Chapter 25: Different Concerns

"Hey, Nicole May, what do you mean by… biological parents?" Avegaille asked as she slowly turned to Nicole May and slightly tilted her head to the side.

"Huh… oh… I don't really tell anyone about this… well… basically, I'm an adopted child," Nicole May muttered as she slowly turned away from Avegaille. She placed the notebook she was holding on the bed and looked down on the floor. "My Mom and Dad, Sandra and Douglas, are close friends of my real parents… Of course, they couldn't produce their own child due to some biological reproduction issues."

"Eh… so that's the reason why they're so attached to you… even though they're really busy…" Avegaille remarked, staring at her with awe. She placed her bag next to her, near the pillow. Then, she stared at her curiously. "So… where are your real parents then?"

"They passed away years ago… when I was only three years old," Nicole May replied hesitantly and closed her eyes. Then, she grabbed her left arm with her right hand. "It was a car accident, and I was the only one who survived. Of course, my left arm was badly injured that day, and it left a very huge scar on it that’s still visible up to now…"

"Ah… I'm… sorry." Avegaille murmured and lowered her head. She noticed that Nicole May was whimpering and was about to cry. "You… you don't have to tell me anything else if you don't want to…"

Nicole May slowly opened her eyes and tried to stop herself from crying. Then, she slowly lifted her head and turned back to Avegaille. Avegaille, on the other hand, quickly hugged her, which surprised her… but somehow, she felt a bit better. After Avegaille released her, she saw that her cheeks were flushing. Nicole May smiled softly at her and slowly turned away from her.

"You… you really should start working on your homework, you know…" Nicole May muttered and sighed. Her cheeks started turning red as well and she pouted.

"Yeah… I should…" Avegaille laughed nervously and took out another notebook from her bag. Then, she stood up from the bed and sat down on the floor, on top of the carpet near Nicole May's bed, and placed her things in front of her.

Nicole May turned to Avegaille and saw her sitting on the floor. She scratched her head and shrugged. She thought it was kind of weird for Avegaille to do her homework on the floor, but she realized the carpet made Avegaille feel more comfortable in some way. She joined Avegaille and sat down on the floor also, with her legs crossed. Then, Avegaille started reading through her book. It was going to be a long night, for sure.

.-.-.-.-.-

Back at the Stewart residence, Mrs. Collins had already left since the afternoon, after having a good talk with her daughter and her granddaughter. Amelia was somehow relieved after all that, and now she was in the kitchen with Andrea, her best friend and Phil's mother. Andrea was also with her son, since there was no one else in their house. Phil was in the living room, watching a television show with Jane, Avegaille's older sister. Apparently, he didn't mind whatever Jane was watching, since he just wanted to pass up the time. He actually wanted to spend some time with Avegaille, but after discovering that she was staying at Nicole May's place for the night, somehow he became a bit disappointed.

"Hey… Jane… do you actually enjoy watching this show?" Phil asked as he scratched his head and pointed at the television screen. The show was apparently at the point where the student was at some competition.

"What? You got a problem?" Jane asked as she folded her arms across her chest and turned to Phil. "Besides, you don't have to be here watching it with me if you don't want to… it's not like you're being forced."

"Yeah… I know, but still… there's really nothing to do whenever my Mom drags me along here…" Phil muttered and laughed nervously. "So… who was the girl you were with earlier?"

"Huh? She's my friend, I'm pretty sure you've seen her around in school," Jane replied as she leaned her back on the sofa. "Anyway, you miss the shrimp already?"

"Sort of… I mean… we don't talk as much as before…" Phil replied and sighed. "Maybe if there's a day the two of us could talk but she gets uneasy… and sometimes, I don't know what to say…"

"Why are you telling this to me anyway?" Jane asked perplexedly. "To be honest, I really can't help you on this one, even if she is my little sister. She's just that weird, I guess… If you want, you should probably find a time where she's not with anyone… that's a perfect time to talk with her."

