The Best Is Yet to Come

“Jasey?” Katie’s voice was hysterical. The right side of my face was against something cold and wet. There was something warm and thick trickling down the back of my neck – but it was drying. The back of my head screamed in pain. Katie was crouched over me, tears streaking down her cheeks. She was alive. Katie was alive.

“Shit.” Her hands were shaking violently. “Are you okay?”

“Are you?” My voice was weak and cracked. I was genuinely concerned about her.

“Yeah,” she stammered, her voice was thick with tears. “Can we go? Can you get up?”

I gently pushed my palms against the cold concrete and gently pushed upwards. Katie’s shaking hands helped me to my feet and I raised my own to check the back of my head. It wasn’t bleeding anymore but my neck was covered in blood. My vision suddenly went very blurry and I fell against the wall for support. Katie caught me and wrapped my arm around her neck.

“Have you got your phone?” Katie did her best to control the situation, to help me but I could tell she wanted to break down.

“It was in my bag,” I grunted and blinked my vision back to normal. “Ow!”

Katie pulled my weight onto her and together we walked down the street – her house wasn’t far. I just managed to do it; I couldn’t see or think much past the blinding headache the pain in my head was giving me. I was through Katie’s door only to be arrived to the shrieks of Mrs Armstrong.

“Katie! Jasey! What-” she cried exasperatedly, I must have looked bad for her to be freaking out so much.

“Mugged,” Katie told her. I just wanted to sit down. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Blood soaked the side of my neck and matted my hair. I had cuts and grazes up the right side of my feet where my face had landed on the floor. Katie was white as a sheet but at least she’d escaped relatively unscathed.

“Oh my god!” Mrs Armstrong yelped and I was led to the sofa where I was ordered to lie down.

I was grateful. I closed my eyes and only caught glimpses of the chaos. Parents, an ambulance and police were called. I heard Katie on the phone to someone, a deeper voice on the other end of the line – it was one of the boys. I groaned but didn’t protest much, I was in too much pain. I slipped under consciousness until the ambulance arrived where I was hurried away to hospital. Sometime later a new much higher pitch of shriek announced the arrival of my mother. I just kept my eyes shut and tried not to focus on the pain. I just wanted to slip away into the darkness again, there was no pain there

Sounds tuned in and out like someone was playing with a radio – I only caught snippets of conversations. I had no awareness of my surroundings.

When I aroused next I found myself lying in a bed. I was officially hospitalised. Great. There was a drip in my arm but I hadn’t been changed, hopefully that meant I wasn’t staying long. The pain had subsided to a gentle sting; I must have been really drugged up. My mother was at the end of the bed, her face as white as Katie’s had been, she was staring at me anxiously. I just wanted to skip the dramatics.

“Hey,” I whispered and sat up slightly. Really, really drugged up. “Am I okay?” I asked her rather bluntly. It took a moment for her to respond.

“Yes, you’ve got concussion and nasty gash on the back of your head, but no permanent damage.” Her voice broke at the end and her eyes filled with tears. Relief washed over me in waves and the news relaxed me ever so slightly.

“How’s Katie?” I asked, she’d seemed fine…

“She’s okay, we sent them home. The police have been called.”

I tried nodding, but that was too painful.

“We told your friends not to come, you can be discharged soon.”More relief washed over me.

“Katie told you what happened then?” I guessed as she wasn’t inquiring me. My mother’s expression turned into one of anger.

“Why did fight back? It’s a bag Jasey! What’s worth more? Material crap or your life?” She was furious, she got up out of her chair.

“I-” I had no idea why I had fought back. I had acted stupidly, extremely stupidly but the concern for my best friend had overpowered all common sense. I didn’t reply for her, I just sunk into the pillows and stared at the wall wondering what would have happened if I had not followed Katie home, if I hadn’t argued with her in the first place.

