Harper Brown✔ [ Sequel to Being McKenzie Prince]

Chapter Fourteen

I was more nervous than I thought I would be as I waited in the Red Flag with Edith. The last time I was here things did not exactly go the way that we planned. My sister confronted me and I snapped at Brian. I tried to e-mail Brian and I apologized for the fact that I was a total jerk. He has not replied yet. I do not blame him. I still cannot believe that I treated him like that.

I suggested to Edith that it would be better if I met Skylar and McKenzie in a public place. I have this bad feeling that they are not going to take me seriously. That they might think that I am not being genuine, but I am. I am truly sorry for everything that I put them through. Not just them. There are so many other victims that I have to make amends with.

I decided that when I go back to school next year that I would change. I have to redo my Matric year as I spent most of it in a coma and I was not able to catch up once I finally woke up. It is not that I did not try, but my brain was unable to store information the same way that it used to. Everything I attempted to study this year seems to have been filed somewhere that I cannot access. Rhyder convinced me that it would be better if I just gave myself time to heal. Hopefully next year it will be better.

I promised myself that I would be a different Harper. I wanted to be the person that stood up against bullies, instead of being one myself. I was the worst of the worst, but things are different now.

All because of Edith Cyres. I am not the same person. I was free of all the pressure and fear that I was forced to endure from my parents. I could have a fresh start.

"I have to be honest and say that you look like that one chicken in that movie Chicken Run, when that dude showed up and she thought that he wanted to catch one of them and kill them and eat them, then she said, 'I don't want to be a pie...'" I could not help myself and I started to laugh at her strange metaphor. Who else could use animation movies as a reference? She was so random and she always said the funniest things.

"We both know that McKenzie can be scary if she wants to be. You should have seen her this morning when Skylar said that he was leaving to meet up with Natasha. It was not pretty. It would honestly take a miracle for the two of them to both show up today at the same time. They are not really on speaking terms at the moment." Edith looked sad. I hated to see her sad.

"It is Natasha. She is busy getting in between them and with everything that happened a few months ago it is like there is this really big wall up between them. I just wish that they would talk to each other, you know. They are temporarily living with us, I cannot remember if I told you that. Did I? They have to talk to someone, but both of them are way too stubborn."

In the last week since Edith told me about what happened I began to read between the lines and I concluded that the friends she spoke of were in fact Skylar and McKenzie. For some reason or other I suddenly remember hearing McKenzie's voice as she spoke about her brother and a guy named Goliath. I could vaguely remember her telling me about how her brother was in the Hospital. I remember that she apologized for what she said to me that day at the pier. She must have said those things while I was in coma.

I realized this past week that what I did to them at school must have only amplified the horror of what was happening at their house. We have more in common than I thought. Edith was right.

I so badly wanted to make Edith feel better, but she was usually the one who was really good at pep talks, not me.

"They will probably sort it out themselves."

"Have you sorted things out with Christina since you moved in with Rhyder?"

"Hell no. We hardly spoke before. Things are different for them though, they actually like each other." I laughed dryly.