I rubbed my eyes and saw I was in a room that I'd known before. I got up from the bed and sat up against the headboard behind me.
"It's Gee Kay's room," I mumbled.
"You're awake," Gee Kay appeared from the restroom.
I nodded. "So, how's the story?" I asked him.
"Ah, you, being here?" he walked, approaching me.
I nodded again.
"Well, it was a little bit weird because when I was practicing my right leg here, somebody called me saying that my girlfriend fainted at the cafeteria," he chuckled and somehow I smiled shyly hearing it. "At first I didn't know who he was calling my girlfriend, I just went to the cafeteria. When I was on my way, I remembered the rumor that people think you're my girlfriend. When I got there, I found you, lying on the couch, sleeping or losing consciousness, I don't know. This was the nearest place, so I brought you here. I'm sorry."
"You don't need to be sorry. I'm thankful for it," I said to him. "About the rumor, yeah, sometimes I feel guilty."
"Guilty?" he asked.
"Yeah. Girls who like you stop chasing you when they know, or rather, they think the rumor is true,"
"You gotta be kidding me," he chuckled. Then he sat on a chair he brought closer to the bed.
"I'm not. It happened today in one of my classes,"
"So what was your reaction?"
"I just told a girl who said she wanted to marry you," Gee Kay laughed but I went on, "that if she loved you she needed to go for it, because I'm not your girlfriend," I finished my story.
"That's so funny," he laughed again.
I smiled. "You know what Gee, I'm glad you can make everyone happy," I told him which made him stop laughing. But one, I said in my heart, Meredith.
I wanted to talk about what happened to Meredith and ask if he knew she was raped or not, but I guessed it wasn't the right time. I decided to save the question for another day ahead, when everything seemed better.
"So, what made you sleep back then in the cafeteria?" he asked.
"Medicine, I think," I shrugged.
"Okay," he put his hands on his lap, "whatever it was, just let me take you home now."
I smiled and nodded.
"Let me help you," he was about to help me get up from the bed, but I stopped him when I realized something.
"Wait, wait," I said. "Did you really bring me here all by yourself? You propped me up? Because you know, your leg just recovered today. You directly took the burden to bring me up here?"
He chuckled. Again. "You asked three questions all at once!" he said.
"Sorry," I said chuckling a bit. "Well, actually those are the same questions. Only in different constructions containing different words." I grinned and made him chuckle.
"Well, what else could I do? You're my friend and you were unconscious at that moment. I couldn't just ask someone else, so I decided to bring you here all by myself. And see? I'm fine. My leg is strong enough," he explained.
"Are you sure? Because I can ask Cassie or Gina to."
"Hey," Gee Kay interrupted and I stopped talking, "It's fine. I'll take you home."
"Okay," I said briefly.
I felt a little dizzy when I stood up, but I tried my best to look okay so Gee Kay wouldn't notice. I told him I could walk properly and he didn't need to help me walk, then we left his room and made our way to the elevator.
The elevator door slid open. I was so surprised to see the one I'd met today, Kyle, the one who'd caused me to go unconscious, was standing right in front of us.
Kyle walked out from the elevator. "Remember," he whispered into my ear as he passed by me. Again, I felt terrorized by him. I silently took a deep breath in order to calm myself down.
"Don't you dare touch her," Gee Kay pointed at Kyle.
"You should've said it before those guys caused Meredith harm," Kyle fumed.
The elevator closed before we made it into there.
"What do you mean?" Gee Kay asked.
"Hey, don't try faking it. I know you already knew about it!" his anger rose.
Gee Kay looked like he was trying to hold back his anger. "Listen, I have no idea what happened to Meredith," he said.
"You're lying,"
"I'm not. When I asked her, she said nothing. When I tried to be a friend to her like we used to be, she avoided me. How could I possibly know? What I have hard all this time was me stealing popularity from her." Gee Kay raised his tone. "Now tell me what happened to Meredith!"
