Safe

Scarlet.

"Sky! Wait up!"

"Oh. Hey Scarlet."

"Okay. So you know how that boy kept giving me funny looks? He talked to me today. He said that he's been looking at me because he thinks I'm pretty." Scarlet isn't a very sappy person and shes very gay. She was telling me as a joke than anything. I didn't really care though. My minds elsewhere.

"What's wrong, Sky?"

"It's been a year since I left my home."

"Yeah, but isn't this home now? Your brothers back, you and your dad get along." She passed me and blocked me from walking anymore. "You have me." She said with an intensity I hadn't seen before. 

"Yeah. I have all those things and I'm really happy, but I left some really important people."

"Ruby." I didn't notice because I was too consumed with my own thoughts and feelings to see but her eyes filled with sorrow. 

"Yeah." I trailed off a flood of memories coming back to me, "Ruby."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sky! Focus, this essay is due in two days." Scarlet put her hand over my phone to distract me. She's a great study buddy and is so helpful. I'm so glad I have her. It's sorta annoying but I know I don't have time self control to actually get things done.

"Scarlet? Do you regret anything?"

"Of course. But nothing I would change about my life. Everything that's happened has happened for a reason and made me who I am. You can't go back and change anything so it's better not to let things like regret take space in your mind."

"But can't you make things right?"

"Yes. But sometimes revisiting the past makes it more painful."

"Yeah." I didn't believe her. I have to do something about Ruby. It's been a year and I still think about her. All the time.

"Come on. You have to finish this." She tapped her pencil against the side of my computer, her eyes returning to her math text book and graph paper. 

I looked back at my computer screen. I typed nonsense for a while but didn't register what I was saying. Just filler to make the essay 4 pages long.

Many studies show that school should start later due to the fact that many teenagers and people in school cannot function. The brain doesn't start working until later.
32 more words. Good progress. 

"Sky, can I just spend the night? It's getting late and I have a extra shirt."

"Yeah, you can just borrow some of my clothes too. I'll ask dad."

"Okay, let me call mom."

We call each others parents mom and dad because we both have one, respectably. I walked up stairs from the basement to get my dad. I could hear talking from the kitchen.

"Kathy, I know. I want you to meet them too. You'll just have to wait. After their mother died, it's going to be difficult. No. They don't know about you. What am I supposed to say? Here you new mom? I'll call you later. Yeah, I love you too. Bye."

"Dad?" I tried to sound like I hadn't heard the conversation. That's not why I'm upstairs. I'll push it to the back of my mind for a while and pretend its news when he decides to tell us. It's better that way. "Hey, can Scarlet spend the night?" Pushing things to the back of mind is my specialty. 

"Of course, sweetie. Different beds, right?"

"Yes dad." I roll my eyes. He's so concerned about us doing stuff together, but sleeping in different beds wouldn't stop us for long. Even though we're definitely not doing stuff. I spin on my heel, with socks against the hardwood of the hallway I have too much momentum and almost fall. Good thing the basement and the stairs are carpeted. I love walking downstairs with socks on, it feels so funny against my socks. 

"Scarlet! You can spend the night!" I yell from the stairwell. 

"Thanks!" She yells back as I come into view, she smiles at me. She already grabbed a pair of my brother's old gym shorts from the laundry room and put them on as well as my camp tee. 

"Hey, I like that shirt. Don't make it all smelly. Ya nasty." I sarcastically rolled my eyes at her. She made a face at me in return.

I went to the dresser on the far wall and pulled out a pair of sweatpants and a tank top. Scarlet and I are super close but I still put my tank top on over my bra, then take it off. I slip off my jeans carefully to make sure my underwear doesn't go down with them and put on the comfy sweatpants. I grab some extra pillows from the storage closet and throw them at Scarlet. She waits for me to hand her a charger to slip into the covers on the couch. We go through the normal routine, we've done this plenty of times. 

"Good night Sky."

"Night Scar, I better not fail that stupid essay." She laughs as I turn off the lights and jump into my own bed.