Blandview High Musical

23. Blaze Of Glory

"Jesus, what a mess." Jade said, standing in the doorway of the diner. I had swept up all the glass and managed to dump it into the empty trashcan. Most of the furniture was not salvageable, so it all ended up in the dumpster as well. God knows what kind of loss the diner will take as a result of this. "Any particular reason why you're here?" I asked. It was going to be hard enough to do this and part of me just wished Jade would disappear and our friendship would be voided. My mother was in the back talking to Frankie.

            "What's wrong with you?" She asked, stepping inside. Her attire was a bit brighter today. A pink jumper with checkered pink and blue suspenders. She had matching barrettes in her hair and white high top Filas on. I turned on my heel to face her, leaning against the broom handle. "Shouldn't you be at the hospital with your dad? I mean, he's the cause of all of this." I said, motioning to the ruined interior. She scoffed. "Okay, I can assure you that just because my father visited this diner, does not mean he paid some ghoulies to trash it, okay?" "Oh yeah, that's just like you. Go ahead and make an excuse. You just used me!" I shouted.

            Her brow shot up as her lips rolled together. "Used you?" She said, quizzically. Narrowing her eyes and raising her chin, she gave me a once over. "I'm not really sure how you mean." "You just used me to make yourself look good!" I shouted. "Uh, no. I'm really confused as to where all this is coming from." She said. "You know what, my mom is right. I should stay away from you. All you wanna do is manipulate me." She pursed her lips. "Okay, so this was your mother's idea." She said, grabbing the stool and sitting down. "So the diner gets destroyed and your mother thinks it's my father who's done it. That explains why the police came to my house." She said.

            I could feel my cheeks heating up and I didn't think it was from anger, but from embarrassment. "Gill, do you realize what kinds of friends we are?" She asked. I swallowed thickly. "I don't do things to people like what you're talking about. Either we're friends or we're not. Plain, simple, not hard to grasp. "I can stay away from you if you really think that's the best thing that needs to happen." She lifted herself from the stool. "But I can tell you one thing: your mother is wrong and I think you know that." She turned towards the door and walked towards it. Part of me wanted to scream and the other half just wanted to let her go...this time, I let the latter win.

            As she was leaving, Billy pulled up to the diner and got off his bike. He hardly acknowledged her. Instead, he made a beeline inside the diner to where I was. "Everything alright?" He asked. I shrugged my shoulders. "Not really, but I'm sure I'll live." I said. "What can I help with?" He asked. I gave him meaningless things to do. I wasn't committed to Billy hanging around here. Jade's right, Billy's nice, but he's not boyfriend material for either of us.

            Instead of spending her day at the diner and helping Gill clean, Jade just went to the hospital. Her father would be in ICU for a while until they were sure his brain could handle the trauma. She walked into the hospital room to find Damien sitting in a chair beside her dad's bed. "What are you even doing here?" She asked. "After yesterday, I figured I could find you here. But when I got here and realized you weren't here, I figured I'd wait." He said. "Damien, I don't need your pity." She said, moving away from him and around to the other side. "This isn't me giving pity, you know...when my dad was in the hospital, I felt really alone in it all. You remember that." "I also remember us being in a relationship then." "This is different than that, sure. But I still know what it's like." Jade went silent for a second, looking down and fiddling with the rings on her fingers.

            "You hear from your mom yet?" Damien asked. She just shook her head. "No, and I probably won't. I've also been dumped by my best friend today, so I'm sure everything is just doomed to happen today." "What do you mean?" Damien asked. "I just went to the diner to help Gill and she laid into me. I think her mom has convinced her that my dad had something to do with the restaurant being trashed." She looked up at Damien who gave a disapproving glance. "Don't even." She said.