How far out can you get before there's no turning back?

The first couple of weeks following my "confession" about setting Kayla up I started to doubt I had made the right decision. I thought I had known what I would be getting myself into, but I guess not.

I had been forced to face trial, which turned out to be way scarier than I had ever considered. The trial was fairly short. I mean I wasn't exactly denying the conviction.

By the end I was sentenced to two months in a juvenile center, the same one Kayla had come from ironically. The judge gave me a break I suppose, because two months is really hardly anytime. Far shorter than the time Kayla would have spent in a real prison had she been convicted of attempted murder.

And that's what it all falls back on. I'm not sure why I decided to help Kayla, but that discussion we had, the one where we both shared our darkest secrets, had shown me a side of her that I had never seen before. A damaged, vulnerable side that had called at a certain protectiveness inside of me.

Maybe it reminded me of my sister. Maybe I just wanted someone to save so that I could make up for the terrible mistakes of my past. Like I said, I don't know.

But that's how I ended up here, nearly three months later, in a juvenile detention facility. I sometimes wondered if Kayla found all of this a big joke. The straight laced, good grades, perfect kid in juvie. I know at times I found it hilarious, in a sort of what the hell have I done kind of way.

I was lost in this kind of contemplation when a social worker, her name was Mrs. Cooper, came in.

"Paige sweetie, it's time to go." She said with a smile lingering on her face.

Yes. It was time to go. My two months had been served and now I would get to go home and continue life as it had been before.

Getting up I looked around the small, cramped space that had been my room for two months and was glad to be leaving. I followed Mrs. Cooper out of the door and into the main lobby. Sitting down at the front desk she began to fill out paper work for my release.

She signed all of the papers, handed a copy to me, and filed the rest away. Then, looking at me with a strange smile on her face she said, "Your parents called earlier this week and informed me that they would not be able to make it due to conflicting plans, but that they would get home as soon as possible to see you."

"What!" I cried out alarmed. It wasn't that I was completely surprised that neither Mom or Dad could make it, they were usually always busy with something. And it wasn't that I was upset about it either, I knew they loved me and were not upset about my short time in juvie. They understood.

But seriously, how the hell was I supposed to get home. I couldn't exactly call a taxi, I didn't have any money.

Mrs. Cooper, misreading the look on my face, said gently, "They sounded very sad to miss you."

"That's not it." I said trying to explain, "How am I supposed to get home?"

"Oh, of course! No need to worry about that, your ride is waiting outside." Their was that secret smile back on her face.

"Okay," I said relieved. "I guess I'll go."

I walked out the door with her calling "Good luck, honey!" behind me.

Smiling I continued towards the parking lot, and then went completely still as I saw what Mrs. Cooper meant.

"Hi," Kayla said hesitantly. She looked like a completely different person. She was wearing a nice looking pair of jeans and a simple grey t-shirt, her hair was perfectly combed, and though I couldn't be sure from this distance I was pretty certain that she had a light dusting of make-up on.

However, most noticeable of all was the change in her expression. No longer did she wear that scowl on her face that had always been present when I was around her. Her eyes also no longer contained the hate and pain that I had thought was a permanent feature of the Kayla I knew.

But I didn't know this Kayla.

This Kayla was completely different. Obviously the last two months had changed her far more than it had me.

Kayla shifted nervously from one foot to another as I continued to observe her.

"Hi," I said back just as hesitantly, unsure of what to say.

She didn't say anything else, just stood there observing me as I had been observing her.

"You look different." I said, feeling the need to state the obvious.

"Yeah, I guess I am." She trailed off looking into to space, but at my enquiring raised eyebrow she went on to explain. "After you got sent away I got put with a new family. I wasn't too happy about it, but I stayed, tried to trust them. And I guess it all worked out, so thank you."

"Thank me? I kept you out of prison, but I didn't get you a new family. And I certainly didn't make you stay there, though I'm glad you have a home now. I'm glad you're happy" I said and it was completely true. I was glad she was happy. Even though she did all those bad things to me I was glad that things had ended well for her.

"But it was you!" Kayla cried out emphatically. "If you hadn't done what you did for me then I don't know if I ever would have been able to trust anyone again. You saved me Paige, so thank you."

I was stunned by her confession and even more so to realize I had my own. "You saved me too." I said quietly "Before I told you, the memory of my sister had been eating me alive. I hadn't even realized it, but when I told you it was like a huge weight came off me. Like I didn't have to be responsible for her death anymore. We saved each other"

After I finished we looked at each other and nodded. And after all that we had been through, after all of the fights, all of the fear, and all of the hate it ended up like this. Somehow, inexorably, we had become friends along the way. We now understood each other more than we ever had and with that thought in mind I walked to her car and got in.

When we started to ride out together we both had smiles on our faces.