Climbs of Passion [ON HOLD]

Chapter Eleven: Birds of a Feather

At lunch, I sat alone.

Technically, I was at a table with a group of other girls that I didn’t know; but I still felt alone in every other sense of the word.

Not that I particularly minded, of course. It was so much better than having to sit with Abbey and knowing that she was silently fuming at me. She and Josh were chatting amiably and getting along fine at another table, although I swore he glanced concernedly at the back of my head several times.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, debating silently whether or not to block out all noises or just tune in to the trivial teenage gossip shooting across the tables. Eventually, I settled for the former; realising that I had no interest whatsoever in their petty platitudes. Never had, never would.

Instead, I let my mind wander off towards a rough evaluation of my week so far. After all, it was Thursday; and the teachers would inevitably ask us to write some sort of reflection once we returned to school. The questions were always the same, things like 'What was your favourite activity?' and 'How can we improve for a better experience?', even though they had probably run the exact same programme for the past twenty years with no adjustments.

Pole-climbing was, hands down, my favourite activity. That was a given and I honestly reckoned that I would have still liked it as much if Will hadn't been our instructor and I hadn't received an earful of praise. There was something about the feeling I got at the end that made me feel on top of the world.

The favourite activity part was sorted.

For the other question, I thought about asking them to not hire confusing and easily misunderstood instructors, but then decided against it because I figured they wouldn't appreciate my majestic attempt at having a sense of humour.

No wonder I had no friends.

I sank my teeth slowly into the hamburger, letting the tomato juice leak onto my tongue. My eyes were fixed on an undetermined point somewhere in front of me, which meant I probably looked like a loser staring into space. It was only now that I realised how badly I'd screwed up. I had managed to scare Will away and broken the relationship between Abbey and I. Somehow in the process of crushing on Will, I had taken my best friend for granted and been selfish enough to keep secrets from her.

In that split second, I decided that I was determined to set my priorities straight. Firstly, I listed in my head all the reasons why I should forget about Will. He was out of my league. He was moody. He was confusing. He mentally exhausted me. He was just some guy who I'd never see again.

Abbey would be there for life. She was important; far more important than any guy. I knew she would've thought the same if our situations were reversed, but I wasn't so sure if that was the case at this particular moment.

I issued an ultimatum upon myself: forget about Will and repair my relationship with Abbey.

Hurriedly finishing off my burger, I stood up and swept my gaze over the room, searching for a specific head of blonde hair. I spotted her in the corner, talking to a small group of girls whose names I barely knew.

I weaved my way around the dining tables, careful not to accidentally nudge anyone. The last thing I needed was another person mad at me. My heart clenched as Abbey's eyes locked onto my approaching figure, and the girls inched closer around her. I strode to her, even though the steel in her eyes made me desperately want to turn back around and flee the premises.

But I had to do this. I had to do it for me, and for her.

"Abbey." My hands shook as I tried to say her name as steadily as possible, even though the rest of my body was quivering.