Chapter 3

Claudia

A month has passed since Ken and I started dating, and I have been keeping this from Maddie. I really don't know where to start or how she would take the news. But either way I had to tell her. I have been revising how I was going to tell her the whole day, Ken kept asking me if I was okay as we waited for Maddie in the car. I just said I was so he could stop asking me questions, I had a lot on my plate already. Maddie finally came towards Ken's car, my heart skipped a bit when I saw her. 'Hi guys.' she greeted. 'Hey Maddie how was the piano practice? What did you guys do?' I asked. I never usually ask her these kinds of questions but here I am. I am sure she is shocked by the question the same way I am at myself for asking it in the first place. 'Uh_ It was just fine, we did the usual. How about you? How was your day?' 'Not so good.' I wanted to say but then decided to just reply to her with 'it was good' instead. When we got there I invited her over to my house, I gave her an excuse that I needed help organizing my closet. It really needed some cleaning but you all know that was not what I was worried about right now. We cleaned and organized the closet, after that we sat in my room and watched a movie. 'Maddie!' She looked up at me, again fear overcame me. I became hesitant to tell her. 'Nevermind.'

Maddie

Claudia has been acting weird since I came back from my piano lesson. I can see that there is something bothering her, it feels like she wants to tell me but she keeps hesitating. I paused the movie and sat on the bed with my legs crossed. That was by far my favorite sitting position for as long as I can remember. My mom said I loved to sit down like that even when I was a baby. 'Claudia look at me, something is clearly bothering you, what is it?' She just stared at me and a tear escaped her eye, which she quickly wiped away. 'I am scared.' she finally said. 'Scared of what? Did someone say anything to you like threaten you or something?' She shook her head and looked down to avoid me from seeing yet another tear escape her eyes but I had already seen it. It really broke my heart to see her unable to speak and express herself like this, whatever it was that's bothering her is really something serious.

Claudia

Even when she confronted me I just didn't know what to say. I was so scared that I began to sob, something I always do when I am scared. I could see her tears also forming up. 'Please don't cry, I am okay, see.' I said as I wiped away my tears and gave a broad smile. 'It really drives me crazy to see you like this Clau and I promise you whoever is the reason you are feeling this way right now will get what they deserve.' How did I ever get this lucky to be blessed with such an amazing best friend, I thought to myself. 'There is something I need to tell you Maddie, Ken and I are seeing each other.' I instantly regretted saying that. 'Is that why you looked distraught. Is there a problem in seeing each other, I mean you and I see each other as well. You see me, I see you; you see Ken, he sees you. There is nothing wrong with that.' She looked so innocent as she said it. 'No I don't mean seeing each other in that sense_' I paused and stole a glance of her precious face. She looked a bit confused. 'Then what do you mean?' 'We have been dating for a month now.' Her confused face immediately turned into a frown. 'What!' 'I am so sorry I am telling you this now.' I got no response from her, she just gave a death stare and her hands clutched onto the bed sheets. 'Please say something Maddie.' 'I have to go.' she finally responded. She began to leave but I grabbed her hand. She can't just leave without saying anything. 'Just say something Maddie please.' I was already sobbing at the point. She turned to look at me. 'What do you want me to say huh? Congratulations? Well congratulations Claudia. I hope this one actually lasts compared to his previous ones. Can I go now? You said I should say something, I did.' Before I could say anything she exited the room and left. I heard the sound of the door slamming so hard that I worried the bolts were gonna fall. I continued to sob in silence.

Maddie

I was so cross that l slammed Claudia's front door with full force. I am sure the nuts got loosened if not fall but I cared less. I got home and locked myself in my bedroom. The anger I was feeling inside of me made it difficult to cry. I tried venting out to my diary but I ended up tearing up the pages I tried writing on. With every might I had, I screamed at the top of my lungs. Ken came running to my room, 'What's going on, I heard a loud scream coming from your room. Are you hurt?' 'Get out!' I howled at him. He ran out of my room within seconds.

My mother came knocking at my door about an hour later and I figured Ken must have told her what happened earlier. 'Honey are you okay?' 'Yes mom, I am okay.' 'I sent Daddy to get you your favorite ice cream. Can I come in?' I contemplated letting her inside. 'Yeah sure. You can come in.' She peeked her head first and surveyed the room first before entering. 'Your brother said he heard you screaming and when he came to check on you you harshly sent him away.' 'Did you expect me to say 'hey Ken I just discovered some tremendous blood clots on my pad while I was changing it. I was screaming because this is the first time I had blood clots during my period mom and I was scared.' I lied, I just hope she believes all my lies. 'Oh honey I am so sorry you had to go through that. I am so sorry again for not sharing with you more on topics like menstruation. We never really had these kinds of conversations with our parents while growing up. We just had to figure it out ourselves. I am sure you must have been scared when you saw the blood clots.' I nodded. 'I was too, I even thought I was dying, those blood clots were massive.' I laughed, she joined in as well.

