Chapter 25; The girl who asked for forgiveness, and the officer's secret

*A very, very long chapter ahead. Good luck.*

*Unedited *

Enjoy the chapter!

*

I was walking back home that day instead of taking the bus. It was a long walk, but I needed to think.

As I passed by that all-girls academy, I caught the sight of the headmaster. I didn't stop in my track and kept going, our eyes locking as I moved passed her.

There was a weird look on her face, making me tense and not relax even after a few good miles of walking.

We haven't heard much from her, which contrast with what my uncle told me about her once. He said she tried a lot of times to close down his school.

But now that I think about it, she did send some more girls to our school when it's not yet safe.

I was almost completely sure at that moment she was planning something, and it wasn't going to be good.

I heard the screech of tires of the road besides me, making me stop to look. From the black car, a few men stepped out. My heart skipped a beat when they started to head towards me. I froze. Should I run or wait for them to reach me and see what is it that they wanted from me.

"Do you need something?" I asked, but none of them answered. Okay, this was my signal. Without wasting another second, I bolted, noting that they were now following me.

Uncle's words made me shiver. You've always been the type of a person to get into troubles.

Yes, I did. But it wasn't my fault, not this time.

I ran as fast as my feet could carry me. This neighborhood was one of the poorer ones, and I realized that I should've took the opposite way when I exited the school. I went the wrong way.

With those thoughts in my head, I ran quickly through an ally, hiding behind a big dumpster. Maybe this was my fault, after all. After all, if I would've taken the bus instead of walking home without fully knowing where to go, this wouldn't have happened.

I almost wanted to scream. Why did theses things always happened to me?

When I couldn't hear anyone around, I allowed myself to relax a bit, but still didn't come out of my hiding place.

I waited a minute after a minute, to scared to see if they were still there. With my heart beating fast and hands shaking, took out my phone, staring at the contacts list.

But who was I going to call? The boys won't talk to me, and those who do probably think the same as my uncle. That I get into troubles all of the time. However, I couldn't get myself to move, too terrified that whoever they were, they were still out there waiting for me.

Then Officer's Jason's name got caught in my eye.

This was good. He was a cop, he could help me.

Without another second, I quickly dialed his number, hoping I wasn't bothering him too much.

"Hello?" His voice answered, making my pulse to calm down a bit. "It's me, R-Rhiannon, I mean." And then next thing I knew, I broke down, trying to stifle my sobs incase someone was still here. "What wrong? Where are you?" He asked, and after a quick look on a maps app I answered him. "I'll be right there." He hang up, making me promise to call again if anything else happened until he reached me.

I was a shivering mess, and it felt like such a long time until Officer Jason arrived in the entrance of the ally, a gun and a flashlight in his hands.

When he saw me, he put his gun back and held out his hand. I rubbed my hand over my eyes and took it, for some reason feeling safe now that he was here.

"Thank you," I said once I calmed down inside his car.

He glanced once at me before looking back at the road.

When we reached my house, I didn't immediately go out.

"Why would someone go after me like that?" I asked him, looking at his face.

He sighed and took out a small notepad. "Tell me what happened," he ordered, and I quickly went over everything.

"I can't tell right now what's going on, but I would advise you to not be alone if you're going outside. Alright?" I nodded, looking straight ahead.

"Also..." He stopped short, making me look back at him. He sighed again, passing his hand through his dark hair. "There's something you should know. Your uncle said it might be best to wait, but..." I raised a brow, not understanding. "Well, just say it, you're scaring me."

There was silence for a few more second before he said, "I'm your brother."

For a second, I just sat there, staring at him. "My... what?"

He must've been joking, right? "Your older brother."

I shook my head, unable to look at him. "No... no, I was an only child." I stated, but for some reason I wasn't very confident when I said it.

"No, you never were. You were so little that you didn't remember me. Or, more importantly- I didn't remember you." I frowned, still not understating any of this.

"I didn't know, either, until I was around ten. Or at least, that was what Bart told me, because I didn't even remember any of this." I swallowed hard, thinking back at how uncle Bart reacted toward the officer. He trusted him whenever it was about me. How Officer Jason acted whenever I got into troubles and how much he helped me.

And deep down, I knew him, too.

"Why did they never tell me? Why weren't you in my life?" I asked, my heart beating so loudly I could almost hear it.

"Because no one even knew I was alive. I was taken from them when I was young, and the place I grew up wasn't... it wasn't a place for a kid. But then, I found out about you, but I lost my memories soon after. Social services found me and placed me in a good family, and I didn't remember anything about my past." I tried to let the information sink.

