Katie drummed her fingers on the counter, waiting for the microwave to finish. Jace joined her in the kitchen just as the microwave beeped.
"Morning!" Jace greeted as he did every morning. There was rarely a reply, especially since the plate crashing incident. But today Katie was in a slightly better mood.
"Hey." she returned, not glancing up but still acknowledging his greeting. Jace's face lit up with a smile, happy that she was feeling more friendly today. For the past 3 days since the plate crashing thing, Katie'd been especially distant and hadn't returned a greeting even once. Until now.
"How are you today?" Jace attempted to spark a conversation.
Katie gave in, "Fine. You?"
Jace's smile grew even bigger as she sat down with waffles for both of them.
"I'm good!" Jace nodded, grabbing a waffle off the plate. Nodding, Katie got up, leaving the house without reason or explanation.
Jace spread his hands in confusion, "What?" He muttered following her out of the back door.
"Katie! Where are you going?" Jace called, jogging to catch up as she walked briskly toward the forest. She pointed but didn't respond, continuing toward the forest for no apparent reason. Or so it seemed to Jace.
She was searching for a way to move on, to make friends again. But to do that she'd have to move on from the past. Or bury it. He can't know about them, it'd ruin everything, Katie thought with determination as she picked up her pace toward the forest.
While she'd been distant the last few days, unbeknownst to Jace, she'd received a letter from none other than her old "friend" Romona.
The letter from her "friend" was a random out-of-the-blue plea for help. Even with all the amazing things that'd happened to Romona and not Katie, she was the one asking for help. In the letter had been an address, a small house in the woods where she supposedly was hiding out, having gotten into trouble and been kicked out of the house that had adopted her and James. Or so she said at least.
Katie didn't quite believe her but she needed closure and needed to be fully rid of them to help her move on.
"Katie?" Jace caught up to her, looking at her in confusion.
She stopped in her tracks, facing him with a dead serious tone, "Jace, stay here and do not, for any reason, follow me. It's personal and you can't interfere. I'll be back in about 30 minutes. Just wait here or at the lake house." Katie stalked off not waiting for an answer, for it hadn't been a suggestion but rather a command.
Trudging through the forest and clutching the letter, Katie followed the directions. Winding her way through the thick trees she eventually found the cabin Romona had described. After all these years, why now? Why just when I have a second chance at friendship? Katie thought warily as she knocked on the cabin door.
The door swung open, a girl with flowing, tangled black hair standing in the door way. Romona.
"Katie..." Romona gaped at her, amazed she'd actually come after all the years. Katie stared back at her, their eyes locking in a sort of interrogating challenge. With persistence and experience at silent challenges, Katie won. Romona sighed, relenting defeat as her silvery eyes glanced away.
"What do you want anyway?" Katie snapped, hands on her hips, staring skeptically at the girl she'd once considered a friend.
"I-" Romona looked slightly shocked, as if she had expected a warm old friend greeting, "they kicked me out."
YOU ARE READING
Runaways and dreamers
AventuraJace Atkins had always lived in the rich part of town. He had everything. Though even with opportunity, wealth, a loving family and everything else anyone could want, he wasn't happy. He dreamed of living life on the edge, running from danger at eve...
