Don't Stop Believin' (COMPLETED)

17. Raise Your Glass

RAISE YOUR GLASS - P!NK

Author's Note

Sorry for the extremely long wait; I've lost inspiration and it's still not completely back, so don't expect frekvent updates. But here's chapter 17 for you :) I hope you enjoy it and then it'll just be three chapters left!

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I don’t really know what I had done wrong. What had I done to Derek to make him avoid me? When I smiled and sat down next to him on Monday afternoon he put the headphones in his ears, gave me my part of the task and shut himself in his own little bubble. He didn’t even spoke to me, didn’t even look at me. He ignored me.

It destroyed me inside.

Everything had went so well. Everything had been exactly as I wanted. Me and Derek laughed, had been able to talk normal, had been friends. I had gotten back what I once had lost and I couldn’t be happier. What I once thought was lost forever, the person I thought lost his life that night, was in some strange way in my life again. So why did I have a feeling that it was running out of my hands again?

The flashback I had gotten when Derek had played guitar had made me cry. Again, I was overwhelmed by all the memories, much clearer than ever before. I remembered his eyes, which, despite the alcohol were completely clear, his scent, his words, his voice when he sang with me. I remembered how perfect everything had been and how everything had been taken away from me. Now it felt like it was about to drift off again...

What had I done wrong?

Things didn’t get better on Tuesday. Again, I was completely ignored and not even Jonas seemed to understand Derek's sudden change of mood. Jonas talked less and never smiled his confident smile. He even stopped checking out the girls, which made me realize that something was wrong. Perhaps it was at that time I realized how close friends Derek and Jonas were; Jonas felt bad to see his best friend behave like this.

But it was only when Zoe sat down next to me at lunch on Friday, I realized that our little "breakup" was noticeable outward. Derek had hardly said a word to me during the week and I seemed to be more and more desperate in my attempts to get him back. I just had a week before he would disappear from my life again, if I didn’t do anything about it. One week, seven days, 168 hours and 10,080 minutes...

Zoe had flattened her hair again and she chewed on a big pink bubble gum again. It smelled fresh raspberries around her instead of cigarette smoke, so presumably she had gotten over her negative period. When she put down her tray next to my and sank down on the bench next to me, she sighed and blew a big bubble with the chewing gum.

"There's a party tonight ..." she began, and I stopped myself with the fork in the air. "And I have no one to go with ..." Zoe continued and drank a sip of juice.

"So we're kind of friends again?" I asked, looking at her as she sat and looked out over the school canteen. The May sun, which shone in through the big windows, reflected in her dull black hair.

"What do you mean?"

"No, but I just thought that the fact that you have been ignoring me the last few weeks might bother you a little ...?"

"No, it's okay ... I’m over it."

Over it? Seriously...?

"Or is it because I and Derek haven’t talked in a week?" I asked and was surprised by my own sincerity. I wasn’t really supposed to say it out loud - it had just been a thought that passed through my head.

"It might have a bit to do with it ..." Zoe replied and shrugged. "So do you want to go to the party with?"

"Sure," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. "Why not?"