The next morning came quickly. Alice had slept fitfully. It was 6:00. She was fully awake. Shauna's soft snores alerted Alice to the fact she was still asleep. Alice was confused. She knew she had to let go of the resentment for what Danny said to her. She knew she was using it as a excuse to break up with him for some reason. She really was bad for self destructing the best things in her life. And of course the elephant in the room that had always been between them. Sarah! Fair enough she had kissed Aidan but as far as she was concerned she and Danny were over! Finito. Kaput! This had to get sorted today! She didn't want the stress anymore. I man she and Danny were enrolled on the same courses at college. A level biology and chemistry. She had started to wonder whether it would be worth her moving up here for good. Would it be better If she moved up here for good? Just get away from all the Bristol shit and come where she was loved and wanted. Mrs Carr had told her that she could live with them if she wanted. She did want to be an imposition though! If she moved up she'd be able to see her mum on a regular basis and she wouldn't be missing her friends anymore and she wouldn't have to face Danny too. It was definitely worth thing about. She needed something to take her mind off all the turmoil she was experiencing she smiled a evil smile. She knew exactly how too. She giggled at the thought. She crept over to Shauna's sock drawer and pulled out about 6 pairs of socks. she made sure a couple were pretty thick bed socks. She then hid them under her blanket and then climbed back into bed. The first couple of pairs of socks she threw only grazed her body. God her aim was shit! Alice threw this one hard expecting to miss but ending up hitting her right in the face. Shauna shot up off the bed and was looking round.
"Huh? What's going on?" she asked sleepily.
Alice mean while had lay back down and was biting her lip to stop herself from laughing. She was sure her shoulders were shaking.
"Alice you awake?" she asked suspiciously.
Alice tried to snore but a giggle escaped.
Shauna threw the socks back her. "God sock bombs. You are so dead Alice!" she warned.
Alice laughed softly. "Well it was fun." she said. "the last time I seen you move so fast there was a sale at the metrocentre!
"Aw but c'mon Alice it's 6:30! God I didn't even know 6:30 existed!" she flopped back down onto her bed. "Then again it's not like I need beauty sleep. You for another matter.." she started and grinned.
"Hey I have more in my arsenal than sock bombs. You my dear friend have been warned!" Alice retorted.
Alice was propped on one arm lying down.
"Shauns?" Alice asked.
"Mmmmm?" she replied.
"If you were me what would you do?" Alice asked.
"'Bout what?" she replied.
"Danny?"
"Well" Shauna said and propped herself up on her arm too. "Me I'd make him suffer. Grovel. Beg me to take him back." she then smiled a wicked smile. "Then I'd lock us in his room to have my evil way with him. But your not as sadistic as me so that is out of the window. But seriously though you need to decide whether you can over come all these things because obviously patching over the cracks hasn't worked!"
"What happens if the problems can't be overcome?" Alice asked.
Shauna shrugged. "You break up, and try to remain friends." she said.
"Breaking up doesn't work Shauns. We were miserable. When we argued I even did something stupid!" she said.
"What you do go on a rampage or something?" she asked.
"No, I took some of my dads sleeping pills. Ya know to…"
Shauna shot out of bed. "Why did you wanna do something like that for?" Shauna asked.
"That wasn't coz of Danny. It was a really bad time for me! I had told Danny I hated him. I couldn't get in touch with you or Missy to talk it through and I REALLY missed my mum. More than I usually do. I just needed to vent and that's what happened."
Shauna pulled her close for a hug. "God Alice don't do anything like that again! We need you here with us." Shauna said.
Alice hugged her back. "Luckily Danny stopped me. I'd only taken to by the time he found me. Of course he went ballistic and sat by my bed till I woke up. God he was distraught. He was ready to take me to hospital!" she said.
"Am I missing something? This lad sounds so perfect. Why the hell would he kiss someone else?" Shauna asked.
"It's a long story Shauns." Alice replied.
"We've got all the time in the world." Shauna told her
"After I took the tablets and said I hated him. I woke up. He looked so relieved that I was ok. I told him that we had to break up. I had convinced myself that I wasn't good enough for him. He tried to convince me that I was wrong but you know how stubborn I can be. I really hurt him Shauns! Anyway he left. Later on the next week I had to go back to school. My attempts to get myself expelled having failed. My tutor tricked us and we had to try to talk through our problems. They wanted to start up the buddy system. They liked that Danny could keep me calm you see. We were talking and he said something nasty. WAY nasty. Far worse than anything I have ever said to him! I could barely even look at him. I honestly hated him for a second for saying it. Then my heart broke. Well more than it already was. Then I was overwhelmed by anger! I told him to stay away. Later that day he climbed a ladder up to my bedroom and wouldn't leave. Said he'd go as far as to break my window. I let him in and we made up. It wasn't the same though Shauns. I couldn't forget what he'd said to me. It just kept going around and around in my head. I don't think my heart had fully forgiven him. To be honest I don't think it can!" she paused for a moment. "The rest you know, about him wanting to spend time with me but I was packing to come up here."
