~ Chapter 26 ~

"I wish I was as invisible as you make me feel."

~ Rikki ~

"Emma!"

I ran up to her, smiling. She carried on walking though, not even looking at me. I grabbed her arm

"Whats wrong?"

I asked, she just laughed and shook her head at me.

"Go away Rikki. I don't want to be your friend anymore."

She started to walk off again but I grabbed her arm tighter this time,

"Why?"

I sounded so weak, I felt like I was about to cry.

"Because you told, Rikki."

I could tell by her voice that she hated me. I let go of her and she started to walk away. I let the tears slip down my face, and watched as she walked away. I shook my head and just stood there. Hoping she would come back. But she never did..

It felt like I was standing there for hours, when in reality it was really only a few minutes. I just watched as she faded from my view, and then carried on watching, just in case she decided to turn around.

"Rikki."

Zane whispered, I looked to my side and saw him standing there. I tried to smile at him, but tears fell down instead.

"She's gone..."

I said and he nodded, he already knew what had happened, I could tell by his face. He wrapped an arm around my waist and smiled at me

"I am still here."

I nodded and smiled for real this time, he leaned in to kiss me on the lips and I welcomed his lips. I grinned at him when he pulled away and then he removed his arm from my waist and pulled me into a big hug instead. I put my arms around him and sighed.

"She is just angry, she will get over it."

I nodded and pulled him tighter, feeling his warm body against my cold one. I wanted to keep this moment forever, I wanted to stay with him because when I was with him, and when I was in his arms, I felt safe. I felt like I could do anything, be anyone, when I was with him. He kissed me gently on the forehead and I looked up at his gorgeous face, he smiled down at me and then kissed me again, this time on the lips.

"I love you so much."

He said, I pulled away from him and as I started to walk, I grabbed his hand,

"I love you too."I grinned at him.

For once everything felt right. For once I felt like I had a reason to live. And that reason was Zane.

We ended up on the beach, I was still too weak to swim so we decided to take Zane's boat to Mako Island and have some alone time. I grinned when he suggested it, I loved being alone with him. It took longer than usual to get to Mako, probably because I was used to getting there in the water, rather than on it. I smiled when we finally arrived and Zane helped me out of the boat. I looked around, I hadn't been here in so long. I had almost forgot what it looked like.

"I haven't been here either."

Zane said, as though he knew what I was thinking. I looked at him confused,

"It didn't feel right, I came here once while you were in hospital but all I could think about was you and how much you were hurting. I haven't been here since."

He shrugged, I looked down at the white sand Zane grabbed my hand. I laughed and suddenly felt shy.

"You're beautiful, you know that?"

He whispered into my ear as we stopped in our tracks. I looked down at the ground again, and felt myself blush. He put a hand on my cheek and laughed at me,

"You really are."

He lifted my chin up and kissed me once more. I smiled at him.

"Thanks."

He could tell I didn't really think it was true, but I wanted him to think that I was okay. I wanted him to believe I felt better. When the truth was, I just wanted to disappear. He sighed and squeezed my hand when we carried on walking. I loved these moments, where we didn't even have to say anything to each other but it wasn't an awkward silence, just a thoughtful one. We could both think and we both knew what the other was thinking, there was no need for pointless, small talk. We didn't like it. We never had, silence really was bliss.

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It wasn't until later that week that I saw Emma again, I didn't really want to see that look of hate in her eyes but I knew I had to see it at some point. I wasn't ready to return to school yet, so I didn't have to see her there yet. I saw her at the beach, we were all at a party. I didn't know that she was going to be there, I wasn't speaking to Cleo either. She was the one who told, when I asked her not to. I shouldn't have told her in the first place to be honest, but she could have kept one secret. It wasn't too much to do for your supposed best friend. I gripped Zane's hand tighter when I saw Emma dancing on the beach. She was with Ash, so she probably wouldn't say anything to me.

It wasn't long before everyone was drunk, and everyone was dancing. I just sat on the edge, on my own. Staring at everyone as they laughed, and joked. I thought about drinking but then how out of control my mouth gets when I do. I didn't want arguments... not tonight.

It was hours into the party that I gained the courage to go up to Emma. I needed to speak to her, I had to ask her why. I wanted to know that it wasn't the end of our friendship. I needed to know it was all going to be okay, I slowly walked up to her and Emma stared at me, I could tell she was drunk straight away. She looked at me and then as she went to turn away I grabbed her arm

"Don't I mean anything to you?"

"No you're dead to me Rikki."

She really did hate me, I shook my head

"We were best friends once.. Don't you remember that?"

She shook her head

"Back when I thought I could trust you?"

I looked down

"I didn't mean to, I thought I was helping you. I thought I was doing you some good, I wanted you to be okay again."

She shook her head at me.

"I won't recover, ever, I can't recover."

I felt a tear fall down my face as Emma started to walk away, I quickly followed her

"I hate you!"

Emma called out, I stopped suddenly

"Go away!"

She turned around and I stared at her eyes, they darkened over and I couldn't even tell they were blue once anymore. I shook my head

"I thought you were my friend. I just wanted to help you."

My voice was lowered, and I shook heavily. I didn't want this to be like this, I couldn't let our friendship end this way. I started to run after her but Cleo stopped me

"Don't Rikki. She doesn't want any of us."

I started to cry and I didn't resist when Cleo pulled me into a hug. I let myself cry into her shoulder as Emma walked away.

I want to be invisible.. I want to be pain free.

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Okay, this one was slow but the next one is a lot better =]

Thank you for all the reviews.

I am hoping to finish this soon, as it is 'Exam season' in two weeks =]