Unfaithful

Chapter 28: Ozzy

I'm sitting in Neutral Grounds with Kingston. There's only a week until we're shooting the regionals qualifier video and we should be practising but Kingston's insisting this is important. I'm doubtful but then LaTroy walks in and sits with us. "Hey" he nods his head in acknowledgement, and me and Kingston return the gesture. Ok, so maybe not important but probably interesting. Actually no, make that definitely interesting. Noah sits down with us too and says hi. I ignore him, I'm not being his friend after everything he's done. Henry arrives a couple of minutes later, greeting me, Kingston and surprisingly LaTroy too smilingly. He too ignores Noah.

"So guys" Kingston begins nervously. Good. I can see where this is going and he has to know it's a stupid idea. "I think that we should all try to be bros." There's silence after this announcement. Even Noah looks shocked, which he should because there's no way I'm being friends with him. "LaTroy, fine. Noah, absolutely not" Henry says firmly. "Yeah, I agree" I chime in. If Henry has forgiven LaTroy for hurting Amy, then I will too. Besides, LaTroy seems like a fairly decent guy, HAS APOLOGISED, and he seems to be on fairly good terms with Amy. Noah, on the other hand, has been an asshole, and has yet to apologise for it.

"Thanks guys" LaTroy says. "I really am sorry for last year, you know. I messed up big time, and really hurt Amy, but I've tried to make it up to her." "Yeah, I know" Henry says. "You made a mistake but unlike some people, you apologised for it. Also, we used to be good friends, so I guess it would be nice to have that again." "Thanks dude" LaTroy says, doing a handshake with Henry I assume the two had last year.

Then we all turn to look at Noah. "Look, I'm sorry I hurt Richelle but I'm not sorry about what I did" he says defensively, hands in the air. We all look at him in disbelief. "Did you even tell her you're sorry at all?" LaTroy asks Noah at the same time as I ask Kingston "Do you seriously want us to be bros with this guy?" "I just think we should all put the past behind us and start fresh. Obviously Noah needs to apologise and fix things with Richelle, but I think we should forgive him for making a mistake" Kingston looks at us hopefully and nervously as he finishes his spiel. "Yeah, ok. I'll give him a second chance" LaTroy agrees reluctantly, probably only because we just gave him one. "Oh, fine" Henry eventually snaps. He turns to Noah. "But only because you used to be my best mate; you still have so much to do to make up for what you did." "Thanks Henry" Noah says gratefully, then turns to look at me. I sigh and agree against my better judgement. I turn, glaring, towards Noah. "Fine. But if you pull something like that again, you'll pay for it." "Fine" Noah says coldly. God, what's his problem. I'm not the guy who cheated on his girlfriend for months.

"Great" Kingston smiles, clearly relieved his plan worked. "Coffee?" Murmurs of agreement follow and he bounds up to go order for us all. The rest of us sit their in awkward silence and I realise that just because we all agreed to be bros doesn't mean we are. Too much has happened to just forgive and forget. But I guess we can ignore the tension until after he qualifier video.