Chapter 38: Vital Information

"Umm… what's going on? Did I miss something important?"

Avegaille felt uneasy with everyone staring at her and just had to break the silence. She was on her way to the newspaper club room when she saw the others flocking together by the locker area. Her standard way of greeting everyone didn't properly work as everyone was still exchanging looks with one another and some of them even looked uneasy.

‘Come on, someone say something…' Nicole May thought to herself. The awkward silent was also making her nervous as well.

"Uh… did I do something wrong? Is that why you guys are not talking to me?" Avegaille asked hesitantly and frowned at them.

The others were getting more worried and continued exchanging stares with each other. No one was willing to say anything until Elizabeth stepped forward and went closer to Avegaille.

"Why would you even think of that, Avegaille?" Elizabeth interrupted and frantically waved her hand at her. "You never did anything wrong…"

"It isn't that, then?"

"No, of course not!" Elizabeth insisted and smiled at her wearily. "So, stop worrying, okay?"

Nicole May immediately felt the awkwardness happening between Elizabeth and Avegaille, just by listening to their conversation. She wasn't sure if Elizabeth was trying to make Avegaille feel better or she just wanted to end this ridiculous silence around them. Before Avegaille even arrived, Nicole May was forced to tell the group what she witnessed at the principal's office earlier.

"Then… what were you guys talking about earlier?" Avegaille asked again and furrowed her eyebrows.

"Oh, actually… it's just about Nikki getting us a bigger room for us to move in!" Naz quickly interrupted and stood next to Avegaille, placing her arm around her shoulder. Then, both of them turned to Nicole May. "Isn't that right, Nikki?"

"Eh?!" Nicole May quickly jerked up her face and started sweating. For Naz to change the topic out of the blue was also a surprise for her. She slowly turned her head to the two of them and nodded slowly. "Y-Yeah, you could… say that."

"Well, if you say so…" Avegaille muttered and closed her eyes. Then, she opened her eyes again and pointed to the 'girl' that was standing next to Emily. "By the way, who is that girl? I have never seen her before…"

‘Is she that oblivious?!’ Nicole May thought to herself and started cringing. The outfit that Arthur was wearing was enough for them to know that it was him that was under that wig. Although, Avegaille had always been a special case, since a slight change in someone's look could make her think that it was someone else entirely.

"Aah, meet 'Angela'… she'll be with us until further notice, replacing Arthur, yeah?" Emily introduced and did a thumbs-up, in which both Nicole May and Elizabeth stared at her exasperatedly. "You should be nice to her while she's with us, okay?"

"Hi there!" Arthur exclaimed with a fake girlish voice and waved his hand.

"Um… hi. I'm Avegaille." Avegaille scratched her head, still confused at what was going on and turned to Emily. She looked around and realized that Arthur was nowhere to be found. "Why did Arthur suddenly disappear?"

Emily and Naz tried stopping themselves from laughing too hard. Meanwhile, Nicole May and Elizabeth continued staring at them exasperatedly. Arthur could not help but laugh nervously while all of this was happening. At least, the mood lightened up for them but Nicole May was still very worried for Avegaille.

.-.-.-.-.-

It was lunchtime and Nicole May decided to go to the library, hoping to encounter Avegaille's sister, Jane. She never properly got along with her, or perhaps it was Jane's serious nature that prevented her from speaking to her normally. She no longer wanted to be nervous around her and thought today was the perfect time to start. First, she started by going to the reference section, which had the encyclopedias. Last time Nicole May encountered Jane in the library was in that same section. While going through each section and the tables, she noticed from a distance someone lazily flipping through the pages of a book that was in front of them. Nicole May slowly went closer and finally found who she was looking for.

Jane continued flipping through the pages of the book that was in front of her, unaware of anyone else in the area. Then, she slowly lifted up her head and finally noticed Nicole May, who had been standing in front of her and immediately stared at her exasperatedly.

"I really think you're up to something if you keep appearing in front of me at unexpected times…" Jane muttered irritably and sighed. She closed the book that was in front of her and folded her arms across her chest.

"Ah, well… I really should explain…" Nicole May firmly gripped her left elbow with her right hand and looked down on the floor.

"Sit down and then tell me what you have to tell," Jane said and pointed to a chair near her, in which Nicole May pulled out and sat down on. Then, Jane rested her right elbow on the table and leaned her chin on her right hand. "Before you say anything, I'll make a guess… this has something to do with that shrimp, doesn't it?"