My mum wasn’t quite right, I was discharged the next day with subscribed medicine and recommendations for bed rest - something I wasn’t about to complain about. Katie and her parents were in our house waiting for us. Katie looked shaken and she looked at me with such concern I wanted to cry. She wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a careful hug.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered into my ear. She hiccupped a sob.

“For what?” I asked incredulously.

“Everything.” She broke down there and burst into hysterics again. I hugged her tight and tried to be a best friend.

“Thank you,” she finally managed to say. “You saved me.”Oh there was the cliché I was waiting for.

“Forget about it,” I replied in similar style. My mother pulled me away from her and put me to bed straight away. I was curious as to why I wasn’t so shaken by the ordeal, like Katie, maybe I was in shock.

Finally the hysteria kicked in at dawn. I started to cry and scream and shake. My mum climbed into bed with me whispering words of comfort that I would not listen to. My heart remained to stammer at unnatural pace for the rest of the day and my hands still shook. The strong hospital drugs had worn off around the same time I got visitors.

The boys assembled into my bedroom cautiously. I didn’t look up when the entered. I was on my side; my face was resting on another pillow that was clutched to my chest, the white case now smudged with black. I didn’t want to look at them. I didn’t want to answer their questions. I just wanted to crawl away, I just wanted to stop the pain in my head.

“How are you Jase?” Josh was the first to ask. I didn’t reply, I just clutched my pillow to me tighter. They all exchanged a glance. None of them pushed for an answer. Again, josh was the first to cross the invisible line that was keeping them so far away from me. He sat down on the end of my bed, under where my knees were curled up. I finally looked up to meet his gaze; his eyes matched those of Katie’s last night. I swallowed hard and did my best to keep myself composed.

“I’m fine.” My voice was cracked from lack of use. I cleared my throat and sat up slightly. Jack followed Josh’s lead but went further; he climbed up onto the space behind me and gently stroked my arm. Max sat down on the floor in front of me and Joe sat behind him. I looked at all of them, except Jack but I couldn’t turn to see him. Each of their faces wore the same expression of anxiety; they looked a bit worn on all honesty. “Honestly, I’m fine. Just a bit of a headache.”

“We’re sorry,” Jack said from behind me.

“Don’t be,” I argued. Why were they apologising?

“We should have been out with you last night,” Josh told me.

“What and have all your asses kicked?” I teased them lightly, the happiest thing I’d done in what felt like ages. None of them cracked a smile; worry was etched on their features too deeply.

“How’s Katie?” I kept asking the same question, she was the reason I’d risked my life.

“She’s fine,” Josh repeated for me. His eyes danced over the grazes on my face .

“I’m fine!” I insisted again.

“Jase, you got mugged,” Max said, his statement rich with meaning.

“So did Katie,” I replied uncomfortably. I wasn’t going to talk about the experience with them, or replay the night like I had several time for my mother, my father, Katie and the policed. Jack must have sensed this because he cut across Max before he could press on.

“What’d they nick?”

“My phone, some money, a really cute top and necklace I’d bought earlier before I met up with Katie.” I pouted at the thought of what I’d lost. I really did like my top and necklace that I’d found and now lost. I wasn’t too bothered about my phone; I wanted a new one anyways. No one knew what to say, so we sat in silence for twenty whole minutes. Something about the date made me register something.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in school?” I asked demanded from them. I realised I sounded like their mother but I was concerned about my friends.

“Yeah.” Joe shrugged and the four of them burst into laughter.

“Oh you bunch of rebels.” I twisted and sat up against my headboard.

“That’s us.” Max winked to more laughter.

“Like you said Jase, we’re gonna fail anyways, one day won’t hurt.”Jack nudged my side and I responded with a smile.

“We’re going be so rich and famous we won’t need GCSE’s anyways,” Max said smugly, raising his hands to rest his head on as he leant back. I rolled my eyes and smiled a bit more.

“An unnamed band with hardly any songs? Oh yeah, superstars.” Josh laughed. Pillows were thrown at him from his fellow members. I giggled when Josh almost toppled off onto the carpet, he clutched at my duvet but he slipped and fell on his arse. I burst into a fit of laughter then with the rest of the room – Josh’s disgruntled face only added to the sweet medicine. I clutched my stomach in the attempt to stop the pain the laughter was causing me. I loved my boys.

