Sarah is thrown back into an ugly past when her old best-friend-turned-enemy kills herself. With the help of new smiles and old glares, she learns that some things just won't stay dead until you make peace with them.
Eliza and Abbey have been best friends since they met in year 6. They bonded over the same books and movies, and were both smart as a whip. I met both of them in year 8, when our friend group more or so came together. Thea I'd known since year 4, Clara and Lola both since year 7.
And then, last summer, it all fell apart.
Well, not really. Not much had changed except that I'd been squeezed out - and now one of them was dead.
I tried not to let my mind stray back to that fact as I passed Clara's locker in the hall, or when I went to Physics on Monday morning. Eliza and Abbey sat in the front row of my Physics class, and so did I - once. Now I sat in the third row, where I was easily more distracted much to my own disadvantage for whenever a test came up.
Mondays were always slow, but this one seemed to trudge by and laugh at me as I hung my heavy head over my textbook. The teacher, Mr Sprout, was lecturing us on projectile motion, and my brain wouldn't have any of it.
I stared out the window at the sleet grey sky, and thought to myself - one more week. One more week, and I would be in Switzerland on Christmas Break. The radiator was situated, at my convenience, right below the window next to where I sat.
Something hit my head, and I looked up. Mr Sprout had thrown a balled up piece of paper at me, and he was looming over my desk with his gut right in my face. I cringed away.
"Don't space out just yet, Miss Townsend."
I didn't appreciate the play on words, and picked up my pen, giving him my most convincing 'I'm-listening-with-every-aspect-of-my-being' look. He gave a satisfied 'hmph' and wandered back to the whiteboard.
Eliza smirked at Abbey, obviously holding back laughter. I shook my head and slumped my chin on my hand. I looked beside me to where an empty desk separated me from the rest of the Physics class.
Were the only friends I had left really two dorky guys and the new girl who was way too cool for of us? After being estranged from my old friends, I'd felt the loneliest I'd ever been until I decided to move on and get revenge by living well, or so the saying goes.
I stared at Eliza and Abbey's matching ponytails and wondered if that was really true. So confident was I that I didn't need them, until now. I longed for Thea's tight hugs and Eliza's hyper mood every Friday afternoon. I missed Abbey's fierce arguments and Lola's passion for comic strips.
The bell rang, and I was shaken from my spiral of thoughts. I dragged my books together in a pile and slid them off my desk in sluggish movements that charmingly matched the way I felt inside. At the door, both Abbey and Eliza slid in front of me, shoulder to shoulder as they walked out into the corridor. I halted for a second and watched them, putting as much distance as I could between myself and them before leaving the classroom.
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