Trust No Bitch: Part 3

Lilly Philipps

"Clara! Clara! Open up!"

Lilly pounded hard on the front door of Clara's flat, hesitated with a sigh, and then began again. After waking up on Cleo's living room floor and realising her phone was missing (as well as that she had been overly dramatic in thinking that those moment spent lying there would be her last), she had gone straight to Gemma's flat, only to find no Gemma there and instead, a seemingly tranquil Ellie Mengiste meditating in the middle of the living room.

"You okay, Lilly?" Ellie had asked cheerfully, pushing herself up off the floor and striding towards the fridge. "Would you like a-"

"No, no, no, I'm fine, thanks." Lilly said hurriedly, the attempts she had made to slow her breathing on the way to Gemma's proving to be quite inefficacious. Her vision was a little hazy too and she felt an unpleasant, muted sense of nausea that she feared would probably turn to full blown vomiting soon enough. Concussion, probably. But it would have to wait. "Have you seen Gemma? I really need to talk to her."

"Uh, no, sorry, she went out a while ago. Do you want to leave a message for her or...?" Ellie frowned and walked towards Lilly, holding out a solicitous hand. "Are you sure you're okay? You seem-"

"I'm fine, honestly, Ellie. Thanks."

"Uh, okay. Well, if you're looking for one of your friends, I saw Clara Wright coming out of her flat about 10 minutes ago when I was at-"

"Clara Wright?" Lilly interrupted. As far as she knew, Clara Wright was still lying comatose in a hospital bed. "Are you sure it was her?"

"Yeah, I was kind of shocked too. Gemma said she was still in hospital but obviously, she made some kind of miraculous recovery. Did she not let you know?"

"No. No, she didn't." Lilly said slowly. "Ellie, can I ask you a favour?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Can I just use your phone quickly?" Lilly asked. "I've lost mine." She lied, Ellie nodding and handing over her mobile, whilst watching Lilly with a look of concern she was not able to dissemble. Trying her best to smile, but instead just wildly gritting her teeth, Lilly grabbed the phone and marched to the other end of the room, finding Clara's number on Ellie's contacts and letting it ring.

"Lilly?" Clara said hastily upon picking up, Lilly's perplexity only growing at the sound of her friend's voice; it had been so long, it was like hearing the theme song of some TV show she used to watch when she was a little girl.

"Clara, oh my God, Clara! You're okay, you're okay!" She exclaimed, running a hand through her hair and glancing at Ellie with a strained smile. "Look, I need to meet you and Gemma and then we need to go to Alice's."

"Why? Right now, Lilly?"

"Yes! Right now!" Lilly hissed, taking a few purposeful steps down the corridor to Gemma's bedroom and lowering her voice so that Ellie wouldn't hear her. "The Supplier has just attacked me and stole my phone. We need to tell Alice what's happened. I'm coming to your flat now."

"Wait, but I'm not ready to-"

"I'll see you in a minute." Lilly interrupted, holding the phone away from her ear and then stabbing the end call button with her thumb. With a grimace, she strode back down the corridor and shoved the phone back into a baffled looking Ellie's hand before walking straight out of the flat without any kind of explanation whatsoever. She then powered her way across the campus to Clara's building, and that's when the pounding on doors had begun.

Where are you, Clara? The voice in Lilly's head yelled as she raised her fists back up and began slamming them onto the door again, stomping her heel on the floor like a kid in the middle of a tantrum. It was only once she heard the initially dull thumping of Clara's boots getting louder and louder that she realised Clara was approaching her from behind, and she whirled round on the spot, darting over to her friend and throwing her arms around her neck, Clara's sopping wet hair dripping onto the sleeve of her pink blazer.