I was recovering slowly, I felt so much better when the boys were about to leave.

“Where were you last night to abandon us?” I asked inquisitively. Silence fell over the room like an omen. My insides twisted uncomfortably at their guilty faces. “What? Where were you?”

“We kinda had our first gig,” Joe answered for the group. My heart sank to my feet.

“What?” I responded coldly. I’d been banned from practice; I’d never been allowed to hear anything of their music. So now my other best friends were keeping me in the dark from things – Gee, I felt loved.

“We played at the place where Elissa started off with her acoustic sets to see how people reacted to our music,” Josh said casually. None of them would meet my gaze. I moved away from Jack and sat up a bit more. Anger bubbled through my worn system and my head seared again.

“You’re kidding me,” I hissed and for some reason, my eyes filled up with more tears, I thought I’d cried them all out.

“We’re sorry,” Jack whispered to my right but I recoiled when he moved closer. Did none of them really care about me? First Katie had shut me out about her partying and then the boys had played to a room full of people behind my back, when I hadn’t even heard anything. I felt completely betrayed. The same annoyance that filled me last night in my argument with Katie resurfaced. I wanted to push past it - look what it had gotten me last night. I took a very, very deep breath and channelled all my anger out into the air. It was several moments before I spoke. I fixed my glare to an expressionless gaze.

“How’d it go?” I asked as calmly as I could – I sounded pretty dead, my voice lacked so much emotion. The boy’s quick exchange of glances conveyed their concern about my reaction. Josh looked at me uncertainly and was about to answer but Max did.

“It was amazing!” He answered with such enthusiasm a smile tugged at my lips. The boy bounced up and onto his knees. He suddenly became very animated. “Everyone seemed to like it! We’ve got something good here Jase!”

He was so cute! I laughed at his passion and the gesture erased all feelings of anger from me. It was suddenly replaced by pride.

“Calm down bro!” Joe ruffled Max’s hair until it looked wild.

I looked at the others. Josh and Jack looked bashful and embarrassed.

“It was alright,” Josh admitted with a rub to the back of his neck.

“Yeah, we were in an acoustic bar, it was… different.” Jack shrugged, the same amount of awkwardness in his voice as Josh’s.

“I can’t believe I haven’t heard you yet!” My arms crossed into a pout, my expression followed suit. “What are you?”

“Are you trying to get us to define our sound?” Joe asked with a laugh. I looked over at him and nodded eagerly, if they weren’t going to let me hear then I wanted to know!

“Why won’t you let me hear?” I asked curiously. Addmitidly, I was really annoyed that they hadn’t let me hear anything yet, but I wasn’t really up for an argument. They guys shrugged in unison.

“It’s just not right yet,” Joe told me.

“Yeah, got to be perfect for your fine tastes.” Jack ribbed me playfully sending me into fits of giggles. I pretended to be outraged and hit him with my mascara stained pillow. I let it slip, okay, they wanted to get stuff right first, that showed they cared about my opinion, didn’t it?

I recovered quite quickly. I had the week off school, thanks to my anxious mother, and the weekend involved me snuggled up on the sofa surrounded my best friends (except Jack on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday). I wasn’t going to complain about it, I loved the time I spent with them. Although, being cooped up in the same setting each day soon had me gagging for the outside world – for the social scene.

As if to answer my torment, an occasion arose for a full on party the next Friday. It was Marissa Louis birthday party and apparently we’d all gained an invite. Of course, my eagerness caused outrage. Everyone was against me going due to the idea of mixing alcohol and some of my painkillers. I argued I hadn’t taken them in days, I’d been in school and I didn’t really need them anymore, but still they persisted the party would be bad for me.

