Meeting

Ali meets Valeria and Wendy from the blogging site. Much happens in this chapter, so get ready.

    I growled to myself as I tried to boot my grandmother’s incredibly slow computer. I just wanted to smash someone’s face in at the moment, maybe Mason’s for burning my house down.
    The whole week spent at my grandmother’s was hell. The first thing she did when I got here was complain to me on how I shouldn’t have existed, and how rude I was to her during Thanksgiving last year. She needs to get over the fact that I told her to slow down on the turkey! She always eats all of it so I can’t have any!
    I tried to calm myself down. It was no use. I was angry at the computer, angry at my grandmother, and I was angry at Bengt. What did he say goodbye in that way? It was as if he was saying goodbye forever, but I knew that couldn’t’ be true because I saw him at school all this week.
    He had been avoiding me, however. Every time I tried to talk to him, he would find something to do, or pretend he was listening to music. It was getting really annoying. Not to mention that people were starting to talk about it. I didn’t have to read their minds, because I heard it from their mouths. People didn’t care if I heard them or not, it seemed.
    “Did Ali and Bengt break up?”
    “I’m glad if they are no longer together.”
    “He deserves much better.”
    “I heard her house caught on fire.”
    “Really? She has been getting bad luck lately, serves her right.”
    “I wish she had died in the fire.”
    Everyone was mean towards me, just like they had always been. They really could not change my opinion of people. The only ones to do that were the Norgen’s, especially Bengt. Why was he being mean to me though? Weren’t we best friends? Weren’t we suppose to be that way forever? Is it because he has feelings for me that we can’t stay like this? Why? Why does it have to be this way?!
    I hadn’t realized I had started crying. I wiped a tear away and began typing in the blogging site. Hopefully the girls responded. I looked and they had responded. This one was also written as one. It read:

“Dear Barry,
            We are so incredibly sorry for what happened to you and your owner. It is partially our fault for telling you such information. Luckily he was caught though. We saw it in the news. We hope that you and your owner will be able to find a new home quickly.
            That being said, we would like to comment on this boy, Bengt. He is the new boy that your owner is friends with, yes? It seems like he really cares for your owner. Do you think he could be possibly in love with her?
            We know it is none of our business, but we would like to help. If that is okay with your owner.
~V&W”

    Could he be in love with me? I had thought about it. I didn’t think it could be love, could it? Maybe he only has a slight crush? Though he had been showing a lot of affection towards me. Perhaps he could like me more than I had thought. I had never spoken about girl things to anyone, not even my mom. Maybe it could be a good thing for me to let it off my chest. I wrote to them saying:

“Dear V&W,
            Do you really think he could be in love with her? I’ve been thinking of something along that lines as well, but is it really as strong as love? A week ago, he had kissed her on the cheek and even said goodbye in a really sad way. She’s seen him everyday after that, but he has been avoiding her. She really needs girls’ advice right now. Do you think you could help?
~Barry the Lion”

    I sent it and waited for something to happen. Checking the time, they had sent it quite recently. Perhaps they were still online. A few minutes later, I had gotten my answer. It read:

“Dear Barry,
            We would like to help, but we don’t think it should be over the internet. Perhaps we could meet in person? That way she can ask questions freely, and we can answer them quickly instead of having to wait for replies to be written. We can meet today at the Rainbow Café on North Street. That is very near to your house, correct? It shouldn’t be too hard to find. We’ll be there at noon. Please don’t forget.
~V&W”