Nicole May slowly nodded and Jane sighed heavily. Jane wasn't in the mood to talk about anything that had to do with her little sister, after what happened yesterday and earlier this morning. Although, a part of her had always wanted to ask Nicole May for some help regarding Avegaille. But she didn't know where to start and thought it would be better if Nicole May took the initiative in resolving the issue.

"Well, we've got plenty of time, so you might as well ask before Madeline finds me here… and drag me back to the student council office," Jane muttered and slightly turned away from Nicole May.

"Eh… um… well, first I have to admit something to you…"

"Hmm, what is it?" Jane turned back to Nicole May and raised an eyebrow.

"I overheard you and Mrs. Stewart arguing in the principal's office earlier. I heard about you guys forcing meds on Avegaille for her to forget something. Why does it have to go to that? What are you guys making her forget?"

Jane's eyes widened and she slowly turned away from her. Nicole May furrowed her eyebrows, unsure if Jane got even more upset at her for even asking. Then, Jane turned back to Nicole May groggily and sighed.

"If I tell you this, will you promise me not to tell anyone, including Avegaille, that you know what I'm about to tell you?" Jane asked, in which Nicole May nodded slowly. "All right then. I'm pretty sure you're well aware that our parents are divorced, right?"

"Um… I guess. I mean, Avegaille never talks about her Dad at all or even mentioned him at least once to me…" Nicole May muttered, unsure of where this conversation would lead to.

"Yeah, well, that's probably also the effect of the meds… either way, not that it helps. Regardless of what we do, Avegaille will never forget the day she saw our parents arguing. Overhearing them talking about her performance in school made her really depressed. To make matters worse, my Dad, out of frustration, threw something which hit Avegaille's right leg by accident. That made my Mom very furious and I guess… you could say it was the last straw for her and finally filed a divorce. Although, the real reason why they were arguing in the first place was because Dad somehow favored me more than my little sister, which upsets Mom whenever he does that. Dad couldn't see through that and never listened to Mom. This went on for months, which I always have to bear with it and tried to keep Avegaille away from it all. Heh… I guess even that, I failed on doing my part."

"I'm not really good with family matters, just to be honest with you. It doesn't help that I currently live with a couple who are not even my biological parents…" Nicole May muttered and slightly turned away from Jane. "But I guess what you’re trying to tell me here, is that… Avegaille’s afraid of her father, correct?"

"If that's what you want to make out of it, then, yeah." Jane shrugged and folded her arms across her chest. "Now then, let's move a little bit to what happened yesterday. I was going to visit my Dad and Avegaille wanted to come with me. Although, it's still the same thing whenever Avegaille sees Dad… that day just keeps coming back in her mind, which starts a panic attack. The meds calm her down but at the same time has a side effect of making her forget things. Do you understand now?"

"Yeah, I get it now. Although, one more thing… Both Elizabeth and Phil… do they know about this situation Avegaille is in?" Nicole May asked. "I mean, they were her friends back in elementary, as far as I know…"

"Yeah, they do… I did tell them to not even talk about our Dad whenever Avegaille is around," Jane replied and sighed. "Anyway, since you've pretty much involved yourself in something you shouldn't get into, I might as well tell you what you want to know. Besides, it's been a while since I last saw that shrimp happy, especially whenever you’re with her."

"Huh?" Nicole May stared at her surprisingly. "You really think so?"

"I'm not lying on that part, that's for sure. She talks about you whenever she gets the chance. Well, up to you if you want to pursue her further…" Jane said and shrugged. Nicole May noticed the smirk on her face.

"…Where is this getting at now?" Nicole May asked skeptically and raised an eyebrow.

"Well, it's kinda obvious that you like my little sister more than as a friend. To think that you even have the guts to ask me regarding her problems," Jane replied mischievously and Nicole May's cheeks started turning red. "I don't really care who she ends up with really… as long as she's happy, then that's all that matters. Will you be that person for her?"

Nicole May quickly lowered her head and held on her knees, trying to hide her flustered face while Jane started chuckling. Before Jane could say another word, she heard some footsteps getting louder. The more the group got closer to them, the more exasperated Jane was. Of course, it was none other than Madeline and her other friends.

"Jane, we finally found you! The teachers from our classes earlier were wondering where you were!" Madeline exclaimed and quickly hugged Jane, which surprised Jane while Nicole May quickly lifted up her head and stared at them blankly. "Geez Jane, if something was troubling you, just tell us and not skip classes, okay?"

