Make This Perfect Again

"Okay, Jaws, you've had enough time to say goodbye to mom and dad." Airin said, trying to pull me away from dad.

"But I don't wanna go!" I whined, clinging onto my mom.

"Josline, we've been here for a week! We gotta go home!" Airin said. We were standing at the Greyhound Bus Station in Castlegar, Marque was there with us, so he was travelling back to Vancouver with Marque. I was going back to Kelowna. I lived in a small house, that was more like a trailer than anything. Airin called my house a "red-neck mansion", because any red-neck would apparantly love to live in my house.

"But I don't wanna leave mommy!" I whined again.

"Josline...."I let go of my mom, and then Airin hugged her.

"I DON'T WANNA GO MOMMY!" Marque, dad and I laughed. Airin let go of mom and we got out stuff and hopped onto the bus. We got seats in the back of the bus, I was in the very last seat, Airin and Marque were ahead of me. I plugged my ipod into my ears and let my music drown out everything else.

We had been driving for nearly two hours, and we made another stop. The bus lerched to a stop at another station, andI was jolted awake. I took the headphones out of my ears and looked around. Marque was curled up next to Airin, Airin was basically squished against the side of the bus. I huffed and stood up to grab my laptop bag in the carrier above me. I took the laptop out and turned it on. I just happened to look up to see a girl that was extremely familiar to me. It took me a while to figure out who she was.

"Mariah?" She looked at me for a few seconds before walking back to the bus. "I...I don't know if you remember me..."

"Josline. Yeah, of course I remember my best friend." She sat down in the chair next to mine, smiling slightly. She looked so much different. Her hair had grown out into beautifully wavy and layered hair, her face was rounder, she was taller, and she was deffinatly skinnier. I leaned over and hugged her. I held back tears. I don't know why I wanted to cry, maybe it was because I hadn't had any contact with her aside from letters, or the extremely rare phone call. I let go of her after a few moments, wiping an escaping tear from my eye. "Aww, why are you crying?" Mariah asked me.

"Because I haven't seen you in so long! I thought you were dead at one point." I said, shaking my head a little. Mariah smiled sympathetically at me. She patted me lightly on the back. "So...where are you headed?" I asked her.

"I really don't know." She said, leaning back in her seat. "I really had no plan, Jeremy just said I had to get out of here for a while." I had to think for a long while to realize who 'Jeremy' was.

"Mr...Mr Logan?" I said, a little shocked. Mariah nodded. I had always known that Mariah liked him in high school, and that Mr Logan had taken her in and basically adopted her when her parents pushed her too far.

I was sitting in my room, doing my science homework. It was nearly eight on a Sunday. I heard the door open and my dad talking to someone. I continued on with my homework anyways. There was a knock at my door. "Come in." I said, still keeping my eyes on my homework.

"Jaws?" I lifted my head to see Mariah in my door way. I motioned for her to come into my bedroom. She closed the door and walked inside, then I got a good look at her face. She had a fresh bruise across the right side of her face. I closed my grade 9 science text book onto the floor, taking my glasses off.

"What...what happened Rye?" I asked her, getting off my bed.

"I'm leaving." Mariah said.

"It's about time! You can stay here whenever, and HOW ever long you'd like." I gave her a quick hug.

"Thank's Jaws, but I'll only be here overnight. I just really need to get out of here." Mariah rubbed her arm. I put my hand on her shoulder gently. I walked over to my writing desk and pulled open the top drawer. I grabbed a brown paper bag filled with my tips I had made from the restaraunt. There had to be over 100 dollars saved up. I had been working since Februrary, and it was May.I held it out to Mariah, who just stared at it.

"Take it, it's yours." I said.

"No...I can't. That's your money, you've earned it." Mariah said.

"You need it a hell of a lot more than I do." I said. Mariah just shook her head. "Okay, but if you want it, you can have it." Mariah slightly smiled at me.

"Thanks. Can I go use your shower?" I nodded and she left my room. I heard her say hello to Airin. He walked by my opened door, paused, and turned to face me.

"What's wrong now?" He asked. I shrugged my shoulders.

"I don't know." I said. Airin looked at the brown paper bag in my hands.

"Those are your tips?" I nodded. I then spied Mariah's back pack on the floor. I walked over to my desk and got out a piece of paper and a pen. I quickly scribbled down a note for her.

'Mariah,
I know you said you didn't want it, but I'm giving you my money anyways. I don't care what you do with it, just make sure your safe and that you get some where safe. But remember one thing, Rye. I love you, and you're always going to be my best friend. Call me ANYTIME, and I mean, anytime. I don't care if it's 2:30 in the fucking morning, just call me, if you need me.'

I attached it to the paper bag and unzipped Mariahs bag. "Hey,whoa. What are you doing?" I put the bag in Mariahs back pack and zipped it back up. I stood up straight and looked at Airin.

"Helping a friend in need."

"You're staying at my place." I said to Mariah. Mariah looked at me, a shocked expression on her face.

"Oh, no, I couldn't do that." She said.

"Mariah, I don't care if you don't want to, you need a place to stay. And you're not staying on the streets in Kelowna, or wherever you decide to get off." I said firmly.

"Thank you, Josline." She leaned over and hugged me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Airin peeking over the seat.

"Helping a friend in need." He whispered to me. I smiled at him.

Life was strange sometimes. But sometimes...I just loved it.