Player

Twelve - Mending and Moving On

I am unbelievably sorry for the delay. I have had EXTREME writer's block. Anyways, enjoy!

(edited so please let me know if I missed something)

------------------------------------------------

 Friendship is weird. People just up and decide to hang out with random people that they meet. And it always sounds weird when people call other people their friends, especially when they're big and bad, like Liam Cross. The same Liam Cross that considers me his 'friend'.

Now, it's perfectly okay for girls to call other people their friends because the word is almost completely feminine in my mind, but when a guy says it, it just sounds odd and foreign. The word 'friend' shouldn't be used by guys in leather jackets and huge biceps.

The horn in Ana's tiny blue Volkswagen goes off for the fourth time this morning and I rush to the kitchen, my bag swung over my shoulders. This morning I've dressed in black leggings, (mostly for comfort since I'm still on my period) and a Metallica tee with a few worn out holes near the hems from wearing it too much. I quickly slip into my black Vans as if they were slippers and walk out the door into the rainy day.

The clouds are gray and the sky above them is even grayer. The walkway is dark from the drizzle and the fog is so thick that you can barely see fifty feet ahead of you. Ana honks another time and I toss her the middle finger. She's started to show a little, just a tiny baby bump, but still visible. I guess if you didn't know that she was knocked up, you'd never notice, but for the rest of us it stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Hey, Chop Suey!" She says in a sing-song voice. I slide into the passenger seat and smile at her. Ana has pulled her hair up into a high bun and she's wearing jeans and a red HHS sweatshirt.

"Hey, Ham Italian," I reply. We spend the rest of the way to Hanna High School talking about Youtube videos and a new kid that Ana had to yell at yesterday. She asked me why I wasn't at the parking lot after school and I explained to her about detention and Liam.

"Whoa, wait. You talked to Liam yesterday?" Ana stops me mid sentence, her eyes wide and astonished.

"Yeah. He picked me up from school and drove me home." I describe. "Nothing happened, don't worry. We just talked."

Ana's face relaxes and I notice that she was nervous. She thought that Liam hurt me again, even though she's completely aware of the type of person that he is. I could've been persuaded that Liam couldn't hurt a fly before the incident, even now I still couldn't imagine him hurting anyone. What he did to me wasn't okay, by far, but I'm over it.

We pull into our saved parking spot, Chuck is already there, a Marlboro cigarette between his thin lips.

"Since when did Chuck start smoking?" I ask, surprised. I've never once seen him doing anything even remotely illegal besides underage drinking, but most teens do that anyway.

"A few weeks ago." Ana sounds annoyed as if she disapproves. I would too. "He says that it helps with the baby stress."

"What?" I ask. "What kind of stress?"

Ana takes a deep breath, leaning her back against her seat, sighing. She turns to me and tucks a piece of flyaway hair behind her ear.

"Aiden Gage." She whispers so that only I can hear. Aiden... It's a boy! I suddenly jump in my seat, tossing my hands in the air.

"It's a boy!?" I shriek. Ana suddenly presses a finger to her lips, silencing me. She smiles though, her excitement too much to hold in as well.

"Chuck doesn't know yet. I just got the ultrasound yesterday." She murmurs. Just then, Chuck comes up to the side of the car and opens Ana's door. I quickly slip out of the bug before they start making out right in front of me.