The Hooded Girl (on hold)

||Chapter 18||

August was right as usual. After taking off our masks the room was way less tense and everyone's heads were cleared. Tess looked a lot less puffy and Mar looked a lot less angry.

I walk into the kitchen to grab some of the brownies I brought over. They were amazing, Annette lent me her recipe and everyone was a huge fan especially Sergio.

As I'm placing them onto a plate I hear footsteps come in behind me. I look up to see Bianca approaching the bench "Hey" I say smiling "Can we talk?" She asks awkwardly "Sure" I ask hoping to bury the hatchet "I know things got a little heated in there and I just wanted to say I was totally out of line and I'm sorry" I look back up at her  "No worries" I smile at her before turning my attention back to arranging the brownies "Just like that?" she asks unconvinced. I let out a deep breath before putting the brownies down "You guys..." I look up at her "you guys were right I completely ignore all the bad River has done to me over the years because of some dumb summer fling" I say admitting my fault "Hey" she says walking towards me "I know how hard it is for you to deal with emotions and I think it's cool you've chosen to do that with River" I hadn't opened up to River at all it's like I still had this hood on hiding the real me.

"Yeah so you and Tate huh?" I say unable to hold it in any longer. She shakes her head "What?" I ask confused "I originally annoyed him hoping he'd realise how in love he was with you but he's too nice to admit how annoying I was being, but I guess I was easier to put up with than seeing you and River together" she says still rubbing my back "I don't get it I wanted to be friends. Tate was the one that pushed me away why would he make it out that I asked him for space?" I say leaning on her "Who knows?" She says letting out a deep breath "I've missed you Lia" she says rubbing her head on mine "I've missed you too" I say standing straight "Right so let's go give everyone a taste of your amazing brownies and finally catch you up and spill some real tea" I smile a follow behind her holding the brownies.

Everyone's washing up as we walk in. I place the brownies on the small table next to the milk and sit as August is telling us about her and Tristan who she's been dating for a few weeks now apparently. I remember when we were younger she had the biggest crush on his older brother Chris so I'm surprised she ended up with Tristan.

We then moved on to Tess. It turns out Ashton had been cheating on her with some girls from another school and she found out tonight when he said he was sleeping over at Eric's house yet she saw Eric on a date at the diner and he had no idea what she was talking about. I had a feeling there was going to be a lot of drama at school on Monday. I could tell it really embarrassed August considering Ashton was her brother.

Everything got a little awkward after we started talking about Mar and Xavier again and she said she didn't want to talk about it anymore so we watched some Disney movies and sprawled ourselves around the couches and floor.

Half way through Mulan I got a notification "Ughhh Lia put it on silent" Tess moans "Tell River to shove off" Mar says in between stuffing her with popcorn. I apologise before checking my phone. It was a text from Tate.

🥔: It was good seeing you today

My heart does a little flip before I remember he was turning my friends against me making me out to be the villain. I quickly send him a thumb emoji before turning my phone off.

Not long after we all began to drop like flies. Tess fell asleep first, then Bianca and August. I wasn't sure if Mar was awake of not, but I stand up to find the remote.

I find it underneath a pillow and flick the TV off. As I'm walking back to the couch I hear small sniffs coming from the far side of the couch. I walk over to see Mar's shoulders jerking up and down as she sniffs. Was she...crying? No she couldn't be. Mar was either happy, tired or mad but never...sad. I softly whisper to her "Mar are you awake" the sniffing stops "Mar what's wrong?" I ask still standing behind her. She stands up and rushes towards me. Was she going to hit me? She would do that to other people but not me...right?

I'm surprised when she wraps her arm around me and cries into my shoulder "Mar what's wrong" I ask rubbing her back "It's...It's just" She says still sniffing and crying. Tess begins shuffling in her bed. "Come let's go out by the pool" it was a warm night and I didn't want to wake anyone else up. She nods her head and we walk out the sliding doors. I flick the light on and we sit at the edge of the pool.

"So what's up" I say wrapping an arm around her and stroking her back "I think Xav is cheating on me" honestly I wasn't surprised Tate had mentioned this to me at the beginning of term, but I told him it was none of our business and not to worry about it "What? Why?" I ask curiously "Fucking practices haven't even started and he's said he's been going at lunch or after school even on Saturday nights" she says more angry than sad "Well you don't know that it means he's cheating" I say trying to reason with her "Oh come on as if it isn't obvious he always goes missing at parties and conveniently so does that Brianna girl" she says rolling her eyes. We sit there in silence for a bit flicking the water with our feet "so what are you gonna do?" I ask as she sniffs up the last tears she'll ever cry for him "I'm done with him and all his bullsh*t if he wants to play around he can just not on me" I smile at her and embrace her in a warm hug "I've missed you Cece" she says rubbing my back I snuggle my head in the crook of her neck glad to have my friends back around me.

We tip toe back into the house and dry our legs. We slip in to bed and allow sweet  dreams to wash away our worries.