?Written by Authoress Kamara
Episode 19
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“I didn’t know you had a boyfriend”.
Victoria visibly shook seeing him. “I’ll scream if you don’t leave me alone”.
Kyle smirked. “Scream but I don’t think your overprotective brother is gonna hear you”.
“Get way from me”. Victoria screamed.
Mason nudged Kyle. “Dude!! We gotta go”.
“Tori, your baby boyfriend is coming over so see you later”. Kyle said as Mason dragged him away.
Victoria took a deep breath as she hugged her knees closely to herself on the bench whimpering in fear.
Tristan ran over immediately. “Vic, you okay?”.
She didn’t respond as she took rasp sharp breath breathing heavily.
“I cant breathe, i cant”. Victoria muttered.
Tristan held her hand. “Vic, just take a deep breath, in and out”.
Victoria breathed in and out trying to clear her tense mind.
“Yeah just like that, in and out”. He guided her.
After a while, her breathing turned to normal and Tristan heaved a sigh of relief.
“I’m going to kill that idiot”. Tristan said wanting to confront Kyle and Mason.
Victoria held him back. “Tris, stay with me”.
“Vic, what happened back there?”. He asked curious.
She hugged him immediately crying.
“Vic”.
“Just take me to my brother”. She said in between sobs.
“I wanna see Bryan”. She cried the more.
Tristan patted her back. “Its okay, we’ll go now, stop crying”. He said.
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?Elsa?
I turned to see Bryan looking at me worriedly, i quickly hugged him tightly.
“I just need someone comfort right now”. I whispered in his ear.
He hugged me back as he patted my back.
After a while, i pulled away. “Did you get the painting stuffs?”.
“Yeah”. He looked at weirdly. “Are you okay?”.
I nodded. “I’m fine, just a little off”.
“Okay if you say so”.
After Bryan got the painting materials and everything, we headed back to Beverly’s place and decided to work at her backyard.
He set up something like a white paper on a wooden stuff.
“Should I paint first or .. “. He trailed off.
I shrugged. “I don’t know, you are the teacher”.
“Okay I’ll paint but first you need to know your tools”. He said.
“I know them already, paint, brush, pencils”. I listed them.
“What? No thats not it”.
“Are you sure because you are holding a pencil right now”. I told him.
He shook his head. “Its not just a pencil, its called a graphite pencil”.
“A graphite? Isn’t that a rock or something?”. I asked confused.
“No Elsa, this is different. Try mentioning another material for painting apart from Pencils”.
“Uh that”. I pointed at it. “The stuff on which the paper is put on for drawing”.
“You are so bad at this, how are you going to pass Arts class?”.
“I’ll pass if you teach me how to paint not show off some materials”.
He sighed. “Okay fine but before painting, we have to mix colors first on the palette”.
I watched as he mixed red paint and yellow paint on the thick slab. Together, i think, an orange color was formed.
“That looks amazing”. I complimented.
He dipped a brush in the color and gave it to me.
I raised an eyebrow. “What do I with it?”.
“Paint of course”. He said in a ‘duh’ tone.
He directed me to the painting paper pads and held my hand to the sheet. Just being this close to him gives me goosebumps.
“Elsa, just paint anything you can”. He instructed.
I took a deep breath and decided to draw something I like, maybe a ball. That seems easy.
I managed to draw a circle on the sheet then decorated the insides like a ball would be like in actual reality.
“Elsa, what are you doing?”.
I turned to see Beverly looking at my painting weirdly. When did she get here?
“Is it that bad?”. I asked lowly.
“Don’t pay attention to her, focus on your painting”. Bryan said.
“Whatever, i’m going to change”. I heard Beverly say.
I finished painting my make believe soccer ball as I added a few touches.
“And done”. I said moving away from the painting pad sheet.
Bryan bursted in laughter.
“Its bad?”.
He continued laughing.
I frowned. “Yeah just make fun of it, i never said I was a pro”.
He stopped. “Sorry just that, you are really bad at it”.
I sighed. “I know but at least I gave it a try”.
“Well for starters, you tried but next time try to indulge your background when painting, give it a look”. He advised.
I nodded. “So I wanna paint with another color, how do I get this orange off?”.
“Just dip it in a little water”.
I dipped the brush in the water he had set out and shook it. Some of the water particles landed on Bryan and I gasped.
“I didn’t say you should paint me”. He said cleaning his cheek.
I dropped the brush. “I am so sorry”.
I quickly cleaned his face with the back of my palm, he removed my hands and held it.
Too close, too close, he’s too close. He was standing very close to me as he held my hands. G0sh!! He’s so cute, his light hair, gray eyes and his lips.
He let go of my hand and I stepped backwards immediately. He snickered at what I did and I gave him a little smile.
