I'm not okay

My head was pounding, and the constant whispers around me were only making it worse. I squeezed my eyes shut and turned around, burying my face in the covers in an attempt to fall asleep once more. I’m sure I could have succeeded as well, if it wasn’t for somebody noticing and deciding to let the whole world know that I was awake. At least, that’s what it sounded like they were trying to do, judging by the volume of their voice.
I groaned in annoyance and opened my eyes, turning around to glare at the culprit, only to discover that it was none other than Frank.
Despite Frank sitting beside me, my attention was drawn towards my Aunt, who had appeared in the doorway with an extremely guilty look upon her face.
‘I’m sorry Charlotte, I thought he already knew.’ She explained quietly, leaving the room before I had a chance to reply, or even figure out what she meant.
Of course, it didn’t take long for me to realise what she was talking about when I saw the look of disappointment present in Frank’s eyes.
‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ He asked, confusion clear on his face.
‘I’m sorry; I just, I don’t know, I guess I just didn’t know how to.’ I stuttered my reply.
‘Charl, I thought you could tell me anything; why would you not tell us something like this? This is huge!’
I shut my eyes; I should have known that this would all come back to me at some point, but I just hoped that it wouldn’t.
‘I’m sorry, okay? I did say that I was going to tell you guys at some point, but I was waiting for the right time. I was just scared that it would ruin our friendship.’ I admitted, getting frustrated that he was getting so angry at me for simply not telling him something, when he knew that I was planning to tell him eventually anyway.
Silence filled the air for a while, both of us wanting to get our points across, yet being too scared of ruining our friendship that was already hanging by a thread.
‘You still could’ve told me.’ Frank sighed, defeated.
‘I could have, but I didn’t. It’s too late now anyway thanks to Aunt Tay.’ I replied, suddenly letting all of my anger for Frank filter onto my Aunt.
‘It’s not her fault; she thought you’d already told me.’ He defended her.
I sighed, wishing that today could just be non-existent.
‘Wait- what happened with the trial?’ I asked, sitting up rapidly as I remembered the events earlier on in the day.
‘They had to carry it on without you, but they did take what happened into consideration, so uh, his sentence has been prolonged; only by a couple of years.’
Relief flowed through my body simply at hearing the word ‘prolonged’, and I felt relaxed for the first time since I’d heard about the re-assessment.
Finally, I felt as though my life could go forwards.