The Great Escape
AN. Thank you to Tiffyxox, xHalosandwings, TJ Sparkles, lift-me-up, WweDivaTayTay45, xxchasingdreamsxx, John Cena's Field Hockey Star, Grits0205, sophia0401, BigRedMachineUK, quteash & xTwistedxImperfectionx for reviewing the last chapter.
Thanks very muchly! :)
Chapter Thirty-Five – Friendship Over
THE GIRLS
It was finally time to head back to college.
Unlike the journey they'd made going there, all four girls had decided to take the train for the long couple of hours back, claiming the shared car had been used well enough for now; in a way, as they sat opposite each other in their carriage, it was a nice change to agree upon. Sometimes change was a good thing.
One thing remained the same, however, and Ashley experimented with it freely once again, a familiar scowl crossing her features. "Does she really have to play her music so loudly?" She asked – somewhat hypocritically – as the other two turned to look at the accused, who was looking out of the window blissfully enough with her headphones blocking out those surrounding her.
While her best friend merely laughed, happy to have the pessimistic student back in the group, Maria rolled her eyes playfully. "Leave Eve alone—she's just having some time to herself before we have to go back into our busy lives. We all need a moment, right?"
"Her moment has lasted for the last twenty minutes but whatever." The blonde shrugged nonchalantly, flicking back her hair and staring out of the window. Images blurred together quickly, catching her full attention with each new sight. "What does she need 'a moment' for anyway?" She mumbled absentmindedly.
It was a rhetorical question so nobody answered, but it did arouse a personal interest in the three girls. They were all quiet for a while—the only sound being the train picking up speed and Eve's rap music—as they thought about the moments they would need.
Maria shrunk into herself as she thought about Randy. He'd sent a reply to her Christmas text that she didn't expect: Merry Christmas to you too. I miss you, Maria. Upon reading it, she'd allowed a smile to touch her lips – he had said what she hadn't dared to. Thinking about it now, heading back to where he would soon be, she couldn't help but to feel anxious. Now what would happen?
Adam Copeland was on Ashley's mind, and for once she didn't particularly mind. She was getting sick and tired of hiding from him – both in thought and reality. Especially when she could no longer deny her own feelings. The stubborn attitude she always upheld was finally dropped as she thought about him. The first guy to truly love her for her. Only she didn't cringe or cower away; she welcomed the fact he would be there once she stepped foot on college ground. He was her safety, after all.
Mickie was pleasantly surprised to find that she had no worries at all for once. She would be going back to her new boyfriend, her annoying yet irreplaceable guy friends and her important studies. Out of all those among her, she was finally the one to have it all figured out. There was no more pretending.
With this in mind, she turned. It was a beat later that the happy smile on her face vanished completely. "Hey Ash," she began softly and discreetly, "What are your plans when we get back?"
"Move my things as quickly as possible back into our room."
"That's not what I mean."
The blonde knew this. Maria, sensing it wasn't her place to intrude, excused herself to head to the nearest restroom, while Mickie waited patiently for an answer.
"I don't know." Ashley finally admitted. "I don't know if I'm ready for this."
"A boyfriend who loves you?"
"I know it sounds crazy, but after everything that happened in the past I'm not sure I can handle putting myself out there again. That was the old me... this fearless girl who risked almost everything. And now look at me..." There was silence for a moment. "I'm not the same person anymore."
It was heartbreaking to see her so down and faithless when the brunette knew she was worth so much more than she gave herself credit for. She rested a light hand on her shoulder—a gesture that was usually forbidden—and said, "Ash, do you really think you're like that? Of course you're not the same person. Who would be after what happened?"
"I should be—"
"But," she interrupted wisely, "You're stronger than you've ever been. Think about what you've done in the past few days. You put your pride aside and apologized to me, and you came home to your family; that couldn't have been easy. You've changed so much."
The comment lingered in the air for a moment. "But it's Adam!" She whined childishly a second or two later. "How am I supposed to approach him? He's this stupid, arrogant, into himself idiot who thinks the world revolves around him—"
"You're still in love with him." At the grumble she received, Mickie laughed. "Besides, all of those qualities make you perfect for each other. Promise me you'll tell him how you feel, Ash."
