Three Years, Five Months and Eleven Days

Chapter Thirty-One

Hey guys, this is a VERY important chapter. You may be thinking that now you know what made Debby and Beth fall out, but wait for it..... THERE'S MORE. This chapter brings the final, huge reason for them... well, you'll see. 

***************************************************************************

     When a big event happens in your life, it is the world to you. In your mind you can’t think of anything else. In your mind this event changes everything, nothing will ever be the same again. Life as you know it ends. No matter how big the change is, it still comes as a shock when time continues passing. Others around you continue with their lives, unaffected by your own personal dramas.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

     I don’t know what I expected it to be like once Michael had gone, but it was way too normal. I sat on my bedroom floor for a long time, trying to find the will to do things, anything, but everything that had ever happened between us went over and over in my head. All the memories were wonderful, but that only made it more painful.

     I cried for a long time before my phone buzzed. I crawled across my floor to grab it and read the message. Is he gone then? It was from Isha. This only made me cry more: she would have never texted me before Michael came and changed everything.

     Time passed incredibly slowly. My family tiptoed around as if I was a bomb, waiting to blow at any moment. Not wanting to say anything to upset me, or remind me of him. I tried to take up as much of my time as possible just doing things. After my initial moment of weakness I resolved to not cry again. I would continue with my life, not be one of those pathetic girls who no longer has anything once her boyfriend leaves.

     Once Saturday and Sunday were both finally over, it was back to school. I hoped this would bring me distraction, but it just reminded me of how other aspects of my life had also changed. In the past I would have driven to school with Rob and Beth, but now, with Rob working to make enough money to go on a proper gap year trip, Beth in London, my dad jetting off alone to yet another country, it was down to my mum to get me to Haverfordwest and back. It was a weird experience because my mother had never in my life been the one to drive me to school.

     But there was worse waiting for me at school. There were six very excited girls who all wanted to know about my amazing summer with the hot guy. Sian out of all of them was most interested, but they all fired as many questions as possible. Isha tried to subtly suggest that maybe I didn’t want to talk about it, but they clearly didn’t get the hint.

     I endured it, answering their questions as patiently as possible and telling the truth wherever it seemed fine to do so. If I had been in my own room at home I would have been in floods of tears after two questions, but sitting in the school canteen the hall buzzing with excitement at the first day back, I managed to keep them in. That’s not to say it didn’t hurt, digging up all the memories, going over every single little detail, but my eyes wouldn’t let me cry, not in front of all these people.

     ‘So you never …you know- did it?’ Taffy asked me, voice lowered as if the whole school were straining to hear her.

     ‘No,’ I lied. Isha caught my eye. She knew all about what had happened, I hadn’t kept a thing from her, but I knew she understood why I didn’t want to tell them that part of it. ‘I’m too young for that, and he was fine with it.’

     ‘But you’re not that young,’ Sian pointed out.

     ‘I’m younger than all of you,’ I reminded her.