Secrets

"Where the Hell is Ethan"? Lesley blurted out angrily.

"Calm down, he'll soon be here, I hope". Julia added.

"He's gonna make me late for the interview".

They waited patiently for another twenty minutes and Ethan wasn't still here.

"Ok, seriously where is he"? Julia asked impatiently.

"Let's just go, I literally told him to meet me immediately after school was over and now thirty minutes has passed, he still isn't here".

"Maybe something happened, you don't know" Julia said worriedly.

"Nothing happened, he's just trying to annoy me and I won't take it easy with him".

"Lesley, let's wait for another 10 minutes and if he isn't here we should go look for him. I'm worried that something happened".

"Uggggh, but what of my interview"?.

"Is that what is important to you now"?.

"Fine we'll go look for him but I'm telling you he's just trying to be mischievous".

"Let's just wait".

They stood in front of the school building looking to see if Ethan will be in sight but another 10 minutes passed and he still wasn't here.

"We should go look for him, something's up" Julia said.

"Yeah, I'm a little kinda worried now".

They entered into the school building again screaming Ethan's name everywhere. They went to his classroom, but of course he wasn't there either. They saw the janitor mopping the floor and decided to ask him if he knew the whereabout of Ethan.

"Excuse me sir, please I'll like to know if you have seen a boy" Lesley spoke.

He looked up from what he was doing and replied, "Yes I've seen lots of boys here, so I don't know which one in particular you're talking about".

"Oh, I'm sorry. He's this tall" Lesley said leveling her hand up to her upper body.

"He has a brown hair and brown eyes and he's carrying a Superman backpack".

"I'm sorry I don't think I can help you, there are lots of boys here of that height with brown hair and eyes. Lots of boys also carries a Superman backpack too".

"No problem, it's okay, thank you" She said walking away.

"God, what am I gonna do? What if something already happened to him?".

"Nothing will happen, let's just keep searching for him" Julia said lightly soothing her back.

They searched again for another fifteen minutes until Julia came in sight of two boys at the hallway talking to each other, one looked like a middle schooler and the other, a high schooler. She looked closely and then knew that the middle schooler was Ethan and the high schooler was Rodney.

'What are they doing'? She thought.

She beckoned Lesley to look and said "Isn't that your brother with Rodney?".

"What the f*ck is he doing with my brother"? Lesley said.

She rushed immediately to them and stood at their back clearing her throat to get their attention.

"What the hell is going on here"? She said.

"Yeah, what is going on? Do you know how long we waited for you Ethan"? Julia added.

"And why the hell are you with my brother"? She said facing Rodney.

"Wait, he's your brother"?.

"Yeah, he is".

Rodney was about to explain himself when she saw a bruise on Ethan's forehead and arm.

She was so furious thinking it was Rodney that did that to him to get back at her. She took hold of Ethan shoulders and turned him around to see if there were more bruises.

"Did you do this to my brother"? She said angrily, pointing to Ethan's forehead.

"Did he do this to you"? She asked Ethan.

"No, you've got it all wrong" Ethan said.

"I don't think I have cause I don't trust him. He's capable of doing anything to get back at someone".

"It's a pity that that is your perspective of me. Just so you know, I didn't do this".

"Calm down Lesley, let him explain" Julia said.

"Fine explain" She said folding her arms.

Ethan was quiet. He didn't want to tell Lesley what had happened.

"What's taking long? Won't you explain"?.

"He's probably feeling embarrassed to say it. I'll tell what happened in my own point of view" Rodney said.

"So I came to the middle school building in the hope of meeting a former class teacher of mine. Well she wasn't in the staff room when I got there. According to what I was told she wasn't in school today. On my way out of this building I heard a sobbing coming out of the storage room. At first I thought I was hearing things but upon listening closer I knew I wasn't".

He paused for a while and saw that Lesley's expression had soften. He really didn't want to go on cause he knew she would be heartbroken if she knew what had happened to Ethan but he had to continue.

"So I opened the storage room and your brother was there. He was crying furiously so I had to calm him down first before asking what had happened. According to him, he was bullied and then put in there by the two boys who bullied him. He spent hours trying to get out of there until I passed by".

Lesley put her hands on her mouth and started crying. She went to Ethan and hugged him tightly. Julia also bent over and hugged him.

"I didn't know that was what happened".

"I'm really glad we didn't leave you behind. I'm really glad we stayed if not we wouldn't have found out about this" Julia said.

"Oh my gosh, that's true, your interview Lesley" Ethan said.

"I don't care, that isn't what is important now".

"When did this start happening"? Julia asked Ethan.

"It's been going on for a while now".

"And you didn't tell me or mom? What's wrong with you Ethan? Don't you think we deserve to know"?.

"I just didn't want to disturb you guys with my issues. Mom's going through a lot now. I thought they would soon stop".

"How is telling us that you were being bullied disturbing us? We deserve to know and now that I know I'm not gonna let's this slide".

"How did you get this bruises" Julia asked.

"I was hit by them before they locked me up".

"God I'm so mad right now. Who dares to touch my brother"?.

"What is their reason for bullying you"? Julia asked.

"I don't know. They just started all of a sudden".

"I'm gonna tell mom about this, and the school committee will also find out".

Lesley noticed Rodney was still here and then turned to him to apologize.

"I'm so sorry for wrongly accusing you. I shouldn't have lashed out at you".

"I'm really disappointed that you'll think I'll do this to a kid just to get back at someone".

"I know and I'm really sorry". She was really feeling guilty.

"I guess even apologizing to you, your perspective of me didn't change".

"I'm so sorry. I'm the one at fault here and I know it".

"It's okay, no problem".

"Thank you so much Rodney. I don't know what would have happened to him if you hadn't helped him".

"Well, I'm just trying to return the favour".

"Thank you so much senior Rodney. I really appreciate it".

"C'mon don't be so formal. Just call me Rodney not senior Rodney".

"Ok I will".

"Let's go home" Lesley said taking hold of Ethan's palm.

"We'll be going now" she said to Rodney.

"Why don't I take you guys home? My driver is outside".

"No,no,no, thank you but we're just going to take the bus" Julia said

"But I insist".

"Let's just accept his offer. We don't know how long we're going to wait for the bus considering the time". Ethan said.

"Ok fine, we'll go with you".

Getting to his car, they gushed on how magnificentthe car was.

"Is that is car" Ethan whispered to Lesley.

"I think it is" she replied.

"Wow, I don't know if I would be able to afford this in my life" Julia said.

He opened the car door and beckoned for them to enter.

They boarded his car, him sitting at the front seat and the rest of them occupying the back seat.

"Take us to Windmill street first, then cherry lane avenue" He told the driver.

"Yes sir".

They were all amazed at the interior of the car.

"Being rich is amazing" Ethan whispered.

"We're prolly not gonna enter this type of car in our life ever so we better cherish this moment". Lesley whispered to Ethan and Julia putting her hands over their neck.

They got to Windmill street and Julia alighted waving her bye's to Lesley and Ethan. After some minutes, they finally got to Lesley's home. Alighting from the car she thanked him once again.

"So this is your apartment"? Rodney asked.

"Yeah, it is".

"Cool".

"Thank you. We'll go inside now".

"Thank you Rodney" Ethan said.

"No problem. If you have any more issues don't hesitate to tell me, ok?".

"I won't".

"Bye".