Our little bonding moment was interrupted by Ken bringing me ice cream. 'Dad said to come bring you this.' He handed me the ice cream and turned to walk away. 'Honey, please don't be mad at your sister for yelling at you like that she is going through some changes in her body and was overwhelmed by some of these changes that's why she screamed.' mom explained. 'What changes?' 'Menstruation.' Ken just stared at her confused. ' I don't think he understands you mom,' I muttered. 'You know girls bleed every month and sometimes it can be overwhelming when you are just experiencing that kind of stuff.' Ken looked at us in disgust before he left. I can't believe he didn't know about menstruation. Having a conversation with my mom and of course eating my favorite ice cream made me relax a bit and even managed to sleep. I am surprised I woke up just in the morning when my mother's alarm rang. The reality started to hit again and I became aware of what happened yesterday. It still feels surreal to me; Claudia dating my brother. Who would have thought that this could happen even after all these years I always complained to her about him bringing a lot of girls over. I just hope he doesn't cheat on her.

Claudia

I couldn't sleep the whole night, Ken called me in the middle of the night to ask me if I also bleed every month. why in the world did he ask me this? 'Yes Ken, why are you even asking me all this?' I became annoyed with him. 'Yoh chill out, no need to shout at me like that.' I instantly felt bad. 'I am sorry, I told Maddie about us dating she didn't take the news too well.' 'Oh no wonder she was mad, I guess it wasn't the period after all.' he thought out loud. I am sure he didn't think I heard him. 'I heard you Kenny boy.' 'Oh man did I say that out loud?' That's how he was, if he is thinking something he would surely verbalize it without even knowing. I got to admit he has got the wildest thoughts. 'Why do you care about what she thinks Babe, we don't need her validation to be together. 'Bro you don't understand, I broke the girl code of not dating each other's siblings.' ' To heck with the girl code, if she doesn't approve of this relationship, it's her loss. She would be shocked to see how beautiful our little humans we created are going to be' Wait what, was I blushing. Hearing him say that made my cheeks turn red. 'Don't get too excited Ken. We are both still in school. So no babies for now.' ' But seriously babe, I would love to get you pregnant and make tons of babies with you.' And again I found myself blushing like an idiot. Ken and I haven't done the deed yet, I told him I wasn't ready and I am thankful that he didn't try to force me into doing it, Like he understood me. I fell asleep still on the call with him, I was woken up by the sound of someone snoring in the middle of the night. He didn't hang up as well, I hung up the call and went back to sleep again. In the morning I got ready and went to wait at Maddie's house so we can all go together to school. As I waited in the living room, Maddie passed by me with her school bag. 'Hi.' She said without taking a glance at. 'Hi.' I replied back. At least she said hi, I held on to that for comfort. I really wanted to ask her if she was leaving without us or what but something held me back.

Maddie

As I entered the living room on my way out I spotted Claudia, and I passed her and said hi. I don't know why I greeted her even after I promised myself I wouldn't talk to her. I walked to school, one of my classmates passed by our house and gave me a lift to school. During lunch I spotted Claudia with Katie, her English classmate in the hall way. I decided to change routes but Katie had already spotted me. 'Hey Maddie come here. ' she waved. Oh oh, I had to face Claudia again. 'Hi Katie, hi Claudia.' 'Hi' they both replied. 'I asked Claudia if you could help us out with something, she said you were busy. Could we still you for five minutes at least?' She pleaded. 'Uh, okay.' She screeched in exhilaration. I really didn't want to agree to help them but seeing how happy Katie was, I was glad I did. ' What is it that you need help on?' 'We are supposed to write an essay in pairs.' 'Okay then how should I help you?' I only engaged in conversation with Katie the whole time, Claudia kept quiet and she kept stealing a few glances at me thinking I didn't notice her. 'We are supposed to write about black history.' 'Are you supposed to write about a specific person or just what the blacks had to go through in general?' 'I don't know, what do you think Claudia?' Katie asked. 'I am not sure, but writing about what black people went through in the past like in general is too boring.' 'Yeah I agree, I bet everyone in your class is going to write about that so how about you write about someone who made in impact like for example Martin Luther king Jr.' 'I have seen that name somewhere, what did he do?' Katie asked. 'He was an activist Katie, we read about him last week.' Claudia said. This made me crack up, Katie gave me a bleak look. I instantly looked down to hold back my laughter.

I looked at the time, I was late for my piano practice. 'Looks like your five minutes is over guys. I will see you guys soon.'

That was the last time I engaged in conversation with Claudia, a week passed and I still couldn't get myself to speak to her. I really missed her but my pride got

the best of me.