Forever (h.s.)

Chapter 16

CHAPTER 16: Getting By

The next month was the absolute worst I'd ever remembered. Every little thing that annoyed me about my life always went away with Harry. Now it slapped me in the face every day. Harry. The name was taboo in my house and had been for weeks. Fiona had made me tell my mum about Harry and I breaking up, and she was sympathetic, but she had no idea how close we were; therefore, not understanding the power of the loss.

Given that it was summer, I pretty much just spent all of my time sitting inside in my sweatpants, never so

much as cracking a smile at the countless stupid comedies I watched that a month ago would bring me me the floor in hysterics.

Fiona was sympathetic, making up stories when she went out with the boys, but one day, exactly four and a

half weeks after the breakup, she pulled me out of bed at seven a.m. and announced we were going to the late summer festival in the park.

"No," was my first reaction, pulling the blankets back over my head. I hadn't left the house in weeks, and I had no intention of starting now. "Sleep."

"Get up," she said again, pulling on my arm until I rolled over and fell off the bed.

"Hey," I said simply, looking around me like I'd never been on the floor before. "That wasn't very nice."

"You are getting out of this house, Sarah. Now," she insisted, going through my drawers and throwing an

outfit at me. "Get dressed. I'll be in the kitchen." I watched her go from the ground, looking down at the clothes in my lap and back up at the door.

"Meanie," I called, but I had been waiting for the drive to get out of the house for days now, and here it was.

I heard her laughter echo off the hall walls from the kitchen. With a big sigh, I got up and turned on my iPod.

"So you had a bad day, taking one down, you sing a sad song just to turn it around..." I sang loudly, getting up and dancing for the first time in weeks. "You say you don't know, tell me don't lie..."

"Work on a smile and you go for a ride," Fiona answered from the kitchen, happy that I was coming back to my old self. This song had been a kind of an incantation on replay in my head since that day, but right then it was taking on a whole new meaning. I had a bad day, but damn, maybe it can turn around.

"So you had a bad day, the camera don't lie," I growled in my Christina Aguilera voice, picking up my iPod and waltzing into the kitchen. Doing a little skip, I wrapped my arms around Fiona from behind in a hug. "Thanks," I murmured, then giggled when I realized the pancake batter I'd made her splatter on her shirt and all over her cheek. "Sorry..." I said slowly, afraid she would retaliate with the big spoon in her hand.

"You suck," she said, but she was laughing.

"I'm so sorreeeee!" I said again, but I was finding it really hard not to laugh. Which was very rare those days.

"I'll go get you another shirt." She rolled her eyes at me and I skipped back to my bedroom, found her a shirt, and returned to find Fiona on video chat with Liam on the other end. Ever since the boys had stopped coming over here, she spent a lot of time keeping in touch with Liam that way.

"Is Harry there?" I asked quietly, slowing down before coming up behind Fiona. I was slowly falling off from my high at the reminder of my down and had no intention of seeing him now. Liam glanced at me and shook his head.

"He's not here. Niall and Louis are though."

"Hi guys," I said, feigning complete cheerfulness as I joined Fiona by the laptop. Not that I wasn't happy to