    They wanted to meet there at noon? I glanced at the clock and coughed loudly. Noon was in ten minutes. I quickly logged off the computer and got ready. I didn’t have much clothes, considering they all burned in the fire. I wore my only sweater, the black one with a cat face on it. It was my favorite sweater.
    I picked Barry up, he was definitely coming with me. I couldn’t let him stay here with my grandmother. She would tear him apart out of spite for me.
    “Mom?” I called through the house.
    “Your mother is out getting money at her job!” I heard my grandmother yell at me, “What are you doing?! Being lazy, that’s what!”
    I heaved a sigh and bolted out the door before she could say anything else. Normally I would ask Bengt for a ride, but considering he was avoiding me, it looked like I was taking the bus. The city was about two miles away from my grandmother’s house. Naturally I had to bus it to school the whole week.
    I hoped on the bus and sat in a window seat. I wonder about the sisters. What were they like in real life? I already seen pictures, but would they look different up close? I had no idea.
    The bus stopped right in town, and I jumped off. North Street was only a few blocks away, so I began walking. I was going to be late, but I tried my best to hurry. Barry was bouncing up and down on my arm as I trotted along the sidewalks, avoiding contact with the other people.
    The Rainbow Café was an outside café with colorful ribbons and banners. I smiled at the streamers and such when a voice called to me.
    “Yoo-hoo! Are you Barry?”
    I looked to see two girls with scarves around their necks and berets on their heads. They definitely matched the picture of the V&W girls.
    “H-hello,” I stuttered shyly, “I’m Ali. This is Barry.” I showed Barry to them.
    They giggled, “We figured that you were the actual writer of the blog. We were just playing along.”
    I nodded and took a seat across from them on one of the patio tables.
    The one who had her hair in a ponytail, piped up, “I am Wendy.”
    The other with straight and long hair, said, “I am Valeria.”
    “And I’m Ali?” I reintroduced myself.
    The girls laughed lightly. It wasn’t bad laughter, so I felt better.
    Valeria began, “So, please tell us your problems. We’d really like to help.”
    “Yeah,” Wendy added, “It was kind of our fault for telling you about Mason. It is the least we can do. Tell us about your love with Bengt!”
    Wendy looked generally interested, while Valeria looked a bit spaced out. Valeria shook her head and nodded with light enthusiasm.
    “Well…” I started, “I think Bengt has been dropping hints that he likes me. For example, he’s been pretending to be my boyfriend ever since this guy hit on me at the photo section in my store. And he tried to hold my hand constantly. He pouts whenever I tell him that he can’t. He was super protective of me whenever Mason came around. And last week, he kissed me on the cheek and told me ‘goodbye’. After that he hasn’t spoken to me since.”
    “Hmm,” the girls hummed in unison.
    Wendy spoke first, “You know what, I think he does like you. I don’t see why he would try to avoid you though… Maybe he is trying to stop liking you. I have no idea why he would do that though.”
    Valeria spoke next, “I think he has a dark secret that he doesn’t want you to find out. You can read minds, correct? Then he must not want you to read his.”
    “That’s right!” Wendy shouted, scooting closer, “You can read minds! Please, could you read mine?”
    “Sure?” I said. Wendy closed her eyes and waited to be amazed. I tried to unlock her mind, but somehow I couldn’t. Could she have mind blocked me? No, if it was a mind block, then I would hear a dull buzzing sound like a radio frequency. Why couldn’t I do it now?
    “Sorry,” I apologized, “I… can’t seem to do it now… I can’t even hear a frequency.”
    “It’s fine,” Wendy said with a smile, “I still believe you. That’s so cool that you could read minds.”
    “‘Could’ is the keyword here,” Valeria said, “Do you think you might have lost your powers?”
    Have I lost my powers? Could that really be what happened? Sure, I hadn’t read anyone else’s mind but Bengt for awhile, but could I really have lost my powers because of that?
    “Let me elaborate on my theory,” Valeria suggested, “I believe that you started off with being able to read anyone’s minds, but then you met Bengt. When Bengt became your friend, you began only reading his mind. Slowly and slowly, you began losing your powers. Now that you’ve lost them completely, the only mind that you could possibly read is Bengt’s, because you believe he is the only mind worth reading. Sounds about right.”
    I was astonished. My mouth hung open, agape. How could she develop such a theory after only thinking of it for a moment? That was… purely amazing.
    “Wow, Valeria!” Wendy cooed, “You are so smart!’
    “I know,” Valeria said, spacing out a bit.
    “But,” I began, “What happens when I don’t think Bengt’s mind is worth reading?”
    “Simple really,” Valeria said, “Your powers would most likely cease to exist. Considering how close you are to him, the only way you could lose interest in his mind is if he died. Now, he has a secret that he is keeping from you, possibly. He doesn’t want you to find out at all cost. Do you think that death and his secret are closely related?”
    I froze. There was no way that could be true. I said, “No. I doubt that that is it.”
    Valeria nodded, most likely not wanting to upset me. “Alright,” she continued, “Do you think his secret could be related to liking you? Perhaps he does not want to ruin your friendship by having feelings for you. Do you think this could be true?”
    I shook my head. It had to be something deeper if he was willing to avoid me. We are best friends, and we’ve told each other a lot of things. Surely he would tell me about feelings of his, right?
    “I didn’t think so either,” Valeria stated.
    “I’ve been wondering something,” Wendy said, “Now is my turn to talk, so shut up, Valeria.”
    “Alright,” Valeria agreed.
    Wendy smiled and asked, “I’ve been wondering about what you did to the school to make them hate you. Would you mind telling us? I know it isn’t related, but I’m just curious.”
    “I… I read the minds of everyone at school and collected their secrets,” I told them, “And I befriended the boys in the Yearbook Club for my plan. In the yearbook, I had put one secret from each student under their pictures. The only one without a secret was me. I betrayed my friends and turned the whole school against me. Then Bengt came along, not knowing what had happened because he was knew. I told him what I did, and he did not do anything. He was still my friend. I had no idea why. Shouldn’t he have hated what I had done?”
    “Hmm,” Wendy hummed, “I think that you can be forgiven as long as you feel guilt for it.”
    “Huh?” I said.
    Wendy continued, “You see, it’s like this. When you do something bad, you feel guilty, correct? Well, if you didn’t feel guilty, that would make you not human and not capable of being forgiven. You are human, so therefore you feel guilt, and you are able to be forgiven. Get it?”
    “But everyone is human!” I argued, “Does that mean we just forgive everyone?!”
    “Exactly!” Wendy piped.
    I grew quiet. Both of these girls had gained my awe. Valeria was good at her theories while Wendy was good at advice. They represented logic and heart. I laughed to myself bitterly. All this time I had hated people for what they did, yet if I had just forgiven them, I wouldn’t have been in this mess at all. Perhaps I would still be friends with the yearbook guys. And maybe Bengt and I would have gotten along still.
    “Thank you both,” I said, “I… had always hated people. No, maybe I hated myself. I didn’t want to except that fact that there was really people who forgave. You two, Bengt, his parents, and I’m the only one who couldn’t see how to do it. Thank you so much!”
    “You’re welcome,” they both said.
    I started laughing, which was followed by Wendy and then Valeria. We all laughed joyously before conversing on the menu at the café.

