glad the students are enjoying themselves like this,” Miss Hopkins remarked happily and smiled at them.

“Same here, we’d like to leave something memorable for them as well before we graduate too,” Madeline added and grinned.

“But of course. Anyway, I don’t want to hold up you girls any longer, so off you go.”

Miss Hopkins waved at them as both Jane and Madeline got out of the classroom. While they were walking to get to their next class, Jane was staring exasperatedly at Madeline.

“What’s wrong?” Madeline noticed her friend’s reaction and scratched her head.

“How come you guys never told me at all about those things you mentioned to Miss Hopkins earlier?” Jane interrogated and clicked her tongue.

“Ah… I forgot about that myself until she asked us about it,” Madeline replied nervously and glanced away from Jane. “You know, I was really supposed to tell you about it as soon as we got most of the stuff drafted out… but you were too busy with some personal matters that I didn’t want to add more burden to you with something like this…”

“I see now… thanks for the concern though,” Jane muttered and sighed.

“Not a problem, anything for you,” Madeline replied back and giggled softly.

Both of them kept quiet until they got to their next class. The teacher wasn’t around yet when they got inside. Vicky called out both of them to join their group by the back part of the classroom. Madeline was back to her cheerful mood so quickly while Jane just kept quiet and listened to their conversation. Jane just continued to stare at Madeline, finally realizing how much she really admired her.

.-.-.-.-.-

It was lunch time already and while most students were eating in the cafeteria, Nicole May was out in the school garden, looking for someone. That particular someone was Jane, as she didn’t have a choice, since Avegaille was not present in class earlier. She was tipped off by Jane’s other friends about her possible location.

As she continued to walk around the garden, she could hear some familiar voices from a distance. She spotted Jane and Madeline sitting together on a bench right underneath a huge tree. They were talking about something very seriously, so Nicole May kept herself hidden from behind and listened to them talk.

“Well, it’s going to be hard if your little sister keeps herself locked up in her room like that,” Madeline said and sighed. “What do you think caused it?”

“I can’t think of anything…” Jane groaned and pressed her hands on her face. Then, she put them down and turned to her. “I’m pretty sure Nicole May knows something but she refuses to tell me anything. She told me to talk to Elizabeth or Phil about it.”

“Did you speak to them about it already?”

“I was supposed to like… earlier, but I’ll do it later after school,” Jane muttered and folded her arms across her chest while sighing heavily. “That is, if I can find at least one of them.”

“It shouldn’t be too hard, anyway, I can always ask some of our classmates and members of the student council. They never fail in giving me exact locations, ever.” Madeline grinned while she held on her chin with her right hand.

“You really don’t have to go that far but fine… do whatever you can.” Jane looked weary and realized something. Then, she stared at her exasperatedly. ‘Don’t tell me she goes through that network of students to locate my whereabouts whenever I’m hiding from her!’

“What’s wrong?” Madeline asked curiously, tilting her head slightly to the side.

“Nothing, it’s nothing!” Jane waved her hands frantically and turned away from her.

From a distance, Nicole May was still observing them, trying to think of a proper time to approach them. She finally had enough and quickly walked up to them. Her sudden appearance surprised the two of them at first, then, Jane frowned at her.

“Oh, what brings you here?” Madeline asked happily, waving her hand at her.

“I’ll get to the point, it’s about Avegaille,” Nicole May replied bluntly and clenched her fists, trying to ease her nervousness.

“As if that’s not obvious enough,” Jane retorted and sighed exasperatedly. Madeline started rubbing her back, trying to calm her down. “You’re not getting anything out of me until you tell me exactly what happened yesterday though!”

Nicole May stepped back a bit and lowered her head. Then, she stared at them, while trying to hold herself back from crying. “F-Fine, I’ll tell you what happened yesterday…”

Madeline immediately got up and hugged Nicole May from behind, much to her surprise, and stroked her head afterwards. That calmed Nicole May enough and she relayed to them the events that occurred from yesterday. Afterwards, both Jane and Madeline stared at each other and kept quiet for a while, trying to properly comprehend what they just heard.

“Now it makes sense…” Jane muttered to herself and got up from her seat. She folded her arms across her chest and stared at Nicole May. “My little sister shut herself in her room, if you come to our place after school later… perhaps you could convince her to come out.”

“While I’d like to do that… I think Elizabeth also wanted to properly talk to her as well…” Nicole May murmured. She tried to tear herself off from Madeline’s hug but it wasn’t as easy as she thought.

“Just invite everyone and we can have some sort of party, right Jane?” Madeline suggested and giggled.

“No parties please!” Jane interjected, staring at her exasperatedly. She turned her attention back to Nicole May. “But whatever, bring whoever wants to come with you at our place after school. I’ll be waiting.”

Nicole May nodded and noticed that Jane was trying to smile but she could sense how awkward it was for her. She tried suppressing her laughter and turned away from her. Jane left immediately and Madeline finally released Nicole May from her hug, then, running after her friend.

“They’re quite inseparable, huh?” Nicole May remarked and stared at the direction where they were walking until they were out of sight.