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Chapter 42 – Freddy

I watched as Kidnap played with his brothers Homework and Seesaw and his sister Tuesday in the vast yard of an enormous posh-looking home in a neighbourhood somewhere in downtown Los Angeles. Freddy Junior, Kidnap’s Dad yapped at the little ones whenever they get a little overboard with the shrubbery.

“Still okay?” I asked Becky who sat weakly beside me in the front porch.

Her face was as pale as paper, her eyes a little red around the edges but she nodded and smiled at me with an obvious effort. Last night, she had a bad fever and I was really worried because she’d been moaning agitatedly and non-stop in her sleep. She kept blurting “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m the worst,” and stuff like that while crying but I doubt she’d remember saying all those things now. I assumed it was all about the Matt dilemma. Same old, same old.

Surprisingly, Becky had been nothing but excruciatingly silent since waking up this morning. That got me especially worried. She must be really sick. I thought day she’d decide to shut up would cause an apocalypse.

Good bye beautiful world! I’d lived a short but fruitful life, but do you think you could put up with global warming a little longer and extend the deadline?

“You sure?” I said putting my hand on her forehead. It seemed that the fever had gone.

“Sure.” She said.

Arthur and Leon were leaning on the car outside the tall wrought iron gates, perhaps still waiting for Freddy. It was almost lunchtime when he arrived from Louella’s victory party. Coincidentally, he found me chucking the food Becky and I prepared straight to the trash bin as he stepped in the kitchen.

When he asked why I was throwing the food away when he didn’t even get a chance to taste it, I just smiled blankly, avoided his eyes and said a very intelligent thing like “Err... don’t want you contracting botulism,” which was nerd language for not-for-human-consumption.

Yeah well, I forgot to put the stuff in the fridge since I was too miserable to do so last night and voila! Food poisoning extravaganza!

Out of the blue, Leon told me to get ready so we could go somewhere extremely important as if the future of humanity depended on it. So, I dragged Becky with me, as sick as she was since I wasn’t much too keen on leaving her alone in the Walden Mansion. I could only feel guilty. Leon and I hadn’t talked much after that.

Now, we had been waiting for this Freddy guy to come home. I didn’t know who he was but as far as I knew, he was someone pretty important to Leon. Apparently, Freddy owned the huge house (which was still a bit smaller than Leon’s mansion but still too big for an old guy and five dogs) and he was the one who had Leon adopt Kidnap to give to me for my birthday.

It must be really depressing living alone with dogs for companion. I smirked bitterly thinking how ironic it was that I actually planned to live alone in some grungy apartment with a retriever as far away from my mother as possible. I was beginning to reconsider my future.

I was imagining Freddy as a stout old guy in his late fifty’s with sparse sandy hair, double chin, and a cheery smile when Becky finally broke the silence.

“Sarah, you know how stupid I can be sometimes, don’t you?” She said with a raspy voice, her eyes fixed on the polished granite floor.

“Uhh... Yeah,” I replied tentatively. “Sometimes can be a bit of an understatement, now that I think about it.” I said teasingly with a light chuckle but Becky didn’t seem to get the humor so I pretended to clear my throat instead.

It took another several moments before she spoke again.

“Yeah, and even though I’m really annoying and stupid most of the time you still hang out with me.” There was uncertainty in her tiny voice as she spoke it made me uneasy. I was usually the mope-ish one and I didn’t think I’d live the day to see Becky switch personalities with me.

I nodded. “Sure thing. You’re my best friend. You’d do the same for me. We’re sad, sad people since no one else would want us.” I tried to smirk again just to cheer her up but it was no use.

“You really mean that? You promise to still be my friend no matter what you find out about me?”

“Get to the point Becky! I swear I’ll whack you so hard on the head if you keep this up.” With a sigh, I watched as the puppies scurry back to the front porch where Shoelace, their mother was lying watchfully, after an ominous growl from Freddy Junior.

“Matt and I weren’t really together.” She said so fast it took a few seconds to sink in.

“What? You broke up?” I said incredulously.

Becky shook her head tentatively. “We were never really together, Sarah. We just pretended.”

“What do you mean you just pretended?”

She stifled a sob before she continued. “It was all a lie Sarah. He asked me if I will help him. If I can pretend to be his girlfriend. Matt thought you’d get jealous… so you’d realize that you have feelings for him too. Once that happens, we’ll break up and you’d end up with him.”

“Y-you mean… you mean you knew all along?” My voice started to break as a choking lump went up into my throat.

