Leaving London

Chapter Twenty Four

Chapter Twenty Four

Pain explodes across my face. Glimmers of blackness push at the corners of my eyes, fading my eyesight to greyish blurs. The pattering of fireworks hammers into my eardrums, and I hasten to snap back into reality. I spin to face Mia, her hand only just falling down to her side. Anger simmers up under my calm exterior, bubbling furiously at the sight of Mia's face twisting into a laughing smile.
"Mia!" Lara is hissing, shock hiding her emotions. A few other people in the midst of the crowd turn briefly to see what the commotion is, but we go pretty unnoticed due to the consuming noise rising around the stage.
"Why did you do that?" I snap, roughly pushing her backwards by the shoulder. Kayla gently tugs on my arm, trying to prise me away. I shake her off, leaving Eve and Amy gawping at the situation unfolding in front of them. Mia curls her lip, her voice slurring slightly, intoxicated, as she directs her speech towards Lara.
"I can't believe you'd...you would leave me, Lara. After everything I've done for you, you trail around after her. She'll only do something to hurt one of us again!" She says sluggishly, and Lara retracts from standing right next to me.
"I can do whatever the hell I want, Mia. And I'm not trailing around after Fearne. But recently she seems to have been apologetic and more sincere than you." She spits. Mia cocks an eyebrow, swaying slightly on her swirly-wedged sandals.
"Just stop it Mia, please. Just get lost; you've proven your point." I snarl, raising a hand to my swelling cheek.
"I'm leaving anyway. Oh boy, if you think I'm finished just wait until we're back to school!" She snaps.
"You can threaten them all you like," Kayla interjects, "It won't change the fact that you're a bitch and you have an appalling taste in friends. And I think that after meeting you for ten seconds. Imagine what everyone else thinks of you. Come on, guys, let's go."
"I don't need you anyway," She half laughs, grasping at the arm of Riley, who has just appeared to attempt to tug Mia away. Riley looks sober at least, swishing back her corn-coloured hair impatiently as she huffs under her breath at Mia.
"I'm coming, okay." Mia mutters darkly, her legs wobbling for the second time, "I really can't believe you Fearne. Or you Lara." With that Riley pulls her away, shooting over an apologetic look in our general direction. I watch as Mia walks away, turning to find Lara's face damp with tears.
"Just ignore her." I state, pulling her into a hug.
"I'm sorry," She whimpers, "I'm sorry I didn't forgive you sooner. Mia's handled this whole thing so badly. I think I'm going to go home." She trails off, wiping her eyes over the sleeve of her sweater.
"I think we all should..." Eve suggests softly, nudging Amy who sticks out her bottom lip and looks as if she's about to protest.
"I definitely don't want to be staying near her for any longer," Kayla says protectively, shuffling us along the path, "She seems like a nasty piece of work."
"Oh, she is." Lara mutters as we swing out of the park and into the dark streets of town. I keep an eye on Lara as we pass under streetlamp after streetlamp, but her tears have dried and she's busy texting on her phone telling her parents that she's coming home. It's almost two in the morning, and the cool air settles on everything, meaning my arms are still shivering as we finally reach the last stretch to our house.
"Are you sure you don't want us to walk back with you?" I ask Lara as she says goodbye to everyone.
"No, I'll be fine thank you," She smiles, "I guess I'll see you at school, then. My parents are bundling me away to Australia for three weeks next Sunday."
"Really? When did they plan that?" More like: How come you didn't tell me?
"Oh, they sorted it out a few weeks ago. We have family over there."
"Oh. Well have a good time!" I say, "See you soon!" We wait for her silhouette to be engulfed by the dim night atmosphere, and then we make our way up to the front door, and I fish out the spare key from under the doormat and let us all flood into the hallway.
"Well that got ruined." Amy groans, and for a second I feel irritation boiling away for the second time this evening.
"Amy, it couldn't have been helped." Kayla declares gravely, signalling towards me.
"No, no-" Amy's mouth opens and shuts firmly as if she's a goldfish releasing silver-tinged bubbles inside a tank, "No, Fearne, I meant it as in how horrible that girl was. Not that it was down to you." I smile shiftily, raising my fingers self-consciously to the grazed skin on my jawbone. It's sore, and I clamber up on the sofa to have a look at my cheek in the mirror. It's definitely inflamed – a raw, cherry colour. I wander back through to the kitchen, grasping a packet of frozen peas from the freezer and squeeze the bag against my face, traipsing up to bed after the others.