"Hey, wait up Jess!"
I stopped in my tracks, looking back to find it was Mandy who called me and was now running to catch up. She just reached me, slightly panting, when she spoke "How'd you do your exam?"
I sighed "Okay, I guess. Algebra's the hardest subject we have. I just hope I can pass it, then the other tests won't be a problem."
Mandy nodded, her usually straight brown hair, now slightly curled and very bleached, bouncing off her shoulders. My mind raced right back to highschool. I remembered how we hated eachother, how she loved to put me down, how jealous she was of me and Luke. But it turned out to all be an act. And, now that I've gotten to know her, she was almost a nice person. Sure, she wasn't exactly a saint and she couldn't dispose of all her bad features, but at least her heart was in the right place.
"So, what've you got planned after school?" she continued.
I shrugged "Well, I'm probably gonna go see Luke at band practise. Michael's got a cast on his arm so they had to find someone to fill in for him while they're on tour."
"Oh," she said under her breath, looking like a culprit. We all agreed to forgive Mandy, be nice to her, give her another chance, mostly to my insisting. However, she, I could tell, still felt as though she owed us something, something to make up for highschool "Could I come with you? I haven't seen them in a really long time."
"Uh, well...sure." I stammered, taken aback by the sudden interest in my friends. We would mostly avoid the topic, perhaps she had something to tell them? I did forgive her and I do believe in second chances. However, I wasn't going to trust her uncoditionally just yet.
That morning had dragged on awfully long. The lectures, the revising and the stress were promising a mild mental break down if this wasn't over soon. Thankfully, the last bell of the day sounded and I was off to the front yard of campus to wait for Mandy. To my delight, since I did not feel like sitting around, she was already there, waiting by the gate. Wordlessly, I caught up with her and led the way to the nearest bus station. During the ride to the band's rehearsal studio, Mandy made next to no attemp of conversation. Usually, I'd be uncomfortable in a long silence, but today I was too tired to care.
The bus pulled up and, again, I led the way. We only needed to walk about 5 minutes before the familiar building came into view. I quickened my pace, but Mandy stopped me right in front of the enterance. I snapped, not fully concentrated on what had just happened "What?"
"Uh, Jessica, are you sure anyone in there will even want to talk to me?" she said, obviously a little uncomfortable with the situation.
"Um," I started, trying hard to sound confident and sure of my words "Of course! They don't think you're that bad anymore. You'll be fine."
And, while we pushed open the heavy front door, I tried to convince myself of the same thing. I didn't have to wonder much longer, though. Just seconds after I rang the doorbell, the door pulled open, revealing Jenna. She seemed to be in somewhat of a bad mood and seeing Mandy didn't help. The look on her face was a light mixture of confusion and utter surprise.
"Hi." Mandy waved awkwardly, but, even with her attempt to lighten the mood, the tension was still at a high level.
"Hey." Jenna greeted her back. Thankfully, there was mostly only confusion in her voice, meaning she must not have been too bothered by Mandy's presence "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, just thought to stop by. Haven't seen any of you in a while." she beamed.
Just like Jenna, I wasn't quite convinced by her words. I was almost 100% sure she had no bad intentions. Quite the contraty, the way Mandy was acting, I guessed she was here because of the unexisting debt she felt towards us. Of course, this was just my theory, since I liked to be nosey.
Jenna walked us into the studio. I didn't hear any music, so they must've been taking a break. There was, however, a lot of chatter and laughing coming from inside. Almost at the exact instant the door was opened the room went dead silent and every pair of eyes was staring at us.
A few mouths hung open as Mandy scratched the back of her neck. For almost a minute, you could hear a pin drop. First to speak up was Julie, who, much like me and Jenna, had little left against Mandy.
"Hi! How've you been Mandy?" she beamed and hugged her.
Luke wasn't nearly as pleased to see her. He jumped up, stomped right past Mandy, grabbing my hand and pulled me into the hallway. The door closed behind me and he whispered angirly through gritted teeth "Why did you bring her here?"
"Come on Luke, whatever feud there is between you two, you need to work it out!" I said, trying to reason with him.
"I don't want to talk to her! Today's a really awful day and you just made it worse!" he half yelled. Luckily, the lively chatter had engadged again so no one heard him.
I stared at him, stunned. I've never seen him so angry, not with me at least. Luke must've noticed the shock on my face, because his expression softened almost instantly "Oh my God, Jess I'm so sorry. I-I didn't mean to yell. Nothing is your fault, I'm so sorry."
"It's okay." I whispered calmly, reaching my arms out. We were soon locked in a tight embrace, but his apology didn't stop there "I've had a really rough day, with Joey and everything...I'm sorry, I'll never lash out at you again."
"Luke, I promise it's okay." I assured "I'm here now and I'm gonna help you get through this. Trust me, you'll feel much better. And, as for Joey, you can tell me all about that later, okay?"
He pulled away just enough for me to see him nodding.
~~~~~~~
hey guys!
|||IMPORTANT||| i need a cover for a book i'm going to write next and if any of you know how do make good covers, please please pm me. also, if i like your cover, i'm going to give you a shoutout on the next chapter :)
i want to know who you ship from 5sos, because i'm Muke all the way!
thanks for reading, voting and commenting! love you xx
