"I love you, for all that you are, all that you've been, and all that you're yet to be."
~♡~
Brett
"Dyslexia?" I huffed out in shock.
"Yes." She replied, unsure of whether the choice she made was wise or not. "She is a dyslexic child."
"How long has it been?" I said.
"I found out about 2 years ago. But she did, just a few months ago." She said. "I knew she had difficulty in grasping things but it's not like she isn't intelligent. She's a brilliant student. But I failed to understand why her talent is never shown in her grades. That's when I got to know that she has dyslexia."
"How.. have you been able to do something about it?" I asked.
"I don't know how to." She said, helplessness written all over her face. "I've been told that Chloe's condition isn't really that bad and she can correct it with professional help."
"That's why she wasn't able to write properly?" I asked.
"Yes." she continued. "She does have any clarity about the alphabets. She needs special training for that, Brett. And Chloe doesn't want that."
"Why the hell not?" I asked.
"She's a very insecure person, Brett." She said. "She doesn't want to accept that she needs help. She thinks she's defected. That she is not normal. She cannot accept that."
"But that is not true." I said. "She has to look beyond that. Having dyslexia is not something she should be feeling insecure about."
"But she doesn't understand that." She said. "I tried convincing her but she broke down. She doesn't want to accept that she needs help. She's stressing herself. She's studying and working a lot more than needed. And I'm scared that's not good for her, Brett. She shouldn't stress herself like that. She tries so hard but never gets good grades. And I don't know how to help her."
I didn't know what I could speak after what Mrs.Morgan has confessed.We usually detect it in a younger age so that special attention can be given to the patient. She has done petty things in the past but she doesn't deserve this. No one deserves this.
"Just think of it, Brett," she spoke. "A normal girl, who doesn't know who her father is, who doesn't have a friend she could bring home, who doesn't even have anyone to open up to, has to go through this. To just think about how much it must be hurting her to know that she works so hard but still her classmates have better grades than her makes me feel so sad. How much would that undermine her confidence? I can only imagine how broken she is from inside."
"I don't care about her grades," she continued. "My daughter is important to me. But she doesn't understand that. She doesn't want to give up. She wants to fight. That's the reason why she keeps writing or reading so that she could learn to spell or write everything perfectly. But how far can she go without any support? She's going to need help eventually but she is not ready to take it."
I didn't know what to say. Chloe Morgan has gone through a lot more than I gave thought. She is not just just a spoilt child that I knew. She regrets doing the things she did. It is evident in her eyes. And why the hell haven't I noticed that before? I don't even want to think about how much she has gone through. Not being able to read at the age of seventeen is a lot worse to experience than think.
"I don't know how I can help her, Brett." She said. "Every night, it kills me to see her frustration lying deep below the calm face she tries to put on. She never accepts the fact that she is struggling. I don't know if that makes me terrible mother to not be able to solve my daughter's problem.
I laid my hands on her shoulder and she looked up at me. "It's not true, Mrs.Morgan. You are an amazing mother. You've been so supportive and are willing to help her. And that's what is important. You don't care what the world thinks about your daughter. You love her, Mrs.Morgan. That's enough for her to live."
"Mrs.Morgan, Chloe is an amazing girl. She's a fighter. And I'm glad she's my friend."
She smiled up at me.
"And if it is alright to you.." I started. "I want to help Chloe."
"What?" She asked in a low tone.
"Yes.." I said. "I want to help. I want to make her achieve what she wants."
"How are you going to do it?"
"I'll spend extra time with her," I said. "I'll discuss lessons with her and make sure she's on par with the rest of us. Please give me a chance."
"You dont have to do it, Brett." She said. "You have a life ahead of you. Moreover, Chloe won't be allowing it."
"Mrs.Morgan," I said. "I don't care if it affects me. But I really want to do it. I can't just sit and see her struggle alone. And I'm sure, I'll figure out a way to convince her. Please, I need your approval for that."
"You always have my permission, Brett." She smiled.
"Thank you so much." I said. "I'm sure I'll not let you down."
"Just make sure she's not going to get hurt again."
I nodded. "I promise."
~♡~
I never found sleep that night. All I could think about was Chloe Morgan. It feels as though I knew her all my life but never understood her. I haven't even thought of a possibility that she had to go to through all of this alone. I have always seen her like a girl who was spoilt and cares about nothing. But never thought she was trying so hard to keep up with everyone. Trying so fucking hard just so that she can prove she doesn't need help.
The fucking idiot that I was, I never found the need to ask her what was wrong. Only if I hadn't jumped to conclusions. Only if I made the attempt to ask her how she was, maybe I could've decreased the amount of hardship she had to go through. And nothing torments me more than the fact that I could've helped her.