"Then a few months ago, I met with your uncle. At first, he didn't know who I was, but he said he felt like he did. Then he came back to me with the truth. At first I didn't believed him- but when I met you, everything started to come back." I looked at him, feeling my heart goes out for him.

"Everything?" I asked carefully, not sure if he was comfortable telling me. "Yeah, everything." He conformed, giving me a soft, but sad smile.

"I'm sorry for what you've been through. I wished we weren't separated." Officer Jason gave me a surprised look. "You aren't mad we didn't tell you?" I shrugged, "You told me now. Besides, it's not like you knew about it for a long time."

We were quite for a few more seconds. "I do wonder why no one told me about having a brother. Even if they didn't know if you were even alive, they still should've told me." I muttered- mostly to myself, looking towards my house.

"Well, I guess we'll talk some other time, right?" I asked, hoping for him to agree. He smiled, nodding. "Of course."

I smiled back, and then exited the car.

I waited for him to drive before walking to the bus station.

I knew I needed to be careful after what happened, but I was going to talk to the guys, and I'll make sure not to come back alone.

Hopefully, they will forgive me.

*

I knocked on Thomas' door and waited, feeling nervous and hoping everyone were here so I can talk to them.

After a moment, Thomas opened the door, a surprised look on his face as he saw me. I didn't tell him I was coming, and it was only today they all found out about my uncle.

"The others are here," he said, looking at me with concern clear in his eyes. "Good." I simply told him, and he gave a smile, as if to assure me he's with me.

The others were in the living room, but it was so quiet I wouldn't have guessed they were until I saw them.

"Hey," I greeted them, but other then Caleb and Oliver no one turned to look at me.

"I came here because... I wanted to tell you a bit about myself, but not because I owe you. Friends don't owe each other to come clean about everything about themselves, especially when they don't get much in return." Reagan turned his gaze to me and Klay stood up from his seat, giving me a blank look. "Don't look at me like that. Did you tell me about your family, Klay? Something I didn't know?" I asked him, looking at his black hair. He must've done it today, because I didn't see it this morning at school.

I looked at Reagan next. "What about you, Reagan? What do I really know about you? And Elliot, if I wasn't there for you in your house, would I have known about your family?" I shook my head, glancing at Caleb, and then at Thomas who sat down next to Oliver. "And I know that you three didn't ask anything from or got angry about the fact I didn't tell you about myself, but what do I actually know about you?" I swallowed hard. Before I tell them everything about myself, I had to let them know about those little things that bothered me. Now, I can let them know about the real me. Hopefully, they'll do the same to me.

"I never had friends. I grew up alone, with an aunt I barely knew and parentless after a car accident when I was young, leaving me with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury that cause a condition called Photophobia." I sat down on a chair, putting my legs on it and crossing them. "Before you ask, no- it doesn't mean I have phobia from photos, or anything. It means I have a sensitivity for light, and there is too much of it coming entering the eye. Usually, it gives me horrible headaches when the light is too much for me. Sometimes it's worse, depending on the day. That's why I wear those glasses. It's actually light relief sunglasses, and it helps a lot." I stopped for a second, letting the information sink in.

Elliot raised his head and looked towards the source of my voice. "Is the light bothering you here?" He asked, but before I could answer Reagan stood up and closed the light, leaving the TV as the only source of light. The sun was down outside, as well, so it made the room really dark.

"Thanks, but it was fine like that. Yellow lights are usually better than white." I assured them, as the bulb was yellow.

Reagan sat back down, his eyes not moving from my face not even for a moment. In fact, they were all looking at me, waiting for me to continue.

"As I was saying, I grew up with my aunt from my mother side, and her brother. I was never good at making friends, and the neighborhood I grew up in had kids from rich families. I guess you can say I was always just too much from them to handle." I shrugged, looking down at my hands.

"I studied in private schools, staying there most of the days because my aunt was always working, until I got tried of that and spent my time outside until it was late. That was mostly how I've gotten into troubles. I would punch some guy just for coming too close to me, or if for some reason I didn't like him.

"Honestly, I was a mess."

I smiled to myself, thinking of all the times I hit someone because I felt weird vibes from him. What an idiot, I used to be. This is why I don't blame aunt for acting the way she does towards me, grounding whenever she thinks I did something stupid. She's so protective that she can't think of me getting hurt, and when she sees I'm in a 'I'm going to do stupid things' she'll rather ground me for a bit until I calm down.

