A/N Oh my gosh. I love you guys :D
I am SO, SO sorry for the delay! School has started back, and all my youth clubs, sports and all are starting up again. Plus, I'm doing Duke of Ed this year, so my time is going to be quite seriously limited, so just bear with me, please? Meh. I got myself out of stupid school hockey though, so I'm hoping this year will be good :D So, without further ado...
Chapter 44
The Great Escape, Phone Calls and Screaming
CPOV
When Sonny's legs collapsed, I stopped bouncing. I looked down at her, concerned but amused. She half-lay on the sofa, her head dangling off the edge and her legs against the back of it.
"Are you okay?" I asked, raising an eyebrow and smirking. She looked back at me, smiling dazedly.
"Brilliant." She replied. I rolled my eyes and sank into a sitting position beside her, crossing my legs.
"Yeah, you look it." I said sarcastically. She gave me a confused look, and I slid off the sofa, scooping her up in my arms.
"Oi!" She snapped, hitting at me. I flipped her over and set her back on the sofa, right way up. Her expression cleared. "Oh, thanks." I laughed lightly.
"Anytime." I grinned. She leaned into me, her head drooping on my shoulder. I brushed her hair out of her face, frowning.
"Are you tired?" I asked, concerned again.
"No. Just worn out from bouncing." She explained vaguely. So, she was tired then. I rolled my eyes. "Wonder if the TV works?" She wondered aloud, staring at the ancient TV. Somehow, I doubted it. I pushed myself to my feet absently, walking over to the television. I pressed the button. The screen remained blank. I twisted the dial on the corner, but nothing happened. Growing frustrated for some unexplainable reason, I whacked the top of the TV. It didn't do anything. I gave up, settling for glaring at it.
"Sorry, Sonshine, doesn't appear to be working." I said apologetically, sitting down again. She immediately slumped back onto my shoulder. I didn't have the heart to push her off.
There was a clunk, which made the both of us jump. The TV screen flickered, and flooded to life. We stared at it silently.
"Well. That was... unexpected." I said. Sonny giggled.
"You have a magic touch, Chad!" She laughed, snorting into my shoulder. I poked the side of her head.
"Very funny." I muttered, but I couldn't help smiling. Darn it.
"I know I am. That's why I'm on a comedy show." I couldn't think of a reply to that. "Chad-iot." She added as an afterthought. I played with her hair.
"Don't call me that." I mock-whined. She poked my side sleepily.
"Will if I want to." She mumbled, staring at the bizzare old show playing on the TV. I wasn't sure if the volume was broken or it was a silent film... It could have been either. The fact that it had connected at all nonplussed me.
Sonny yawned into my shoulder, causing me to actually pay attention. "Don't fall asleep on me, girl." I told her.
"Meh. Why?" She whined. I rolled my eyes.
"One, if you sleep now, you won't sleep at night. Two, I'm pretty sure you want lunch. And three, I'm absolutely certain if you fall asleep, I will too, and I really, really don't want Jenny to send out a search party- how awkward would that be?" I countered. Sonny giggled, but sat up. I reached over and messed with her hair. She shrieked and swatted at my hand feebly.
"I didn't get punched. Whoo hoo, one point to Chad!" I grinned. This time, I got a sharp jab in my gut with her elbow. I winced.
"There's the Munroe charm..." I mumbled sarcastically. She turned to smile sweetly at me. I smiled sarcastically back.
After another hour or so of just sitting on the couch, occasionally throwing bemused looks at the television, I decided it was time to grab lunch. I was (fairly) sure that we'd be able to open the back door from inside, so we went that way. We had just reached the stairs when the quiet was broken. The front door crashed open.
"Man, this place is a dump. Why is department interested? It's beyond fixing... Even Esme Cullen couldn't take this on..." We froze on instinct. "Ba, buh, ba, come on, just check through the place... Just write a report for the paper, it'll be fine... I just hope there's no spiders." Random journalist lady blabbered, obviously talking to herself. I grabbed Sonny's hand and started up the stairs, as quickly as we dared while trying to be soundless. Even with the thick dust, our footsteps suddenly seemed far too loud. We reached the landing without incident, but just as I was starting to breathe more normally, Sonny had an unbalanced moment, and staggered, crashing into the wall. We froze again, listening. It was utterly silent for a few eternal seconds.
"Oh, my gosh, the place is haunted!" She fretted. I rolled my eyes. We started to creep quietly again, but then something happened that I really should have expected.
A floorboard creaked under my foot.
And journalist lady came charging towards the stairs.
