(HELLOOOOO I APOLOGIZE FOR NOT UPDATING IN LIKE TWENTY MILLION YEARS. EVER SINCE THIS SEMESTER STARTED I'VE BEEN DROWNING IN PROJECTS AND HOMEWORK IT REALLY SUCKS BEING IN HIGH SCHOOL I SUGGEST YOU DON'T TRY IT. SO I'VE ALSO DECIDED THAT I'M GOING TO TAKE THIS IN A DIFFERENT DIRECTION THAN ORIGINALLY PLANNED SO HERE IT IS ENJOY)
It was finally the night of the concert, Luke, Lacey and myself were all in the subway on our way to the concert. Young girls and their parents flooded the waiting area as the train quickly approached us. Before we could get trampled, the three of us ran onto the train and got ourselves seats and sat down. Once all the hysterical young girls got on to the train I couldn't help but notice an elderly lady having a difficult time boarding the train herself. I got up from my seat and made my way over to the lady, I held out my arm and smiled at her.
"Here, let me help," I kindly acknowledged her.
"Oh thank you honey, little old me isn't so young as I used to be." The lady giggled, as we stepped onto the train.
"You're very welcome ma'am. I couldn't help but notice you were having a difficult time so here I am."
"Oh please, no need for such formality. You can call me Opal." Opal told me as she rubbed my arm. "What should I call you young lady?"
"My name is Noel, it's very nice to meet you Opal," I introduced myself.
"It's very nice to meet you too Noel." She beamed. "I love your shirt, aren't those the young boys from that band performing tonight?"
"Oh thank you, yes these are the boys from One Direction."
"DID SOMEONE SAY ONE DIRECTION?" One of the young girls screeched.
"Just talking about my shirt Hun, calm down we'll be at the concert soon." I said, trying not to lose my cool I front of Opal. Usually I would have told her to go calm her fucking titties.
The young girl and her friends scowled at me. One look from Luke and they all turned away and left us alone. I looked at him and mouthed the words thank you, he returned with a smile. Opal and I took a seat right next to one another across from Luke and Lacey.
For the rest of the ride we spoke and got to know one another. Eventually we ended up swapping phone numbers to keep in touch. Once Opal's stop came up I helped her off the train, we hugged goodbye and promised to call one another the next day. I took my seat once again and I couldn't help but smile.
"You were really nice to that lady, good on ya Noel!" Luke gave me a pat on my back.
"Thanks," I laughed, "She really is a nice woman, she's practically an older version of me." I told them, praying they didn't understand the reference.
"What do you mean by that?" Luke asked.
Hesitantly, I rolled the sleeves from my jacket up. They had already known but I really wasn't comfortable showing people the damage that had been done. Between the slightly faded burn marks and the scars on my wrist I was not so confident that it was a good idea to be reminding them in public. I had already put some makeup on it so it didn't look so bad but it was already starting to come off, the jacket would have to stay on.
"Noel, I'm pretty sure those weren't there last time you showed us..." Lacey quietly said as she pointed to the scars.
I broke down, the tears fell from my eyes and on to my lap as I bowed my head. Shame had taken over, I had been so strong for so long and I couldn't anymore. I hadn't cried since the accident about a year ago.
"It was all my fault, I could have saved her." I sobbed, shoving my sleeves back down again.
"What do you mean? We know you escaped the fire but why do that a year later?" Questioned Luke.
"There's something I have to tell you guys," I sniffled, the both of them leaned forward in their seats. "So about a year ago I was still living with my parents, one night the house went up in flames. I was the first to notice, I yelled to my parents to get out and they did. I didn't see her anywhere, I went up to her room and she was in her bed. A ring of fire surrounded it, so in order to try to save her I ran through the fire and that's where the burn marks came from." I took in a deep breath, "By the time we got a paramedic to look her over they had told me that she had died from all the smoke in her lungs. So on the anniversary of her death I had nobody to talk to, I felt so alone and I couldn't stop thinking of her. It was the only way to get my mind off of it." More and more tears streamed down my face.
'Who is her?"
"Avery, she was sixteen years old. Had just turned seventeen that morning." I cried even harder.
"Oh hun, why didn't you tell us." Lacy hugged me, tears were falling from her eyes as well.
"I wanted to, I just didn't know how and I just keep thinking about her."
"Well, let's not think about her for now okay? We're gonna have a kick ass time tonight and we're going to meet our idols! Think of the positives for tonight, we're gonna be here if you need us." Luke smiled, trying to cheer me up.
"Yeah, you guys are right. Thank you so, so much. I love you guys."
"We love you too Noel, there's no changing that."
After what seemed like the absolute time of my life we all had a group hug and cried some more. They were right, we were going to have an awesome night and I was not going to think of her. In just a few hours I was finally going to be meeting our idols. I just hoped I wouldn't cry anymore and actually convince myself I was going to have fun.