"She was raped!" Kyle shouted back and startled him. "And you weren't there that night, when she was waiting for you at the bank of the river!" As if he couldn't find words, Gee Kay just stood there and listened as Kyle went on, "She looked messed up when I found her by accident. She told me everything that'd happened to her. As if her world had been shattered, she shut herself off from everyone. But every morning, I came to her house and tried to be her friend, supporting her until she could go back to school. But now, Meredith is lying in the hospital because of this girl you're protecting!"
I was taken aback hearing what Kyle said.
"Don't blame her! She didn't do anything," Gee Kay defended me.
"You didn't tell me about that today so I didn't tell what happened between me and Meredith," I said to Kyle; my voice was trembling and my hands were shaking.
"See? She didn't tell you that she attacked Meredith,"
"I didn't attack her!" I snapped at him. "I told you I was just defending myself when she hurt me."
"Are you trying to cover it up?" Kyle stared at me. "You're lying just like your boyfriend." He scoffed.
"Stop blaming me for something you don't know about, Kyle!" anger burned within me. I hated being blamed. Really. "Now, let me tell you what happened. That Sunday, I met Meredith at the church when she was about to disrupt the church service. She said she wanted to ruin Genesis' life because he stole her popularity. I tried to block her way as she tried to get into the church and it made her furious. She pushed me hard until I hit the floor, elbow first, as you can see. But she didn't stop. She pulled me by the hair when I didn't give up stopping her plan. I was in pain and couldn't do anything but try to escape. I just wanted to get away but I ended up pushing her too hard and she fell. Her head hit the edge of the pavement, but it wasn't on purpose, Kyle!" My heart was beating so fast. Tears were falling down my cheeks, which happened whenever I got angry.
Kyle scoffed. "You made up that story," he said in disbelief.
"No, I didn't," I told him and wiped away my tears. "Ask Meredith what actually happened."
Kyle didn't respond. He turned his sight to the other direction. I knew he still thought I made up the story.
I managed my breath. I wiped away the remaining tears and stopped crying. "I just told you the truth. It's now up to you whether you want to believe it or not," I said to him. I turned my head to Gee Kay. "If you want to see Meredith, just go with him. I can go home by myself."
Gee Kay shook his head. "No, I'm taking you home," he said. He pushed the down button on the wall. It didn't take long, and the elevator door slid open. Gee Kay and I entered.
When the elevator door had almost closed, Kyle said, "She's in Saint Mary's," and the door closed. It took us to the ground floor.
"I want to see Meredith," I told him when we were walking to the parking lot.
"You said you wanted to go home," Gee Kay said.
I shook my head. "Do you want to go with me?" I asked.
Gee Kay didn't respond. He bit his upper lip.
"Well it's still six, so I guess there's still a bus and--"
"Let's go," he interrupted.
We walked to Gee Kay's car. We got in and left Sierra Hall, making our way to Saint Mary's immediately.
We went to the third floor where Meredith was being taken care of in a room for intensive care, according to the receptionist. Fortunately visiting time ended at 7 PM, and it was still 6:16 PM. On the third floor, we looked for her room. It wasn't difficult to find her because there was an open door where we found Meredith sleeping.
Gee Kay stopped in front of the room. He didn't walk in. I touched his arm and tilted my head toward the room, hinting at him to come in. He looked hesitant, but I grabbed his arm and pulled him into the room.
We approached Meredith's bed. Our steps made a little noise that stirred her awake.
"Kyle, I don't want to talk. Please leave me alone. I need to get some rest," Meredith said, her eyes still closed. She seemed really sick. Her head was still wrapped in gauze.
I moved closer to her. "Umm, Meredith. It's me Cynthia," I said.
She opened her eyes as I said it.
"And Genesis," I continued.
"What do you want?" she turned from being feeble into solid. I could see the anger in her eyes.
"Please, we don't want to start a war here. We just wanted to visit you," I said, but Meredith gave no response. She turned her head in the other direction. I turned my head to Gee Kay and went on, "Actually there's something that Genesis wants to talk to you about."
