-Recap-
"Ok, so you wanna' hear the gossip for the day?" Dana asked sitting down beside Jadea at the small round table.
Jadea smirked, "Sure." She really wasn't the type to like gossip, but either way she knew she would hear. Even if she told Dana no.
"I'm f*ckin' pregnant." Jadea's eyes widened in horror.
"Oh my god, are you serious?" Jadea knew that Paul was in no way, or even near ready to have a kid.
"Yep. That's the gossip." Jadea didn't understand. Dana was acting so calm about it right now. She would've at least expected Dana to be bawling right about now, but she wasn't.
"Wait, is this just a rumor or is it..." Dana cut her off.
"OH GOD NO." Dana merely shouted drawing attention to them.
"Shhh, this is a library." Jadea said giggling. "So its just a rumor then?"
Dana shook her head, "Yeah, thank god. I would've been losing my mind if I really were pregnant. Plus, Paul wouldn't really be good father material at the moment."
Jadea frowned, "Why? What wrong with him?"
"He didn't tell you?" Jadea shook her head no. "His grandmother died this morning."
"Nana Campi?" Dana shook her head yes. "Oh my god Dana. Why didn't anyone tell me?" Jadea asked getting pissed off.
"Because I thought Paul would've. She died this morning at 4:17. I didn't see you until now."
Jadea gritted her teeth while picking her stuff up off the table. "Its called a phone Dana, are your's or Paul's f*ckin' fingers broken?"
Dana looked at her in shock. Jadea had never gotten this pissed off about this kind of stuff. "I'm sorry J, I thought you already knew." Dana tried explaining.
"Save it Dana. I've been the last to know anything recently, and I'm starting to wonder if you have something to do with it." Jadea said throwing her bookbag over her shoulder and walking away. She truly was pissed off. She was close with Paul's grandmother, she was the grandmother Jadea never had. Hell, when Jadea was younger she used to go over to Nana Campi's house just to sit and talk with her. And they would sit there and have milk and cookies while they either talked, or watched a movie or show on TV.
But over the years, Jadea started getting too busy to visit Nana Campi. Not that she never did visit her, because when she got the extra time, that time would be given to Nana Campi. She was a big part of Jadea, and also the reason Paul had grown up so well. If it wasn't for her, Paul would've probably ended up in foster care or something. And that was something Paul and Jadea always thanked Nana Campi for, because if they would''ve been seperated, their whole world would've been 'torn' apart.
Jadea loved Nana Campi, for everything she had done for her and Paul. For the days Jadea needed a friend when Paul wasn't around, for the love Nana Campi showed Jadea and for the grandmother she never had. Nana Campi would be terribly missed, especially by Jadea.
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Sitting in her car, Jadea tried once more to turn the key over, but nothing was happening. Not even a sputter. She needed to get to Paul, she needed to find out if this was really true. But her car wouldn't let her do so.
Slamming her fists down on the steering wheel multiple times, Jadea burst out into tears. This wasn't fair, of course something had to go wrong with her car at the moment she desperately needed to get somewhere. She was now beginning to hate this car with a passion, and beating the hell out of it, was the only way she could show her anger towards it at the moment.
Stepping out of her car, she grabbed her bookbag and slammed the door shut as hard as she could. She then stood on the side of it and kicked it and even hit with her bookbag. "Are you ok?" A familiar voice asked from behind her.
Jadea turned around and the kid with reddish blonde hair, the one she now knew as Ryan Dunn. "No, " Jadea cried. "This car is a piece of sh*t." She began to cry a little harder.
"Well, its really nothing to cry over. Pop the hood, I'll see what I can do for you."
Jadea shook her head, "I already tried that. The engine is f*cked."
"Are you sure its not the starter?" He asked.
"100 percent sure, I just had it replaced." Dunn shook his head. "I'm never going to get to him."
Dunn raised an eyebrow, "Bam?"
