We Can Make It Up Again || S-I-N Sequel

Chapter Four

Lainey's POV

I was almost knocked to the ground before I was even able to respond and stood rock still from shock as one of the last people I ever expected to see clung to me, hugging so tightly that I felt like I couldn't breathe. This was a definite flashback to not so long ago, why is it that whenever someone hugs me they have to try their hardest to make me nearly suffocate?

"Lainey, I've missed you so, so much!" After recovering from the shock I managed to lift my arms and hug back, not as hard since I didn't want to encourage being squeezed to death. If I'm going to die and be buried I don't want it to be while I have these ugly bangs, I've definitely looked better.

"Iris, holy shit, hi! What are doing in California?" I haven't seen my friend since that night outside of a Club Venture, she'd been talking to Tony and all of a sudden she was here in San Diego, then once she stepped away it was clear she was a good three inches taller than I remember her being and twice as outgoing. I had no idea what had happened to her after I'd left but it seemed to have been for the better considering she seemed nothing like the quiet and spookable Iris I regretted abandoning without so much as a goodbye.

"It's a long story but what happened to you? You suddenly disappeared in the middle of the Pierce The Veil concert and I didn't see you again. Vic ended up giving me a ride to Rosehill but your side of our room back at the dorm was empty, Mrs Coping said that your brother suddenly showed up and took you back to America. Is that what really happened?" She was talking a lot quicker than I remember as well, most of the time it sounded like she was planning out every single one of her words before she said them. Now that I think about it she would have been doing exactly that, she used to be so worried about accidentally offending someone or starting a fight.

"Yeah, Dale came and got me. I ended up staying with him and his fiancée, what did everyone at the school say when I stopped coming to classes?" I have to admit that knowing I caused a nice bit of intrigue would be nice. "We're there rumors galore? Please say yes." Iris grinned at my question and rocked back and forth on the heels of her boots for a second before replying.

"Rumors? You were the talk of the school for the rest of the year, Father Gerard didn't show up the next day...everybody wouldn't stop whispering that you ran away with the priest." That was a slap to the face, I'd thought it'd be something more along the lines of me playing teenage runaway and dramatically abandoning the school to lead a life as an entertainer of something interesting. Not gossip that was scarily close to what would have happened if I stayed at Rosehill.

"Shit, really? Who the hell came up with that?" As soon as I asked I realized my question was pointless because there was only one full on rumor churner at the English academy.

"Tiffany, as it turns out she was interested in him and since the two of you disappeared around the same time she got some assumptions in her head then came up with that story to ruin your reputation and his." Seemed like some pretty flat logic if you ask me, 'if I can't have you then I'm going to trash your life'. But then again I'm nearly positive that Tiffany wasn't the smartest cookie in the box so it actually clicks that anything along those lines would make serious sense to her.

"No one believed her though? Luka didn't think she was telling the truth, or the teachers?"

"Of course not. She got herself put in counseling because the teachers thought her lies were so grandiose that she had serious attention seeking issues." Well fuck, I hadn't expected something like that to happen, not that I can say I was displeased, the queen bee had fallen and unfortunately I wasn't there to see it. On the other hand Tiffany severely bullied Iris so I was pretty glad that she at least got to watch the bitch wind up being thought of as one of the nutters she despised.