“I won’t drink if you don’t,” I told Josh as I raided my wardrobe for something nice to wear. He sat on the end of my bed, his arms folded and a disapproving scowl plastered on his face. He was my ‘escort’ to the party after the incident of the previous week. “I thought Jack was ‘picking me up’.”

“Mmm, I haven’t heard off him,” Josh murmured.

“Me either, but I do lack a phone,” I grumbled. “I haven’t seen him much this week,” I added thoughtfully. “Is he okay?”

“He’s been off in school, there’s something up…” Josh trailed off in thought.

“Yeah, I noticed there was something wrong in school yesterday- ”The throught brushed off to the back of my mind as my eyes traced over my favourite little black dress. I squealed with delight and yanked it off the hanger. Josh fell backwards onto my bed with a little grunt.

“Hurry up,” he moaned as I vanished to change in the bathroom. Boys should learn from birth that it takes a woman a while to get ready – it’s mainly for them so they shouldn’t complain. I dusted my cheeks with a rosy blusher to finish off my make up and ran my fingers loosely through my hair. I hurried back into the bedroom and snatched my heels up from the floor.

“Come on,” I told Josh as I slipped them onto my feet. He swung his feet off the end of my bed and glared at me.

“Could you take any longer?” he growled. I ran forwards and kissed his forehead to leave a big pink lipstick mark there.

“I’m sorry.” I couldn’t stop the giggle that escaped my lips. I tugged at his hand and together we left for Marissa’s house. Typical Weybridge weather had rain pelting down overhead with a bleak looking sky that didn’t seem like it was about to clear up. My mother decided to give us a lift to save my hair and hours of work. Josh was very pissed by this point – it meant he wasn’t needed, so he’d sat around waiting for me for no reason.

When we arrived, he seemed to cheer up at the sight of his best friends. We wished Marissa a happy birthday and handed over cards and presents. Together we found our lot in the kitchen, of course, with drinks already in hands. I snatched Jacks from his hand and took a sip, my remaining lipstick left a mark on the head. Jack watched me carefully and I blushed. All eyes fell on Josh’s forehead and I stifled a laugh.

“Got lucky already did we Josh?” Joe asked, snickering.

“What?” he responded, blankly.

“I’ve got some blusher to match that shade of lipstick Josh.” Katie even began rummaging through her bag. Josh’s eyes flickered over to the mirror on the wall before they found me. I blew him a kiss

He just scowled and snatched a beer from the cooler. Jack looked awkward as Josh rubbed the mark from his forehead.

I was so happy to be out and about. No one was bugging me to retell the story of my dramatic episode the previous week – all that drama had happened in school. By now everyone knew mine and Katie’s tale; Katie had rather enjoyed the attention. I jumped up onto the counter next to Jack to gain some height next to the boys; Jack turned his body towards mine but his eyes still focused on Josh. His eyes were glazed over, as if he wasn’t seeing his best friend, as if he was thinking deeply about something else. His eyebrows were dipped and puckered into a cute little frown, he looked like he was trying to decide something…

My heart skipped a beat. Was he going to make a move? Tonight, at the party, it’d be perfect!

“You alright Jack?” No response. “Jaaaaack?”

I waved my hand in front of his unfocused eyes and he blinked rapidly.

“Hello,” he muttered, caught off guard.

“You alright?” I asked concerned. There was something really wrong with him.

“Yeah…” I could tell he was still deep in thought. He wandered away from me and towards the living room. My heart sank a little at his departure so I turned to Max, trying to convince myself that everything was okay.

It was impossible to be around Max and not have your mood lifted dramatically. He just radiated good energy, he had the room grinning and laughing within minutes and the kitchen began to fill rapidly. New comers mingled with each other as they cracked open various bottles of alcohol. I soon lost my friends in the throng of people but I didn’t care, it was nice to see others for a change. I talked to Marissa about her birthday and about the boys she’d invited – apparently she was eyeing up someone from the sixth form – Alex something? Marissa’s closer friends gathered and soon I got chatting with the bunch of giggly girls who were more talkative under the influence of the drinks in their hands. I was thankful to talk to other females other than Katie.

