Can I Tell You A Secret?

Epilogue (2 years later)

I ring the doorbell, and Taryn answers it.

"Come in, come in!" she ushers.

I see that all the other girls are here, and their presents have already been opened. I look at 3 Harry Potter themed cards.

"Darn it, guys!" I sigh.

"Not you as well!" Taryn sighs as she pulls a card shaped like Harry Potter's face out of an envelope.

She studies it for a second.

"I am so over this Ary Potter thing! When will it get old?" she asks us.

I pretend to be thinking.

"Um, how about never?" I laugh.

"I can't believe you're 17, T!" Lucy sighs.

"I can't believe you guys haven't gotten over the Ary Potter joke," Taryn grumbles.

"I can't believe you're still going on about that!" Ava grins.

"I can't believe we're playing this game again," I mutter, and we all laugh.

"There's going to be cake, right?" I check.

"Of course there is!" Taryn replies.

"And we'll be holding our biannual secret check in?" Ava adds.

"We're obviously going to do it!" Taryn smiles.

"Isn't biannual such a stupid word? I mean, it could mean either twice a year, or every two years. You never know," I think out loud.

Everyone ponders on that for a minute.

"Stop making me think! It's my birthday!" Taryn yells.

We all smile.

Later that night, we're all sitting around in Taryn's tent.

"Welcome to our biannual secret check in! I am Taryn, and I will be your host for tonight!"

"That's not fair! Why do you get to be the host?" I whine.

"It's my birthday, my house, my rules. Okay?" she says.

"Fine. But next time this is at my house," I warn everyone.

"Can I continue now?" Taryn glares playfully at me.

"If you really want to," I sigh.

"Thank you," she replies.

"So tonight, we will be going around, and giving a full detailed update on how we're dealing with our secrets. The reason why we do this is because we run a Student-Student counselling programme, and this is like our own version of it. I like to have proof that it works. Now let's start off with Alice," Taryn blurts out.

"So, as you guys know, my brother is out of jail. He was wrongly accused with manslaughter, and was proven guilty a year after he was locked up. I thought we'd instantly go back to how close we were before he was sent to jail, but it's now really awkward between us. I guess I don't really have much more to say about this. Now on to Lucy," Alice tells us.

"Okay. So, I am 20 days clean. That is actually a really big achievement for me. The scary thing is, that I can't imagine myself at a ye clean. When I was really depressed, I could never picture a future at all. But now I can see a future, but I can't see a future without self-harm. My counselling sessions have helped a lot, and I've been give some anti-depressants. I think they're helping. So let's hear about Ava next," Lucy gets out bravely.

"Even though I'm almost at a healthy weight, I still struggle with my anorexic thoughts. Like I'll be thinking that I'm getting better, but then I think that if I don't diet, I'll never be skinny. It's a scary thought, not being skinny. Even now, I struggle with the concept of being a normal size. I know that it's super selfish, each of you are beautiful, and you haven't dieted to get that way. Maybe, hopefully, someday these thoughts will go away," Ava says quietly.

"Now onto Taryn," she adds.

"So, I have not picked up a cigarette since I quit. That's the end of my story. Now let's hear about Ettie!" she grins.

"I still miss May so much. It hurts to even think about her. But I'm learning that there can be a life, that I can be happy, without her. At first it was a hard concept to grasp, but now I realise that if I'd died instead of her, I wouldn't want her grieving over me her entire life. I'd want her to make friends, and have fun. I'll never kick her out of my head, my heart, or my locket, but that doesn't mean I can't push her over a bit, to make room for you girls," I smile.

"Never ever kick us out of your heart, either," Taryn says firmly.

"You can bet that I'll never do that," I say.

We all hug. None of us are perfect. But at least now we know that we can trust each other enough to tell our secrets.