Downright Delinquents

Chapter Twenty Two

"What's wrong diddums?" Imogen cooed.

"Today. My friends. Coming."

"Oh yeah!" she exclaimed, suddenly remembering. She shrugged nonchalantly, oblivious to my inner turmoil of emotions. "You'll be fine. Might be good to see them again."

"Mm." I mumbled distractedly, too consumed in my own thoughts.

I had been so in love with Gabe.

The fact that I had to pack up and move away from him most likely hasn't changed that. Just remembering the way I was with him, made my heart stutter in my chest and my breathing hitch in my throat. I could still feel the heat underneath my skin when he ran his fingers over me...

"I don't get why you're freaking so much."

Reluctantly, I pulled myself from one of many flash backs of the past. "It's complicated."

"What isn't?"

I ignored her and continued to gaze up at the ceiling. I stared so hard I felt my eyes burn. Okay, so it probably seemed like I was overreacting, but in all seriousness, if you were in my situation, you would probably be feeling the stress as well.

Would they be mad that I just left? Surprised? Glad?

It's not I really had the option to just stop in and say hello. My phone, that held all their numbers, wasn't with me and I wasn't dedicated enough to remember any of them off-by-heart. I never re-joined Facebook because I couldn't deal with the 'I'm so sorry for your loss' posts every two seconds. I suppose, if I was really desperate, I could have put through it, but after so much time, why would I change things now?

I wasn't sure what to expect. What if they wanted nothing to do with me? I sure as hell changed a lot since the murder of my father. I wasn't the same person that they once knew. Besides my internal change, my dirty blonde hair was longer and darker. My smooth, soft hands had become rough and hard. My glossy, bright eyes were hardened and dim.

Running my fingers through my hair, I rolled my lips into my mouth. I began contemplating some escape routes I could undergo, to get myself out of this.

"Oh, and just a warning, the guards are always ten times harsher today than any other day. It's supposed to show the 'innocent' what it is really like at these delinquent schools. To make sure they stay precious and blah blah." she said, as if reading my mind. A look of disgust crossed face. She swivelled her eyes to me and smirked. "Everyone can be corrupted though."

"Apparently."

"Don't worry, H." she said softly, sounding surprisingly sincere. "You'll be fine. They will be happy to see you."

"How do you know that?"

"They'd be crazy not to."

I found myself giving her a genuine smile. It was moments like these that I just wanted to pour my soul out to her. Tell her everything about my past. Let her understand why I had become this cold monster. To let her know I had once been a bubbly, bright girl, like she was. But something kept holding me back.

I wanted to tell her.

"Imogen-" I began, but a large knock had me jumping about a metre in the air. I snapped my head towards the sound.

"It's time." she exclaimed, leaping up from the bed. "I hope there are some cute boys!"

Cute wasn't a sufficient word choice for Gabe. He was amazing. Colin was a bit like that as well, more so actually. Admittedly, I had forgotten about Colin midst all this chaos and fear of my friends coming. I should probably go speak to him after our brief make out session yesterday.