Royal Innocence

30 - Lover boy and Mr. Protective

"Ash-" I called.

"What it took me? Food, as usual."

"I am not-" I tried again.

"Yeah? Yeah, we're on our way. K, bye. Say bye bye to your boyfriend, sis." Ashton teased.

"Oh, shut up." I muttered, annoyed as hell.

"Come on." Ashton laughed as he pulled up at Jason's driveway. So, like a very mature person, I stuck my tongue at him and followed him towards the house.

"Why is it so quiet?" I asked.

"Uh, in case you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of the woods."

"I know, but it's quieter than usual."

"Shut up and walk." Ash said with a click of his tongue. I stuck my tongue at him again and proceed to knock on the door.

"Hey Piglet." Jason greeted me wish a light kiss. "Ash."

"Aw, don't I get a kiss too?" Ashton asked.

"Yeah, of course! I'm sure Troy would love to kiss you!" Jason replied, referring to his horse. "You'd get a big fat wet French kiss."

"Screw you." Ashton joked as he pushed us into the house and slammed the door shut.

"Wha-" I began.

"SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!"

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I screamed, hiding behind Jason's back.

"Brianna?" Jason said, sounding amused.

"Yes?" I whispered, peeking out. My eyes widened as I looked at who surprised me. They all looked back at me, some trying to contain their laughter and some looking nervous.

"Tessa? Jake? Landon? Bailey? Tom? Lois? Ben? Trina?" I called my friends. They were all standing behind the couch and a banner with the words ''we're sorry" was above them.

"Hi?" They all said together.

"Wha- what are you guys doing here?" I asked, confused. I hadn't seen these guys for ages, at least not since I was being suspected. They looked at each other for a few seconds before Tessa started talking.

"Anna, I know we haven't seen each other for ... forever, and well, it was all our fault. We... We were too scared. You see, we always knew you wouldn't ki- you know, do that to Cordelia, but Genevieve was certain you were the murderer. Everyone was certain. I... we... we should've stood up to all those guys, but we hadn't. Instead, we just chose to pretend everything's normal, but it's not.

"We were wrong, Anna. We don't deserve to be your friends, we should've been there like Jase, Ash and Trish have. We're... we're really sorry. And... And will you forgive us?" All six of my friends looked at me.

"I..." I began, not knowing what to say. I'd always assumed that we never hanged out was because I was no longer in school everyday. It never came to me that it might be because of me being a suspected murderer. I didn't know how to feel. Angry that my friends hadn't come earlier. Excited to see them again. Disappointed that they couldn't stand up against Genevieve and others. Relieve that they actually believed me. "I forgive you. You guys are my friends after all. I mean, we've been through so much together... " I smiled and went to hug them.

"You know, we've always wanted to come and apologize, but... we just never did coz we were so ashamed and didn't know what to say to you." Bailey said in her quiet voice.

"Then what made you come today?" I asked.

"Lover boy and Mr. Protective." Landan answered.

"Jase and Ash? Why- how?" I asked, extremely curious and confused.

"Well, let's put it this way. Lover boy and Mr. Protective wanted you to be happy and hopeful. Lover boy happened to know that we actually believe you, so he casually not so casually mentioned to Mr. Protective here how he's living alone and Mr. Protective said you really need support extremely loudly next to our lunch table. And you can guess the rest." Jake replied.

"Hey! How about me?" Trisha pouted.

"Oh yes, Miss Annoying here was the one to plan the whole surprise thing, including making you wake up and everything." Ashton smirked.

"Oh, so now I'm annoying?" Trisha said, turning towards Ashton with her hands on her hips.

"Pretty much."

"How exactly did I annoy you, Lord Ashton?!"

"Oh well, you didn't do much. Your existence annoys me."

"Oh yeah? Well, the feelings mutual." Trisha huffed, walking away.

"Okay... Now that everything's settled. Let the party begin!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lois cried, the others cheered.

"Wait... there's a party?" I asked.

"Jeez, Brianna, you really gotta start going to school and get that brain of yours moving." Tom teased.

"Oh no, I never thought I'd say this, but I missed your snarky remarks." I smiled, hugging him.

It was nice to have some friends back.

♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬♬

Author's Notes

Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry. I'm a day late. I'm so so sorry.

But anyways, here it is!

I came back from Australia on Sat night.

Oh and another thing, there will be around two chapters left and then the epilogue and maybe some deleted scenes. I'm sorry if the story's going too fast suddenly, this wasn't what I had in mind at first. Sorry again.

Hope you liked this chapter:)

Chapter pic: Matt Lanter as Ashton Huntley

Chapter song: Never be alone - Shawn Mendes

Koalas, kangaroos, wombats and platypus,

~Bethia♡