Moving To Silence

Nineteen. And I Hurt You

"There's no way you got away with that" I force a laugh at the story Trev is telling me as Micah sits back down to my left with an amused smile that he didn't leave with.

"Of course, I did, they couldn't prove I stile the essay and so we all got off without a scratch"

"Positive, you didn't throw the kid under the bus" Aiden chuckles, second to me, he doesn't like them either and with the fuckery going on with his family, I miss my golden retriever that would pretend every story was funny.

"Oh, if we were all freshman we definitely would. We have calmed down significantly since then" Jeremy laughs, but the warning nudge Travis hits him with has the sound dying off. I have no qualms in saying that's bloody suspicious.

"You can say that again" Amalie chimes in, her eyes a cold warning as she steps into our circle, arms crossed over her chest.

"And the party pooper arrives" Micah drawls, they all go to the same school and know each other, though I don't know how, but there is a ring of hatred around them curtesy of Amalie.

Trev has a grin on his face that I fast learned meant he was about to talk a whole load of shit, "You were a wild freshman too; I can't remember a single weekend that you weren't drunk" His attempt at embarrassing her falls flat.

"I can. I remember more than a few" She answers, quirking her eyebrow at him as a tense silence falls over us.

"And yet you came down when we asked" He muses, kicking up a leg on the coffee table. "Even when you claim to no longer be our friend"

"We aren't friends" She insists, her gaze travels to my friends and I. "Anyway, I just came to let you know Nel, Sutton and I were leaving, maybe help Sutton with some school things"

"Okay, that sounds great" I nod, swallowing down the guilt that's been building since I started unintentionally ignoring Nellie, I just needed some time to roll things over and try and understand what could have been so fucking bad that she can't stomach telling me.

I want to believe her when she says she has a plan to tell me soon, but the look on her face when Nel says it, it doesn't reek with confidence. It is starting to make me think she is on the run from the law, on the hook for something crazy like murder.

"Just wait-" Trev starts but is cut off by a flushed Sutton running over to us.

"Fuck, Amalie, you have to come, like right now!" Sutton interrupts, grabbing her hand and tugging her away and that's when I notice that Nellie is nowhere to be seen.

I know her, she would never willingly stay somewhere alone, a jolt of cold panic takes grip of my heart as I lift myself from my seat and follow quickly behind them. I see Sutton first, she's standing in the entrance of the unisex bathroom with a stray tear rolling down her cheek and then I hear it.

The strangled, gut-wrenching sob of the girl that consumes my every thought.

"Hey, hey, I am right here Nel" I hear Amalie try and comfort, but her voice is shaky and cracks as she speaks, I slide past Sutton and into the small room. The sight that I am greeted with knocks all air from my lungs, Nel is in the corner, her legs pressed to her chest, her hands clutched tight over her ears, eyes screwed shut and loud sobs leaving her wet lips.

"Amalie" I gasp, kneeling down next to her as she desperately tried to pry Nellie's hands from over her ears. "What happened?"

"I think she's having a panic attack; I don't- don't know what happened, she was fine when she left for the bathroom, I don't know what to do and Kath is in surgery" She chokes, tears falling so rapidly that I worry she will work herself into a panic as well.