Becky glanced at me as if to examine my reaction then nodded. Her eyes were glassy and red as she blinked back a tear. It felt like I was going to suffocate. “Matt likes… loves you, not me but I agreed anyway.”

I just stared at her blankly for one second then all I could manage was, “W-why?”

With a bitter smile, a tear rolled onto Becky’s cheek. “You know I loved him since the fourth grade. I thought that was my opportunity. After sometime, he’d get to know me. I was hoping that maybe… just maybe he will eventually learn to like me. Pathetic—“

“Pathetic? It’s the stupidest I’ve ever heard!” My voice went up an octave. I was losing it. We both lost it.

“But you didn’t get jealous or anything. His plan didn’t work. So Matt wanted me to make you break up with Leon. But… I can’t do it, Sarah. I can’t stand it anymore.” She croaked in between the silent whimpers.

My lips parted but I couldn’t think of anything to say. Somehow I could understand why Becky did it; she cared for Matt like I did for Leon but more so I pitied her for being a pawn in Matt’s despicable scheme. It was just downright wrong. Right now, I just wanted to kill Matt for all he’d ever been. For being the biggest bully who tormented my school life since god knows when, for manipulating us, for hurting Becky, for everything.

So it all boiled down to this. My boyfriend seemed to be cheating on me, my best friend lied to me all thanks to my arch nemesis hence, my life became a total wreck. That’s life for Nerdy; like a huge military tank crashing straight onto my face.

The dogs barked impatiently as a white Fortuner slowed down in front of the house and turned gently to park in the garage. Leon and Arthur exchanged glances and headed inside to meet whoever it was that drove the car. I assumed it was Freddy so I waited on the front porch seat with Becky seemingly dazed.

I scooped Kidnap from the floor and when I looked up Leon was already talking to the tall man who just came out of the car. After him came Gerald who shot a few perturbed glances at me.

“Hey Freddy,” Leon greeted with a smile as he pocketed his hands.

The one called Freddy answered him with a warm smile. “Hey kiddo. You’ve grown a lot. How long has it been? Four years? Are you getting married?” He chided with a keen expression.

“Exaggerating again.” Leon let out an annoyed sigh. “It’s just four months.”

Freddy ruffled Leon’s hair, laughing as he did. “Ah, is that so? It seemed like years. Maybe I’m just getting older.”

I took another good look at Freddy then another and another until I realized I was staring too hard. The real Freddy looked nothing like the one I imagined him to be. He was tall, not really muscular like Arthur but fairly built. His skin had a slight tan which was expected since he lived in California. He had dark hair that waved somewhere down the nape and his eyes were gray with the tiniest hint of blue just like mine.

My heart almost jumped out from my throat. It seemed like the most impossible thing to happen. After eleven years, it seemed very unlikely that we’d meet again of all places.

Mechanically, I stood up as they headed to me, my eyes fixed on Freddy’s familiar smile. Only, he had less laugh lines the way I remembered him.

Leon grabbed my arm and towed me to where Freddy stood.

“Oh, and is she the girl you’re marrying?” Freddy said with a teasing smirk.

“Very mature, Freddy,” Leon retorted uneasily.

Arthur leaned closer to Freddy to mutter something under his breath and they both chuckled and exchanged meaningful glances after that.

“So you’re Sarah huh? Did you know you’re his first girl friend?” Freddy smirked at Leon who just grunted exasperatedly, I even thought he was being embarrassed. The man offered his hand to me. “Nice to finally meet you. I’m Freddy Byrnes.”

With what seemed like several moments, I stared on his hand like an imbecile then looked at his face. Before I knew it, I was shaking his hand, thoughts whirring inside my head.

“I’m Sarah. Sarah Littman.” I said.

It must’ve been my imagination but just as soon as I said my name, I saw him freeze for a split second. Freddy’s eyes narrowed and fixed on me as the others threw bewildered looks at him.

“Is there something wrong, Freddy?” Gerald asked with an unfriendly look thrown at me as if I’d just punch his grandmother on the face.

“N-nothing.” Freddy said shaking his dark head as the furrow between his brows was replaced with a wistful smile. “H-hi, Sarah. It’s been a while.” he stuttered with an I-can’t-believe-it tone.

“Hi… Dad.”

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Sorry for the late update... Been really busy these couple of days. If there are errors or things that trouble you, please tell me. And again, if you're reading this then I love you all! *throws cookies everywhere* Expect another update within the week for I am suddenly teeming with ideas LOL...

love lots,

shim~