Gee Kay's eyes widened. He mimed 'No' to me, but I turned my head to Meredith.
"I'm sorry Meredith, for making you like this," I said. "Now, I'll leave you two to talk."
Gee Kay held my arm, trying to stop me from leaving him alone with Meredith, but I mimed to him 'Talk with her.' I let myself go from his grasp and then left them to it.
I sat outside the room and waited. I was praying that some kind of change would happen inside as Gee Kay talked about the night Meredith had been raped. I hoped this problem could be finished. I didn't want us to keep living like it was hell on earth.
I gazed up at the ceiling. I was wondering if what Meredith had said about Gee Kay stealing her popularity was wrong. I guessed it was something to cover up what had happened. However, if she wanted to cover up what had happened to her, why would she become angry with Gee Kay and wanted to ruin his life? Why had she not talked with him and told him the truth since he had been her best friend? As for me, I would never conceal anything that troubled me.
I looked through the open door, and Gee Kay was talking with Meredith. They looked really awkward talking to each other. Then I understood why. They had never talked since that terrible night.
I remembered what Cassie said about what people thought about the relationship between Gee Kay and Meredith, how they thought it would last until marriage. It was really interesting. I had frequently heard of best friends becoming life partners. Would what people thought about them become reality? Who would know? Only God would.
I looked at my wrist watch and noticed that it was almost seven. I was so tired. However, I couldn't close my eyes because I would fall asleep right away. Then I decided to walk along the corridor as I waited until it was time to go home.
I felt itchy all around my body. It happened again. The hospital sick. That's the name I made for my strange sickness of hospitals. I scratched my right hand, my feet, my back, and all over my body with my left hand. Oh, how I felt so annoyed with this. Even more, I couldn't reach the right side of my back. Then I leaned against the corner of the wall and moved up and down and left and right to try and scratch my back. I realized I must've looked like an actress in a comedy movie. When I was doing an awkward thing, someone would come and laugh at me. However, I hoped that wouldn't be true. I didn't want to be embarrassed.
"Cynthia, I've been looking for you," Gee Kay's voice surprised me. Fortunately, I had stopped moving my body by then. Thank God he didn't see me. "What are you doing?"
I shook my head. "Nothing. I was just walking around," I grinned. "Oh, you're finished?"
Gee Kay nodded. "Let's go home," he said, but then he quickly re-worded, "I mean, let me take you home."
I chuckled. "Hey, what's wrong with you? You're nervous or something?" I teased him. Gee Kay shook his head in denial. "Ah, something happened between you and Meredith?"
"No, nothing happened," he said. "Only, she still didn't want to believe me."
"About what?"
"You know, the reason why I didn't show up when she was, um... raped... was because the invitation that she put in my locker was gone, so I didn't find anything there and couldn't meet her at the bank of the river," he explained.
I sighed. "That means you need to meet her again and again until she believes you," I told him.
Gee Kay shrugged.
"Hey, don't ever give up. She was your best friend, and I hope you put up a little more of a fight to get her back as your best friend," I encouraged him. "Besides, I think you guys are perfect together."
"Yeah?" he furrowed and looked at me with squinted eyes.
"Don't look at me that way," I crossed my hands in front of my chest.
He squinted his eyes even more. That made me irritated. I didn't know why. That was what I felt when seeing someone squint their eyes. There was a thought in my mind that squinting eyes meant being angry or suspicious or blaming me.
"Hey, stop," I told him. "Gee, stop."
He laughed. "Sorry," he said, without even feeling really sorry for what he did.
I hissed. "Come on. I need to be home soon because I need to take another dose of medicine before I go to sleep," I said.
It had been a week since Gee Kay and I visited Meredith. During the whole week, by my support, or rather by force, Gee Kay visited his ex-best friend that would be best friend again soon, I hoped every day. He told me everything that he'd talked about with Meredith each time he visited her. Every day, he tried to gain back Meredith's trust. What made me even happier was that on the last day Meredith was hospitalized, she smiled at Gee Kay when he visited her. I believed Gee Kay had really earned back Meredith's trust.
