Maddie's Girls

Chapter 12

The first one to get to my house was Becca; by the time the other girls arrived, she had already dried my tears and lifted up my spirits.

I was actually surprised by it. I never imagined Becca could be so caring.

"So..." Cassie said, smiling sadly at me, almost as if she didn't know how to approach me. "Maybe this is a good thing, right?"

I tried to laugh, maybe this was a good thing because now I knew who Maddison really was.

After the girls all showed up, I couldn't stop myself from telling them what had happened. They all listened as I told them about what Danny said, how Maddison was practically saying we had been together. And then I told them about whatever it was that she was trying to achieve afterwards.

I knew that by getting closer to the girls, I was doing exactly the opposite to what my brain was telling me to do but— I just couldn't not do it. I wanted to talk to them, to be with them... it just felt nice to be part of it, part of the group.

"You know what guys," Nina stood up, looking at each one of us, "Fuck Maddison and fuck all them idiots at school. Fuck people who don't appreciate us. Their loss."

"Fuck, yes," Lottie laughed, pointing at Nina with pride.

"Now, I don't know about you lot but I'm done being sad over this," Nina carried on, "Tomorrow I might be sad again but tonight... I'm not on it."

Cassie laughed out loud as Becca laid next to me, cuddling me. She was always so warm.

"Are you okay?" She whispered, her face buried in the crook of my neck. Nina was going off about how she was done being sad and the girls were all cheering her on.

I nodded, watching the girls but focusing only on Becca as her hand made its way underneath my blanket and laid over my stomach.

"I'm here for you, Greenworld, you do know that, right?" Her voice was all I could hear, giving me goosebumps at the back of my neck. "When you called— you sounded so— I'm sorry I ever asked you to do this, any of this."

I frowned, looking away from the girls to turn to Becca. At first, she wouldn't look at me, so I waited until she did. Her bright blue eyes were clouded in a haze of emotions, it was too much of it and all over the place, it was impossible to read.

"If any of this hadn't happened," I whispered back, grabbing hold of her hand underneath the blanket. "I would have never gotten to know you guys."

Something changed in her eyes, they softened as they took me in and it might have just been a look but it was too much for me, so I looked away. I liked the friendship I had sort of built with the girls, especially with Becca. Out of all of them, she was the first one to really let me in, she liked me and wanted to be my friend. I never had a friend aside from Danny and I didn't want to ruin it.

I looked back at the girls, watching Cassie hold her stomach as she laughed.

"—I'm gonna go and I'm going to buy the cheapest bottle of alcohol I can get and we're going to drink until Maddison is the last thing on our minds."

The girls laughed harder, liking this side of Nina.

"Um—" I wasn't on that. I didn't even drink that much, at a party I had like two beers and a few shots and I was already drunk... I couldn't handle alcohol.

"No," Nina pointed at me, shaking her head and making her curls wiggle around her face. "No, no excuses, you can drink like two shots... I don't mind but we're doing this, I need this and shit, I feel like I'm closer now with you guys than I am with my own friends... I need this."