"Geh… not in front of her…" Jane muttered irritably and Madeline quickly released her while the other two girls, Sabrina and Vicky, stood next to where Nicole May was sitting.

"Oh?" Madeline turned around and saw Nicole May staring at her blankly. "Hey, it's you… um… Nicole May, right?"

"Yeah…" Nicole May muttered and cringed a little. She slowly turned her head away from them and sighed. "I'm sorry… I never realized that the president of the student council actually skips classes."

"Hey, are you trying to start something here?" Jane asked irritably and quickly stood up from her seat. She was about to get closer to Nicole May when Madeline quickly wrapped her arms around Jane's chest, stopping Jane from her tracks.

"You need to calm down, Jane…" Madeline whispered as she placed her chin on top of Jane's right shoulder while hugging her tightly.

"Hey! Just what do you think you are doing?!" Jane exclaimed furiously and her face started turning red.

"Haha, while Madeline tries to calm Jane down… how did your visit to the principal go?" Vicky asked, in which Nicole May turned to her. "Did they approve of the room you guys wanted to move into?"

"Ah, yeah… Mrs. Stewart did," Nicole May replied and nodded slowly.

"Hey now, what's this approving of a usage of a room all about?" Jane interrupted, in which everyone turned to her. Jane stared at them blankly. "Am I missing something here?"

"Don't worry about it much… Nicole May here was just looking for you earlier regarding an old and unused room that the newspaper club wanted to move into," Madeline explained while she continued snuggling on Jane's shoulder, in which flustered Jane more.

"Um… do they always do this?" Nicole May asked wearily and sweat-dropped.

"Oh, that's normal for Madeline to do, don't worry!" Sabrina exclaimed and chuckled. "That's just her way of saying how much she really likes Jane."

"Shut it, Sabrina! Don't give her any ideas!" Jane exclaimed while she tried to push herself away from Madeline's grip.

"Uuh…" Nicole May stared at Jane and Madeline blankly and didn't know what to say next. She felt it would be best to leave them alone at this point. Then, she stood up from her seat and stepped back from the group. "I have to go… goodbye then."

"Sure, see you whenever!" Madeline exclaimed while she waved at Nicole May, in which Nicole May quickly left them. Then, Madeline turned back to Jane and stared at her mischievously. "Now then… it's time we drag you back to your classes."

"Geez… your actions are giving people the wrong idea!" Jane exclaimed irritably and sighed.

"I can't help it, my dear~" Madeline teased and winked at Jane. "We should just enjoy this moment while it lasts, yes?"

.-.-.-.-.-

"This is the place, right, Naz?"

Emily stared at the old and battered door in front of her and held on the doorknob, which turned with ease but at the same time, the doorknob came off easily. She held up the now broken doorknob in front of her and stared at it exasperatedly. Then, she tossed it to the side. Naz, on the other hand, was looking around the corridor, checking to see if there were people on the floor aside from them. The floor was too quiet and the windows across the rooms were all dusty. Emily pushed the door open and peered inside. Inside the room, she could see some dusty chairs and tables all set up in a corner. There were also some empty bookshelves and boxes in another corner. Naz also entered the room and noticed a switch near the door. She flicked it but not a single light turned on.

"Well at least it's bigger than our current room…" Naz remarked while she placed her hands on her hips. She walked up to the table in the corner and slid her pointer finger on the surface of the table. She looked at the dust covering her pointer finger and then blew off the dust.

"Rustford's funding the renovation anyway, so I guess we don't have to worry about the costs of getting this place all spruced up," Emily said while she walked to the corner where a pile of boxes were placed. "I wonder if this used to be a classroom or a club room…"

"Looks more like a clubroom to me…" Naz muttered. Then, she saw an old poster that was stuck on a wall and looked at it closely. It had foreign characters on the poster, similar to the manual of the printer Naz saw back then. "Hmm… uuh… I can't read it. Is this Japanese?"

Emily approached Naz and turned her attention to the poster. She also attempted to read what was written but with the foreign characters on it, she just gave up. "Are you sure it's Japanese? Looks like Chinese to me…"

"Yeah, those characters somehow look similar to that manual of our printer, in which Nikki imported from Japan, as she says…" Naz said and sweat-dropped. Then, she slowly removed the poster from the wall and rolled it up. "If we bring this to Nikki, she may give us an idea on which club this place used to belong to."

"Heh… is that how smart that girl is?" Emily asked bitterly while she placed her right hand on her hips. "Why does she always know everything?"