…

    I had gotten back to my grandmother’s, and the first thing I did was hug her. My nana growled at me and began screaming at me, but I did not care. I forgave her for all that she had done to me. I ran out back to find my mom and hugged her too.
    She seemed astonished at first, but then she hugged me back. I just had to forgive them. Maybe I could forgive myself if I forgave everyone. And maybe in return they could forgive me. It was a long-shot, but I was willing to do it. I was feeling confident about myself.
    The next day, I will confront Bengt and get this sorted out.

…

    As soon as I got to school, a smile on my face, I went to find my best friend. I saw his bike was already parked, so he had to be here. I ran all over the place, trying to locate him. However, he was nowhere to be seen. His bike was here, so he had to be here, right?
    First period rolled around, and he was still gone. Mr. Skylark even asked me if I knew where he was. I shook my head, and he went back to his lesson.
    At lunch, I looked for him at the table with the guys. I had asked them if they had seen Bengt, but none of them have.
    This was getting serious. Where was he? News came around sixth period, when Mr. Harken was teaching us about the design and function of this one play that bored me half to death.
    Suddenly, Emelie came into the room with a worried look on her face. She tapped on Mr. Harken’s shoulder, and the man turned around.
    “Yes, what is it?” he asked, “Can’t you see I’m busy?!”
    Emelie tired to speak her Sign Language, but Mr. Harken was a very impatient man. He wouldn’t let her finish any of her signs as he demanded that she speak at once. I knew for a fact that Mr. Harken knew Sign Language, but he was just too impatient to speak at the moment. It happened during class time.
    I raised my hand and said, “Mr. Harken, she is here for me.”
    I had no clue if that was true or not. I could not longer read minds, so I could no longer speak with Emelie without using Sign Language.
    Mr. Harken looked skeptical, but when he saw Emelie nodding enthusiastically, he let me go outside with her.
    When we got outside, Emelie simply stared at me. It was obvious that she was saying something in her mind, but I could no longer hear her.
    “Emelie,” I started, “I’m sorry, but something has happened to me. I can no longer read other people’s minds. I can still read Bengt’s for some strange reason, but I can’t read anyone else’s. I’m sorry.”
    Emelie looked surprised, but she began doing her Sign Language to repeat what she had said. It was a good think that Bengt had taught me Sign Language when I stayed over.
    I froze as I read Emelie’s hands. They told me that Bengt was in the hospital, dying of cancer.

Author's Note

A lot goes on in this chapter: Ali meets the sisters for the first time, she loses her power, and then she learns the news about Bengt. Get ready for the feels next chapter.

Also, I would like to point out that both Valeria and Wendy are terribly smart. Wendy is the more perky one, while Valeria is the one who spaces out a lot.

Reviews

[Ali]

oh s**t. oh s**t. ohhh s**t! cancer! this is just f*****g terrible. its like no one will ever be happy!!!