"C'mon, Cammie, you're not afraid of ghosts!" She, Cammie, urged herself. Joy. We just had to have the panicked journalist who wanted to conquer her fears. Her feet hit the stairs heavily, and I grabbed Sonny by the elbow and dragged her into the nearest room. The door closed just as 'Cammie' arrived at the top of the stairs. I breathed heavily, trying to think a way out of our situation.
"I can hear you!" Cammie yelled suddenly. I prayed her hearing wasn't as good as she thought, but her slow footsteps were unmistakably coming towards the room me and Sonny were in. I looked around the room. It was small, well furnished, with a slanted ceiling with a desk below it. I stared for a split-second, a stupid plan forming and causing a grin to spread over my face.
"This way!" I breathed. I pointed my shocked best friend to the desk. She climbed onto it gracefully, wincing. There wasn't enough room for her to straighten up. I felt a stab of annoyance at myself for making her hurt, but there was no other option. I followed her onto the desk, and pushed the window.
It stayed shut. I swore inside my head, and hit it again. No movement. Cammie's footsteps were right outside the door, and I, losing my head, starting hammering the window. To my shock, it popped open. Instinctively, I held my hands out to Sonny to give her a boost. She put her foot on my hands and I pushed her up through the window. As soon as she was out of the way, I reached for the edge of the window, stretching up on my toes slightly. I scrabbled my feet against the wall, panicking. I managed to pull myself up, though. I scrambled around to face the window again, and slammed it shut just as I saw 'Cammie' coming through the door. I crawled a foot away, very aware of the fact that I was sitting on a roof. And that my best friend, who was considerably clumsy and had her wrist in a brace was also sitting on a roof.
Sometimes I wondered how I got myself into these situations...
Carefully, praying hard that I wouldn't go sliding down, I turned to Sonny. She was glaring at me.
"If I wasn't so flipping terrified of you falling and dying right now, I would totally slap you." She growled. I chuckled weakly.
"Don't blame you, darlin'" I muttered, thinking hard and looking around, trying to think us off this roof, without killing ourselves in the process. I crawled over to the window again, slow and careful. I peaked carefully. Cammie was standing in the middle of the room, her hands on her hips and a freaked expression on her face. I felt bad- we'd obviously terrified her, but there was no way to help that short of going back in, and that really wasn't an option. I bit my lip, and crawled away slowly. This wasn't good, this really wasn't good...
I was surprised when Sonny crawled over to sit beside me.
"I'm still in a bad mood with you." She muttered. "But really, look at the sky! It's so pretty." I smiled, glancing upwards. The sky was a clear blue, with a few puffy clouds. Sonny had always loved the sky. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, hooking her bad arm through mine to secure herself.
"Smile, just for a second." She whispered to me. I did as she asked, putting an arm around her as she snapped the photo of us. She showed me the screen of her phone. I grinned. She'd managed to get both a part of the roof and a strip of sky in as well as our faces.
We stayed up there for what felt like hours, just talking. I loved moments like these.
The sound of a car startled me. I looked over the edge of the roof, making sure Sonny stayed where she was. A car, which I guessed was Cammie's, was driving away. I squinted at the car. It was, indeed, Cammie.
"Kay, Sonshine, we're in the clear!" I yelled. She smirked, folding her arms.
"Oh, are we? And how exactly are you expecting to get us down, Goldie?" She asked sarcastically, using a falsely cheery tone. I rolled my eyes.
"Sonbeam, honey, don't I usually figure something out?" Sometimes I gave her random nicknames, playing with her name.
"You'd better figure it out fast." She mumbled. I crawled over to the window, and pushed against it.
Nothing happened.
"Uh oh." I muttered. "The, um... the window's stuck." I admitted sheepishly. Sonny mumbled something that sounded like 'typical'.
"We need to break the glass." She said matter-of-factly. I shook my head.
"No way. Glass makes a mess, plus it'll cut way too easily- you've already got a broken wrist." I said firmly.
"Do you see another way for us to get down?" Sonny asked pointedly. I didn't say anything, frowning. "My point exactly."
"Well, we need something hard to break the glass. We'll have a hard time explaining the mess if we use our hands." I compromised.
"Maybe we should use your head." Sonny smirked. I winced. I'd earned that one.
"Maybe not." I replied, making my tone as mild as was possible. Now was really not the right moment for fighting. Resigned, I looked for something to break the window with. A rock, a brick, something. There was nothing.
I glanced over to see Sonny eying the hard cast on her arm speculatively.
