Together we are Unstoppable

Chapter 16

"You almost ready, Lu?" I heard Andrew yell from somewhere in the house.

"Mentally or physically?"

"Uhm, I don't know, but we're gonna be late." he called.

I looked in the mirror. I was wearing a plain, black dress and black shoes. I attempted to not look dead by putting on some lipstick and mascara, but failed. I stayed up all night worrying about today, and you could tell. I clicked my phone on and stared at the wallpaper. It was a photo of Scar, El, Artie, and me from when we were younger. It was right after our team had won a little league baseball game. We looked so happy. So alive. My phone turned black and I put it in my pocket before heading downstairs.

I saw Andrew tying his shoes by the door. I just kinda stood there for a while until he stood up. God, he was gorgeous. His face was literally perfect.

"You ready now?" he said, stopping my wandering thoughts.

"U-um, yeah, I think."

We both stared at each other.

"YOU GUYS, WE GOTTA GO. GET IN THE CAR," Aunt March yelled from the garage.

We walked to the car and got in the middle seats. I hate cars.

Once we got to the church I saw Artemis. I headed over to her and gave her a hug. I turned to my left and saw the 4 D's sitting in one of the pews. I saw Damen pick his nose and sneakily wipe it on Damien. Damien didn't notice.

I looked around the church and saw some crying people. Half of the people were from our school. Most of them bullied us at some point. Like they care if they died or not. 

I saw Scar's grandparents and El's dad and sister crying and of course started to tear up again. I didn't want to be seen crying. I never cry around the people at my school. It makes me seem weak. I tried to hide my face and started walking. I needed Andrew.

I saw him talking with Artemis and Dwayne. I pulled myself together as much as I could and headed towards them.

"Hey, um, sorry to interrupt, but can I talk to you for a second Andrew?" I asked.

"Yeah, sure. It was nice to meet you Dwayne," he said, smiling.

"It was nice to meet you too," he said, and as we walked away he continued to talk with Artemis.

I pulled him out to the hallway and he looked down at me with concern in his eyes.

"What's u-" he started to say but I hugged him before he could finish. I cried. A lot. And then some more. We stood there while he held me and I sobbed. I knew it would be hard to be at the funeral, but it was even harder seeing the other people that loved my friends cry too. I guess I didn't realize other people were affected by their deaths other than Artie and me.

I pulled away from the hug and wiped my eyes.

"Sorry. I need to stop being a baby and get over it." I said, sniffling.

"Hey, you're stronger than most of the people here. And you're not a baby." He paused and pulled me closer. "You're my baby."

Did he just- I- okay, WHAT?! I will now join my friends in their coffins. *dies*

"Bold," I said, laughing. "I like it."

Artemis POV

I wouldn't cry, not here, not around these people. I could cry when I got home, but not now. I couldn't look like a weakling.

"Artemis, Artemis, you there?" Dwayne asked, waving his hand in front of my face.

Oops, I guess I spaced out. "Yeah, I'm here." I said.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said, tears welling up in my eyes.

"You don't look fine. Where's your mom and brother?"

"Over there." I pointed to where they were standing by Scar's grandparents.

"C'mon, let's go over there," he said, nodding his head towards them.

"No, it's okay, I'm fine."

He looked at me like he didn't believe me and told me to go sit down. Well, turns out, Mom had the seats by the 4 D's reserved for us, so I ended up next to Damen. Man, did he put a lot of cologne on.

The funeral started and I watched six men carry each casket to the front of the church. Then the priest started talking. I have to admit, I was more focused on trying not to cry than I was on the actual ceremony.

They called each pew up one by one to pay their respects. I couldn't look at them. I didn't want to see the fake happiness plastered on their faces. I didn't want to see them covered in 5 pounds of makeup.

I almost gagged when I got up there. After seeing them covered in bruises and cuts after the accident, this just made them look inhumane. They were almost scary.

I knelt down in front of their caskets and prayed to God that they were in a better place. I got up and watched the 4 D's kneel down. Darius and Damien looked pretty uncomfortable, as if they didn't really want to be here, like they just came because they were invited. I mean, it makes sense since Elise and Scarlett weren't really that good of friends with them anyways.

Dwayne looked genuinely sad, though I couldn't tell if it was because I was or because he was actually sad about Elise and Scarlett dying. Damen looked sad and not just because I was sad, he looked sincerely sad. He knew he was the cause of their deaths. And I may not have realized this at the time, but I had forgiven him. I knew there was nothing to undo what had happened to them and I knew that he was actually sorry. 

We went back to our pew and I silently cried or at least tried to. I turned my head away from my mom so she didn't see me. Damen saw the tears and wiped them off with the sleeve of his suit.

"Thanks," I whispered through the tears.

"No problem," he said with a smile.

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and said, "It's gonna be okay, Artemis, everything's gonna be alright."

"I know," I said. "I know."

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We walked out of the church. The funeral itself was over, but we still had the burial to go to.

"Ma lady, are you okay?" Damen asked.

"Yeah, I'm good, see you at the burial," I said, waving to him as he walked towards his car.

"Okay, whatever you say," he said smiling, though his voice still had some concern hidden in it.

Mom took my hand and led me to the car. Percy was already wheeled into the back. Funny, I hadn't seen Lucia since she and Andrew had walked off somewhere. I wonder what they were doing...

"Honey, are you okay?" Mom said from the driver's seat.

"Yeah, Mom, I'm good. Why?"

"You just had this really weird smile on your face like you thought something was funny."

"Oh, well...um I just thought of something funny, I guess." I said, smiling.

We joined the insane long procession. Like, it had to have been at least 150 cars. I mean, I guess I'm glad that so many people cared about Scarlett and Elise, but still, did they really have to come to the burial? And, on top of that, they drove excruciatingly slow all the way to the cemetery. St. Lucia's Cemetery to be exact. Kind of a coincidence, don't you think?