"But—"
"Promise me."
"Okay, fine – I promise. But for the record, I don't think I like this new demanding Mickie James." The amusement in her tone wasn't to be missed and both shared a faint smile.
As if she'd known their conversation was over, Eve turned off her iPod, yanked her headphones out of her ears and looked at them. As she went to talk, a couple of teenagers passed by in the corridor, their cell phones blasting music out loudly. "Wow," she scoffed, shaking her head in disbelief, "Some people just don't understand peace and quiet, do they?"
The girls were college-bound by the early afternoon. It took about ten minutes of walking from the train station – with their belongings – to arrive back on campus, but they made the short journey in impressive timing. Standing in front of their dorm building, all four looked around the grounds to hopefully spot a familiar face, but all the while eager to get inside.
"Look who it is." Mickie smirked. They followed the brunette's gaze into the distance. "Ted's back... and ooh, isn't that Maryse with him?"
"Yeah, she's in my English Literature class." Eve nodded. She promptly caught sight of Cody behind them, smiled and murmured, "I heard she was a bitch."
"You heard that from Michelle when they were roommates together, remember?" At just the mention of the blonde, Maria shook her head. "I'd be willing to bet those are just rumours."
"Well I'd definitely give her the benefit of the doubt. Just look at the smile on Ted's face! I've never seen him look at me like that before – the boy has an obvious crush."
"Do tell us more, relationship expert," smirked the blonde beside her, amused.
"Well I do know Eve is looking at Cody though he's a piece of meat she can't wait to chew on."
"Gross." The brunette commented, echoing everybody else's thoughts as she turned on her heel and proudly stalked ahead. "And that's so not true."
"It totally is." The redhead laughed. Set to follow her inside, Maria was to be caught off-guard when Michelle and Layla appeared before her. "Oh... hi."
Ashley noted the look on Layla's face—for once she didn't look smug or evil—and decided she and Mickie didn't have to stick around to protect their friend. Michelle was enough for Maria to handle. With this in mind, both disappeared inside and left her to it.
"Maria, sweetie, you look amazing. The time off clearly did wonders for you."
She tucked loose strands of her vibrant hair behind her ears, taking in the compliment. It was funny, but now she thought about it, Michelle always backed up kind words with a condescending tone. How hadn't she seen this trait of hers before?
"Chelle, can we go?" Layla spoke out from beside her. "You said you were going to comfort me... you know, about the break-up." She looked very upset all of a sudden.
Maria would have been truly fascinated by the change in the bad girl if she wasn't so focused on ending this conversation as quickly as possible. "You know – actually – I really wasn't looking to talk right now. I have to unpack and Layla's issue sounds important so—"
"She can wait," said the unconcerned blonde, glossing over the now saddened look on her best friend's face. "We've been talking all about her on the ride home. I want to talk to you about something. About Randy, actually."
She wasn't a disrespectful person by any means. In all actuality, Miss Kanellis was the model student for friendly behaviour. But on this day – in this precise moment – she found she couldn't fake a smile for her so-called friend. Now that she knew the truth, it was hard to pretend she even liked Michelle.
"Are you okay, hun? You look pale."
"I'm perfectly fine. You, on the other hand, are not. Are you? Huh, 'Chelle?"
A flicker of a smile touched the flawless girl's lips. She looked like what was happening, or what was about to happen, was too good to be true. "Where is this all coming from?"
"This is coming from weeks of suspicion on my part, Michelle. I don't want to sound rude..." She trailed off for a moment, battling with her inner goodness. Despite how much she wanted to hurt her back for all she'd caused—for all she'd done to prevent any sort of relationship between she and Randy to form—she simply couldn't go to those lengths. She was a good person at heart, and now she was finding out it wasn't always the best thing to be. "I just think we should have some space from each other from now on."