"No. No way!" I said sharply. She looked up at me guiltily, surprised at being caught. "Don't even think that, Sonny. Do you want that to heal, or would you like to have it broken for the rest of your life?" I snapped. Her eyes dropped, and I felt bad for lashing out, but I couldn't help myself. And there was no way I was letting her beat the window in with her [wrist] cast. "There's got to be a better plan that that." I muttered, reassuring myself as well as her. I looked, desperate now, trying to find a solution. Sonny sighed loudly, then started climbing down towards the edge. I froze, watching her carefully. She kept going and I reached towards her.
"What are you doing?" I asked, panicked. She could not fall off the roof. No way, no way, no way...
"Gimme a sec. I'll be fine, no worries." She assured me. That didn't stop me chewing on my lip as I waited for her to come back up. I knew making her come back up wouldn't be a good idea. She had a temper to be reckoned with...
I didn't start to relax until she was sitting beside me again. She held her hand out for me to inspect, and all I could see was a cut bleeding on the back of her hand.
"Sonny...!" I exclaimed. She rolled her eyes.
"Look what I'm holding, Chad!" And as I looked closer, I saw that she was holding a roof tile. I grinned sheepishly at her.
"Sorry. I'm physically incapable of not worrying about you." That got a smile. I held my hand out for the tile.
"Nuh uh. I'm doing it." I recognised her 'stubborn face' with a sigh. I watched as she turned, reaching my hands out slightly to catch her if she fell as soon as she turned away.
She made it to the window. Gripping the tile in her good hand, I crawled up behind her and held her at the waist. I wasn't taking any chances. I heard her sigh, and then she swung the tile down.
Smash.
Glass flew everywhere, and I pulled her back against me instinctively, hoping she wouldn't get hit by the shards. Glass cuts hurt.
I opened my eyes slowly.
"You all right?" I asked her. She stayed silent for a second.
"Of course." She said brightly, but there was a strange note in her voice. I decided not to comment, but I was getting suspicious.
I leaned around her to see the mess. There was still a few sharp pieces of glass clinging to the frame, so I pulled the tile from her hand, not letting go of her waist, and knocked them out myself.
"We'll need to be careful..." I said. "The glass is everywhere, and it cuts really easily."
I pretended not to notice when her shoulders stiffened.
"Let me go down first." I murmured in her ear, and she nodded. I slid around her carefully, not releasing her until the very last second. My feet hit the old desk with a thud that I felt in my entire body. I flinched slightly, before turning and holding my arms up for my best friend. She slid her legs through the frame, then grabbed my hands. I helped her jump down, then we jumped off the table holding hands, laughing hysterically.
I walked ahead of Sonny down the stairs. She dragged her feet as she walked, and I could feel she didn't particularly want to talk to me, which made me grimace. Reaching the back door, which had been our original destination when Cammie decided to burst in, I found it was locked. I sighed. I really didn't have time for this... So I kicked it as hard as I could, and to my satisfaction, the door burst open, just as Sonny stopped by my shoulder.
"Did you kick that open?" She asked suspiciously. I blinked innocently.
"No, what made you think that?"
She rolled her eyes and pushed past me through the door. I bit my lip. She was annoyed at me, I could tell. I walked after her as she as good as stormed out of the back garden of the abandoned house.
Uh-oh.
I caught up to her, but didn't say anything. She stared past me. I took her hand gently, and was somewhat relieved when she didn't yank it out of my grip. That's when I knew I was in a little bit over my head.
She continued to glare at the ground, but her hand tightened around mine reflexively. I glanced at her, but her expression hadn't changed. For once, I didn't have any idea what was going on inside her head- except that I wasn't entirely sure it wasn't all about me anymore.
Eventually, I found that we were in a small side-street, alley thing. Before I could ask, she started whacking my shoulder, right where I'd been bruised particularly hard. I caught her wrist, staring at her, eyebrows raised.
"You're just... such... an IDIOT!" She half-shrieked, twisting her wrist out of my grip. I would have held on, but I didn't want her to have two broken wrists. I just stared at her quietly, and all of a sudden I found her arms flung around my waist and her face pressed against my shoulder, and was startled- and horrified- to feel the hot damp of tears spreading through my shirt. I wrapped one arm around her waist and stroked her hair with the other.
After a few minutes, I dared to break the silence.
"Honey, what's wrong?" I asked hesitantly. Sonny pressed her face closer to my shoulder.
"Nothin,'" She mumbled. I raised my eyebrows, but she couldn't see. "I'm just a little" –cough- "Emotional, that's all." I rested my chin on top of her head, staying quiet, but my thoughts were spinning.
