kiara sat on the edge of her bed. pope popped up beside her. "what's wrong kie?" he looked at her concerned. "i'm worried about meilani" she sighed. "worried, why worried?" "she's acting different and i'm the only one noticing it. her dad isn't around as often anymore, she lost her mom and for all we know her brother is out there somewhere."

meilanis older brother, cayman, went missing 2 summers ago. she was extremely close to him and there was no explanation as to why he disappeared, one morning he was gone. meilani has never talked about it since it happened. she was destroyed by it, she didn't even know how to talk about it. kiara knew she was lonely, even at the times the group would be in fits of laughter or surfing with the best sunsets, she could still tell how lonely meilani was.

"she doesn't talk about her brother though, and it doesn't seem like she's too bothered by her dad being gone so much." pope continued. "that's the point pope, she doesn't show emotion, you rarely see her crying or upset and that's why i'm concerned, recently she's been showing us emotion, i'm afraid she's going to crack soon" kiaras eyes welled up, meilani was her best friend, and she couldn't bare her in any sort of pain. pope didn't know what to say, instead he enveloped his girlfriend into a hug and let her sob on his shoulder.

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the group showed up at the dock, all ready to leave for a day of surfing. kiara scanned the group and meilani wasn't there. "where's mei?" she inquired. "she said she was gonna sit this one out, family stuff" jj explained. kiara turned to pope with a concerned look on her face, the boy stared back at her and planted a kiss on her forehead. "you guys go have fun, i have to help my dad i just remembered" kiara lied. she grabbed her stuff abruptly and took off running. "what was that all about?" john b looks at pope. "just because i'm her boyfriend doesn't mean i know everything."

kiara runs towards her best friends house. she knows what to expect when she goes inside. kiara physcs herself up and opens the door to the girls house. "lani!" she calls out. she hears abrupt clattering coming from the bathroom.

kiara rushes to the bathroom but to no surprise the door is locked. "mei, open it" she says bluntly. no response. "open it, now." the door clicks and kiara turns the knob. meilani stands there, tears falling down her face. kiara looks down at the frail girls arms, fresh cuts. kiara says nothing but instead pulls the girl into a sincere hug. meilani begins sobbing harder into her best friends shoulder. "i'm sorry kie" she muffles.

after kiara helps meilani out and cleans her up, she waits for the girl on the couch. meilani soon appears, sopping hair and fresh bandages covering her arms. "lani, i thought you gave up on this months ago" kiara says, a concerned expression covering her face. "i-i did, and last night, i thought about cayman and my mom and how my dad is gone every second of every day" a tear escaped her eye and flowed down her cheek. kiara wiped it with her thumb, "babygirl, it's not worth it. we love you so much and you should never hide your feelings from us." the helpless girl nods in response.

"what would jj do if he found out." meilani gasps "jj" she cries. "he shouldn't care about me this much it's not fair, i'm too much to handle." kiara cuts meilani off. "please lani, stop kidding yourself, we all love you so much, jj has always loved you, he can't stop now, dont be afraid" meilani just begins to sob again. kiara wraps her arms around the small girl and stays with her until she feels safe again.

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24 missed calls, 12 voicemails & 26 text messages. once again meilani ignored the buzzing phone and turned away. she knew her friends were concerned, but she needed this time to just get herself together. kiaras words played over and over in her head "don't be afraid" meilani knew how much it hurt her best friend to see her in pain, that's why she hid it so much.

sometimes she wished she could just vanish, head to the bahamas and not worry about anyone else. she also wished that maybe if she fell of the face of the earth, her friends wouldn't care. but in reality, they'd be more crushed than anyone else in the whole world. her thoughts were interrupted by the answering machine going off, 'hey lani, look i know i don't know whats going on with you right now, kie wont tell us, but i'm so worried about you sunshine. i miss my bub so much, please lani, when you get a second, call me back' the voice mail ended. hearing the first voice in days made her think, how long have i really been moping around? just a day or so more and she'd be back with it.