Keira

s e v e n t e e n

"Keira. Get up." Someone said, shaking her.

"Hm. Nope." Her head hurt, but she couldn't remember why. There was a distinct stench in the air of vomit and sweat.

"Keira!"

Keira felt a rough pull and she toppled onto the floor with a thud, but luckily the drop wasn't far.

"Okay, who the hell are you and what-" Keira groaned, her head pounding and throbbing, and her vision blurring.

"Who am I? Who are you? I could barely recognize you, Keira." Her head cleared a little but she still saw everything in bright flashes and a dull ringing resounded in her ears.

"Maia?" She mumbled. A head of brown hair that fell in silky waves and a concerned face, fake as the glossy black nails topping Keira's fingers, appeared in her distorted line of vision.

"Glad to know you're not so hungover that you can't recognize me. Now come on. Let's get out of here." Keira stumbled to her feet with Maia's help and she vaguely wondered where her heels were.

"Why are you helping me?" She mumbled.

"You really can't figure it out?" Maia's tone was disbelieving. "I'm your best friend. I know you forgot, but it doesn't mean I did." Her voice seemed softer.

Keira was silent as she stumbled out to Maia's car. She plopped down on the familiar soft seats and inahled the cold, crisp air scented with pineapples and coconuts, Maia's favorite smell. The scent brought a wave of nostalgia over her and a sting of guilt and regret began to spread within her chest. Maia handed her a waterbottle which she gratefully accepted and gulped down. Maia started driving to Keira's house.

"I'd ask why, but I'm pretty sure I know the answer." Maia said quietly. Keira rubbed at her eyes before realizing that they were coated in mascara and eyeliner. She muttered a profanity under her breath once she caught a glimpse of herself in the side mirror. Her lipstick was smudged, her hair in messy sheaths around her head, and dark marks stained the area around her eyes. Keira kept looking, she couldn't tear her eyes away from her reflection, and what she saw was earth shattering.

For once had Keira fully acknowledged the existence of her previous self. It was battered and broken and bruised, but it was housed in the sisterly care that Maia showed her, and the fearful way she'd run from her problems, the pained eyes, and the shadow of a smile that once existed.

"I'm sorry." Keira said, her voice cracking. "I'm so sorry." She sniffled a bit. "I wish everything could go back to the way it was before. Before I met stupid Ethan Lewis," Maia snorted and muttered that he really was quite dumb. "Yeah. Before I ever set foot in a party. Before I let being popular be a priority over you."

"Oh, Keira." Maia sighed. Her eyes glinted with tears. But Keira was already letting her tears stream down her cheeks.

"I'm so, so sorry Maia. We said best friends forever and I just left you." She laughed a little, still crying. "Isn't that just ironic? I'm the one that's afraid of losing people, but I push them away on purpose."

"Well, you weren't always the bright one, between the two of us." Maia said whilst holding back a sob.

The two former friends shared a look and then burst out in laughter and shed more tears.

It hurt to lose Keira. They were as close as sisters, and then Keira was yanked away by society and then held down with the labels that came with it and the things she did. She tried to stay with her, hoping that she'd come back. But every single day Maia was forced to see the old Keira slip away like an hourglass' sand timer draining until empty at one side.

"Hey, d'you wanna get fries?" Maia asked absentmindedly.

"Yeah." Keira replied.

It's funny how fast ice can melt.

But that doesn't mean that this ice queen has relinquished her crown.

Not yet.