Even though I don't usually like it.

"I transferred schools so many times I stopped counting. I liked to think it was just making me bored, but it was also tiring me out. Going another day with the feeling of being different, of being in another school I just couldn't get myself to make friends, of being treated for how much money my aunt had instead of who I was- those things really messed up my head. I just couldn't stand it anymore. I didn't want to be homeschool- no, that would be worse." I stopped to think about that again, of how my uncle suggested it, knowing how hard it is for me to talk to people. But I still wanted to talk to them.

"And then Woodblock's principal came to me for help. " I told them except from one thing they couldn't know. One thing that will make them really want to stay away from me.

"And then he asked if I could come to his school, to learn there. Like, are you kidding me? Not only is it a public school with people who won't know about my aunt and how much money she has in her bank account, it is also an all boys school.

"Girls, I always had hard time talking to in my other schools. So now, I was going to a public school that was also interesting and wouldn't make me bored not even for a second." I stopped to look at them, meeting their eyes with my own.

"Not only that, but I found myself actually talking to people. I mean, a lot of them probably didn't like me, and others probably wished there was a cuter girl instead of me," I joked, smiling. Klay shook his head at me and looked away, his hand over his mouth as if he was hiding a grin. Reagan didn't look at me either, staring at the floor. The rest still held my gaze.

"I also found six boys who I finally saw as my friends, and I wanted to cherish them and protect them. But in the end, I couldn't let myself to open up. I was terrified; Would they think I'm just some rich girl who gets anything she wants? Would they not like my faults?" I paused. "'I don't want to bother them too much with all of the troubles I always get myself into, it would probably make me a burden.', is what I had in mind whenever I didn't tell you guys if something happened to me." Thomas shook his head, giving me a sad look. "You're not a burden, Rhi. We want you to tell us when something bad happens to you. We want to be there for you." He told me, making me bite my lip to hold the tears in. "That's what friends are for," Said Oliver, surprising me a bit.

There was a silence for awhile before Klay opened his mouth. "I'm sorry for everything I said. I didn't mean it, and it wasn't fair of me." He looked at his friends. "It's not like we were very honest to you, as well." I smile and shrugged.

Reagan suddenly stood up and his eyes locked with mine. "My mom has cancer and my dad was a soldier who died when I was young." He said, making me gape at him. "W-where the hell is this coming from?" I asked, startled from the sudden revelation.

He simply shrugged. "You told us about yourself and I did the same. Can I kiss you now?" I blinked, and then my face heated. "R-Reagan! D-don't just go saying things like that!" I yelled, embarrassed but still happy to know we were okay again.

"I have handicapped twelve year old brother, so my parents don't pay much attention to me. When they do, it's to yell at me." Klay said, gazing down at his hands.

I was shocked to know such a thing. Someone like Klay looked always happy and optimistic, I wouldn't think for a second he has it hard for him. "Well, I pay attention to you because you're awesome." I smiled at him, making him beam at me like the little kid he was.

Then he stood up, much like Reagan, and said; "I also change my hair color a lot because I don't always have a lot of confidence. Can I kiss you now?" At first, we all stared at him, trying to see if he was serious.

"I'm just kidding, you know." He finally said, making Reagan glare at him. "I'm going to punch you," He told him, making Klay's smile to widen. I rolled my eyes just as Thomas told both of them to sit back down.

"You probably wonder why it's only Grey and me in the house, right?" Thomas asked, rubbing the back of his neck. I nodded, because I did thought about it once or twice.

"Well, we don't really talk to our parents because they weren't the greatest when we were younger. Always arguing, barely caring about the two of us. It was Grey who raised me, and once he was old enough he didn't even ask for their permission to take me away with him. Just said that we were both leaving. That wasn't very long ago, actually- around four years." I nodded, smiling at him as if to thank him for telling me about himself.

I didn't want to ask anything about Grey, since it wasn't his place to say anything. Maybe Grey will, one day? Who knows.

Oliver was next, shocking telling me that he how hard it was for him to display emotions for strangers, and how he always worried of what people thought of him. I never would've guess that about him.

"I get it. Sometimes, I find myself overthinking about how I look in some people eyes." I told him, and he sent me a small smile. That was new, and I really liked how close we gotten.

Elliot went next, going quickly about how his father left them, and mother started to hate him because she had to take care of him alone, and it was worse since he was blind. I knew the harsh details, so I assured him he didn't have to go through the story.