.-.-.-.-.-

Nicole May was on her way to the proposed new location of the newspaper club when she noticed Elizabeth walking in the same direction she was going to as well. Elizabeth was about to enter the building but felt she was being followed and quickly turned around. She sighed with relief when she saw it was just Nicole May.

"Haha, I thought it was some pervert trying to follow me again…" Elizabeth said and laughed nervously. "Are you also going to check out the room as well?"

"Uuh… yeah," Nicole May muttered and slightly turned away from Elizabeth. After hearing what Jane said to her, she wasn't sure on how to start a conversation with Elizabeth.

"Is there something wrong?" Elizabeth asked and slightly raised an eyebrow.

"Ah… it's nothing really. I did talk to Jane like what you told me. She told me about Avegaille's past and why Avegaille is like that… always forgetting things." Nicole May lowered her head and held on her left elbow with her right hand.

"I'm used to it… although I have to admit, Avegaille's not the same Avegaille that I knew back in elementary. I'm not even sure if she changed for the better or it just got worse for her. But… I don't think I even have the right to say that after what I did to her."

Nicole May slowly lifted up her head and looked at Elizabeth. She noticed how Elizabeth looked really uneasy while frowning. She recalled the story Elizabeth told everyone while they were at Avegaille's place, which was about Avegaille getting 'suspended' from Centralville Elementary School. "Does this have something to do with what happened to Avegaille back in fourth grade?"

"You still recall that?" Elizabeth asked and laughed forcibly, which somehow disturbed Nicole May. "Yeah, you're not Avegaille. Of course, you can't just forget anything once you learn about it. But… you don't know the feeling of how Avegaille talks to me… seeing her expression, as if nothing happened between us. Somehow, the more she talks to me, the more I can't be myself anymore. I still can't rid of this guilty feeling after all those years."

Nicole May stood still on her spot, speechless. She slowly extended her hand but Elizabeth quickly turned away from her.

"I'd like to know something though… why do you like her so much?" Elizabeth asked. "Despite knowing all this, has your mind changed about Avegaille? Will you still continue to be that person who’s always there for her?"

"I… I…" Nicole May's face started turning red and she was fidgeting all over. She didn't know how to answer Elizabeth, or even anyone else asking those questions. Her mind was going blank and she quickly covered her face with her hands, trying to hide her embarrassment.

Elizabeth slowly turned to Nicole May again and saw how nervous and flustered she was. She felt she went too far and just kept quiet for a while. "Sorry, forget what I just said… I already know you like her. To be honest, I really think you two may end up together in the future."

Nicole May slowly put down her hand and stared at Elizabeth blankly. Her face was still red from what she just heard. Elizabeth smiled at her and then, quickly turned around, running inside the building. Nicole May didn't know what to do next and walked around the area aimlessly. Then, she saw an unoccupied bench, which she sat down on. She lowered her head and clenched her fists.

"Why can't I remember it? Something happened yesterday… I just know it…"

Nicole May quickly turned to the direction of the voice and from a distance, she saw Avegaille also sitting down on a bench, talking to herself. She couldn't move from her spot as she was still nervous from what happened earlier. Then, Avegaille turned her head to the direction where Nicole May was sitting. She slowly waved at her while smiling weakly.

‘What should I do?’ Nicole May thought to herself and her mind was going blank again. She held her head with her hand and closed her eyes.

Avegaille stood up and approached Nicole May, in which she sat down next to her.

"Nicole May, are you all right?" Avegaille asked, furrowing her eyebrows. Nicole May quickly opened her eyes and saw that Avegaille was sitting close to her.

"Aah… I'm… I'm f-fine!" Nicole May exclaimed nervously and slightly moved away from Avegaille. Her face was turning red again.

"Well, if you say so…" Avegaille muttered and sighed while turning away from her. She held on her knees and looked down. "Sorry… I just have a lot in my mind lately. I really don't want to get you involved as you'll probably worry too much about it…"

Nicole May paused for a while and slowly turned to Avegaille. She was worried for Avegaille but she didn't know what to say to her. Plus, she also had an agreement with Jane to not let Avegaille know that she was aware of what was going on.

"Mom and Jane had been quiet since this morning when I greeted them… as well as everyone else. I just don't know anymore. Nicole May, will you stay with me until I remember something? I hate this feeling of being alone…"

Nicole May slowly nodded and Avegaille quickly pressed her face against Nicole May's chest while hugging her tightly. This surprised her but then, she slowly stroked Avegaille's back with her hand, hoping it would calm her down.