I pushed through the hallway doors and made my way up to the second floor where the nurse's office was but to my surprise I found Beatrice, Patricia, Rochelle, Nate and surprisingly the nurse as well. They all had worried expressions on their faces.
"Did something happen?" I asked as I approached the group.
"She's fine physically but she's upset," Patricia replied, "and I've never seen her that upset before".
"Yeah she kicked everyone out of the room including the nurse," Nate poked his thumb towards the nurse who stood with her arms crossed.
"Really?" I looked in her direction and she nodded. She seemed to be deep in thought. I immediately pulled Nate to the side. "Did she ask any questions?" I whispered to him.
"No it was a shoulder injury and she sprained her ankle a little. It wasn't a huge deal anyway but maybe she's concerned with how Laura is acting, honestly we all are because we have no idea what happened in there," he replied looking at me expecting an answer.
Honestly I don't want anyone to know what my sister had experienced in there and at the same time I wanted to tell him since I considered Nate my friend.
"I'll tell you later," was the only thing I could say. "But first I have to talk to Laura."
I pushed open the door and went inside the room. Closing the door behind me I went and sat opposite Laura on the white bed. She held her head in her arms and I could tell by the moisture droplets on the ground that she had been crying.
"You alright?" I asked after a few moment of silence. Slowly lifting her head she looked at me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen since being with her.
"No I'm not," she finally said. "I'm angry and frustrated with myself and at the same time I'm also disappointed in myself".
"Disappointed?" I mused because I didn't understand what she meant or why she'd be disappointed in herself.
"See I've been having problems with Brandon for a while now. At first he'd just bother me countless times but I'd always turn him down. Things were quiet for a while and I thought that maybe just maybe he was fed up with me but then he started to harass and embarrass me in public," every word she spoke was full of emotion and I couldn't ask or clarify anything because honestly it seemed as if Laura had been bottling up her burdens and she just needed someone to listen to her so I decided to be that someone.
"He said that he'd stop bothering me if I just stopped resisting and let him sleep with me but my pride and upbringing couldn't allow that," she had a small smile on her lips as she went on. "Then recently he coaxed somebody into putting a dildo in my locker and if my hunch is right it would probably be Katrina. So I figured it'd be best if I got that out of the way so that you wouldn't hear nasty rumors about your big sister while you were here."
I don't know what it was but a warm feeling filled my heart but under that was what I recognized as guilt. Laura had endured all that and had even gone out of her way to try and sort things out with Brandon all because she didn't want her little brother to think ill of her. I wrapped my arm around her shoulder as she went on to tell how she had ended up in the situation she was in on the roof and how she was disappointed and ashamed at herself for having given up to let Brandon have his way.
"Hey you don't have to actually feel down because I don't know what I would have done or how I would have handled it if I was in your shoes," I reassured her which she just replied with an "I'm pretty sure you would have just used your fists to knock them out."
True but honestly speaking it was in my nature so you can't blame me for that right?
"The most important thing is that your safe and something I've learned about our family is that we Calvin's always fight our way out of anything...tooth and nail," I said which seemed to have raised her spirits a little and she smiled at me.
"Yeah I guess we always do."
***********
Though they wished to give the siblings their privacy. Nate, Rochelle and Beatrice couldn't help but be curious about what Tyler and Laura were talking about as they placed there heads on the door and concentrated on hearing what the two were sharing but alas the door space couldn't hold the three of them and they frequently ended up in each other's way. With Nate's elbow mushing against Rochelle's chest and her knee crushing into his thigh.
Whack!
"What the hell are you doing you pervert," she had smacked the back of his head which caused his forehead to bang against the door.
"Ouch! What the f#,ck!?" he whispered harshly and the two continued bickering like a couple of kids. The only one among the group who seemed to have somewhat heard what was happening behind the door was Beatrice and she heard footsteps approaching. Without warning the other two she moved away from the door and stood next to her close friend Patricia who was leaning her back against the door.
The other two didn't seem to notice someone approaching the door when it was suddenly pulled inside and they fell on the floor with Nate being at the bottom, cushioning Rochelle's descent.
"Thank you ground slave," Rochelle stated as she readied herself to get up but before she could Nate had pulled her down with her shirt collar and this time there was no one to break her fall.
"Ouf!"
Nate was laughing as he distanced himself from her slowly creeping away down the hallway. By the time she had gotten up the floor, Nate was turning down the stairs and only his head was visible.
"Where are you going you arse!" she fumed, her face red in anger and Nate bolted down the stairs Rochelle chasing shortly after him. Everyone was dazed as the stood and watched the spectacle.
"I'll see you after school sis," Tyler said as he walked off following the direction where the two had gone and shortly after Laura and her two friends also went off. Her friends were just happy that whatever conversation she had with Tyler, it seemed to have lifter her spirits a bit and that was true because she felt like a huge load had been lifted off her shoulders when she spoke with her little brother who was supporting her through her crisis
****************
We never bothered with the diner as time was not on our side so instead we had to take lunch in the cafeteria which wasn't that fancy but who cared as long as our bellies were filled then no problems here.
"So...you wanna talk about what happened?" Rochelle asked.
"Alot happened so you're going to have to be specific," I replied and it was at that point that I realised that indeed alot had happened. The short scuffle with Don and his friends, the fight in between the bleachers and the basketball court as well as the confrontation in the stairwell with Brandon. What dreaded me the most was that all this had just happened in half a day and I was willing to gamble that something else might transpire at the end of today as well.
*****************
Little did I know that my gamble was really materializing because at that point Brandon had called a meeting with the six senior class bosses. He was organising an attack on a certain individual who had somewhat ruined his day. He looked at those at the table and held a serious expression on his face as if he was a squad commander getting ready for a frontal assault.