Jadea shook her head and started crying again, "No, Paul." She said and started walking away from him. She had every intention on walking to Paul's house.
"J?" Dunn shouted after her. She turned around and looked at him. He could tell she was about ready to break down at any second, and he knew he couldn't leave her alone like this. "I could give you a lift." He offered. Jadea just shook her head to let him know she had excepted his offer and started walking towards him. He ushered her over to his car and opened the passenger side door for her and shut it when she was fully in the car.
When he finally got in the car, he started the engine and headed towards Paul's house. "So um...is everything ok?" He asked knowing that it wasn't.
"No." She answered him shortly.
"Mind if I asked what's wrong?"
"Nana Campi died this morning and I just found out about an hour ago." She started to cry again.
Dunn was a little confused. He knew that Jadea was really good friends with Paul, but the way she was acting, he would've thought something happened to Paul. "Um, that's Paul's grandma, right?" Jadea shook her head yes. "So, I guess you were close with her?" She shook her head yes again. Now he understood because he remembered a time where he sat in Paul's livingroom and that was all Paul talked about. Was how she had raised him and how Jadea would always be over at his grandmother's eating cookies and drinking milk. He also remembered Paul saying something along the lines of his grandmother being as close to Jadea as she was him. So it all started to fall into place.
They pulled up in front of Paul's house and without a word, Jadea took off running for the front door. "You're welcome." Dunn said as he pulled out of his parking spot and headed down the road.
Jadea knocked on the door until it opened. "Is Paul home?" She asked trying to contain her tears.
Rosa frowned, "Yes dear. Come in." She took Jadea's coat and hung it on the coat rack beside the front door. "He's in his room." Jadea thanked Rosa and ran up the stairs as fast as she could.
When she finally got to his bedroom door, she turned the knob, but it was locked. So she stood there and drummed on his door. "Go away." Paul said weakly through the wooden oak door.
"Paul, its me J." She said just as weak. Just then she heard the lock coming undone and then the door opened.
The sight of Paul alone would've made anyone break down, but Jadea knew she had to be as strong as she could be for Paul. "Why didn't you call me?" She asked holding back tears.
"I did, I left a message on your answering machine. You never got it?" He asked turning around and walking towards his bed and flopping down on it face first.
Jadea walked into his room closing the door behind her. "No."
"Then how'd you find out?" He asked still not looking at her.
"Dana told me in the library at school." Paul rolled over on his back and looked at her.
"I'm sorry you had to find out from her. You should've heard it from me first." He said in a regretful voice. "They're laying her out at Quinles funeral home on Thursday. We can show up anytime because we're family, but friends and such has to wait until 2 in the afternoon." Jadea shook her head in understanding. "I don't know if I can do this J. She was like a mother to me."
Tears started brimming Jadea's eyes as she walked over to the bed and sat down beside him. "I'll be there for you every step of the way."
She heard a shakey sigh escape Paul's lips. "I know, but I won't expect you to hold me up while you're falling apart too." She knew he was going to say that. But she also know that she could break down in her own time. A time when Paul wasn't around.
"Even if I do fall apart, I'll still be there holding you up because I love you that much." She said looking down at her feet. She didn't want him to see her crying.
She felt his hand reach up and pulled her down beside him, "You know, as much sh*t as we've put each other through over the years," Jadea smiled at the thought. "I still love you that much too." He said and put his arm around her and put her head on his chest. They both laid there in silence, they tried hiding the tears that escaped their eyes, but laying in each other's arms, only made them that much more vulnerable. And both of them knew with each shallow breath, that tears were now flowing, and there was no stopping it.
This chapter was based on a true story. Go to results if you want a brief explanation...
You know, its sad because Brooke just lost her grandfather a year and a half ago and I was close with him too. Only the school, Ryan Dunn and the end part, are false, the rest is fact.
R.I.P. Roy(Coach), you will be terribly missed.
