"I had to get away, But now I'm back"

"Hey Zane.." She strutted over to him, across the Juicenet.

"Miriam. What?" He answered agitatedly

"I was thinking," She replied, tracing circles on his hand which was resting against the table. "You and me, Could go out for dinner tonight."

"No, Miriam. No way."

"But, Why?"

"Hello, I'm going out with Rikki. She's better than you, Leave me alone."

"B-But Zane! How can she love you? She ran away!"

"Miriam." He pulled her close to his face, and spat, "She ran away. Because she had to. She will come back to me. Now just piss off!"

She turned away, And stormed out of the café. Zane looked at his mobile screen, No messages.

"Rikki.." he whispered.

Zane woke up, and looked at the girl next to him. He was right, She did come back. He got out of bed, and wrapped the covers round her, Tucking her in. Looking at her, So small underneath all the bedclothes, Made a single tear fall from his face. So, He turned away, Just in case she woke up. She had been asleep for ages, But Zane put this down to 2 years sleepless nights, and God knows how many before that. He heard a faint murmuring, and moaning. He looked behind him, and Rikki was tossing and turning.

"Rikki, Rikki, It's OK, Rikki, I'm here, It's just a dream." I stroked her arm.

"Zane.." She nuzzled into my chest, I wrapped my arms around her.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"It was my Dad.."

"Oh Rikki, But it's all over now.."

"But what if he finds out I'm here?"

"He won't. You said he's down the pub most of the time."

"Yeah..You haven't told Emma and Cleo I'm back have you?"

"No, I haven't got round to it yet. Why don't you want me to?"

"Not..Not just yet..Please?"

"Whatever you want," He scooped her up into his lap. "So what do you want to do today?" He said in her ear.

"I don't know.." She snuggled into his chest. "Can I go to Mako?"

"Yeah..Why are you asking me for? It's your life!"

"But you're part of it,"
"You say I'm soppy!"

"Zane.."

"So you want to go to Mako?"

"Yup. For..Like..Memories..You know,"

"Yeah, Do you want me to come with you?"

"Nah, You can go..Out on your boat or something..I want to be alone,"
"You're not going to run off on me again are you?"
"Never."

Rikki surfaced at the moonpool, She couldn't remember the last time she had done that. She looked around, smiling to herself. 2 years ago it would have been. Things were bad at home, Nothing she couldn't handle. But then it got too bad. Out of control. Rikki always had to be in control, ever since her mum left, That was the thing she focused mostly on. She got out, and dried herself. She stood up, Still in Zane's shirt, and had more of a look around, It had been so long..She couldn't really remember it completely.

Suddenly, she heard some splashes, and she ducked behind a rock.

"How long has it been?" A girls voice echoed round the base of the volcano

"2 years, a month and 3 days."

"I wonder if she's ok..You don't think she could have..You know.."

"No! Don't think of that, Think positive."

The two girls strode off out of Rikki's view, and so she moved a bit, So she could still see them. They looked vaguely familiar, like old friends, But different. They laid some flower in the corner, on a pile of other flowers, that was so high, That the flowers towards the bottom were already rotting away.

"Please come home Rikki.." One of the girls whispered.

"You know I hate flowers." The two girls looked confused, Then saw the girl in front of them. So small, pale and thin.

"R-Rikki?"

"Yeah. Hi." She replied, staring at the floor.

"Where we you-Why did you le-What went wr-Why di-" The blonde girl gabbled.

"You are Emma and Cleo yeah?"

"Yes. Of course we are..Can't you remember us?"

"You've just changed.." She looked nervously at them.

"We could say the same to you.."

"You've just got older, That's all.."

"You..You look really sad..And thin..Are you okay?"

"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Rikki, you ran away..You wouldn't have ran away if everything was ok.."

"Please. Can you just drop it?" She pleaded with them. "I'm back now..So can we just leave it at that?"

Emma and Cleo exchanged glances.

"Yeah, Ok..But promise you'll tell us one day, Okay?"

"Yeah. ok. Fine" She lied, Hoping they wouldn't notice.

"Do you wanna go get a juice? You know, It's been a long time.."

"Erm.." She tried not to hurt their feelings. "I'm trying to keep a low profile..Just in case.." She bit her tongue before she said too much.

"Just in case what?" Emma pressured.

She did say too much.

"Nothing."

"Rikki, We're supposed to be your best friends.. Why can't you tell us?"

"I just really don't want to talk about it..At the moment.."

"You will tell us one day?"

"Yeah. I hope so." She was looking at the floor throughout the whole conversation. Both Emma and Cleo couldn't remember a time when Rikki was so nervous. Something serious had happened, There was no doubt about that. But, what? They were going to find out, And help her. Anyone could tell she was extremely distressed about something.

"Does Zane know you're back?" The broken girl in front of them immediately perked up at the sound of his name.

"Yeah," She grinned. "Yeah he does."

"Does he know the..Reasons..behind it all?"

"Yes..I told him..I just don't want to go through it all again..It would make it more..Real..Y'know?"

"Yeah, We understand, So we can ask Zane, and get him to tell us?"

"Yeah. I'd rather that. I don't really want to talk about it."

"Was it that bad?" She nodded slowly, and allowed a tear to drop from her bowed head to he sand. "Me and Cleo are here to talk, Anytime. And Lewis, Everyone, We're there for you. Just remember that. We're here for you."

"Lisa was right.." She whispered.

"Hmm?" Emma asked.

"Nothing,"

Emma and Cleo pulled Rikki into a hug. She was very rigid, but then relaxed into the embrace of her two best friends.

"Just like old times eh?"

[Oh my god, Sorry guys! I've been told today, That it's almost been 3 weeks since I last updated. Basically, I've been up to my unibrow in homework (The unibrow was a lie, But I do have a lot of homework) And, I had a plan. But I realised I had written it on the back of my DT homework, So I had to print off another sheet, But I lost the plan. So I was writing it as I went along. I think I can remember now, Just about. Anyway, Thanks for reading (: ]