Shauna looked overwhelmed for a moment. "Wow. Not a dull moment with you my friend!" she said. "Your life's better than a soap opera!" Shauna said.
"You don't know the half of it Shaun's!" Alice said.
"What he say to you that was so bad?" Shauna asked.
Alice looked at her bed sheet. "I can't tell you Shauns. There's stuff down there that only me and Danny know and I think it's best if it stays that way. Coz I know you. You'll go mental!" Alice told her.
"Alice I'm worried now. Your not pregnant are you?" she asked.
"God NO! Me and Danny haven't even well you know." she said.
"Alice you can tell me anything. I'm your best friend you know I'll support you through anything!" Shauna told her.
Alice looked at her seriously. "Shauna if I tell you this you have to promise me 2 things. You have to promise you won't tell your mum and you have to promise you won't kick off and go mental!" Alice told her.
"Ok." said Shauna.
"Say you promise Shauna. And if you break this promise I swear I will never EVER speak to you again!" Alice told her seriously.
Shauna worries increased. Alice was never this serious. The last time she was this serious she'd told her that her mum was dying. Oh God Alice was dying! She thought. "Alice your not dying are you?" she asked quietly.
"No Shauna I'm not! You still haven't promised." she said.
"Ok Alice I promise you!" she said.
Alice exhaled slowly. "the night I returned to Bristol I returned to find my dad had moved his girlfriend and her son in."
"Oh yeah I remember that. The message you sent. You were foaming. John or something. You kicked his ass at football or something like that."
"Josh." Alice told her.
"Well Josh invited himself in my bedroom and…" Alice was silent waiting for Shauna to work it out.
"And what?" she asked.
"For gods sake Shauna. Work it out. He's 16 and in a girls room. Do you really think he wanted to talk?" she asked.
Realisation dawned. "Right I'll kill him!" she shouted.
"You promised you wouldn't go mental!" Alice said.
She took a deep breath. "He didn't actually do it did he?" Shauna asked her. Her face was the picture of concern.
"Thankfully my knee disabled him, I locked myself in the bathroom. I had to start locking my bedroom door too. God Danny nearly killed him on a few occasions too. For a second though I honestly thought I was trapped. For a second I thought I wasn't going to get away. I mean he's quite a big lad there's no way I could have fought him off. Well at school Danny asked me if the reason I had broke up with him was because I had found out that Josh was free and I wanted to be his girlfriend instead. In Danny's defence when he realised what he said he was disgusted with himself!" she said.
Shauna was absolutely furious. "You were right to break up with him!" Shauna got up and started pacing. "Was he outta his freaking mind when he said that to you? What a bastard! Just wait till I see him!"
"He's not like that really Shauna he's a nice guy. He just doesn't handle conflict well obviously! Don't call him that either Shauna I don't like it. So just don't! " Alice told her.
"God Alice you confuse me you really do! One minute you love him, then you hate him, then your protecting him. I've got a headache and I've only known 5 minutes! You must really love him!" she mused.
"I did love him Shauns. I Really loved him. I don't anymore." she said trying to convince herself as well.
Shauna looked at her. She didn't love Danny? Yeah right, Shauna was a space alien too!
(X)
Shauna and Alice were sat at the breakfast table. Shauna was fidgeting and kept looking at the front door.
"Shauns what's going on your making me nervous!" Alice whispered.
Shauna looked at Alice. Her face was the picture of innocence.
"Nothing Alice. This is how I normally act on a morning.
Alice looked at her and raised her eyebrows. "yeah right. Your acting like you did when you put that whoopee cushion under Mr Bamborough's chair." Alice giggled.
"Oh I'd forgot about that!" Shauna said that. She smiled widely. "That was hilarious."
"yes but who got the blame." Alice asked.
"Wasn't my fault!" Shauna defended.
Alice laughed softly. "Of course it was your the one who put it on his chair!"
"Well it wasn't my fault you laughed first. If you kept ya mouth shut someone else would have got the blame!"
"I hated that about him. He was constantly punishing me because I laughed first. I think you set me up half the time."
"Oooo you foiled my evil plan at last!" Shauna cackled. "Anyway I did your essay for you didn't I?" she asked.
"Oh yeah and if you remember correctly he knew you did it and it got doubled with a detention on top. God he was a first class asshole!"
"Your mum wasn't too happy like." Shauna said.
"Yeah well she wan angry that after Mr Bamborough called her daughter a liar she called him a prick and told him to fuck off! And I said I wasn't a rebel! I only told him to fuck off AFTER he gave me the detention not before like he said though!"
The postman dropped some letters onto the mat. Shauna ran over and grabbed them. She picked the one she wanted then ran to get Alice. She dropped the rest of the mail on the dining room table.