Last was Caleb. I could tell he was nervous, probably like I was. After all, just like me no of us knew that much about him. Well, I more than others, but still.

"I used to have a lot of friends." He finally started. I was taken back by that. Sweet, shy Caleb had a lot of friends? I mean, when I came to this school around five months ago he didn't have anyone.

"One day I told them how I liked this one girl, and they came to me the next day telling me they talked to her and she told them she liked me back. And so, I went and asked on a date and she agreed. We went to a party at on of my friends house, and a lot of people were invited. It all went well until..." He stopped for a second, putting his hands around his legs and held them close to his body.

"We talked outside near a pool and when I thought she came to kiss me, she pushed me back to the pool. When I entered the house all soaking wet, everyone was laughing- including my friends. Not only did they get the girl to do all of those things, they also had everything on film.

"After that day, the started to pick on me. It got so bad I had to move to another city." He finished, not looking at any of us.

I stood up and went to sit next to him on the floor.

"How long ago was that?" I asked softly, rubbing his hair.

"When I was fourteen, so around two years ago." I nodded. Caleb met my gaze, and I felt like he was asking me if he should continue. After all, there was one more thing he had to say. "Go ahead," I told him.

He went silent for a moment, and then met the other guys' looks. "I'm ... I'm  gay." He finally let out.

I couldn't stop the smile from spreading on my face or myself from throwing my arms around him, hugging him hard.

"With that look on your face, I thought it was going to be something bad," Said Reagan, smiling at him. I gave him an appreciative look as I felt Caleb relax against me.

"See? Nothing to worry about," I told him, and looked at the others as they smiled.

"Are you guys done yet?" Grey's voice startled us, making me take away one of the arms from around Calen and put my hand to my chest. "Jesus, what the hell?" I barely saw him raising his brow at me from the entrance of the living room, as it was dark.

"How long were you there?" Thomas asked, not scared or angry that Grey probably heard all of our confection session.

"Oh, I was in the kitchen making dinner, but I could hear every single thing from there." I blinked at him.

"Every single thing?" I asked him, making him frown at me. "Yeah. Why?" he asked, but I was looking at Caleb. In a quick movement I came to sit on my knees in front of Caleb, hiding him from Grey sight. "Never mind," I said, waving me hand dismissingly. The other looked at me weirdly, but Thomas was shaking his head with a smile on his face.

"Right. Well, did you tell them what happened to you before you got here?" He asked me, coming inside to look at us more closely. I froze, then slapped a hand on my mouth as I gaped at him. "Oh oh, I completely forgot!" Grey looked too amuse for his own good.

I was definitely not giving Caleb to him.- Which is a thing for another day. Make Caleb confess, I mean.

"How did you know?" I asked, almost accusing him for ratting on me. He shrugged, "Officer Jason is my partner and friend, and I told him to inform me whenever you get into troubles." This immediately alarmed the boys. Reagan came to sit next to me. "What's he talking about?" He asked, looking at me. I told them about what happened to me, about the men who went after me and how I escaped. I didn't tell them about the officer being my brother. Not because I didn't want, but because I felt like we had better things to worry about.

"What are we going to do?" Thomas asked his brother as Reagan held my hand as he check me for injuries, looking me over along with Klay and Oliver and Elliot only staring to my direction with worry clear on his face.

"Whatever the reason it happened, I have a feeling it has to do with the other boys who disappeared." Everyone looked at him, frowning. I myself got confused by his words. "The place she was is where the other were taken." He explained. "With that said, maybe you should stay at home for a while." Grey suggested, making me nod at him.

I wasn't the happiest about it, but it was for the better. I didn't want to think what could've happened if those men would've caught me.

"Let's eat for now. Don't worry, alright? We're going to take care of this." He assured me after a moment of silence, making me smile at him.

"Yeah come on, I'm starving," Said Klay as he stood up. Elliot stood and walked out after him, calming, "You're always hungry."

The others went out after them, and only Reagan and I stayed sitting on the floor. He met my worried glance and his put his hand on my cheek, his thumb caressing my skin softly. "I got you," he said softly. "I won't let anything happen to you." I nodded, knowing that he meant every word.

And I knew they would keep me safe because they weren't just my friends. They were my family.

But I was still keeping a secret from them.

~*~

It took me so long to write this chapter and I'm exhausted, so I'm just going to go without a rant.

You're welcome.

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