Crawley hadn’t come back, but neither of us wanted to leave. Casey migrated to the couch, she sprawled out with her legs on the seat and her neck propped up against the arm rest. I had turned my chair around to face her.
We’d spent the past hour just talking about ourselves. Bits and pieces.
It felt like I’d known her my whole life, because I just felt so comfortable. And I think she felt the same way. I’d never had such a friendship before, and I really did regret my attitude towards her earlier. ‘Newton’, as I referred to her sometimes, now seemed like an endearing term. It was nice.
“I read about this guy in Vermont - I think it was Vermont. And he runs a hundred miles at a time. Like, he will literally walk out of his house and go on a hundred mile run.”
“Dude… get a job,” I laughed, shuffling into my seat.
“Actually, when I read it I thought it was...great, like that kind of freedom?”
I thought about it. True. It did seem pretty magical to just be able to do that, to be so unleashed.
“But now- I don’t know.” She sighed, picking her fingers, and I was confused as to why.
“What do you mean?” I asked, frowning.
“I mean- I think it was dumb to think I could ever leave here. Sam and my dad, they-” She stared into the air, thinking of how to say it. “They need me. I used to want to get as far away from this place as possible, but now…”
She paused and looked back at me. “I’m not sure that I ever will.”
For a moment, I couldn’t think of what to say. It wasn’t like I could help her feel better, I didn’t know what she wanted. No, I could help. I flung myself up from my chair smiling.
“Screw that. I’ll be right back.” I ran out the door, lightly closing it and dashed down the corridors to get to Quinn’s locker. Vodka made everyone feel better. I would’ve never done something as risky and so against the rules at Clayton, but I wanted to help her to feel better.
I secured the vodka and ran back to Crawley’s office with it stuffed in the pocket of my track hoodie. I entered, hiding the bottle behind me as she put away her phone and turned to smile at me.
“I’m tired of trying to be perfect all the time. For once, we should stop caring about everyone else.” I pulled out the bottle and looked lovingly at it, then back to her, bursting into a manic giggle. “I raided Quinn’s locker.”
After a few cups, I was leaking my whole life story. I told her about my mum and her negligence, my siblings, what Clayton meant to me and everything in between. She sat and listened, her eyes widening when something surprised her. It was adorable.
And I listened too. I learnt about her mom’s affair, her dad’s obsession with her track career, her brother and what life was like with him, her boyfriend and more. I was getting more and more drowsier, but did it matter when I felt so free?
“She hasn’t always been terrible.
