Friend and Foe

Chapter Seventeen

Justin didn't answer my first call and I caught myself just before pressing the call button a second time. I wanted to call a dozen more times to know what was going on- was he alright? But I didn't need the cops looking my way and a dozen missed calls the day the news went to the media would have been eyebrow raising.

Oh god, I hoped he'd had the sense to delete the message of the note he sent me.

The people on screen disappeared and Emily McDonald introduced Marty Paul for the weather.

I was itching with the desire to call Justin, but I smacked it down and flicked the TV off.

"Hmm," Mum said pushing off the couch, "well. I wouldn't have thought she was the type to do that you. I met her once, did your father tell you?"

"No, Dad never mentioned that."

"Yeah. She was there when the office burnt down – your father mentioned you knew about that."

I looked up at her to decipher her expression. "Do you think she started the fire?"

"No," Mum said with a sigh, "I got the feeling she was more disappointed in herself for not being there, rather than joy at destruction."

My phone started vibrating in my hand and I glanced down eagerly in the hopes Justin was getting back to me. It wasn't him though, my caller ID told me it was Abb.

"Parker, I know-"

I cut her off, answering the call, "It's Abb, so I should take this. Can we talk later?"

I was off the couch and gone from the room before she could respond. She called my name as I shut myself in my room, but she didn't follow me.

"Hey?"

It was Hazel on the other end. "Meet us for lunch?"

***

Mum tried to catch me on the way out of the house, but I sidestepped her. I shut the door on her face before she could start hounding me like I knew she was going to.

I walked around the block to the bus stop where I had to wait ten minutes for the bus. After the bus, I got on the train, and then I walked two blocks to the café Abb loved just five minutes' walk from main campus. Abb had found it in January and it had become our haunt ever since, even when we didn't have class.

They were in our usual corner, bags and purses spread over the two leather couches in a display of possession. I stopped by the counter to order a drink before joining them at the back with my number on a stick. I passed an elderly man with a news paper shouting an obnoxious headline to the world with a ghastly picture of me splayed underneath. I shuddered and just about dived onto the couch beside Abb.

"Gentle." She grabbed her purse out of the way. "Gosh, what is the matter with you?"

"Have you seen the news? Superheroes are now supervillains," I told her, putting my bag on the floor and my number on the table. "I'm jumpy."

"Load of crap," Hazel retorted, and a woman with two young children gave her a dark look, "they are just trying to make news where there isn't any."

"You don't believe Whisper has done wrong?" I asked it with hope in my heart. Sure, my mother believed but I needed my two best friends on my side as well.

"Call me biased," Abb said softly, giving the mother an apologetic smile, "but I don't think somebody who saved me from an uncertain fate would turn around and kill a dozen people."

"Exactly."

Satisfied that I had unknowing allies, I gave them both a huge smile and changed the subject. "So how have you been?"

Hazel snorted indelicately. "You are asking us?"

"You guys were kidnapped," I stated.

"You've been a know show for the past three weeks, we only knew you weren't dead in a ditch somewhere because your mum said you'd locked yourself in you room," Hazel told me, looking stormy.

"One iced coffee?" I hadn't noticed the barista approach the table and I almost shot out of my chair at his voice.

"Here, please," I squeaked and watched him set it down. When I spoke again, my voice was more normal. "Thank you."

"Are you waiting on anything else?" I shook my head and he grabbed my number off the table before looking to Hazel and Abb who both had drinks on the table in front of them. "Are you guys waiting on anything?"

"Yes, we are, thank you," Abb chirped politely.

He smiled at her. "I'll check on your order and have it out in just a minute."

He was gone and Hazel was still giving me a dark look.

"I'm sorry okay. Something happened – no I'm not ready to talk about it – and I just needed time off."

She didn't appear mollified by my explanation, "You're going to have to tell us one day."

"I will," I promised, "one day. When I'm ready."

I could still see she wasn't pleased but she accepted my answer and moved onto a new topic of conversation. Abb studied me for a moment before following Hazel's lead. In that moment, I couldn't have been more grateful of my friends. I didn't deserve them.

By the time their food came, we were deep in conversation about school and their home lives. It had been so long I had almost forgotten what it was like to sit back with my friends and just have a laugh. Not think about who I saved and who I didn't. I was even able to forget – for a little while – that I had allegedly committed multiple homicides in the most gruesome murder Perth had seen in decades.

By the time we left, an hour had passed in the blink of an eye. We parted with the girls making me promise to meet them for breakfast before class on Monday. I agreed, already doubting my presence.