the only exception - kenny wu

11. mama's boy

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arabella stopped breathing for a second, and she felt betrayed. she and charlie have always been close, and he never told anyone about her situation. he knew it was a touchy subject, and he never brought it up. the only time they'd talk about it was when arabella wanted to.

arabella felt tears pricking at her eyes, and she turned around to leave his room. she would've gone to kenny, but she didn't want him to see her crying, and she didn't want to see him after he knew what she had went through.

instead, she made her way to dean and fulton's dorm, hoping they were there. but after a minute of knocking, she remembered him telling her that they were going to go out for ice cream, so they wouldn't be in their dorm. this meant she had to deal with it herself, so she went back to her dorm to hide in the bathroom. 

when she walked into her dorm room crying, julie and connie immediately went up to her, wondering what was wrong. she didn't tell them what was going on, and instead, went to the bathroom and locked the door, trying to calm herself down and try to breathe.

it took her five minutes to catch her breath, and she heard julie and connie whispering on what could've happened. arabella checked her phone to try to find fulton's contact to text him and ask him when he was going to be back, but saw a ton of notifications from charlie. she cleared them and found fulton's contact, asking him if he was going to be back soon, but fulton didn't answer.

she felt her hands shake, and she tried to splash water on her face to calm herself down. she sat down on the counter, not wanting to look at herself in the mirror. she heard a small knock on the door, and connie called her name out. "bella? are you okay?"

arabella tried to speak but she couldn't. her throat felt like it was closing, so she just let out a small, "mhm!"

she tried to sound positive, but connie knew she wasn't okay. "do you need water?"

"please." arabella felt herself wanting to cry again, but knew that connie would open the door, and she felt like she couldn't cry in front of her. 

connie walked away and went to get water, and knocked when she had some. arabella opened the door and grabbed the water bottle, hiding behind the door. 

she drank almost half of it, and felt herself feeling a little better. she checked her phone and saw that fulton hadn't answered her, which made her let out a shaky sigh.

about thirty minutes of hiding in the bathroom, she decided she should get some sleep. she left the bathroom and went to her bed, not saying anything to connie or julie. arabella laid in bed to try and fall asleep, and successfully fell asleep after ten minutes of tossing and turning. 

she didn't know how long she was asleep for, but there was a knock at her door, and it wasn't morning yet. julie and connie were sleeping, so arabella went to go see who was at her door. when she opened it, fulton was standing there, and he looked like he had been in a rush. 

"what're you doing? it's late." arabella rubbed her eyes and yawned, not knowing what time it was.

"are you okay?" he looked at her, making sure she wasn't hurt. 

she paused, not knowing what to say. she wasn't hurt physically, but charlie's actions hurt her heart. "charlie told kenny."

fulton didn't know what charlie specifically told kenny, but when he saw her eyes tearing up, he knew what it was about. he pulled her into a hug, and arabella broke down crying for the second time that night.