She was crying. Sonny wasn't an over-emotional girl, nor was she attention-seeking. She never cried for no reason. Even before- when she'd cried a lot more than she did now- there was always a reason.
Then, the other day, she'd said 'practice makes perfect,'- about pills. Tablets... drugs. I hadn't known anything about her being on medication, and it scared me. What was so bad that she wouldn't tell me? And she wouldn't tell me- the look on her face right after she'd said that had assured me of that.
She was hiding something, that much was definite. I didn't know what- I only suspected that one of the secrets was a missing piece in her story about her idiot ex-boyfriend. I fought not to clench my fists at the fleeting thought of him. He'd... cheated on her, I knew that much. Just that small piece of information was enough to make me uncontrollably angry. But I knew there was more to it. I didn't know how, but I knew. I knew.
And that wasn't all. She wouldn't wear dresses anymore (apart from that one time) and the before Sonny was barely seen in anything else. She was playing guitar and crying and writing songs and keeping secrets. Something had happened while I wasn't- there, and it was killing me that she didn't seem able to tell me.
I knew I couldn't call her out on it though, as much as I wanted to. Not only would it make her throw up the walls that had been constructed since I'd left, but it would be hypocrisy- I hadn't exactly told her everything either.
I hadn't told her that Charles was beating me. I hadn't told her about how he'd threatened her, I hadn't told her how my own father had screamed and cursed and told me he'd kill her. That's why I'd broken the contact with her... not only to make it a clean break, but to protect her from my monsters. She knew that, but she didn't know that the man she'd once considered an uncle had actually told me he'd take her life...
It broke my heart to be lied to, and it broke my heart even more to lie to her.
So I hugged her quietly while she cried, biting my tongue to keep the truth and the accusations at bay.
And as I held her, a line of a song floated through my head.
"And now that it's over, I just wanna hold her, I've gotta live with the choices I've made, and I can't live with myself today..." [*]
D/I/K/Y
SPOV
After a lunch, which blurred in front of me as I wasn't paying attention, we headed slowly back to the hotel. All the playful excitement had drained away in the face of my crying and having to break back in and out of the abandoned house.
As we'd walked, my thoughts had strayed. The sight of a small cut had scared me- not so much because of the cut itself, but because of the blood. My thoughts went into a tailspin, memories assaulting me again. Smashing the window had helped a little, but it hadn't taken long for me thoughts to spin again. I'd sobbed into Chad's shoulder, well aware I was probably scaring the crap out of him as I did so.
I couldn't tell him about what had happened while he was gone. He'd be horrified. He'd be angry. And he'd blame himself. I couldn't take that, he wasn't to blame! It was my own damn stupid fault. I remembered something small. I remembered a few days after getting his letter, [**] flipping it over to see a small note scribbled on the back.
I can't take it if you're hurt. Protect yourself, my dear. If you see hurt coming...
Run as fast as you can.
C x
I remembered giving a twisted smile every time I thought about that line. I hadn't exactly done a good job...
I did want to let him know. I wanted to tell him, to let myself break down in his arms and let him comfort me.
But I couldn't do that.
I couldn't tell him that I'd failed, that we'd failed. He'd hate himself for something he never could have controlled, and we would never be the same. I hated lying to him, I hated lying to everyone... But I couldn't tell the truth, not now.
I was in too deep.
D/I/K/Y
Later on, back at the hotel, we had to come down to restaurant again. I tugged at my shirt and tucked my painkillers into my bag. At the bottom of the stairs, Jenny was waiting.
"You've received a few calls, Miss Munroe." She informed me, a strange smile on her face. I pulled a face.
"Really?" My phone had been lying at the top of my suitcase for the past few hours, dead. I couldn't find the charger.
"Yes. I think someone's a little concerned." There was a sharp pain surging through my arm, which caused me to sort of ignore what Jenny was saying.
Chad came up behind me. It was only us and Jenny, so I hugged him briefly.
"Hi." He said as we stopped hugging. "Feeling better?"
"A bit." I said truthfully. Really, I'd just put some things out of my mind and put a plaster on my hand. And that was good enough for right now.
"How's your wrist?" He asked as some other cast members trickled down the stairs.
"Okay." At his disbelieving look, I changed my mind. "Fine. It hurts. Happy now?"
"No. Take your meds."
"No!"
"Why? That's what they're there for!"
"I won't do it while you're ordering me around! I'm capable of thinking for myself!"
During our little argument, our casts and any other poor random bystanders were sucked into listening as our voices rose.
"Oh, yeah, that's why you waited like three days before even getting the meds!"
