Now here they were. (Author's note: Where is here? See prologue.)
"It's not your fault," Nick said. "Quit blaming yourself. Look, I made it, I'm fine, and so's Bri."
"Nick, he almost killed you! Don't you understand? If I had just listened to you, or B-Rok, or Kev, or somebody earlier, none of this would've happened." Ananda gripped Nick's hand and brushed the tears out of her eyes as she spoke.
Nick squeezed her hand. "It is not your fault," he said slowly. "Sometimes things screw up and there's nothing we can do about it. I already told you, Brian's fine, and I'm gonna pull through, and everything'll be back the way it was, okay?"
Ananda sniffled, but nodded her head okay.
*****
October 23, 1999
Nick's going to be alright, thank God. I talked to him a little bit earlier. He refuses to admit that all this is my fault... I think he's lying. But I'm so happy he's gonna pull through. I saw B-Rok earlier, too. He's a lot better off than Nick. The doctors say they probably won't have to keep him for too long, which is perfectly fine with me. The sooner things get back to normal, the better.
I got a phone call from Stacy today. She told me she was "so sorry." Apparently Domingo had announced his stupid plans to Stace and the others last night (It was only last night? It seems like years ago). They hadn't thought he would go through with it, but they called the cops just in case. That solves the mystery of their record arrival. I'll be eternally grateful to Stace for calling - that was probably the only thing that saved Nick's life - but I don't think we can be friends anymore, not after all the stuff that's gone down.
Back on the subject of Nick and Bri - they don't blame me about Domingo - but what about everyone else? What are Mom and Dad and Harold gonna think? They'll be arriving any minute now, along with the Carters. And what will they say - Jane and Robert and BJ, Leslie, Aaron and Angel (Little Aaron, God bless him, he's so outspoken about everything he's sure to fling some dirty little comment at me). Then there's always the rest of the family. Thank God for Kev and AJ and D and Leighanne - right now my life is hell and they are the only way I am keeping my sanity.
And Kev, God bless him too, already started house-shopping. He said we're moving, that house has too many bad memories, he already talked to B-Rok and B-Rok totally agreed. I honestly don't think I could live with myself in that house anymore. I also asked him if I could transfer schools - being in the same school as Stace and the guy that shot my brother and almost killed my boyfriend would be too much, I swear I'd go crazy. They said that wouldn't be a problem - they don' t want me in the same school as Domingo.
Well, I'm gonna shut my trap for right now. Kev's calling me, I guess that means Mom and Dad and Harold and the Carters are here... I really don't wanna face them but I guess I don't have a choice.
