CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

As they pulled into their drive, Jane saw Sarah sitting on their doorstep. Jane grinned and jumped out of the car. Sarah ran up to hug her. Jane was so happy to see Sarah; she never really knew how much she missed someone until she saw them again.

"Thank god!" Sarah remarked. "I thought I was going to die of boredom!" Sarah's school had gotten out three days earlier. Jane smiled and rolled her eyes. Sarah was always just a bit overdramatic.

Jane pulled her suitcase up to her room and crammed it into her closet. Sarah looked at her, confused.

"Aren't you going to unpack?" she asked.

"Nah, I'll save that for later," Jane said; she couldn't let Sarah see all the things inside her suitcase. Sarah shrugged and fell onto Jane's bed.

"So, what happened with the whole Blake thing?" she asked. "You said you forgave them, yeah?"

The "Blake thing" was the last thing that Jane wanted to think about on her first day back home. She just nodded and gave a quiet "yeah" in response. Sarah picked at a string on her shirt.

"I just don't really understand why you forgave them," she said. "I know I would never forgive someone for something like that," Sarah pressed.

Jane started to chew on the inside of her lip, a nervous habit she had developed over exam week at Hogwarts.

"Well, they said they were sorry, and they're my friends. Everyone deserves a second chance, yeah?" Jane said, repeated what Remus had told her. Sarah sat up and shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess, but what they did to you was pretty terrible," Sarah said. "If any of my friends from school did that, then I'd never speak to them again."

Jane shrugged; she knew Sarah would've done the exact thing she did but decided not to voice this opinion.

"So, are you and Sean going to hang out over summer?" Jane asked. Sarah just shrugged indifferently.

"I don't know," she said. "I'm not even sure if I like him anymore really."

Jane looked at her, surprised.

"Why not?" Jane asked curiously.

"I don't know; I just don't," was all she said.

"Well, there's got to be a reason."

"There's really not."

Jane just stared at her.

"Well, I guess that means you aren't going to that music festival in Reading with him, yeah?"

"Oh, no, I'm still going. Mum's already agreed, and it's not like we aren't friends anymore."

"Oh," Jane said. She didn't know what else to say. Sarah had been obsessing over this guy since the beginning of the school year. And suddenly, she just doesn't like him anymore? It was weird to say the least.

"You know who I think you should like? Even though he's a complete prat for what he did to you, but it's okay 'cause you've already forgiven him," Sarah said. Jane waited for her to say something.

"That James boy. He's the cute one I saw at the station that time, yeah? Yeah, you should like him. He's cute," Sarah stated. Jane laughed a bit at the suggestion.

"First off, that'd just be weird—"

"How come?" Sarah interrupted.

"Because he's my friend. You're not supposed to like like your friends. And second of all, he likes Lily Evans. Remember? I told you that in my letters," Jane explained.

"Oh, yeah, but didn't you say that she didn't like him?" Sarah asked nosily.

"Doesn't make a difference to James. He's never gonna give up," Jane said.

"Girls! Supper's ready!" called Jane's father from the lower level.

They both walked downstairs, pushing each other playfully as they went. They had hardly sat down when Jane's father started asking about exams.

"All good marks, right, Jane?" he asked, peering over his reading glasses that he had yet to take off.

"Yes, sir," she replied happily.

"And how about Sarah?"

"One of the highest in my class," Sarah said proudly.

"Now, that's what I like to hear!" said Jane's father. "I knew you two'd do great, and that's why I made my famous treacle tart."

The girls smiled. Jane's father may have not cooked many things, but he made the best treacle tart in all of Stockbridge. It was their absolute favourite.

Later that night, the girls climbed out of Jane's window and onto the roof of the house as they had done so many times the previous summer. They could vaguely hear Jane's Thin Lizzy record playing softly from inside her room.

"Sean likes someone else," Sarah informed Jane out of the blue after a bit of silence.

"What? Who?" Jane asked.

"Kennedy Bradshaw," Sarah stated a bit sullenly. "It doesn't matter though because I don't like him anymore anyway, remember?"

Jane felt bad for Sarah. She knew the only reason that Sarah was saying that she didn't like Sean was because he liked this Kennedy girl. Jane knew Sarah still really liked him. She was just trying to detach herself. Sarah did that a lot. She seemed to believe that if she quickly tried to push people away, then they couldn't hurt her. Jane saw this many times when Sarah claimed to hate her own father. Jane knew it was a lie because every time Sarah received a letter from him, she was very excited, even though she tried to act indifferent.

"I'm sorry," Jane said.

"For what? It's not your fault," Sarah said. "And besides, I don't like him anymore, remember?"

"Yeah," Jane said, but she still felt bad.

"Jane?"

"Huh?"

"We're always gonna be best friends, right?" Sarah asked.

"Of course," Jane replied.

"No matter what happens?"

"No matter what."

"Good," Sarah said. "You think there's any more treacle tart left?" she asked hopefully. Jane laughed.

"Mum and Dad probably ate it all," Jane said.

"That's a shame; your dad makes the best treacle tart," Sarah said.

"Yeah, he does."

"You're really lucky, to have a dad like him," Sarah said suddenly. Jane didn't know what to say. Sarah lay back on the roof and looked up at all the stars gracing the night sky.

"I have to go see my dad this summer," she said, and though Jane couldn't really read the tone of her voice, she now understood why Sarah was acting so weird.

"Oh," was all Jane could think to say.

Sarah had not seen her father since two summers ago when he was leaving. She had since then received letters, cards, and money on her birthday, Christmas, other holidays, and sometimes randomly. But this would be her first time actually seeing him in almost two years.

"Where does he live?" Jane asked.

"Birmingham," Sarah replied. "I have to visit for two weeks."

"When d'you leave?"

"Wednesday."

"Nervous?"

Sarah nodded slightly.

"I think he's got a girlfriend," she said. "I don't really even want to go. I mean, why can't he come here? Why do I have to go to him? He's the one that left. And that's just two more weeks that we'll be away from each other," Sarah complained.

Jane looked over at her friend. She couldn't read her all that well, especially in the dark. She suspected, however, that Sarah was only saying this because she was really nervous and didn't know how to feel.

"Hey, at least you'll get to go to Birmingham. That'll be fun," Jane said, trying to make Sarah feel less nervous or scared or whatever she was feeling. Sarah half-smiled.

"I guess you're right. I bet Birmingham's a cool place."