The next thing I know, my sister was running outside and hugging Rush as tight as they can go. He spinned her around a few times, before setting her down.
"where have you been ?"
She asked, with a mixed tone of enthusiasm and firmness.

"I..uh..can we talk ?"
He stuttered as he glanced into her eyes. She barely nodded, and they went to sit on the bench in the great lawn.

They chatted for a while. I couldn't tell how long, but I didn't care. All I cared about was that my sister wouldn't be as upset as she was before.

However, I kept an eye on their facial expressions, and all I saw was worry and nervousness. Allison was worried, for all I know, but Rush was really nervous.

...

"so, what did Rush tell you today ?"
I asked Allison as we prepared dinner in the kitchen. Rajwan barely glanced up while he was taking care of the fried eggs, but Nabil didn't even look up from his book. He wasn't helping at all.

"he..told me that his father disappeared."
"yeah ? How horrible..is that it ?"
She shook her head.
"no. Ever since his father disappeared, his stepmother has been treating him like garbage. Can you believe that ? She has been forbidding him from leaving the house. She certainly didn't want him to leave the country, because if she did agree, he would've been there with us in Egypt."

I wanted to reassure her, but I didn't know what to say. What would you say in a situation like this ? My dumb brothers weren't helping anyway.
"you know you can help out right ? We're not exactly cooking for your majesty."
Allison said sassily, interrupting our silence.
Nabil glanced at her, before sighing.

"I would. But this story is so damn addictive."
He was reading The Scarecrows Walk At Midnight. Maybe he's not so dumb after all. I love that story.

"I still don't know why would she do something like this."
Allison said bitterly. I, again, wanted to say something, but I couldn't.
"maybe she's jealous or something. Isn't Rush's father rich? Rush's famous too. Maybe Rush's father left him all the money, or she just couldn't stand seeing Rush having all the fun when she's still going to police stations instead of parties or something. She has to be."

Rajwan explained. Maybe he realized that he wasn't talking much after all.
Weirdo.

Just then, however, I realized that he was right.

The Next Day :

"hey, goddess.."
Barron greeted me with a tight embrace. I hugged him back, and invited him to sit down on the wooden table. He agreed, but only for a few minutes, since he was going to school later.

"so, you ready for school ?"
I asked with a tone of enthusiasm.
"well, not really. It's kinda boring."
I nodded at him, smiling slightly.
"what do you have for first period ?"

His delighted, bright face disappeared. Instead, a sad, disappointed, fearful expression crept over his face.
"history."
"what's wrong ? You don't like history ?"
He sighed heavily, giving me a small, reassuring smile.
"no, I guess I don't."

Before I knew it, he went off to school.
That was weird. I thought.
I didn't like the way Barron was acting, especially when I know that there was a bully behind his back like John. I didn't exactly trust Barron to tell me everything that's going on at school.

So I did what I do best.

I followed him.

Again.

To Be Continued..

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