Nick walked into the livingroom of the house he was sharing with
the other 4 guys while they stayed in the bahamas. They were all sitting around
watching a movie on tv.
“hi Nick” they all said
“hi” he replied sitting down on the couch and sighing.
“you call that chick?” AJ asked
“yeah” he answered “she told me some stuff”
“stuff?” Brian asked “like what?”
“like how…” he stopped remembering what Brianna told him. ‘don’t
tell the other guys, keep it to yourself’ he thought “nevermind”
they looked at him strangely and he went upstairs to his room.
Hours later Nick was laying in bed unable to sleep. He was
thinking about Brianna and the stuff she had told him about Eliese. He was
worried about her for some reason. Something inside him told him to call and
check up on her. He called Elieses house and he got no answer. He then looked
at the piece of paper he had written Brianna’s number on and dialed it.
“hello?” I said yawning.
“Brianna? Its Nick, did I wake you” he asked
“no I don’t seep at 3 in the morning”
“sorry. I just couldn’t sleep”
“why not”
“because I was thinking about what you told me”
“uhhhhh I knew I shouldn’t have told you. Nick its not a big
deal. Nothing to lose sleep over”
“I know but I called her and no one answered is she ok?”
“yeah shes fine she works nights” I said “her dad or brother
wont answer and her mom cant”
“she works?” he asked
“yeah…” I said slowly “so do I”
“but not at 3 on school nights”
“Nick listen. She does what she has to do, I wish I could help
her and give her money but she would never take it”
“where does she work”
“a convience store” I said “the money sucks too”
“oh god Brianna why is that happening to her?”
“I don’t know, I wish I did. It’ll be fine Nick. Don’t worry
just go to sleep and call me tomorrow if you want ok?”
“alright” he sighed “when you see her tell her I said hi”
“ok I will, bye”
“sorry for waking you, bye”
the next afternoon I was walking from
my AP Bio class to my locker to get my book. My cell phone started to vibrate
against my hip and I took it out of my purse.
“hello?”
“Brianna its Nick”
“don’t you know I have class? if I get cought with this out now someones
gonna die and it wont be me”
“sorry, I didn’t think of that”
“do you think at all?”
“actually I’ve been thinking too much lately”
“about Eliese?”
“sorta…”
“I’ll take that as a yes, but why?”
“because, it just sounds like shes going through a lot for
someone her age. And im worried that shes taking on more than she can handle”
“well Nick I’ll add your name to the list”
“what list?”
“the list of people that are worried about her, but what can we
do? She doesn’t want anyones help”
“does she have class with you right now?”
“no I havent seen her since yesterday afternoon. Actually, now
that I think of it im going to take a ride over to her house right now and see
if shes there”
“ok, want me to leave you alone?”
“not if you want to talk to me”
“I do” he said as I walked out of the school and to my car.
“I wish she didn’t live so far away”
“how far away does she live”
“40 minutes if I go the speed limit”
“oh” he replied
“so Nick, where are the other guys”
“they went to play basketball”
“why didn’t you go? You like basketball right?”
“I love it but im too tired to play today. I was up late last
night”
“I could tell when you called me”
“im still sorry for waking you up”
“oh its alright I don’t mind talking to you”
“good because I don’t mind talking to you either”
I talked to Nick the whole 40 minute drive to her house and told
him to call me back in 10 minutes while I went inside to see if she was there.
she wasn’t in her house so I walked outback to see her sitting in the tree
crying.
“what are you doing here?” she asked wiping her eyes.
“I came to make sure your ok”
“yeah im fine”
“how come you werent in school today?”
“because I got fired from my job last night”
“why?” I asked almost too sympathetically.
“because I fell asleep and someone took all the money from the
register and I didn’t even notice”
“oh, im sorry Eliese” I climbed up in the tree and sat with her.
“its alright, maybe now I can sleep. But I’ll have to get
another job”
“I’ll help you look if you want”
“ok, but it can be a day job”
“why?”
“because im dropping out of school”