Imogen’s POV
While everyone else in our tour group were flying to Perth for the next show, I was flying up to coffs with Ash and Aleesha. We were meant to be leaving Aleesha in Coffs after breaking the news to ash’s mother and getting her permission for the abortion she was pinning for. She admitted to me while we were waiting for Shaun to bring back Aleesha from the airport that she didn’t want this baby. As far as she was concerned, it wasn’t hers. It was a monster that had no meaning but pain and heartbreak and she wanted it out. I was only here because she didn’t want to fly back afterwards alone, it didn’t feel right with me being around. This was a girl who stole the guy who led me on, the girl who tried to kill herself over one innocent kiss, the girl who poured her heart out to me. I couldn’t ditch her, she was fast becoming someone I could trust with anything. Someone I could call a friend.
We had been hiding out in the toilets until our flight was called after all the crazy teenies had seen us saying goodbye to Short Stack. I was sitting next to the window on the plane looking out onto the cement runway with all the people around putting the luggage in while Ash stressed next to me. She was shaking slightly and looking more pale than usual. Next to her, Aleesha was going on about Nax. Come to think of it, she talked about Nax alot, they had a sort of love-hate relationship; looking down at her shoes they were the bright pink ones she lent to Nax last night. After the plane took off and we were above the clouds, I started to go to sleep. Jumpnow was the type of person who didn’t sleep much and it was making me so tired. I was shaken awake after what seemed like minutes but according to my phone it had been over an hour and a half; the person who shook me awake was somebody I had never seen in my life but she definately recognized me.
She begged me to get a photo with her and after about 15 minutes, I caved in just so she would go away, Coffs was a fairly long flight away from Melbourne so I put my sunglasses on and went back to sleep. When we landed it was raining, the sky was a flat grey colour and It was cold, Ash and me both had our licenses but we didn’t have a car so we ended up calling a taxi. The drive to her house was tense, nobody spoke much at all but we were all nervous. Aleesha and Ash went inside, cutting straight to what they came to do, leaving me outside, alone in a place I had only ever been in once for a few days. We agreed it was best if I wasn’t in there in case her mum got angry so I pulled on my zip up hoodie and walked into the rain, Ash lived near the beach but today, the beach held no beauty to me. The sky blended in with the water, they were both were a flat grey colour.
the sand was drenched and there was mist everywhere despite only being just after 3 in the afternoon. Near the beach there was a park, it was quiet because of the rain and also lightly covered in misty rain. I sat on the swing, rocking slowly back and forth, letting the thoughts go around my head, thoughts about Ash, about Jumpnow, about the fact that as much as I loved Jumpnow for who he was. I still loved Shaun. I couldn’t help it. I wanted him. I wanted Jumpnow. I wanted Ash to be happy after everything she had been through. After a few minutes, I was pretty wet but I had nowhere else to go so I stayed, swinging back and forth scuffing the ground with my sneakers.
I didn’t keep track of time, I just let the weather wash over me let time fade away. I didn’t have my phone on me. I didn’t have my iPod. I was alone. This was the most relaxed I’d been since finding out about Bella, I forgave her because she was one of my best friends but keeping such a big secret for so long couldn’t have been good for anyone. Footsteps behind me snapped me out of the daze I was in, which made my hand automatically snap to my wrist where the cast was still on my wrist. It was purple and waterproof covered in drawings and signatures and drunk conversations. I wanted to keep this cast forever. I wanted to keep these memories forever. I wanted life to stay like this, I never even dreamt I would be here. Never dreamt I would meet such amazing people.
The footsteps were getting closer accompanied by talking and giggles. Ash and Aleesha. Ashley was holding a piece of paper and grinning so her mother obviously wanted this baby out as much as Ash herself did. We were booked to fly back to Sydney tomorrow for the abortion then we were meeting Short Stack in Cairns for a special performance.
Instead of walking back to Ash’s house we went shopping instead. Turned out the shops weren’t that far away from where I had been sitting. The atmosphere around us was much happier, lighter, more excitable. The shopping centre was bigger than I expected it to be, brightly lit and a whole lot warmer than outside. An hour and a half, several shops and a coffee later, we were walking back to ash’s house. Inside we went straight up to her room, which was entirely plastered in posters, photos and drawings. Every single inch of wall and roof including the back of the door. She bolted the door shut before looking at us guiltily, this was obviously harder for her to stay here than she was letting on. Jumpnow called me and we talked for over half an hour, which was something I never thought would happen. Why did he even like me?
Just after 10, Ash was doing webcam with Shaun when Nax appeared beside him, looking shifty and shy. Aleesha smiled and sat down next to Ash, as far as i could tell Aleesha and Nax were not friends. Not anything. After a few minutes of pointless babbling, Nax spat out the words ‘Aleesha, I didn’t want you to leave, please stay?’ before blushing a light pink colour which shocked all 3 of us. She agreed and disappeared to see if she could get on our flight to Sydney tomorrow, she appeared 10 minutes later smiling bigger than I had ever seen her announcing she wasn’t staying behind. She was coming with us.
