Chapter 9

AROUND 7:00PM He started to get a little fidgety. My mom was able to contact his parents and she told them that she would call them back when Justin was wide awake so they could pick him up.

“Mom, is Aika’s friend going to be ok?” My brother asked nervously.

“I don’t know sweetie. Go back outside and play.” My mom replied while scouring the kitchen for more ice packs.

            I still sat next to him. I watched him for 3 whole hours, he looked a little better, besides his ratted clothes, but the ice was healing his bruises and bumps. They became a little smaller, but they were still noticeable.

“Mmm..” Justin mumbled. He was opening his eyes!

“Oh, Justin!” I jumped off my chair and plopped onto my knees, once again, and grabbed his hand. “Are you ok? Hey, can you feel me holding your hand? Hey!”

“Uhh, yeah. You’re shaking my arm to much..” He replied, his eyes half opened, his voice a little hoarse, but with a smile on his face.

“Yes! You’re ok!”

“Well I wouldn’t say that I’m ok..” He chuckled.

He slowly placed his other hand on mine. My face became apple-red and my heart played a drum beat that was so fast speed-clocks couldn’t catch it.

“Thanks.” He said, his voice so soothing.

“No, thanks for being here.” I said. I felt like leaning in to give him a kiss… But I couldn’t. Not that I wasn’t physically able, because I was, but my mind wouldn’t let me. Instead I said, “You can let go of my hand now.”

He laughed and said, “But you took my hand first.” Then he winked. Oh God, that wink melted my heart.

            I immediately let go of his hand when my mom walked back into the living room. She took the ice packs off his knees and forehead and took them into the kitchen to dump the melted ice and get new ones.

“So how are you feeling, er, uh..?”

“Justin. M-My name is Justin.”

“Oh, well how are you feeling Justin?”

“Alright. It still hurts to move my legs though.”

“Well just lay down a little longer. Aika, did you finish your homework?”

            No I didn’t. I was too busy watching Justin. What a stalker I was.

“Uh, I did some of it!”

“Well do the rest of it.”

And so I did. I went to grab my binder out of my backpack and went back next to Justin to begin my homework. I couldn’t see him, but I know he was watching me.

“W-what kind of homework are y-you doing Aika?”

“Algebra. It’s really hard.”

“Oh. I-I really wish I could help you, but I missed a-a lot of days.”

“Oh no, that’s alright"” Then I remembered! I had to ask him, about his ‘twin’. But I just had to think of a way to bring it up.

 I can’t just say ‘oh hey Justin, do you have a twin brother?’  I thought. I racked my brain. I continued my homework but I wasn’t paying much attention to it; In fact, I think I stayed on the same page for a whole 30 minutes (and there were only 4 problems on it).

“Are you going to f-finish those?” He peered over my shoulder.

“Ah! Man, you scared me…” then Justin chuckled. But I couldn’t keep it in; I just HAD to ask him. But what kind of idiot would I look like if I was wrong? He probably would have laughed in my face. I tried to ask him, but instead this is what came out…

“So, do you have a date for homecoming?” Even now I have no clue why THAT, of all things, came out.

“Uh, what?”

I had already started, so I guess I had to finish it. “Well… Do you have a date for homecoming?” I bit my lower lip and tightly clenched my fist.

“Well uh, no. No one has asked me, since I haven’t attended school. Uh, haven’t attended school LATELY! Yeah, haven’t attended school lately.”

That sounded weird. Almost like he caught himself in a lie then tried to change it. That made me feel even more suspicious.

“Oh, I see…” I turned and faced him. “Well, then how would you like to go--?” the doorbell rang and interrupted me. It was Justin’s parents.

“Oh, they’re here! I didn’t even call them yet.” My mom ran to the door. “Hello, uh, Justin’s parents! Come in take a seat. I didn’t expect you to come over so suddenly.”

“We’re Mr. and Mrs. Hue. After we got your call we wanted to come right away, but we got a little lost. But we’re here.” Stated Mr. Hue.

Mr. and Mrs. Hue… was that Vietnamese? Chinese maybe? I don’t know. Even now names like that confuse me, but then at the same time I bet my name confuses other people too. Pasion: Was it even Asian? Maybe Spanish? That’s what people wondered, but it was in fact Asian.

            Getting back on track, I turned to Justin. He did not look happy seeing his parents in my house. No, he didn’t look happy seeing his parents at all! Then his mom turned to us. She saw his beaten body and ran to him, nearly running me over.

“Oh Justin! Con trai của tôi!!” She hugged his head in her arms.

“Ah! Mom! That hurts my face!” He tried to back away but he had no strength yet.

“Tell me, what happened?” His mom said, almost bursting into tears.

“Well I--” He eyed his dad, so I turned around and eyed him too. He had a straight face, but it meant something else to Justin because when I looked back at him he looked scared.

“Dad t-told me to stay home again, because I wasn’t feeling too g-good. But I wanted to go to school, so as it neared last period I hiked out the d-door. But I got lost and I, u-uhm… I hurt myself. So I just stayed where I hurt myself, hoping someone I knew would walk by.” He smiled at me, then his mom turned and faced me. “And that’s when Aika came by.”

His mom got up and gave me a hug. “Thank you thank you Aika! Những gì bây giờ, how can we repay your gratitude?”

“You don’t have to do anything! Just, make sure Justin gets better.”

            Soon Justin and his parents went home, I finished my homework, and my brother came back inside right when dad got home. As we sat around the dinner table all I could think about is what happened today. Nick wanting to break up with Bea, Nick walking me home, calling me Rena again, then having another nice conversation with Mason, and then finding a beaten up Justin and taking him into my house! And on top of that, I almost asked him to go to homecoming with me! But I still had the question about his possible ‘twin’. That was one question I needed an answer to.

            Before going to bed I checked my Facebook account to see if any of my friends were online. Only Mason, and if I were correct he was probably reading his fanfics… But that’s a different story. I didn’t want to bother him, so I just left a final update for the night and logged off.

 

“Aika Kikai Pasion: Is currently thinking about things. About a lot of things. -posted 11:27pm 9/26/10”