I was soon craving Jack after my fourth bottle. I wanted to find him and push things forward – I couldn’t take it anymore. I carefully manoeuvred my way through the large mass of people that was spread throughout the house searching for the familiar face that I wanted to see so badly.

I soon realised, I also really needed the loo. I glanced upstairs and decided not to disturb the couples making out upstairs and used the downstairs one. I pulled it open to three gasps – one of them my own.

Josh was pinned to the wall about a dark haired girl in my year – Nia something…

“Ew.” I couldn’t stop it escaping my lips. I bit my lip to contain any thing else and the snicker that wanted to escape so badly. Josh was staring at me in shock and the girl was glaring at me.

“Break it up lovers, I need to pee.” I was a blunt half drunk. Nia took Josh’s hand and pulled him from the room as she growled. I wiggled my eyebrows at Josh as he was dragged from the small room. I wasn’t going to let him live this down. I shut and locked the door.

Two minutes later, I dried my hands on the pink towels and tried to open the door. The handle was stuck. I closed my hand around the cold metal handle and pushed – nothing. I grunted and decided to shoulder the door at the same time. This was not the best of ideas – I managed to open it, but I stumbled through the frame and lost my balance in my heels. I staggered forwards fell into someone. Cold beer sloshed down my front and down my favourite outfit.

“Sorry!” I cried as I regained myself. My tone twisted to a groan as the light from the bathroom shone on the damage to my clothes.

“Are you okay?”

I looked up at the boy who I’d fallen into. My mouth fell open ever so slightly. He was gorgeous – he had styled dark brown hair, with piercing blue eyes and a well built frame. He looked down at my clothes and an apology escaped his lips.

“Oh crap, I’m really sorry!”

“It’s fine.” I straightened my outfit and sighed at the wet patches. It’d come out. I looked up to find him staring at me with a heart melting smile. I returned the smile but before he could say something someone tugged on my arm.

“Jase… Can I talk to you?”

It was Jack. Memories flooded back as my heart rate picked up. His touch sent electricity through my veins. I smiled wider and nodded at the boy who was glaring at Jack before turning to my best friend. My smile faltered at his expression.

“What’s wrong?” I asked instantly. His jaw was tight and his eyes flickered to the boy behind me.

“Can we go somewhere private?” He pulled me away from the handsome boy and towards the stairs.

“Not the best of ideas,” I whispered in his ear. The staircase was dotted with different couples. Instead he pulled me towards the porch. It was quieter in the small room.

Jack bit his lip and hesitated.

“Jack…” I encouraged but he didn’t respond. He was staring intently at the floor.

“I don’t- I’m not- Maybe I should get the others…Tell you together…”

“What?” I took a step towards him, now very concerned.

“But you, Jase… I- I mean, me and you…” He trailed off and looked up at me as if trying to convey a message. I caught it and my stomach fluttered with a private happiness. The twisted angst in his expression stopped my joy at the realisation that he felt the same way.

“Jack, what is it?” I asked seriously.

“I can’t- I should tell you all t-”

“Jack, you tell me right now,” I pressed angrily. I was setting myself up for something bad. Jack ran a hand through the fringe of his hair and pushed it out of his eyes as a distraction. He took a deep breath and looked at me full on.

“I’m moving,” he told me simply. My forehead creased involuntarily into a sceptical frown.

“And? What’s wrong with that?” I’d set myself up for something really, really bad.

“To America,” he added. My heart thudded to a halt, my whole body froze in the shock as it had the night I’d heard Katie’s blood curling scream. My stomach twisted into an knot so uncomfortable I felt sick. I stared at Jack’s painful apologetic face and for the first time ever, tears filled his eyes. Bass from the speakers in the living room pounded through me and filled the horrible silence.

“Wh-what?” I said after a moment, my voice broke. My throat was thick with tears that had not yet spilled over.

“I’m moving to America next month. My dad’s got a job there.” His voice as cracked as mine. “I haven’t told the others.”