"It was two! And SHUT UP!" I yelled in his face.
"Why? Because I'm calling you out on the fact that you're incapable of taking care of yourself?" That stung. This argument was gonna be great for our image, but not so good for our friendship.
There was a gasp at Chad's last comment. I pulled myself up as tall as possible and stalked closer to him.
"Excuse me?" I asked dangerously. He leaned down at me.
"You heard me. You're so skinny you're look underweight, you're short, you have a plaster on your hand and your wrist is in a brace! You look like you haven't slept in a month! You cried earlier! So, obviously, there's something wrong." He crossed his arms, pleased with his logic.
I was speechless.
He knew how I fractured my wrist! He knew I had insomnia! And he should have known better than to say that I'd cried. Angry tears sprang to my eyes.
"You... you... UGH! What is wrong with you? I'm alright, I'm fine! I don't need you or anyone to take care of me! I have my mother for that, thanks!" I screamed.
Jenny seemed to unfreeze.
"Right, come on kids, break it-" But before she could finish, I'd taken a few more steps towards Chad.
Slap.
There was a resounding crack as I hit him. He stumbled slightly, and his hand flew to his face. There was a low 'Ohhh!" from the watching audience.
"Well." Jenny muttered, flustered. "Erm, shall we... um... go on into the restaurant? Perhaps we should sit with our own casts today." She added weakly. I followed Tawni into the restaurant, still fuming. I could hear Chad's cast behind us...
"Dude, she slapped you!" – Skylar.
"I noticed." – Chad.
"That stupid little-" – do I even have to say it?
"We should get you some ice, that looks bad..." – Chastity, ever the nice girl.
"Allie, I didn't know you had that in you!" Tawni gushed as we sat down. I stared at my lap, guilt already flooding through me.
"My hand hurts." I mumbled. My cast chuckled. I felt real, genuine sad tears prick my eyes. I knew Chad was just trying to take care of me, and I'd slapped him! Oh no, oh no, oh no...
I fretted and picked through my dinner, wondering how to make it up. I'd slapped him!
Dinner passed quickly though. My feet carried me away from the table as we left the restaurant. Tawni called after me, but I was beyond listening.
"I am so sorry! I really, really shouldn't have done that!" I exclaimed, staring at the ground as I grabbed Chad's hand. He laughed slightly, tossing the ice-pack into the bin. Our casts were staring at us (and our now joined hands) incredulously.
"I guess I sort of deserved it... I'm sorry, too." He admitted sheepishly.
"So... that's... um, that, then." I muttered, my cheeks turning red. I dropped his hand as if it had burned me and backed away quickly.
"Uh... yeah..." He mumbled, his cheeks turning red as he blushed.
"Bye!" I said, and before I could stop myself, I leaned up and kissed him on the cheek.
And then I ran.
D/I/K/Y
My cast were going to kill me. I knew that. I did.
That's why I was currently locked into the bathroom of my hotel room. Marta would probably kill me, too. And I really wasn't in the mood.
I plugged my phone into the socket (even though I had a suspicion it was supposed to be used for hairdryers). I'd found it on the floor as I'd tripped over it as I sprinted into the room, my cast mates hot on my tail.
My phone beeped to life, and immediately started playing. I jumped, recognising 'Friday Night,' by McFly. Mom.
I could also hear the hotel door bursting open.
"Hello?" I said breathlessly, still a little winded from sprinting up the stairs.
"SONNY LAYLA DEMETRIA MURNOE! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?" She shrieked down the phone. I held the phone away from my ear.
"Mom! Calm! My phone died!"
"YOU HAVEN'T PHONED ME SINCE YOU LEFT, NEARLY A WEEK AGO! Explain yourself, young lady!" Unbelievably, I started laughing. "This isn't funny!" My mom fumed.
"Oh, sorry, I know, I know..." There was a silence. "Well, you wanna know what's been going on? Prepare yourself, mother. It's been quite a ride...
A/N Crappy ending, I know! But I liked where it ended, so...
Anyways, sorry again for the long wait! I hope this fairly long chappie makes up for it! Seriously, I enjoyed writing this. For future reference; there will be a minor mention of 'Cammie' later, in a teeny twist I thought of in a rare moment of humorous genius.
ANYWAYS, enough of my idiotic babbling (and maybe bragging ;D)
I love you all- and especially MusicChannySkyscraper, ., MrB.o.B1990, iSarahh, MiiMyselfandTime, ChAnNyObSeSsEd and so many more. You are all absolutely incredible, and this wouldn't be possible without each and every one of you! *heart*
Love,
Hannah :D
