Rin

The next few days Gumi acted normal with Yuma and I, but she wouldn't talk to Len. She avoided him all the time and wouldn't sit with him in class or at lunch. He tried to talk to her a few times, but she'd ignore him and a couple times she started crying as she ran away. I've tried to ask her why she's treating him this way, but she refuses to tell me.

I saw her by her locker after school and went to talk to her.

"Hey, Gumi! What's up?" I said.

"Nothing really," she smiled, but it seemed forced.

"I was wondering...do you wanna hang out?"

"Sure. Today or tomorrow?"

"Oh, tomorrow. I can't today."

"Alright, I have to go then. My mom is waiting."

She turned to leave, looking upset, but then she faked a smile and left. She walked quicker than seemed necessary. I didn't have much time to think about it before Yuma appeared and hugged me.

"How's Gumi?" He asked.

"She's acting like everything's fine, but it doesn't look like it. I'm really worried. She said I can come over tomorrow, so I'm going to try and get it out of her."

"I hope it works out."

"Yes, definitely. Right now I need to find Len. He wasn't by his locker."

"I'll help you."

Yuma released me from his hug, but held my hand as he lead me around the halls. It was about fifteen minutes before we found Len in the library. He was on his phone looking at a Wikipedia article titled: Reasons Girls Get Mad/Dump you. I took his phone away. Yuma felt bad for him, but I could tell he thought the article was funny.

"Why are you reading this, Len?" I asked. He shrugged.

"Why do you think? I'm sure I did something wrong. If I can just fix it everything will be okay...."

"You're wrong. You didn't do anything wrong. She's wrong, and I'm going to find out what's going on. She said I can go to her house after school tomorrow. I'll get it out of her. And, you know, even if it doesn't work out... I know you're upset and so am I, but you have to remember you're fourteen, Len. You'll be able to move on and you'll find someone else."

"But I don't want someone else, Rin. I want her."

"I know. I'll talk to her, Len. We'll at least figure out what's going on."

"Yeah... thanks."

Len obviously didn't feel any better. We said goodbye to Yuma and went home. All night I tried to cheer Len up, but nothing worked. He just stayed in bed reading articles that were making him more and more depressed. Our parents were getting really worried.

The next day after school, after hugging Len goodbye and Yuma hugging me goodbye, I went home with Gumi. We had a snack and did our homework right away. We talked as if nothing was wrong. I could tell Gumi was tense, like she knew I'd say something about Len and was waiting for it, but she tried to hide it. About twenty minutes after we'd finished working I decided to ask her.

"Gumi, please tell me what's wrong. Len's very upset. I can tell you're upset. I'm your friend; I want to help."

"I don't want to talk about it."

She replied immediately. There were tears in her eyes already. It was clear that, as it got later, she started hoping I wouldn't bring this up.

"Tell me, Gumi. Why won't you? I can see you're hurting. What's wrong?"

"Rin, please, I don't want to talk about it. I really don't."

"I want to help. If you won't let me help you at least let me help Len. He's been really depressed. He thinks he did some horrible thing to hurt you, and I can't imagine he did. He deserves to know what's going on, if nothing else."

"Fine," she took a slow breath, a tear rolling down her cheek, and her voice shook, "fine. Just-Just don't say it's stupid, okay? It'll probably sound stupid."

"I won't; I'm just listening."

She was quiet for a minute, like she was still unsure if she really wanted to tell me. Then she finally decided that she should and spoke.

"My parents...My parents are getting divorced. They're fighting all the time. They're just acting nice right now because you're here. They were always happy before; I don't know what happened. It's so sudden and it's been making me so emotional and they were always my perfect picture of true love, so I go scared. It made me think love isn't real. I got really scared, and I don't want to be happy with Len and get hurt later on...."

"I'm so sorry that's happening, Gumi. Why didn't you tell us? We could help you through it, as your friends..."

"I know I should've. I've been really emotional and acting stupid. I'm sorry!"

"You don't have to apologize. So...you broke up with Len because you were scared you'd hurt each other eventually?"

"Yes."

"But, aren't you hurting yourself and him now? I mean, I understand your feelings, but it doesn't really make sense. You're choosing to hurt yourself now and ruining your chance of being happy later because you'll stay scared, right? But if you stay with Len, while there's a small chance you'll get hurt, there's also a large chance you won't. You're choosing to hurt yourself now when if you stay with him you might not get hurt at all."

"But...I...you're right. I'm so stupid. I'm so stupid," Gumi said, her voice still shaking, she started to cry, and she covered her face with her hands.

I hugged her, trying to comfort her. I'm not really good at comforting though. I felt awkward, like I wasn't really doing anything. Still, after a few minutes she started to calm down. Her breathing was still shaky, but otherwise she seemed okay.

"Do you think...do you think Len is mad? He'll be mad when I tell him? Will he really still like me?"

"Of course he'll still like you! What are you thinking? He'll just be relieved it's not his fault, and he'll want to comfort you. You have to talk to him."

"Okay. I will." She nodded, sniffling. There was a look of determination, but also fear in her eyes.

Later, when her mom drove me home she came with. She came inside with me to talk to Len. We walked to Len's room and I went inside. He was lying on his bed with his face in a pillow.

"Len, I'm back," I said.

"Welcome. How'd it go?" He asked, uncaring, his voice muffled by the pillow."

"Get up and come see."

"What?"

He was confused. Slowly, he moved the pillow away from his face and sat up. When he saw Gumi his eyes lit up and he ran over to her. It looked like he'd hug her, but he didn't, probably because he was worried she'd get upset. She saw this and hugged him tightly. She had started crying again, and she told him everything she'd told me. He held her tightly the whole time, and he told her he's not upset. He said he just wishes she'd have told him sooner. It wasn't long before Gumi's mom was calling her to leave. Gumi, now happy, kissed Len quickly before saying goodbye to both of us with a smile. After she was gone Len hugged me. He had a big smile on his face.

"You're the best sister ever. Thank you."

"I'm glad to be appreciated," I laughed.

When I was back in my room I only had a few minutes of quiet before my phone buzzed from a text.

Yuma: You should be home by now, right? How'd everything go?

Me: Good! They're back together and both very happy.

Yuma: Awesome! Now you and I just need to get together.

Me: Stop teasing...

Yuma: Sorry XD