Living Again

Living Again~ Seven

CHAPTER 7

Staring at all those strangely familiar faces made me dizzy. It had only been a second since I had opened the doors and they were already squealing and running towards me. They took turns hugging me as I just stood there, dazed, one hand still clutching onto the doorknob.

There were four girls, all my age, all excited to see me after I completely stopped talking to them. The people I had spent my school life with, the people who knew the old Marissa very well. We used call ourselves the Funky Five, it was a really lame name but it suited us perfectly. These were my friends. Friends I thought I would never have to see again. And yet here they were. I shook my head trying to clear the thoughts and opened the door fully, letting them in. Before I could register what just happened I was being loaded with questions from everywhere.

"How have you been?!"- Jess 

"You should have talked to us about it, we would have always been there for you!"- Mia 

"I missed you so much! How dare you avoid me?!"- Shelly

I looked over at Katelyn, who was the only one who hadn't said anything so far. She was just watching me. They all looked at me, waiting for me to say something. But my thoughts were so jumbled up I couldn't think clearly so I just said lead them to the living room and said, 

"Can you guys give me a minute?" They looked at each other and nodded.

I ran upstairs to my room. What the hell was going on?!

I heard my phone ring, it was Claire. I picked up and she immediately began talking, 

"Marissa! I forgot to tell you. Since I thought you were trying to recover and get over everything that happened, you might want to get back in touch with your old friends. I just hate to see you alone all the time, they should be arriving at our house any time now! They're so excited to see you-"

"They're already here" I mumbled.

"Oh they are? That's great!" There was a pause, "Sorry honey but I got to go, lunch break is over I guess. By the way, be sure to grab something to eat with the girls!"

I put the phone down gently. What was I going to do?

I breathed in and out slowly. I knew I should get up and head back downstairs, my friends were waiting for me, but I couldn't. The truth was, I was scared. Terrified. What if they pity me? What if I go downstairs and they want me to talk about my life the way it is now? What if they mention my parents and I start crying? I wanted to forget about the life I had with them. Why wasn't anyone letting me do that?!

I just sat at the edge of the bed, staring into nothing. My nails digging into the mattress as I tried to control my anger.

I didn't even notice her come in the room until I felt her presence next to me. I gasped a little and looked to my left, it was Katelyn. I just stared at her, and she stared back. She hadn't said anything earlier. I wondered what was going on her mind. Out of all us Funky Five, Katelyn and I were the closest.

Then we were hugging so hard that neither of us wanted to let go. I can't remember the last time someone had hugged me. It felt great. It was exactly what I needed. And then ofcourse, I got emotional and started sobbing. She still didn't say anything, just rubbed my back in a reassuring manner. When we finally let go, she wiped off her tears, I didn't realise she had been crying too. Then she reached over and gently wiped off mine.

She finally spoke, her voice thick, "I've missed you Marissa."

"I missed you too."

She cleared her throat a little, to speak more clearly, "Want to talk about it?"

"No."

"I thought so."

We sat there in silence for a minute or so. She took my hand and said, "I'll be downstairs. Don't worry, I'll tell them not to ask questions. Come downstairs when your ready, we'll do something fun."

I smiled weakly, "Thanks."

Once I was alone again I walked over to the mirror, glancing at my list out of habit. I hadn't cancelled out anything yet. But I'd only made it yesterday, still had loads of time. I made my way downstairs and they were all sitting around the sofas in the living room. They glanced at me as I came and joined them. I hadn't realised how great it was to see them until now. I smiled widely. Trying to sound enthusiastic, I said, 

"So what are we gonna do today?"

"Lunch then whatever you want!" Mia tucked her black hair behind her ear.

"Any good places to eat around here?" Jess asked, grinning widely. She always had a good appetite. Shelly rolled her eyes at Jess's interest in food. 

I replied slowly, still not used to talking so much, "Well we could go to this Italian restaurant nearby."

"And after that?" Katlyn inquired.

"If you guys don't mind, I was thinking of getting a haircut."

Shelly perked up at that, she was a fashion freak. "Great! We could all get makeovers!"

Before I could tell them that a simple haircut would be fine, they were alrady leading me out the door. This was going to be an interesting day.