Before I Forget

Naughty AF

Returning to school was just as hard as Sky had anticipated - in some ways even harder.

She had missed so much of this semester - first because of the injuries she had suffered in the school fight, then because of all the drama and heart-ache Hawk had caused her, then because she had been taking care of Cody after Hawk had beaten him up - and now, almost a full month because of the rehab.

She was so much behind in all the subjects, that she had begun to think that she should just give up and start her junior year again next fall, but Dad kept telling her she was panicking for nothing. It was only Christmas - she could easily catch up on everything after the holidays.

Sky wasn't feeling too optimistic about that - but in all honesty, schoolwork was the least of her worries.

During her time in rehab, she had maintained frequent correspondence with Sam and Moon, and both of them had assured her that lying about the drugs had been forgiven and that everything was okay between them - but still, it took her by surprise that they actually meant that. During her first day back in school, Moon and Sam never left her side (except for the classes they weren't in), and sitting at lunch with them, Demetri, Yasmine, and Miguel felt like Sky was granted a gift she didn't deserve.

They slipped back into being friends as if she had never left at all. No one asked Sky much about the rehab, and for that she was grateful. She didn't want to talk about the drugs, the withdrawals, she didn't want to talk about the tears she had shed, the self-loath, the shame. Her friends meant well, but they wouldn't understand - it was easier just to look forward, to embrace this new beginning they were willing to give her and let go of the past.

She wasn't going to let them down again.

To prove that, Sky agreed to go shopping for Christmas gifts with Sam, she agreed to watch the Star Wars Holiday Special with Demetri (a BIG mistake) - and most importantly - she agreed to go to Eagle Fang with Miguel.

To be fair, Miguel didn't give her much of a choice. The next day after her return, Miggy appeared at her door with Johnny, who ordered her to change and grab a bottle of water because it was time to stop whining and start kicking ass. Sky was more than happy to obey.

So, she joined Eagle Fang.

Of course, it was a nightmare at first. Her right leg was still weak and she could barely lift it a couple of inches, her balance was nonexistent and during those first workouts, she ended up spending more time lying face down in the grass than doing anything useful. But every time she fell, Johnny was there yelling at her to stop being a pussy, so she forced herself back up and forced herself to finish the exercise no matter how many tries it took. And after the workout, she was so exhausted that she slept like a baby - no opiates needed.

There were things she still missed about the rehab, though. She missed the silence, she missed the hummingbirds, she missed the horses. But more than anything, she missed Luke, and even if she had left him her phone number, it did little good for Luke didn't have his cell phone with him. She wanted to visit him, and Dad had said she could, but it would have to wait until the holidays started - but by then Luke might have gone home too, and who knew if they'd ever see each other again? And even if they did, it wouldn't be the same. In rehab, they had lived in a bubble, and now she was out of that safe space, trying her wings in the real world again, and Luke—

Well, Sky was pretty sure he would go straight back to heroin as soon as he went home. And that was a world Sky couldn't follow him into.

But it wasn't just Luke, Sky missed. She also missed Cody.

It was ironic. One would have thought they could see each other more often now, that she wasn't locked up in a distant rehab center, but during these past three days when she had been back home, she had barely seen him.