Chapter 16

Claudia

Schools finally closed and christmas was already near. The old Claudia would have been thrilled about school closing and her favorite holiday approaching. All this meant that soon Ken was going to leave for tertiary, I kept wondering if we would still be together when he is away but he kept reassuring me that we would still be together. It was on the twentieth of December and just like any other year, we all went to see Santa Claus, it was a tradition we have kept ever since i was a baby. Every year we would go as a family to take pictures with Santa Claus and this year Mrs Claus decided to join us this time. 'Mom look, there is Santa Claus and Mrs Santa Claus.' Henry enthused as soon as he sported them. We had to wait in line til it was our turn to go up to them. 'What are you going to ask Santa Claus for this year?' I asked Henry in order to keep me a little distracted, he was getting impatient for our turn to go sit with the Claus to arrive. 'I want a skateboard.' 'Oh that's awesome buddy.' It kind of worked because he was now going on and about skateboards, I even forgot we were still in a queue. 'Great, it's our turn' Mom said. We went up to Santa and Mrs Claus, after taking the pictures we went back home.

I went to see Ken at his house, first I checked on Maddie. 'Hey best friend, merry christmas.' I went up to her and embraced her. 'Merry christmas. Oh you look great.' 'Thanks, it was picture day with Santa Claus. This year he brought his wife as well.' 'Really, can I see the photos?' 'I will send them to you when I get home. I haven't transfered them to my computer.' 'Okay, before I forget; here is your early Christmas gift.' She handed me the wrapped box. 'What is it? Can I open it now?' 'I can't tell you what it is. Well it's up to you to decide whether you open it now or on Christmas, but what I know is that you won't hold yourself to open it on Christmas.' she teasingly giggled. 'Is that a challenge?' 'I don't know, do you think you can?' 'Yeah.' I was so sure of myself. 'It's a challenge then.' She sat on the bed and continued watching some series on her laptop. I then went to Ken's room. 'Hey babe.' I went up to him and embraced him. He smelled aromatic. He just got out of the shower. 'You smell amazing babe.' I complimented him. 'And you look great. I nearly didn't recognize you, I thought you were a super model from my bedside drawer magazines.' I blushed at the compliment. 'I am actually heading out. How about we hang out sometime?' 'Oh_' I was sad he was leaving. 'Can't I come with you?' 'I am going to hang out with the boys. I am sure you will get bored. I will text you every chance I get.' 'Okay.' He kissed me and left. Just after he left, a phone rang. At first I thought it was mine, but the ring tone wasn't anything close to how mine rings. 'Damn, Ken must have left his phone.' I found it and hurried outside with the hope to find him still at home. I saw his car disappear out of my sight when I went outside. When I went back into the house it rang again, Sam was calling him. I didn't know any of his friends by that name but Ken is pretty popular and has a lot of friends. 'What if he is the one who Ken is meeting up with? What if something came up?' I thought to myself. 'You know what I will go give him phone.' First I had to call up my mom, I am not allowed to drive yet. Fortunately for me she was on her way to buy some groceries. Turns out she forgot to buy some of the groceries when we went shopping after the phot shoot. 'Where do you wanna go?' she asked as we drove away. 'Ken forgot his phone at home, I want to go give it to me.' 'Okay, do you know where he is?' 'No, I was thinking you could help me with that. Can you help me track him down using his car?' 'Yeah sure.' She increased the car speed, it was clocking 150 on the speedometer. After some minutes of driving I finally sported his car. 'Oh there he is.' We were just a few meters away from him. 'He is indicating to turn.' Mom said also indicating to the same direction he is turning to. He parked his car in the parking lot in front of a restaurant. Maybe that's where he is meeting up his buddies. 'You can drop me off here mom. Thank you.' 'My pleasure. Have fun okay.' 'Yeah, love you. Bye.

As I was approaching him, I came to a halt as some girl came running to him and he stood there waiting with his hands wide open ready to embrace her. After they broke off the hug, they kissed. I couldn't hold myself anymore. I went up to them and Ken was so shocked to see me. 'Claudia, what are you doing here?' He asked taking a few steps towards me. 'You forgot your phone and I assumed you might need it so I brought it to you. Now I realize I shouldn't have.' I was agitated, and tears had already started to form in my eyes. 'Can you give me a minute please?' He took me by hand and walked away from the girl so she couldn't hear us. 'Let go of me Ken.' I violently pushed his hand away from mine. 'I saw you kissing her, you lied to me' the tears were already cascading down my cheeks. I didn't care if I had make up on and it was gonna get ruined. 'Babe, you are over reacting. We didn't kiss, I swear. She is my childhood friend and it was by coincidence that I ran into her.' 'I don't believe you Ken, if you weren't kissing then why were your faces so close to one another?' 'When we were little, her and I could bump our foreheads together and sometimes she could place my hands on my cheeks or vice versa. Like this_' He placed his head against mine and placed his hands on my cheeks. 'See, if people saw us like this they will surely think we are kissing the same way you thought we were kissing. Claudia I love you.' My cries escalated and he took me into his arms. After some moments he broke the hug and gave me his napkin to wipe my tears. Took his phone and told me he would see me at home when he got back. And just like that he left, the girl he was with was no longer in sight. I had no idea where she went. I went home and locked myself in my bedroom. I just didn't know what to believe anymore, from what I saw they looked like they kissed but from Ken's explanation they didn't. I kept tossing and tossing on the bed. Finally I got up and went to Maddie. Maybe she could help me out with this.

Maddie

After I gave Claudia her gift, she went to Ken's room leaving it behind. Moments later I heard Ken's car driving away, and Claudia was also no where to be seen. 'Maybe they went together.' I told myself. 'Should I leave her a text to remind her she forgot her gift?' I thought to myself. 'Nah, I will just go to her house later to give it to her.' I decided. I then went on with watching my series. My bubble was disturbed by a knock at the door, the knock was so faint that if I didn't have an amazing hearing I couldn't have heard it. 'Come in' The door slowly opened and Claudia came in. She looked like she just saw a ghost.

'Hey, you look distressed, is everything okay?' I went up her and gave her some support to steady her balance, she looked like she was gonna collapse at any time. 'Claudia what's wrong?' She burst out in tears. 'Hey, please don't cry.' I was slowly loosing it, seeing my best friend like this really broke my heart. I embraced her and her crying increased. I could feel my chest getting wet from her tears. I held her like that until she stopped crying. 'What's wrong Claudia.' She began telling me what happened and even demonstrated the so called head bump to me. I clutched my fist to my bed sheets to keep my cool. 'Where is he?' 'At some restaurant downtown. I really don't know what to believe Maddie.' 'Listen to what your heart is telling you.' 'My heart is telling me he is right and I am just over reacting, my mind on the other hand is telling me he is lying.' She began crying again and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder with her head resting on my chest. 'It's okay.' I held myself back from saying 'I told you so.' I was just glad she is begining to see what a scumbag my brother was. 'So what are you gonna do?' 'I really don't know. He is the love of my life Maddie, my first everything you know and I can't bear to lose him. Maybe he is right I am just over reacting.' I was pissed at what she just said. How can she believe everything he said?' It took a lot of self control to finally just respond with 'Okay'.