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.
Unlike his expensive looking house, Harry's backyard had always been a mess: rusted tin tossed carelessly upon mounds of uncut grass. But today he'd cleaned it up. A long table ran along the wall of his garden, decorated in tea-light candles and amazingly decorated dishes. People stood around, holding plates of food and chatting happily. Soft music played in the background, and I felt pleasant - it was a strange sensation. Content. Everything seemed to have settled in the sea of 'Sarah's Problems'.
"So this comic," Lola said, using her arms as she gestured her anger, "Decided to include non-canon plot-lines that I do not find relevant at all. I wanted more of Thor!"
Matt and I laughed as she continued on, half for our entertainment and half to truly vent.
Thea and Abbey teased Harry about a bit of his hair which stood up at the back of his head. He patted it down self-consciously and laughed. Will and Eliza were stuck in a serious and quiet debate about god-knows what, and several other of my not-so-close school friends chatted all over the place.
Soon, Harry's mum announced that Shiloh had arrived. We all crowded together at the bottom of the garden, waiting for her to come through. She walked in, wearing her usual outfit of utility pants and a button-up blouse, and we jumped and screamed, "Surprise!"
Shiloh grabbed the sides of her face as she gasped, and I ran down the steps to hug her. She squeezed me tightly and squealed.
"Oh my god!" She said, and strangled Harry in a hug, "You did this for me?"
"It's a late 'welcome to London' party," I explained. Shiloh beamed at everyone and went around hugging and thanking everyone. When she got to Matt she grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and kissed him violently, earning a whoop from one of the boys.
Harry stood on a white fold-out chair, and tapped a glass with a spoon. The boys all clapped satirically, telling everyone to 'be quiet, the man's about to talk'.
"Hello everyone," began Harry, and he unfolded a white piece of paper, "Welcome to the welcome party for Shiloh."
Light applause and cheers were directed at Shiloh, who grinned next to me. We all gathered in a semi-circle around Harry as he continued his speech.
"For those of you who don't know Shiloh that well, I wanted to say some things that I, personally, love about her," he said, "Shiloh is energetic. Witty. Hilarious. Intelligent. Confident. And most of all, she's a great friend.
"Friendship is something that is really important to me. This past year has demonstrated to me the ways in which friends come and go," I looked at Thea, Lola, Abbey and Eliza, who offered me small smiles, "and how sometimes, that makes way for even better friendships.
"True friends love one another unconditionally. Love is a tricky thing to understand. It's never black and white. Ever. The people who hurt you most, are, a lot of the time, the ones you love the most," Will slid his arm around my shoulder and stuck his nose into my hair, "because for someone to hurt you, you must have truly cared about them in the first place."
Everyone was silent, and Harry continued, pleased by the effect his speech was having.
"Sometimes things happen in life, things that we think we can't get over. But these things are just paper cuts. They sting like a bitch at first," a chorus of chuckles arose, "but after a while they go away, not even leaving a scar.
"We are all still kids. We have no clue what the fuck we're doing, but we do know one thing, and that is how to love. Even when the void looms before us, and we have no idea what we're doing or where we're going, we will still know how to love.
"Friendship is one of the many beautiful things that come with being human. To have friends is to love, and to love is to live."
I linked my arm with Shiloh's, and she smiled at me.
"And what's the point of living if you don't love?"
The End
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