"Can I ask why? Or don't I deserve at least that?" When Maria opened her mouth to reply, she quickly interrupted. The tiny smirk on her face couldn't be ignored. "I find it funny—no, hilarious even—that your mood quickly changed when I mentioned Randy. I'm going to hazard a guess and say you two have been talking behind my back... am I right?"
"Does it matter if we did? It's not like you're a couple anymore anyway."
Layla El stood behind the tall blonde in this argument, wondering if this was just the beginning of it. The dark-haired student certainly hoped not; if she didn't have Michelle in her life, she would suffer deeply from lack of social skills, but at the same time... maybe it was worth trying to get to know new people if all she had to look forward to was a month's worth of bitching about the 'pretty little redhead' standing opposite her.
"And I bet you're just thrilled about that, aren't you?"
Contemplating what to say next, the usually bubbly girl failed to keep her emotions gathered inside. She didn't want to be malicious. She didn't want to turn herself into a mini-version of the person standing in front of her. It was just sometimes... at times like these... nothing could be done about a certain mood and it had to be acted on. "No, I'm not thrilled you and Randy called it quits – I was devastated for you when you told me. I thought about you during that horrible time. But it was all a lie, wasn't it? You had no problem breaking up with your high school sweetheart... you just didn't care to tell me the same story."
"And what, let you get your hands on the one guy who was supposed to mine? You really don't have a clue do you, Maria? Every guy around falls for your pathetic Little Miss Innocent routine—hell, even that loser Jeff Hardy is in love with you."
"That's not true."
"Believe what you want, I don't care. He's not who we're talking about here." Intentional or not, Michelle McCool's true colours were shining through at least. "You can have Randy if you want. Whatever. Just don't think you can take away everything."
It took a long while for her to understand the meaning of that particular statement. When recognition did catch on, she wanted to laugh. What a ridiculous assumption to make. "You put Randy through all this... you put me through all this... just so you could send me a message? Just so you could tell me that you're the most popular girl around here?"
"Everybody loved me in high school. I was the most popular person there! And now I come here and I have to compete with you? No way, it's not happening. Good personalities get you nowhere, Maria – you won't survive in the real world with the goody two-shoes act."
"Maybe not." Truly finished with the conversation and unable to go on another second, Maria picked up her suitcase and began to walk away from the scene. "But how does it feel to know all of your relationships have been a lie just because you're not confident enough to be yourself?"
She left the blonde alone with Layla to do whatever they pleased—as long as they didn't follow her into the building and stayed clear of her, she really didn't care. A grin curved her lips as she stepped into her room, happy to see it again. She felt like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
"Everything okay?" Mickie questioned and shared her infectious smile. "You look... almost suspiciously happy. Weren't you just speaking to Michelle?"
"Yes, but I think that's the last time we'll be talking to each other. I finally told her how I felt and things are looking up."
"Aw, I'm so proud of you."
"Thanks. I think I might be too." Collapsing happily onto her bed, she stared up at the ceiling. "I'm proud of you too. You overcame your fear of guys and the way their mind works and got into a proper relationship. Now that's an achievement."
"It's almost like we're growing up. Scandalous!" A mock gasp was contributed to the discussion and both girls laughed. "Well it looks like we're sorted out – for now at least. It's up to Ash and Eve now."
"No worries," interrupted Ashley, frightening the two as she and her partner in crime appeared in the doorway. "This is the first and last time I'll ever say this so listen up: The next time I see Adam, I'm going to tell him I love him. I think I'll be 'sorted' too."
"And I don't even know what I have to do to be sorted – whatever that means." The Latina giggled as she perched herself on the edge of Mickie's bed. "But here's hoping I find what I'm looking for too."
The other three agreed on this. Who would have thought a few months at college and a new experience for all would provide them with such drama and expectations? All they knew was that eventually everything would have to fit in its proper place, and there was no time like the present to get started on it.
Especially for Ashley, who'd spotted Adam on campus while collecting the jacket she'd left outside. It was now or never.
So there's the next chapter. Sorry about the super long wait – I really don't have an excuse! Please review :)
Up next is the last chapter for Ashley.