"That's a good idea… I think," Phil remarked as he sweat-dropped. "Well, on the other hand, I heard from the announcement about you wanting a boyfriend…"

"Geh… ever since that incident…" Jane muttered as she looked really exasperated and groaned. "Forget you've heard anything… I just don't want to talk about it…"

"Eh? Well… you know I'm always available," Phil remarked and chucked. "You do have a striking resemblance to Avegaille…"

"I don't date guys who are younger than me…" Jane muttered, staring at him irritably. "I'm better off treating you as a little brother… Besides, you'd have higher chances dating my little sister. She'd probably attack me or something if we dated…"

"Well, that's true, but I sometimes feel that she's not interested…" Phil muttered as he folded his arms across his chest. "Anyway, I'll do what you said… when we meet at school."

"Yeah, sure…" Jane muttered and focused her attention again on the soap opera she was watching.

.-.-.-.-.-

On the other hand, at the kitchen, Amelia and Andrea were sitting together at the dining table, and drinking coffee together. Amelia looked a bit exhausted after all what happened earlier, but somehow she looked relieved and wasn't nervous as before. Andrea, of course, had been busy with her work lately, and she could only visit her friend on the weekend and talk a bit with her over the phone.

"So, your mother visited you today? How interesting…" Andrea remarked as she slowly nodded her head. "Well, I suppose after what you told me, I don't think you need to hide from your own parents about your divorce…"

"That's true… but still… I wonder why I keep using Jake's last name… I guess, I just don't want anyone else getting confused or something, especially the students," Amelia muttered and sighed. "Oh well… Anyway… how's your work coming along? I'm pretty sure you have more interesting patients than what I do at the office…"

"Oh? Well, it's the same as usual, but some of them are at least, following the therapy procedures," Andrea replied as she folded her arms across her chest. "Also, I still can't get over the day we went to that party… I mean, the Rustfords' house was so big… and that party room…"

"Yeah, yeah… well, it was nice to get to know most of them… Sandra, especially," Amelia remarked and she sighed for a bit. "Doesn't it make you feel awkward that we're invited to something like that… even though that was weeks ago?"

"I find it as a privilege, and besides, Sandra was asking me if I could be Nicole May's psychiatrist, although that won't start until next month," Andrea said ecstatically. "Imagine, Sandra coming to my office just so she could drop off her daughter~"

"You know she's a busy person… she'd probably just ask someone to take Nicole May to your office…" Amelia retorted and looked exasperated. "Moving on, you said that Avegaille doesn't need to take as much as medication unlike before, right?"

"That's right… somehow, she was becoming less depressed ever since she started being friends with Nicole May," Andrea said and she giggled. "Well, of course, I don't know about my son… he just can't seem to find any time to talk with Avegaille these days…"

"Well, we can't force her either… So, I guess we should just let them do what they want…" Amelia muttered as she looked at Andrea and sighed.

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.-.-.-.-.-

"Mom?"

Elizabeth finally arrived home and noticed how quiet the house was. She looked around the house, from the living room, to the kitchen and even their rooms. She only lived with her mother, as her father wasn't around… at least, that was what her mother had been telling her. She went downstairs again and thought of the door that goes through the basement and quickly opened it. She saw the light was on and ran down to see if her mother was there. As she looked around, she could see boxes placed on shelves and some of them were on the floor, stacked up. Then, she could hear noises from farther behind and quickly ran up to the direction.

"Mom!" Elizabeth exclaimed and looked quite surprised. "What… what are you doing here?"

"Oh… Elizabeth… I didn't realize you came home earlier than I expected…" Mrs. Jones said and smiled a bit. She had short black hair, wearing a bandana on her head and a jumper suit with a long sleeved shirt underneath, mostly to avoid getting dirty even though her clothes were practically covered with dust. She actually dressed more formally when at work, as she was the principal of Centralville Elementary School. While she looked quite stern to everyone else, she was actually really nice. On her hands was a photo album that she was about to put back on the box. "Well, I was fixing some things that we don't need much and putting them here…"

"But Mom, why did you ask me to leave? I mean, I could have helped you out…" Elizabeth muttered as she slightly scratched her head.

"Well… I guess I prefer being alone when doing this…" Mrs. Jones replied and giggled. "Anyway, where did you go today?"

