Yesterday's Gone

Chapter One

"It's not a life and death situation. You are completely overreacting."

Georgie rolled her eyes at May.

She wasn't entirely sure of the time, hadn't checked her phone since they'd left class and passed the gate down to their favourite corner of the field, a spot which was far away from noise and every other person possible, but it certainly felt late, as if something shadowy was looming over her. She tilted her face into the sunlight, noting the strain in her neck, then exhaled dramatically.

"I'm genuinely beyond fucked, May." She pointed down at the text book resting in her lap, shaking her head. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"You'll be fine," May said dismissively. She narrowed her eyes as she lifted her head. "Your lipstick is smudged though."

With a scoff, Georgie reached out for May's heart shaped mirror which she knew was tucked in the front pocket of her backpack. She muttered under her breath. "If I don't get into the uni of their choice..." She swiped at her mouth and dabbed at the spot she'd bothered, then dug out her characteristic purple lipstick and reapplied it.

May had just finished her cheese sandwich, crusts cut off, of course. She clipped the sides of her purple tupperware box closed and slipped it back into her bag, withdrawing a small glass bottle of apple juice, the expensive stuff that her mum had probably bought at the classy supermarket on the nicer end of town. She took a gulp of her juice, tangy, sweet, almost too sweet and wiped her mouth with her cardigan sleeve. "You don't even want to go."

"You know that's not my choice," Georgie muttered. Dark hairs obstructed her vision as she dipped her head, focused as she could be on her rough, frantically scribbled notes which were wedged between two pages of the textbook, her handwriting illegible to anyone but her.

"You sound like me," May laughed. She took her mirror back again, patted her cheeks with as much blush as she'd get away with both at school and when she got home and adjusted the cross pendant around her neck thoughtfully. "You know, I've been thinking..."

"Hmm?"

She lowered the mirror to her lap. "We should get matching friendship bracelets."

Georgie raised her head slowly, expressionless. "You're joking, right?"

"You can pick the colours," May continued in her sing-song voice, then gave a little shrug. "Just thought it would be cute."

A smile twitched in her lips though she was trying to fight it. "Can you seriously see me wearing a friendship bracelet?" Georgie asked. She flipped the page mindlessly, though her full attention was on her friend and the bubbly energy she exuded, her excitement at such a trivial idea momentarily distracting Georgie from the internal doom she felt.

The blonde titled her head innocently. "I think you'd do it for me."

She shook her head. "No. It's really not my-"

"Georgie, don't be fucking rude," May laughed. "I'm going to get you a friendship bracelet and you're going to love it - you're going to wear it with pride. Oh this? Yeah, it was a gift from my beeeesst friend."

Georgie laughed, but May's raised, expectant eyebrows were a clear sign she wasn't going to give in, waiting for a yes. "Oh... whatever..." she complied, huffing as May celebrated the small victory.

"I'm going for baby blue and pastel pink," May told her, showing her a picture she'd saved on one of her Pinterest boards. "Like this."

"Is there a black one?"

"No."

"You said I could pick the colour!"

"And black isn't a colour..." she hummed, mocking her own predictable response with the tone of her voice. "It's a shade." She flicked through to another picture. "Here. I'll settle for purple and red."