I was the lucky first one? I had to process this alone? Fury spiked my blood but it didn’t last, disappointment and sadness overwhelmed me completely. Jack wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his torso – I was refusing to let the tears fall. As the night before, I was in too much shock to let the tears win. I gripped him tight and inhaled deeply.

“You really need to tell the others,” I whispered into his chest.

“I know, I will. I just wanted to tell you first because… well...”

No more words needed to be spoke, even though I wished he would – we both knew it would only hurt us if we faced the truth. I pressed my lips to his neck and sighed heavily. He kissed the top of my head.

“I’m so sorry Jasey,” he breathed. I pulled away from him and nodded without looking up.

“Tell them,” I told him, the shock still controlling my emotions. We split up to gather the others and I managed to find Max and Katie together and sent them to the porch. Josh was harder to find. I found him in the garden with Nia wrapped around him. I ignored her glower as I interrupted them for the second time. My expression was giving me away.

“You okay?” Josh mouthed at me and I nodded.

“Jack needs to speak to you,” I told him emotionlessly. “Now.”

My tone had a meaningful hint that moved him away from the little disgruntled slut on his arm. I followed him back to the kitchen but couldn’t go any further.

I watched as Jack told his band mates, his best friends that he was leaving them forever. Their faces mirrored my feeling of shock; all except Josh’s who looked slightly angry. Katie’s expression fell and she was fighting back tears as I had. Jack apologised to them over and over again, but Josh didn’t seem to be having any of it.

“You’re just gonna leave us?” he shouted – a number of heads turned to look at them. Jack looked hopelessly at his best friend; he seemed to cower back under Josh’s glare. “Fucking great!”

The hallway fell silent, everyone was looking at them. Jack looked around the room, before his eyes landed on me and his face whitened. He turned his head back to Josh and then left. Watching Jack leave finally broke me. My breath caught in my throat and choked into a dry sob.

“Go after him you idiots!”I screamed at my best friends. I stormed down the hall way and shoved roughly past Josh. “You can’t let him leave alone!”

Someone caught me before I could reach the front door. It was Max.

“We’ll go after him,” Joe assured me, they could see I was on the verge of a breakdown. “We’ll try and bring him home.”

I nodded gratefully at them and Max released me.

“Josh get your fucking arse out there and apologise,” I snapped at the boy, I could see the anger fading and the regret growing. His white face nodded and he followed his friends out the door. The door shut and I broke. I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore.

Right there, in the middle of the party, surrounded by people from school I cried over Jack. I slid down the wall and pressed my forehead against my knees. I felt as if my heart had been ripped in two – the first boy I’d fallen for and I would never see him again. I wasn’t sure where Katie was but someone was sitting next to be a few minutes later. I hadn’t heard the boys return. An arm wrapped around me and I fell against a warm comfortable chest. It was too broad for Josh or Max or Joe or… Jack.

“We need to get you home,” a voice whispered in my ear, my theory of another person was confirmed. I was breaking in some strangers arms. I was lifted to my feet and I blinked vigorously through the black mess that was my ruined make up. I looked up to find the handsome face of the boy I’d bumped into earlier. I wiped my eyes and the mascara smudged over my cheeks and fingers. I couldn’t care less right now.

“No,” I said in a lost voice.

“Come on,” he urged softly in my ear.

“I can’t- J-Josh, I have to wait for Jo- I have to go after them- I need-” I couldn’t say his name.

“You can’t go out there, they’re too far gone,” he warned.

I was lead away from the party but not out of the house, the boy half carried my up the stairs, past the staring couples who had finally broken apart. I was pulled into a spare bedroom and the door was shut. I sat down, shaking, onto the bed and took calming breaths. I was over-reacting right? Jack hadn’t actually left yet, he’d just told us… Maybe I was being a stupid female; hormones were controlling my mood… or it was the alcohol. But my best friend, the one I loved was leaving us, leaving me.