My elbow was okay, and the pain had been gone. I enjoyed it very much. Being free from sickness was something wonderful to me. That morning, I was sitting on a couch in the living room of the second floor, watching TV. I'd just come back from the university and was resting. Cassie, as well as Julie, who apparently had no class that day, joined me in watching TV. They sat on either side of me.
"Do you want some?" Cassie offered a big tub of popcorn.
Julie and I took some and ate.
"Hey, girls, there's actually something I want to tell you," Cassie caught our attention away from the TV.
"Sure, tell us everything you want," I said.
"You can count on us," Cassie added.
Julie nodded for a while, and then she raised her head again. "Well, you know that I babysit from morning to midday," she began, "and I like it because I can learn to be independent. But lately I've had this problem with Mrs. Po, the one that hired me."
"What is it?" Cassie asked, while there was still popcorn in her mouth.
"There is another babysitter there who takes turns with me. She was hired after me. And since she's been working there, there's always been a problem every day. But it's not been a big deal for me until one day she stole a sum of money and she blamed me for doing it, in front of Mrs. Po. I wanted to defend myself and say that it was her, not me, but she threatened to kill me if I told Mrs. Po the truth. I could hide the truth, if it was only once. However, she did it again yesterday and I am so afraid that she'll blame me again and make Mrs. Po sue me for stealing money," she explained in detail, but both Casey and I kept listening.
I rubbed my forehead. "That's tough," I responded.
"Yeah, so what should I do?" Julie asked.
"Tell her the truth now," Cassie said abruptly.
"You mean go there while that crazy babysitter is working now? She would kill me," Julie winced.
"No," Cassie ate another handful of popcorn. "By phone."
I made a click sound with my tongue. "Cassie, stop eating first when you want to talk," I warned her softly.
"Sorry," Cassie grinned and swallowed the popcorn. "So, what do you think? Then you can be safe here while you call Mrs. Po. And when she is still working there, the police can come and arrest her. How about that?" She said it as if without thinking first.
I chuckled. "You're funny, Cassie," I said. "But I think it's worth a try, Julie."
Julie hesitated at first because she said Mrs. Po didn't trust her, but then she said, "Yeah, I think I should try it. I'll call her now," she said. She took her phone out from her jeans and began dialing. "Hello, Mrs. Po, it's Julie. Um, wait, I'm sorry. I need to talk about something urgent. It is really important for you to know. Yes. Please. It won't take too long. Yes. Thank you."
Julie told her everything she knew about the crazy thief babysitter. She was really good at explaining it to Mrs. Po and convincing her that she was telling the truth. I felt glad seeing this, not only because Julie finally told me and Cassie about her problem and we helped her solve it, but also because of Gee Kay's kindness in letting me use his Instagram.
About five minutes or so later, she ended the call. She smiled and said, "Yes! Mrs. Po trusts me again and there won't be any problem with that insane babysitter. I'm so glad! Thank you girls," she hugged me, then Cassie came closer for a group hug.
A problem had just been solved. Later on, there was another problem. This one related to Meredith. I'd hoped that she'd have a good relationship with Gee Kay like they did before, because friendship was always the best choice, compared to strife.
I walked along the hallway of the university toward my locker. I put some heavy stuff in it, took out only what I needed for that day, and closed it.
"Hi," Meredith shocked me as I saw her appear from behind my locker door.
I smiled. "Hi. Welcome back," I said. "How are you, Meredith?"
"I'm good. Thanks," she replied. "And how is your elbow?"
I glanced for a second at my elbow and back at her. "It's not a big deal. All is well," I convinced her.
She smiled. "Great. Hey, Cynthia,"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you for being so nice to me when I caused you harm," she sounded like she felt guilty behind her words.
