Everyone Has A Story

Moving On Isn't So Easy

Cece's POV

I wake up the next morning with a throbbing headache from all the crying. Ironically, that was my excuse I told Adam yesterday so it wasn't really a lie anymore.

I drag myself out of bed, there was a war meeting in an hour, I needed to attend or else Tanashi would be disappointed.

My body drifts back to sleep, it's been so long since I've had sleep.

***

"Shit." I yell, I only have ten minutes to get ready.

I leave my hair in my natural waves, and I hurriedly chucked on a white Lorna Jane thick strapped singlet and sport shorts. If I'm going outside, I may as well go to the gym afterwards. I tie up my Nikes and run to the meeting room.

Just as I'm about to walk in, my phone rings. Irritated by the interruption I snap. "Hello?"

"Someone is in a nasty mood, I was expecting happiness when you realised your brother is still alive. Then again, he obviously hasn't told you sooner so you know fair enough." This deep male voice laughs coldly.

"Whoever arranged this prank needs to get a grip. I don't know who you are but when I found out-"

"Prank? You should be thanking me. I told you that your dead brother is very much alive. I'll send through photographic evidence even." He promises.

My phone vibrates and I drop my phone. Sure enough, it was my brother in those photos. My supposedly dead brother.

I hang up and walk a little further away to cool down, my phone starts ringing again and I tense up. "H-hello?" I stutter.

"Cece? Where are you? There's a war meeting that started five minutes ago." Tanashi sounds mad.

"My brother...he's alive. There are photos, photos of him. What is even happening? I just don't understand anything anymore." I start hyperventilating.

"Cece, just breathe. Focus, those photos could have been tampered with. If your brother is somehow alive then he will have a very good reason for not contacting you. Your brother is a good guy, and he wouldn't hurt family. You don't need to come to the meeting, but we are going to be discussing important things." Tanashi mutters.

I nod then realise he can't see me. "Yeah okay I'll head in now. See you soon." I hang up.

Looking in my phone camera I dry my eyes gently. With my head down, I walk inside.

Every head in the room turns towards me and Lola scoffs. "How nice of you to join us."

"That's enough, Lola." Tanashi glares at her.

She rolls her eyes. "I'm just saying, we all have to be here on time. Yet she can just waltz in here 10 minutes late! That's not fair that senior slut over here gets to do that-"

"What did you just call me?" I snarl and glare daggers at her.

"I forgot you weren't wearing your hearing aides, grandma," she leans forward and yells. "I called you a senior slut since you sleep with every guy you see."

My whole body tenses when she says that, none of that is true! If anything, she's the senior slut. I clench and unclench my fists multiple times.

I can't help myself as I grit my teeth. "Say something else and you'll live to regret it."

I sit beside Tanashi, he whispers. "I'm here when you want to discuss the matters." I nod and he addresses everyone else. "Here we are again, The Renegades haven't been seen for months."

Some people cheer and Tanashi glares around the room, causing a ripple of silence. "That's no celebration, the longer we wait the larger the impact they'll make."

Trust Tanashi to kill a mood with one sentence.

Adam's POV

She was the one person I didn't want to see ever again, I wish things weren't so awkward but that's just the way things are.

Cece runs into the meeting ten minutes late, following a phone conversation between her and Tanashi. Not like I heard anything anyway. Her and Tanashi exchanged words.

Tanashi was talking us through new strategies, I kept noticing him look at Cece. What are they planning?

"Training will resume and advance further. You'll go into your original groups. But the training intensity will increase dramatically. Everyone needs to advance, since The Renegades are up to something." Tanashi sighs, he always looks so tired these days.

"Who will be the trainers?" Harry speaks up.

"Serena, Mako, Oscar, Pala, Vince, Nadine and Freya." Tanashi's tone is final.

I was expecting him to say Cece's name...but he never did. What was that about?

"What about Cece?" Serena pipes up from the back of the room.

"Cece has other matters to attend to." Tanashi nods, Cece hesitates but weakly nods.

***

I approach Cece, as I see her writing in a journal at an empty picnic table. She looks up at me for a second, then returns to the journal. Fair enough, I expected that.

I sit across from her. "You're leaving again, aren't you?"

She carefully closes the book and nods. "It's not like last time, this time there is a definite reason at least. Promising evidence-"

"Promising evidence? Cece this isn't some court case, you don't know his side of the story."

"That's my point, I don't know because the last thing I knew he was dead. I don't want to leave but I need answers to all of my unanswered questions. I need my brother." Her voice trails off towards the end.

I pause. "What if he's not actually alive? What if those photos were tampered with?" My voice wavers and I look at the beautiful girl across from me. I made the mistake of looking into her mesmerising green eyes, the same green orbs that had concealed all emotion over the past couple of months.

It felt like years had passed when she finally spoke, and it's something that'll haunt my nightmares. The way her raspy voice chokes up, how her green eyes let in a speck of emotion. Enough to break my heart.

"Then I'll know he's dead and let go of this tiny ray of hope that he's alive and kill whoever is responsible for it."