Chapter 25
“Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?” Sarah pleaded as we sat on her bed. It was Friday after school and I had to go to detention in an hour. Sarah on the other hand, wanted me to skip detention and go to a party with her, Nadine and Nicola.
“Sarah, I said no.” I replied firmly. “I have detention and I can't miss it.” She sighed as she rolled her eyes at me before getting up from the bed and walking over to her wardrobe, trying to find something to wear for tonight.
“You're no fun any more Chez.” I heard her mumble childishly.
“I'm still fun, but I've grown up a bit, and by growing up, I mean I'm not going to miss detention and risk getting sent to the headmistress.”
“It's her fault you're like this...” She sighed more to herself than me. I knew who she meant by 'her', she meant Kimberley.
“It isn't her fault.” I snapped a bit too defensively. “I mean, she made me realise that there are more important things to do with your life instead of being in detention and at parties all the time.”
“Whatever,” She huffed, not liking my explanation at all. “Are you sure you can't come to the party after detention?”
“No.” I giggled at her persistence. “I'm going to go down to the studio and practice on my new dance routine after. I promise I'll come to the next one though.”
“Fine then!” She finally admitted defeat. “Do you know where Nadine and Nicola are? They need to get ready. We're leaving in an hour or so!”
“No,” I lied. “I'll go and find them though.” Of course I knew where Nadine and Nicola were. They were with Kimberley. I figured this out a few days ago, but I kept it to myself. I don't know why, but they were keeping it a secret from Sarah. I decided not to ruin it for them, they probably have a good reason for why they're doing it. I wasn't annoyed that they were hanging out with Kimberley either, they were her friends too and I understood that we needed to share them. “Have a good night tonight, don't get too drunk!” I called to Sarah as I walked out of her dormitory, heading back to my own so that I could tell Nadine and Nicola that Sarah wanted them.
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“Right you two, you need to leave.” I ordered as I walked into my room. As usual, I was right. Nadine and Nicola were both in the room talking to Kimberley. “Harding wants to talk to you two about the party tonight.”
Nadine looked at Nicola, and then looked at me. The two of them had worry etched across their faces. “How did you know we were here?”
“It wasn't hard, Nadine.” I laughed. “I know the two of you come here, but tell Sarah that you've got to go to the library. It's really none of my business so I'm not going to tell her or anything. Don't worry about it.”
“Well, thanks.” Nicola smiled before standing up. “Have fun in detention tonight, see you tomorrow.” She turned her back to me, facing Kimberley. “I'll see you at the party, yeah?
“Yeah, I suppose so...” Kimberley sighed. She annoyed me. Why did she always seem so upset? She brought everything upon herself.
“I'm sorry, but you know if Sarah saw then...” Nicola sighed loudly. “Well, you know what will happen.” I began to take an interest in their conversation. What was Sarah not allowed to know about? Was it just that she wasn't allowed to know about them meeting up, or was it something more than that?
“I know, it's fine.” Kimberley shrugged. “I'll be with Jessica, Stacey and Sophie.” My body tensed up as I heard those names, they were Kimberley's other friends. When they heard Kimberley and I had fallen out, they were more than happy about it. Kimberley spent most of her time with them, she didn't like being in the same room as me.
“Well, maybe when Sarah's drunk, me and Nads will sneak over. We better get going, Sarah will be wondering where we are.” Nadine and Nicola walked out the room, leaving me sitting on my bed and Kimberley sitting on hers. Shifting uncomfortably, I lay down on my bed and closed my eyes. I could feel Kimberley's stare on me, but I didn't want to look back at her. I couldn't do it.
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My breath caught in my throat as I looked at Kimberley as she walked out of the bathroom. She looked gorgeous, she always did though. She smiled shyly as she caught me looking so I quickly looked away, blushing. Why did she do this to me? I wanted to hate her! She moved quietly across the room, fixing her hair in the mirror. I wanted to go over to her and hug her from behind, burying my head into her neck and tell her I loved her. I couldn't do that though, she didn't want to be my girlfriend.
A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door. I couldn't be bothered getting up from my bed so Kimberley answered it, revealing her friends. As they waited for her to finish getting ready, they stood awkwardly in the room completely ignoring me.
To be honest, I liked it better that way. When they eventually left, I began getting ready for detention. I didn't want to go, but I had to. I would rather have gone to the party, not to have a good time, but to look out for Kimberley. I knew she didn't want to be friends, but she wasn't exactly the most sensible after she had a few drinks and every party she had gone to so far ended in disaster. No matter what, I was going to worry about Kimberley tonight until she got home. I didn't trust her with her friends, I knew they would leave her if anything bad happened, so I just hoped it wasn't going to happen.
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I wiped the sweat from my forehead and turned the music off as I finished my dance routine. I had been to detention and then came here to practice. I had been here for just over two hours and I decided to call it a night and go back to the dorm and get some sleep. Collecting up my stuff, I walked out of the dance studio and back to my room. I noticed Kimberley wasn't in yet and I wondered how long she was going to be. I wanted to stay up for her just to make sure that she was okay. After throwing my stuff down on my bed, I grabbed my fluffy pyjamas and went into the bathroom to get changed and have a shower.
Just as I stepped out the shower, I heard my phone ring. Quickly, I wrapped a towel around me and exited the bathroom. I grabbed my phone and looked at the called ID: Kimba Calling. Instantly I knew something was wrong. Forgetting everything she had said to me previously, I pressed the accept button and placed the phone to my ear.
“Kimba-erley?” I hoped that she was drunk so that she wouldn't notice my slip up. I was still meant to be annoyed and moody at her. I was meant to be hating her, not helping her.
“Chezza...” She was crying down the phone. “I need you... They've all left.”
“Right, where are you?” I walked back into the bathroom and began pulling my pyjamas on with my free hand.
“I don't know... I was walking home with the girls, but I fell and now they've left.” She cried loudly. “Please come and get me..”
“Don't move, I'm coming. I'm gonna hang up now, but I'll be with you in a few minutes.” I grabbed a jumper and pulled it on over my head. It was the one Kimberley bought me, the one I vowed I would never wear again, but this was an important matter. I had to get to Kimberley.
“No!” She pleaded desperately. “Don't hang up, I'm scared.” Not caring about my hair being soaking wet, I ran out of our dormitory and slipped out of the building, onto the school grounds
“Okay,” I sighed in relief as I was successfully able to leave the school grounds. “I'll stay on the phone. Just keep talking to me and don't be scared. I'm coming for you...”
