BEFORE THE STORM-SKINS UK (G.2)

EPISODE 8

I'm sat on the end of Effy's bed,reading a book
She's looking out the window
Katie's sleeping
"I haven't seen John anymore" Effy says suddenly
"What do you mean?"
"He just...vanished...now I've got a substitute"
"It's better like this...he wasn't good for you"
We stay silent
Katie reaches us
"How's Freds?" she asks me
"I don't know...I haven't seen him in a while"
"How come?"
"I've just been...busy,but I wanna go and see him soon"
We look out of the window and see some people bouncing on the balls
We spot Panda arriving and being thrown in there,forced to jump with the others
"Where's Panda gone?What's she doing?"
We start laughing
"Oh my god!"
She starts bouncing to us
"Come on,Panda,they're after you!"
"Hurry up!"
"Bounce to me!"
We let Panda in through the window
"Hey girls!"
"Panda!"
"Look what I brought" she says taking out of her backpack something I recognize immediately
It's the instrument she played that song on for me
She starts trying to understand how it works and is pushing random buttons
"Couldn't you just have brought me grapes?" Effy asks
"Grapes are for chipmunks,this is much better.I wrote you a song,I just can't get the hang of...tit and piss!The instructions were in Japanese.Oh fuck me up the arse three ways!Come on,you nonky cunt!"
"Language!" Katie says
"Great,innit?I've been practicing.I've got it!Scrapey scrapey for you,shakes shakes for you"
She hands us some instruments
"What for?" Effy asks
"Life.Can't stand still,can we?This is gonna cheer you up"
The music starts playing and she starts singing that one song she sung to me too
It's cute
We start playing with the instruments she gave and try to enjoy ourselves

~~~~~

Me,Katie and Panda take the bus to go and find Naomi at hers
I knew that now Cook lives there too,that her and Emily still live together and,most surprising of them all,JJ's got a girlfriend
I'm happy for him,though
I also know that today Thomas is supposed to be teaching french to Katie,in order to make Pandora jealous
I don't know how much of a good plan that can be
"Panda?" Katie asks
"Yo"
"You're looking happy"
"Am I? That's weird,I'm suicidal,obviously"
"Because your boyfriends smashed your heart in a thousand piece seven months ago?"
"Yup,he did that.Tragic,ain't it?Bummer"
"Thomas is coming round to Naomi's later,to give me French lessons for my interview"
"That's kind of him,isn't it?" I add
"Yeah,kind"

~~~~~

We walk in Naomi's house and we're met by JJ holding...a baby?
"Hey" I greet
"Hey,I'm going,the atmosphere's not great in there" he says
"Naomi's caning the spliff again?"
"Yeah,and the rest.Come on,let's go get some of that baby goo"
"Why does JJ have a baby?" I ask confused
"Oh,it's his girlfriend's"
"Ah"
Thomas walks in
"Hi,Tommo" Panda says
"Panda.Katie,are you ready for some French?"
"Yes,thanks Thomas,I'd love some.You remember..." she says to Panda
"Yeah,I remember" Pandora walks away
I smirk to them,the plan is working
"It's pretty cool,huh?"
"Do you think she cares?"Thomas asks
"Oh,she cares" I say

We hear music and laughter from the other room,I go in and spot Naomi,Ems sat by the window,a girl I don't even know and Freds
I smile brightly as I see him
I go to hug him,but a far too spliffed Naomi gets in the way and hugs me
"Trish!Hey"
"Hi,Naoms"
She pulls out and speak slurring
"Did I...did I ever tell you that your tits look amazing?"
"Erm...thanks?" I say uncomfortably
I laugh it off as I go to Freddie
"Freddie!" I squeak happily
I hug him tight after what feels like months,but is a actually just a couple of weeks
"I've missed you" I mumble
"I've missed you too,I've been losing my mind without you"
"Yeah,I'm sorry...but I had to be there for Effy and go to my therapy and such...it's been a rough couple of weeks"
"I get it,I just wish we talked more or saw each other"
"I know and I did too,but...it was just too much"
"I understand.It's just -fuck,I missed you.And,you know,it was so sudden...we were about to go away!"
"I should've talked to you more...it's just...I felt like my friend needed me and I had to be there"
"Trish,you don't have to carry it all alone...you've gotta also think about yourself and your mental health"
"You're right...I just didn't know how to balance things right"
"We'll figure it out together,then"
"Of course"
Suddenly we hear the volume from the stereo get louder and louder and see Naomi dancing with that unknown girl
"Jesus Christ this place is a mess" I comment
"Yeah,let's get out of here"
We get out the house and go to the nearest park
"So...what do you wanna do?" he asks
"What do you mean?"
"I mean...now that everyone's thinking about university and such and,from what I've heard,Effy's better"
"At first I didn't know at all what to do...I mean...we wanted to travel and all,but what happened scared me off a bit"
"And?"
"And now,I've made up my mind...let's go,let's travel like we planned to,let's go to Spain,France,Italy or Portugal or,what about Amsterdam? I want to do it,I need it"
He lights up with my words
"Really?You're serious,you want to do this"
"Yeah!I've been thinking about this a lot and also talked about it with Alice...I need to get away from everything for a bit,to just breathe and figure things out...and I want to do it with you"
"We'll go anywhere you want,Trish.Italy,France,Spain...you call it.I'm in"
"Good,cos I'm ready now and I want to travel with you,just like we talked about"
"We'll make it happen,get out of here and leave this crap behind for a little"
We walk through the park
"Ok,then,first stop Amsterdam,what do you wanna do?" he asks
"Amsterdam it is,let's just get lost in the canals,go to see some Van Gogh and get high in one of those coffee shops...let's just...forget everything"
"Deal,we'll leave as soon as we can,no waiting around"
"Let's fucking do it"
"You know...I was starting to think we'd never do this"
"And you thought wrong"
We sit on a bench
"I'm really glad we're doing this,I missed you...I missed us"
"Me too...feels good,doesn't it?"
"Yeah it does"