"Oh… I had no idea what I was supposed to do… but then, my friend from school, Nicole May, saw me and asked me to come with them to their place for a while," Elizabeth replied as she sweat-dropped. "Their house was bigger than I expected… and everyone there was really nice…"

"Ah, are you talking about the Rustfords?" Mrs. Jones asked as she put back the album inside the box. Elizabeth nodded and laughed nervously. "They're quite an interesting family… Well, anyway, I should finish cleaning up here… why don't you make dinner tonight?"

"Okay then, Mom," Elizabeth said and nodded. After that, she quickly ran up back upstairs, to the hallways. She looked around and kept quiet for a while, wondering why her mother didn't want to tell her something. She shrugged it off and went to the kitchen.

.-.-.-.-.-

Finally, it was Sunday, one more day left until they were all back to school. Avegaille still had a few more things to work on her homework, as she fell asleep in the middle of almost getting it done. Nicole May, on the other hand, felt a bit uneasy while sleeping next to Avegaille, as she was sharing her bed with her. At least, this time, nothing unusual happened, as Avegaille fell asleep right away, dropping the book she was holding on the floor that night. She was also able to take her medications without waking up Avegaille… probably because Avegaille was such a sound sleeper.

While Avegaille was asleep, Nicole May went inside the bathroom to take a bath. The inside of her bathroom was quite different, as she had a bathtub that also functioned as a Jacuzzi and could fit two people. Aside from the bathtub, there was also a shower, which was separated by an opaque glass sliding door, where you could only see the shadow. There was also a sink and a countertop, which was below a mirror and then, some closets near the bathtub where some of her other clothes were. Her bath was already prepared by her personal maid, so all she had to do was get in the tub.

On the other hand, Avegaille slightly turned around on the bed and then, slowly opened her eyes. She sat up as she rubbed her eyes and looked around. Everything was blurry and she needed her glasses. She tried feeling around until she got hold of what she thought was her glasses and put them on. Then, she realized she was still in Nicole May's room.

"Huh… where's Nicole May?" Avegaille asked as she got off the bed and looked around. She felt she stepped on something and looked down. It was the book she was working on yesterday. She picked it up and placed it on top of the bed.

Then, Avegaille walked around the room and saw a door, which she had no idea where it actually led to. She slowly opened the door and saw Nicole May… who was in front of the closet and getting dressed. Nicole May was only wearing a long sleeved white collared shirt and black underwear. Nicole May noticed that someone opened the door and turned to that direction. She saw Avegaille, staring at her blankly, and she became nervous.

"Avegaille! What… what are you doing?!" Nicole May asked as she looked flustered and her face started turning red.

"Eh? Ah… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to interrupt or see you while you're still…" Avegaille muttered sheepishly as she quickly turned away and closed the door. Her face also started turning red and tried to pretend she didn't see anything. She quickly walked back near the bed and sat down on the floor. She leaned her back on the side of the bed and waited for Nicole May to finish.

After some time, the door opened and Nicole May came out, wearing the same blue v-neck shaped sweater on top of her white shirt and wearing a red skirt. She was only wearing her socks since her shoes were placed in another cabinet near the door. She looked really flustered as she approached Avegaille and folded her arms across her chest.

"Ah, Nicole May!" Avegaille exclaimed as she quickly stood up and looked quite nervous. Her cheeks were still red while she stared at Nicole May, who looked a bit irritated. "You… you're not mad, are you?"

"Whatever… you should probably fix yourself up before we go downstairs…" Nicole May muttered as she slowly turned away from Avegaille and pouted. Her face was also red and she still couldn't forget about what happened earlier.

"Ehehe… okay…" Avegaille laughed nervously as she took her bag and slowly went to the bathroom.

.-.-.-.-.-

Phil was walking outside, seeing as it was a Sunday and he was already done with his homework. He wanted to go to the park to see if anyone he knew was around. He walked around, observing the children playing and the adults were chatting with their friends by the benches. The park itself was very wide, with trees surrounding the park and had benches underneath them. There was also the field with well mowed grass, suitable for picnics or other activities, a fountain and a playground for the children. The park also led to a thick forest, which was near a small pond, where people could get lost if they didn't know the way back.