I was the only true friend she ever had. And I left her. I showed my anger on her and refused to help her all these years. Chloe had to go through so much, and I sat comfortably thinking about how much of a spoilt brat she was. But the truth of the matter is she is nothing like what I thought. She is beyond everything I could ever think.
Having gone through so much, she is still fighting. She is still willing to fight and is not going to give up. And I'm so proud of her. She has learnt to live life by herself. She has seen betrayal and helplessness in the early stages of her life and it's the courage and the strength that is inside her that is making her stand firm.
And she deserves all the happiness that is she is destined to find. She deserves every bit of love. Nothing can hide the fact that what she did to Sapphire was cruel, but I cannot stay mad at her for that forever. She regrets it and moreover, she might have been under the influence of her friends.
I don't understand how she ever managed to establish a friendship with those fuckers. If she had a better group of friends, who were willing to help her, maybe she wouldn't be this helpless right now.
I knew a girl from their group, Vicky, who was apparently her best friend. I atleast expected Vicky to help her.
And I don't think any of them even know it. Chloe wouldn't show her signs of disability to anyone. She doesn't want pity. Nor does she seek sympathy from anyone. She likes to fight her own battles.
I wonder if she was ready to accept any help even if anyone came forward. As much as I appreciate her never ending will to move forward and keep going, I hate to admit that she needs to bring that down.
She needs to let people into her life. She needs to seek help. She needs to rely on someone for support. She'll eventually need someone that would stand up for her, and take care of her.
Chloe Morgan is the only girl I ever cried for. She was capable of bringing those tears into my eyes just by letting me know what she's been through. Without any intention of hers, she made me feel the pain that I haven't felt for any girl.
She makes me repent everything that I have ever done to her. She makes me want to slap myself for being such an asshole to her. I never thought I'd regret doing something with a girl because I always think twice before I react.
But in Chloe's case, I did a mistake. I didn't allow her to explain herself or even care to ask her to clear things up. I never made an attempt. And what else could I expect in return? I still remember the day she brought me cookies. The day I left her. She was so sad, I could see it in her eyes. But she never asked me to stay. She didn't want me to stay behind for her.
And when I came back, I lied that I didn't remember her. I still remember that painful look on her face. I guess she was so happy to finally have me back. But I broke it.
How would she ever approach me for any help if I hadn't even spared a look at her? I ignored her for so many years and.. how could she trust someone like me?
I was her only friend in childhood and I broke her trust? How could she ever learn to trust anyone else?
These horrible things kept me up all night. I thought of a million ways how I could help her. But it's gone. There is no point in crying over something that cannot be undone.
I need to think of what lies ahead. How else I could help her.
I am going to work harder this time. And I'm going to make it up to all the years I have wasted.
“Here’s to new beginnings.”ChloeI didn’t know if I was supposed to stay mad at mom or not. I never thought that she would tell everything to Brett and explain to him about my daily battles. I had convinced myself that my life is no less than a battlefield and I need to fight it myself. It’s not just for now, but I believe that you shouldn’t be hoping for someone else’s support all the time. You need to be well equipped, physically and mentally. We need to realise that nothing is constant in this transforming life. And we’re the only ones that can go through what life offers to us.And I’m not completely satisfied with the idea to blame my mother. If anything, she’s been an amazing mother. I couldn’t be happier to receive such an amazing human being like my mother. She has no one to share her grievances with. My dad is dead and she hasn’t been looking for any other man to marry. I asked her to focus on her marriage but she always swayed the advice by saying that she can never give me
“All you need is someone who joins in on your weirdness.”~I saw Brett as he set my study up. He laid out a few books in front of me and asked me to pick the ones I liked to study now. And then, being the nerd I am, I picked history. He sighed as a sign of discomfort flashed across his face as he wasn’t as good in history as I was. I smiled at his reaction and sat erect.“Okay, so... read this paragraph. Aloud.” He said, giving me the open book, with his index finger pointing a paragraph.“Why?” I frowned.“Just do it.” He insisted and nudged me by my arm with his. I shrugged and started reading.And obviously, it wasn’t great. I was struggling for words in between and had halted for a lot of time to read certain lines. But he patiently listened to me and watched me. When I was done, he spoke.“You did well.” He smiled. “I guess you’re just confused with certain words. Apart from that, it’s perfect.”I smiled sadly and stared down. I knew it was a bad decision. No matter how hard I t