The brunette sat down on the bed next to me and put an arm around me, he leant in and looked at me anxiously.

“Are you okay?” he asked in a soft voice. I nodded vigorously, but my sniff gave me away. I wiped my eyes to clear as much tears and ruined make up from them. He looked at my dubiously.

“I am,” I lied.

“What happened? Boyfriend break up with you or something?”

The question almost set me off but I kept myself composed.

“He’s not my boyfriend, never has been, never… will.” I swallowed thickly. The boy looked apologetic so I smiled ever so slightly. He caught on that I didn’t really want to talk about it and just pulled me to his chest.

“We’ll wait here for your friends, then we really should get you home.”

I didn’t argue, but if they didn’t return with Jack I was going after him personally.

“I’m Alex by the way,” he added gently into my ear.

“Jasey,” I muttered into his chest. He had quite a muscular frame, not too big but well toned. His shirt was stained with black thanks to my mascara and his neck smelt of sweet alluring aftershave that had my heart stammering.

“Are you Erin’s little sister?” he asked curiously.

“You’re in her college.” It was a statement not a question but he answered anyway.

“Yeah, she coming back soon?”

“Next week, stupid girl, she’s missed so much of college.” I leant back, appreciating the change of topic to look up at him.

“Yeah she is a wild one,” he agreed with a laugh. “Where’d she go? Venice?”

“Yep, and then Rome.” The conversation led off to my sister. I missed my sister. I sat in the spare room talking with Alex until they returned half an hour later.

They were redirected by other guests to the room we were in. Josh burst, looking quite angry, into the small bedroom. I jumped a mile at his arrival and bounced away from Alex. He narrowed his eyes at the pair of us.

“Where is he?” I asked desperately.

“Home,” Max answered for us, his eyes flickered to Alex and he smiled. “Hey Al.”

“Hey Max,” Alex responded. Josh raised his eyebrows at Max and I frowned at Alex.

“College,” Max said simply. Max was such a close friend it was weird he wasn’t in our school, he was off with a load of others, and Joe in my sisters College. Josh, Jack and I were still in Comprehensive studying for our GCSE’s.

“Is he okay?” I pressed on.

“Yeah, we got him home, Josh apologised,” Joe told me and shut the door behind him. I glared at Josh.

“How could you do that to your best friend?” I snapped and he recoiled hurt.

“I react differently to Jase, I don’t break down into a tearful mess in front of everyone.”

“There’s no need for that,” Alex said defensively, Josh opened his mouth to respond but I stood up and stopped him.

“Can we go?”

Josh, Max and Joe walked me and Katie, who we found downstairs with a boy comforting her, home - thankfully it had stopped raining. Alex had protested and wanted to walk me home but the boys explained our situation. On the way home, Max explained what had happened when they’d found Jack. I was thankful to the boys and I was thankful that Jack was okay. Katie was first to be walked home as she lived closer.

“We’ll see him tomorrow,” he assured me when we reached his door. I smiled and hugged him tight.

“Thank you Max,” I whispered in his ear. He rubbed up and down my back comfortingly.

“Take care love.”

It was just me, Josh and Joe left – my house was next. Even though I was in quite a foul mood with Josh a question was burning me up inside. I sipped in between the two boys and asked the question I was dying to know the answer to.

“So… Nia?”

Josh’s gaze suddenly dropped to the road and Joe laughed.

“What happened between you? What’s going to happen between you?” I pressed more eagerly, I kept my tone professional and serious.

“Nothing, well… yeah we necked and stuff but… I dunno, doubt I’ll see her again, it was only a party. Did you get off with Jack? Or that Alex kid?”

My cheeks burned at the change of subject and I wanted to slap him for the implied meaning behind the double question. A feeling of regret washed over me, why didn’t I try anything with Jack before he’d told me? Would it have made things better or worse?

When we reached my house, I said goodnight to the boys, my farewell less friendly to Josh given he’d made Jack run off in the first place. I knew as I shut the door, tomorrow wasn’t going to be easy.