I rested my hand on her shoulder. "You know, I caused you harm too, so we have the same score," I chuckled. I hugged a huge book of Drama Theory tightly against my chest when I felt it started slipping. "I'm kidding. It's no problem at all, Meredith. Actually, I'm really glad you're friends again with Gee Kay, um, Genesis."
"Yeah. I'm glad I have him back in my life too. I should've told him the truth in the first place anyway," said Meredith.
"But it's wasn't too late since you decided to be friends again with Gee Kay," I said in a melodic utterance. "He's a really good friend. Don't lose him again."
Meredith nodded. "I won't," she promised herself.
"Okay, cool," I smiled. "Hey Meredith, I need to get to class now. I don't want to be late. So, see you around."
"See ya," she waved as I left her.
This was a blessing. The 'other problem' had been solved. I could do my activities and pursue my dream and could really focus on them without thinking about any burdens. I promised myself I would do my best from here on out.
The first and second classes were awesome because the lecturers were also awesome. Most students admitted it as well when I asked them. The lecturers taught us the best thing that we'd never figured out as Theatre students. I absolutely didn't miss any opportunity to write it all down in my notebook. I would definitely check everything I'd written down that day frequently, because I had so many awesome things to keep in mind.
It was time for break. I put all my stuff, except my phone and purse, into my locker and then went to the cafeteria. I bought some snacks and a coke, then I sat at some table near the exit. I texted my parents, who apparently sent me a message via Whatsapp that morning. They asked me everything I did and I told them everything that I'd experienced so far. I was used to telling my parents everything, as they taught me to do, so that there would be no miscommunication that could cause problems. Dad also sent me a picture of his face, which was so funny because he was too close to the phone's camera so the picture didn't show his mouth. Along with that, he sent me a sound of a fart, but I knew it wasn't a real fart. Mom would've protested if it had been real.
"Hey," somebody came up to me. I gazed up and saw Kyle standing there. "Is this seat taken?"
"No," I said and moved my tray a bit closer to me, so that he could have some space to put his tray on the table.
"Thank you," he said as he sat down in one of the chairs in front of me.
I smiled in response. "You're not with your girlfriend?" I asked to open conversation.
"Actually, I was going to ask that," he told me. He took a potato slice, dipped it in chili ketchup and ate it. "When I saw that you're alone without your boyfriend-"
"Hey, I told you that Genesis isn't my boyfriend," I cut him off.
"Okay, I mean, Genesis, I decided I'd come over to you and yeah, talk," he said and ate some more potato slices.
I also ate my own potatoes but suddenly choked.
"Are you okay?" Kyle asked while I was drinking my coke.
However, it was not getting better. The coke made it worse. I stood up and gave Kyle a sign to wait, because I had to leave the table to get a bottle of fresh water from inside the refrigerator, which was free to take. I opened the can and drank the water right away to free my throat and nose from the pain of choking. When I started to feel better, I went back to my seat.
"Feeling better now?" Kyle asked.
I nodded then gulped. "Oh," I took a deep breath and released it. "That was bad."
"Be careful next time," Kyle chuckled.
"Will do," I ensured myself. I'd experienced the same thing back in Indonesia and it was really bad because there was a little rice stuck inside my nose. This time would be the last.
"By the way, Cynthia," said Kyle,
"Yeah?"
"I'm sorry I was so mean to you the other day," he apologized.
"Hey, it's fine. I believe it's because you care for your girlfriend so much. I understand," I convinced him.
Forgiving always was something difficult to do. Throughout my life, my parents had always given me such a good example of forgiveness. I was used to forgiving, which meant I was also used to being put in strife with others. I wasn't sure why, because it was never because of my bad attitude or deeds, but there was always trouble that needed to be finished. Yeah, everything happens for a reason.
"Thanks. But actually Meredith is not my girlfriend. Yet. I hope that she will be," Kyle confessed.923Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ3V0Z3dxk9
I smiled. My thought of Gee Kay and Meredith getting together as a couple somehow faded remembering Kyle had been on her side for all this time. "She will," I conviced him.
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