I Promise You'll Get Better

Seven

Dashi looked at Tweak, trying to work out if she was lying or not. Beside her, Koshi edged closer.

"I-I'm serious," Tweak said. "It was an accident, Dashi, I promise!"

Every bone in Dashi's body was aching. She had woken up this morning, exhaustion from last night crashing over her. She felt drained of all positivity, drained of anything that could cheer her up. All her worries had swallowed her up; she had fallen back onto her pillows and cried for an hour, whilst her cousins and Koshi hugged her and comforted her.

Now, all the emotions from the morning were building up inside her again. Leaning against the wall, she said, "Show me."

Tweak placed the wrecked camera on the bed and backed away quickly. Dashi knelt down by it, picking it up, stroking it, turning it over. She looked up at Tweak.

White-hot fury rose up inside her.

"How could you?" she whispered. "How dare you?"

"It was an accident, I swear on my life!" Tweak pleaded. But Dashi ignored her. She stood up, fists clenched. Danielle went over to Koshi, who was trembling with fear. Both of them watched Dashi, waiting for her next move.

"I trusted you," Dashi said. "I trusted you!"

Tweak tried to hug her, but Dashi pushed her away sharply, fresh tears in her eyes.

"I never knew... I never thought you could be so careless!" she shouted.

"For God's sake!" Tweak shouted back, now angry as well as upset. "Why won't you believe me? It. Was. An. Accident! I've been working so hard for you over the weeks, Dashi, looking after you, making sure you're OK..."

Dashi laughed coldly, humourlessly. "I'm OK? You really think that? My whole life has been crushed, Tweak! And what do you do? You..."

"Your whole life?" Tweak echoed in disbelief. "Here we go again, Little Miss Drama Queen!"

"I'm not a drama queen!"

"God, Dashi, have you seen yourself recently? Breaking down all the time, pretending that you're so weak and tired, pretending that you actually give a damn about how hard Shellington and I have been working for you!"

"How dare you?!" Dashi screamed. "I can never be thankful enough for what you and Shel have done for me, and you know that!"

"I don't think I do," Tweak said icily.

Then she walked up to Dashi and slapped her round the face.

They stared at each other. Dashi took a step back, clutching her cheek. Tweak's eyes flashed with something for a moment, before her hard expression returned.

"Y-you deserved that," she said shakily.

"I didn't do anything," Dashi said, tears rolling down her face. "I can't believe you, Tweak. I actually thought you cared. That you gave a damn about me. That you were actually bothered about me."

"Maybe I wasn't," Tweak said, though she was almost crying now. "Maybe I was doing it to look good."

"Then you don't deserve to be my friend," Dashi said. "We're through, Tweak. I thought we were best friends, soul sisters, but obviously... obviously not."

"Fine." Tweak turned away briefly. Then she threw out her arm, sending Dashi's camera flying into Dashi. The photographer cried out as it smashed into her arm, the broken glass drawing blood.

She turned away to face the window, pressing her face against it and sobbing. She heard Tweak walking towards the door; the engineer was crying now, and the sound made Dashi's heart break.