With the boys gone the next morning, Kia and I sit on her bedroom floor. Photos of us ranging from primary school all the way up to a month and a half ago on our final day of school, lay littered across the ground as we giggle at the memories spread before us.
"God I can't believe my Mum even let me wear that everywhere!" I groan as I pick up a picture of ten-year-old me, adorned in a pirate costume. Kia just sniggers at the picture,
"Yeh but that's because you were such a tomboy when you were ten."
"Was not." I mumble, knowing full well that I was.
I think back to last night again, as I flip through a few more photos. My thoughts falling back to the strangeness of Jake's behaviour and how weird he was being.
"Oh, yeh I forgot to mention this but uhm did you think Jake was being a little you know... odd last night?" I ask Kia.
She stills at this question, seemingly thinking her answer through before simply shaking her head,
"Not really no." Her answer is short and sweet, and I can immediately tell there's more going on than I can see. In an attempt to dig a little further I carry the conversation on,
"Well is there anything going on between you two?" I question curious to her weird behaviour now.
"Jessie just drop it. Nothing is going on between Jake and I and he wasn't acting weird last night." Kia's harsh tone surprises me, and I think she surprises herself too.
She starts to pack the photos back together and I sit there and allow the tension to settle before saying anything more. Kia, however, beats me to it,
"Anyway, what's happening between you and Blake? Has he finally asked you out?" She teases, the tension between us instantly dissipating as if the previous conversation never even happened.
"Honestly, I'm not sure. You know we kiss and other shit, but he hasn't really mentioned the whole boyfriend, girlfriend thing. Neither of us have." I huff, this is the first time I've been able to properly voice my feelings over Blake and it feels kind of good.
"Well has he shared any personal things with you? You know like they do in books, the death of a twin or maybe he's a drug lord in a gang, or maybe even..."
"Yeh Kia this isn't a Wattpad story." I chuckle, but my mind instantly falls to the video lurking on my phone. Surely showing Kia it wouldn't hurt?
"Well actually when I think of it, there is one thing." I say as I pull my phone from my pocket.
"Oh my god did he confess his involvement in drug trafficking, that his mum died giving birth to him?" Kia continues to blurt random, dramatic events at me in rapid fire.
"He sang to me." I blush, Kia's face falls at this.
"He sang to you? Not exactly Wattpad worthy but ok." I shake my head at her idea of romance, the girl spends too long in her fantasy love world.
I click play on the video of Blake and give her the phone. The music plays softly and as I close my eyes, I can just about imagine every single detail of the video right down to the accidental off-key strums. It's safe to say I've watched this video close to a hundred times.
When the song finishes Kia looks at me in excitement,
"Oh my god Jessie I have the best idea. There's this site where you upload videos of people you think are talented singers and agencies use it to find people, they want to sign to them." Kia pulls her laptop out and I instantly feel regret at showing Kia the video.
"I don't know Kia; Blake make it pretty clear he didn't want anyone to see this. I wasn't even supposed to show you." I sigh.
"Trust me this is a good idea. Look all you have to do is add Blake's video and his details. It's unlikely anyone will pick him up anyway, look there's millions of people on this site." I follow Kia's finger to the screen and see for myself the millions of people uploaded to the site. Perhaps adding Blake to it wouldn't do any harm.
With a reluctant, "Fine" from me Kia gets to work uploading Blake's video and filling in the necessary details before clicking the flashing DONE button. Ultimately sealing my fate.
As I lay back across the bedroom floor, Kia closes her laptop screen and joins me by my side.
"I got accepted into the Cambridge Uni." Kia mumbles quietly.
"What!" I cry in excitement as Kia stays laid across the ground, "Kia that's amazing, well done!"
Kia still doesn't move, and I nudge her, "Hey come on, what's up?" I ask.
"How am I supposed to celebrate this when I don't even know where my best friend is going to be in a month from now?" She questions glumly.
"Kia it doesn't matter where I end up. If it's 200 miles or 20 minutes away, I'll still find a way to come see you." I smile as she sits up and gives me a tight hug.
"You always know what to say." She giggles,
"Yeh well one of us has to." I joke.
Our bonding moment is cut off by the sound of my phone ringing and as I grab it, I see 'Nepal Volunteer' flash across the screen. Considering I still haven't even told Kia the possibility of the programme and especially now she's so delicate I decide to whisper to her, "Give me a sec," and dash into the corridor, closing the door behind me.
"Hello?" I answer.
"Hi Jessie, it's Robin from the Nepal volunteer programme." I hear the young voice reply back.
"Oh, hi Robin, how can I help?" I ask.
"Well I wanted to see what you had decided? Our applications close tomorrow and I'd really love to have you onboard with us." My mind and stomach are churning at the ultimatum, I remember the conversation I had with Blake only a few weeks ago and the reminder he gave me that I needed to start thinking for myself. But then my mind switches to Tyler and who would be there to look after him. It switches then to Kia and the thought of being halfway across the world from her tears me in two.
"You still there Jessie?" Robin asks.
"Yeh I'm here, sorry I was just thinking." I answer.
"So, what's it going to be?" She asks.
I enter back into Kia's bedroom, and I find her watering her beloved plants.
"Hey Kia, I've got to head back home. Mum needs me for some stuff." I lie, feeling awful.
"Oh, ok that's alright. My parents are supposed to be back soon anyway." She answers happily as she finishes off with her mini watering can.
"I'll see you tomorrow, yeh?" She asks and I nod stiffly, desperate to get home and talk to my Mum about the choice I just made.
"Yeh of course." I answer, but all I can think is, did I just make the biggest mistake of my life?
YOU ARE READING
Don't forget me
Teen FictionJessie Clarke was born to blend in. With senior year winding up all she wants to do is spend her final summer with her best friend Kia (and maybe her sketchbook). But the next few months ahead aren't quite going to go the way she intended. A party...