As Phil continued walking around, he noticed someone who looked like Arthur, as he could only see his back, near the pond. The guy wasn't with anyone, so Phil quickly approached him. The guy turned around, and it was indeed Arthur. He was holding a remote control which was used for controlling model cars or boats.

"Oh, hey, Phil… nice to see you here, what's up?" Arthur asked as he waved his hand and smiled.

"Hey, I didn't expect to see you here, I was bored, so… yeah," Phil said and he laughed nervously. He looked behind Arthur and saw a model boat floating on the pond. "You're into remote control stuff?"

"Yeah, Dad just bought it for me recently… I don't have other places to try it out, so this pond here is good enough," Arthur explained as he turned to the pond and crouched down to get the boat. Then, he stood up and turned to Phil, carrying the boat in his other arm. "Anyway, you don't look like you're busy… so why don't we head over somewhere like, oh say, the ice cream parlor?"

"Fine with me, I guess…" Phil said as he shrugged.

The two of them started walking together, observing some of the people around the park along the way. As they got to the sidewalk, Arthur somehow looked a bit serious. Phil noticed the expression and became quite intrigued.

"Hmm, something wrong?" Phil asked as he placed his hands into the pockets of his pants.

"Oh… I was thinking of something…" Arthur muttered and laughed nervously. "Let me ask you this… do you currently have a crush on a girl?"

"Eh? Why are you asking something like that? I mean… we already talked about this dude…" Phil muttered and looked quite anxious.

"Haha, no, don't worry, I'm not gonna force you. It's not about that, by the way," Arthur remarked and smiled a bit. "I was talking about having a crush on a girl… Well, normally, I rarely have any interests in them, but recently, this girl…"

"Who are we talking about this time?" Phil asked and looked quite puzzled.

"Oh… I'm pretty sure you've seen her around," Arthur said and chuckled a bit. "Of course, you're not always in the newspaper room, but anyway, she's really making me… well, interested at her whenever she's always teasing Nicole May, and she really shows a lot of enthusiasm when it comes to taking pictures… I doubt she would be interested in me, but anyway, she's one interesting girl."

"Ah… well… I know the feeling… well, at least, the part where you think the girl isn't quite interested in you," Phil muttered and laughed nervously. "Well, just spend some more time with her if you're given a chance. Anyway, I'm also having that problem recently…"

"Is this about Avegaille again? Well, I don't really want to meddle in this, since I know someone else is interested in her. You should probably just let her decide… Anyway, we're still young, so there's plenty of time… I think," Arthur muttered and slightly turned away from Phil while closing his eyes.

"Maybe we should… but she's still my friend, I mean, at least, I want to spend some time and talk with her once in a while as a friend even if we don't get together in the future," Phil said and he sighed. He stopped walking and looked at the store's front. Somehow, a flyer attached to the window display attracted him. "Oh wow, a new gaming console… looks quite interesting…"

"Oh?" Arthur stopped walking and quickly went closer to the flyer. "Looks kinda expensive… hey, at least, the thing has a lot of functions… like a touch screen on the bottom."

"Well, consoles get cheaper when another one comes out, but we'll see…" Phil remarked as he turned to Arthur. "Anyway, when a game I really find interesting comes out, I'll buy that console."

"Haha, same here… and hey, maybe if we have the same game, we can do battles and see who's better!" Arthur exclaimed and looked determined.

"Sure, you're on!" Phil exclaimed happily and held up his clenched fist. "Anyway, we should find that ice cream shop… where is it again?"

Arthur looked around the area and realized that they had already passed it. He laughed nervously as he turned to the direction where the parlor was. "Well, we should go back, since we already passed it by…"

"We've been talking a lot, haven't we?" Phil asked and laughed nervously. The two of them quickly ran off until they both arrived at the ice cream parlor, where some kids were hanging out. Phil had more things to tell Arthur, but it seemed that Arthur had other things in his mind, so the two of them just talked about each other’s interests instead.