Brett(on)’s POV.Seriously, this girl gotta be crazy from what it looks like. She risked not just going out at this time of the hour but also taking Anna with her. I don’t know why she would even think of taking Anna with her, seeing neither of them would act sensibly if they are in trouble.I sighed and checked my wallet again if some money appears miraculously but no. That is not going to happen. Bless my mind for emptying the rest of the money in my drawer into that dratted wallet. And now I don’t have a single penny with me.I cursed and clutched my hair between my fingers. I took my phone out and called her. But it kept drifting away to voice mail. I threw the phone into one of my pockets and got out of the house.I got into my car and hit the gas. Since Anna was upset about the pizza, I’m sure Chloe has taken her to one of the places that have great pizza. And the only place near to our house is Domino’s.I smiled at the thought. Girls can’t outshine guys. At least, they can’t o
“What is it with the band-aid?” Sapphire asked once we settled down with our trays on the table.Sapphire had invited me to sit with her folks, Nina, Brett and Sean. Nina was the girl who was rumoured to have dated Brett. I was pretty jealous when I heard of it but was relieved when I got to know that they were merely rumours. Which held no truth.“Ah, long story,” Brett said.“Ah, long day.” She played along, to which she earned a roll of eyes from him.“I went to a party, last night,” Brett said.“Like every other night,” Sean said, sipping his drink.Brett ignored him and continued. “So I met this girl-”“-Who kicked me in the groin,” Sean said and Nina and I burst out laughing.Sapphire and Brett glared and Sean while he was completely oblivious to it. “Stop interrupting.”Sean just shrugged his shoulder.“Ignore him,” Sapphire said. “He has a mental problem that he’s dealing with.”I wonder how a person like Sean could have so much patience to deal with Sapphire. He is the kind o
I never spoke anything while he carried me to his car. He opened the door of his car and put me on the passengers seat. After securing me with the seat belt, he closed the door and walked around the car and got inside.All the while he drove, I dared not speak. I hadn’t uttered a word and he never asked anything more. He increased his speed and slammed on the brakes occasionally when he saw a bump or speed breaker. I was apprehensive of his next move and let my hands move to his and clasp it tightly. He noticed my gesture and slowed the speed.I never took my hand off of him and he never tried to get rid of it. He let me hold onto him.Brett brought me to his house and put me on his bed. I clung onto him and clutched his shirt tightly. He tried to remove my hands from the grasp but I only tightened it furthermore.He sighed and wiped the tears off of my face. He pulled away and removed his shoes. He slipped his feet under the covers and joined me inside the bed. I finally let go of hi
I set the living room up with everything we needed. We just did our history and Brett is starting to be a great helper. He helped me read the text and also was patient enough in correcting me. He tried to deal with me in the most unoffending way as possible and tolerated my blunders as I went on.After that night, Brett and I never found ourselves in that kind of conversation again. We simply let the past be in the past.As promised, we were going to have a movie night so Brett and Anna were invited. But Linda politely declined the offer as Anna was going to have a sleepover at one of her friends houses. Anna was beginning to acquire new friends and Linda is super excited about it since Anna always took a lot of time to open up. The only people she’s free to talk to is her mom, Brett and me.I didn’t push it any further and said we could always have another movie night together with Anna. Brett had to run errands for his mother so he left a while ago and promised to be back in an hour
The music played as the credit scrolled down the page. By the end of the movie, I slept on Brett’s shoulder with my drool all over his shirt. I woke though he didn’t mean to wake me up. And when I realised how I drooled on his shirt, I couldn’t have been more embarrassed about it.“I didn’t know I was capable of drooling so much,” I said, grimacing at myself.He chuckled. “It’s fine. Anna does that too.”“Anna is like a decade younger than me and it’s fine,” I said. “This couldn’t be more embarrassing.”He smirked. “I have your little secret, don’t I?”I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re not going to tell this to anyone.”“Like I’m going to obey you.”“You’re not making me feel better!”“Okay, how about this..” he chuckled. “I have a picture of you drooling. Does that make you feel better?”“You took a picture!” I yelled.“Yes.” He smiled hanging his phone low. “Which will eventually end up on my Instagram.”“Which will also ruin my life for the better.”“Hey,” he grinned. “It won’t ru
“I seriously think it is just a clear high school fling.” A voice broke into my ears.“Or it can be a healthy relationship blossoming.” Another voice reached my ears.“But I have a strong feeling it’s a one night stand.” The first voice said.“But they’re still wearing clothes, though their hair I messed up and are hugging each other close.” The second voice replied.“Right. And I couldn’t hear any moans from this room disturbing my sleep.”“It might have been a cuddly night for them. Keeping themselves warm maybe?”“But I’d be more glad if it was more.” The first voice said. “They’ve been single all the time?”“What the heck are you even talking about?” A third voice boomed from beside me and I snapped my eyes open.I gazed at my mother and Linda hovering over us as if they were performing complex heart surgery. I looked at Brett and his hand wrapped around my waist and suddenly jumped away.“Aww..” Linda squealed. “She’s feeling shy. They definitely did something last night.”“What?