“Elsa?”.
I faced him. “Yeah?”.
“Can I k!ss you?”.
I was taken aback, Bryan wants to k!ss me. OMG!! Is like I got hit in the head because this is like a fantasy or something.
I blushed. “Huh?”.
“Bryan”. Beverly came panting. “You need to come to the porch”.
“Beverly, whats wrong?”. I asked.
Bryan dropped the brushes and left. I went over to Beverly as she regained her breath.
We went back to the main house at the porch. I paused seeing Victoria.
Bryan hugged her. “What happened?”.
“She just kept saying she wants to stay with you”. Beverly replied.
“Bryan, is something wrong?”. I asked softly.
“She’s always like this whenever she has a panic attack”. He explained.
“Tristan, what happened at the park?”.
“That Kyle dude that asked Elsie out earlier was there, i don’t know what he said to her but when he left, she said she couldn’t breathe”. Tristan narrated.
“Elsa, i need to get my sister home right now”. Bryan said.
“Its okay, I’ll see you in school tomorrow”.
He smiled and pulled away from Victoria whose face was stricken with tears.
“Bye”. He said softly before they left.
“What the hell did Kyle do to her?”. Beverly asked as we went into the main house.
I shrugged. “Who knows? That guy is hard to understand”.
Tristan immediately ran upstairs.
“Don’t worry, go talk to him while I take care of those painting materials”. Beverly said.
I nodded and went after Tristan, i walked to his room and knocked.
“Can I come in?”.
Silence.
I pushed open the door and stepped in, he was on the bed and the covers were pulled over him.
I walked over to him and sat on his bed removing the duvet.
“Tristan”. I called.
“Elsie, its all my fault”.
I sighed. “Tristan, don’t”.
“I should have been there with her, then maybe that Kyle guy wouldn’t go near her”.
I ruffled his hair. “Tristan, thats enough”.
“If I hadn’t left her to go answer that call then maybe she wouldn’t have had a panic attack. After all she came to the park because of me”. He continued.
I sat on the bed with him. “When you are done blaming yourself then tell me”.
“I cant help it, Elsie. When she hugged me crying, it felt like as if its my fault that I should have protected her or something”.
“Come on, Little bro, you are just fifteen besides Victoria has Bryan to protect and take care of her”. I told him.
He didn’t say anything for a while as I c@ressed his cheeks soothing him.
“Maybe you are right”.
“I’m always right”. I joked.
He sat up and hugged me, i reciprocated the hug assuring him that Victoria is gonna be all right. I stayed with him for a while he slept off.
I stood up from the bed and covered him with the duvet as I ruffled his hair watching him sleep. So cute.
I left him and went out the door closing it, i went downstairs and met Beverly.
“Hey, are you done?”. I asked her.
“Yep, i put the painting stuffs in your room just in case they are needed”.
I sat on the couch. “Thanks so much”.
“So did you talk to him?”. She asked softly.
I nodded. “Yeah I put him to sleep but he’s a little off”.
“He’ll get over it but why would Victoria have a panic attack because of Kyle?”.
I shrugged. “Who knows? Kyle is just really something else”.
“Like seriously? A little girl like Victoria?”.
“Kyle just wanna get on Bryan’s nerves and that seriously annoys me”.
“Weren’t you crushing on him?”. She teased me. “Or is it now Bryan?”.
I blushed as I remembered when Bryan asked if he could k!ss me.
Beverly poked me. “What are you thinking about?”.
“Nothing”. I lied.
“Come on, we don’t keep secrets from each other, remember”.
“Speaking of which, why were you like that around Kimberly?”. I asked curious.
“Lets talk about another thing, Elsa”.
“Beverly, just tell me and I’ll help”. I told her.
“You cant help okay, you have your own things to deal with”. She said.
“But__”.
She cut me off. “No buts”.
“How about you tell me your secret and I’ll tell you mine?”.
She raised an eyebrow. “What secret could you possibly have that I don’t know of?”.
I sighed. “Its more like a weakness maybe because I’m usually vulnerable when it comes to that”.
“Elsa, i don’t need to know that, okay?”.
“I just need someone to share this with, to talk to about this because it really aches me so bad so I need to let it out”.
“What are you talking about?”. Beverly asked.
“My Dad”. I began.
“Your Dad? I thought your Mum separated from him”.
“The reason my Mum separated from my Dad is because what he d .. did .. t .. to .. m .. me”. I stuttered.
Beverly held my hand. “Elsa, what are you talking about?”.
“He touched me”. I sniffed. “My own father started touching me int!mately when I was 10”.
“Oh My G0sh!!”. Beverly shouted.
The tears I didn’t want to flow started running down my cheeks, Beverly hugged me immediately as I cried on her shoulder.
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