Faded Memories

Chapter 11

I frowned at Georgia when I spotted her standing outside of the school the next morning, her large sunglasses and tight smile telling me everything that I needed to know. I wandered towards her, waving my hand in front of her eyes in order to bring her back into reality, as she appeared to be so far out of this world she was almost reminding me of myself. When she finally noticed me, I realised her eyes were very puffy and she had definitely been crying this morning.

"What's happened?" I asked, sitting down on the steps next to her. Kids wandered up the steps and past us into the school, carrying on with their normal lives and most likely not even realising that Georgia was crying - this being a good thing. She sniffled her nose before quietly laughing, probably at the state of herself. I had never seen Georgia like this since knowing her, it felt odd to see her so upset as she was normally such a lively character.

"Matt and I had a fight. A big one - it started when we were drinking at Millie's on Saturday and we haven't really spoken since that night. I don't even know how it began or what it was about, but I've tried ringing him so many times and he's not responding! I just don't know how to fix it." She whispered the last part, everything clicking into place for me. This was why Georgia was frantically typing on her phone in the car the other night, most likely why she disappeared so early in the party, too. "I just can't face him today - not at school, not here."

"Well then, don't." I said simply, watching as her face laced with confusion. I heard as the bell went off in the building, signalling the start of our first class of the day. "Let's get out of here - let's skip. One day won't harm anybody, and I've got an idea of what we can do today to take your mind off of it."

I pulled at her hand, thinking about how one day definitely won't harm her almost perfect attendance but will definitely not look good on mine. Hopefully when the teachers find out that I was helping out a friend, they will be much more considerate - if only! I laughed at myself, as I pulled Georgia towards her car that was parked quite close to the building. I held my hand out, signalling for her keys - she was in no state to drive today.

"But, you don't drive?" She was fiddling around in her bag for her keys, before holding them over my hand, not sure whether she wanted to trust me with her car.

"No, I don't have a car. I can drive - I'll even pull my license out for you if you need proof!" I laughed as she held her hands up in surrender, before wandering around to the passenger seat of her car and climbing in. I loved Georgia's car - it was quite new and very powerful. Gosh, I missed driving so much. But, a car could easily be tracked, and I couldn't afford to buy a new car every time I moved. I wasn't dipping into my parent's money just yet.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Georgia queried, finally taking her sunglasses off as she stared out of the windows at all of the buildings in town passing us by. I knew the exact place that I wanted to go, having spent the past few weeks researching the location and best one to go to. A devilish grin lit up my face, making Georgia shut her eyes before laughing and shaking her head. She knew exactly where this was heading - I had definitely mentioned it to her over lunch a few times.

"We're going to get me a tattoo!" I laughed, hitting the acceleration harder in desperation to finally get to the destination. Georgia turned the radio up, forgetting about her sadness as we both laughed at the ridiculous idea that I had had while singing at the top of our lungs to the song that had just come on.

After parking the car, I led Georgia down the side of an alleyway which appeared quite creepy - especially if it was dark right now. Eventually, we reached a metal door on the side of the building on our right, with a simple sign saying 'INK' above it. Now, this all might look quite suspicious - but I promise that this parlour had the best reviews in the town - I wasn't just going to get an infected, shitty looking tattoo.