"C'mon upstairs!" she said and dragged Alice behind her.
"I knew you were up to something!" she said as she was pulled up the stairs.
Shauna closed the door of her bedroom and thrust the letter into Alice's hand.
"I wasn't going to give you this after what you told me about Danny but then I realised it wasn't my letter to withhold.
She left the room after she grabbed her phone. She popped her head back into the bathroom. "Giz a shout when ya finished yeah?" she asked and grinned. "I'll be on the phone to my prince charming."
Alice sat on the bed and looked at her name written in Danny's messy scrawl. So Shauna and Danny had conspired against her. She sat and looked at the envelope. She threw it in Shauna's bin.
"Shauna you can come in." she shouted.
Shauna burst into the room. "What it say?" she asked excitedly.
"Dunno, didn't read it!" Alice told her simply.
Shauna voice went high pitched. "You didn't read it? This lad writes you a letter. Probably a romantic love letter listing your many qualities and declaring undying devotion and you don't read it?" Shauna squeaked. "You need ya head checked my friend!"
"That's exactly why I'm not reading it. I need to think about him with a clear head. I don't want soppy words and empty platitudes clouding my head and making me make decisions which could be wrong. I also don't want any pressure and him writing me love letters does not HELP!"
Shauna was angry. "Alice you're a fucking idiot. This lad freaking adores you. He worships the ground you walk on and you keep him at arms length. God I wish the worst thing Chrissy done to me was say a few nasty words which he didn't even mean and actually not kiss someone else coz the way Danny tells it Sarah forced herself onto him and he pushed her away he didn't even respond! He even said that his head was so full of you, that she couldn't compare to you. Everything in her doesn't even measure to your little toe. For gods sake Alice do you realise what he's saying. What your throwing away?" Shauna shouted the last sentence.
"Yeah well he didn't push her away quick enough! He shouldn't have got himself in that situation!" Alice retorted. "And words are words. They're easy to say!"
Both girls were breathing hard. It seems Shauna had taken Danny's corner.
"I understand what he said and did hurt you deeply but just think about it. Is it all worth losing what conceivably could be the love of your life?"
"Shauna this isn't helping me ok! It's just making my head worse."
"No what your saying is someone is actually trying to convince you that Danny is good for you and you don't like that coz your convincing yourself he's bad for you. You forget all the time we spent talking when we were kids I know you better than you know yourself!"
Alice was pissed. "Fuck you Shauna. Just fuck off and leave me alone! You know nothing!"
"Well if you don't want him I'll have him! You can have Chrissy coz I tell you something. You'll be begging for Danny by the end of the week!" Shauna said sadly.
"Shauns what's up with you and Chrissy?" Alice asked.
"I dumped him!" she gave a shrug. "I really liked him but he slept with Jill behind my back. I couldn't let him disrespect me like that."
"Aw Shauns." Alice said. Both girls were calm now.
"Don't worry about it. Plenty of fish in the sea as my mum says." Shauna said.
"I'll introduce you to some nice boys down in Bristol. There are some canny ones. I met them when I played football on the field with Da - nobody."
"The only reason Alice gets hot and sweaty with a boy."
"Football !" they chorused together.
"Looks like neither one of us has any luck with the lads eh?" Alice asked.
"So you've made your decision with Danny then?" Shauna asked angrily.
Alice nodded "I can't forgive the Sarah kiss! I just can't!" she said.
"God Alice I could just slap you in the head I really could!" Shauna said and stormed from the room.
When Shauna had stormed from her room she'd actually gone to go in the bath Alice realised. Alice thought morning baths were weird but Shauna loved them. Right time to stop skirting the object! She turned her phone on and phoned Danny.
Hi Alice. he said. Did you get my letter" he asked.
"Yes Danny I did." she said.
"Did you read it?" he asked.
"No Danny I didn't. I didn't see the point. I can't forgive what's happened. I could have let it fly but the kiss with Sarah was unforgivable. I'm sorry but we're over for good. Don't bother phoning or texting coz I won't reply."
She put the phone down. She didn't want to hear his reply. He of course tried to phone her but she disconnected. She told herself over and over that she didn't care. That any lingering feelings would fade quick enough if she didn't see or talk to him for a while. She'd forget his deep rumbling laugh and his quicksilver grin.
Shauna walked in her hair glistening with water droplets. "Decided on a shower instead. I heard you talking were you on the phone?" she asked.
"Yeah I rang Danny - told him we were over." she said casually.
Shauna walked over and grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Think about what your giving up!" she said. "Actually screw it if you wanna be an idiot and ruin the best lad that's happened to you ever than do it!" Shauna said angrily.
"I'm going in the shower Shauna!" Alice replied. And left the room.
Shauna spotted her phone on the bed. She smiled and grabbed it. She copied Danny's number and rang it.
"Danny it's Shauna!" she whispered. "You want Alice back yeah?"
Silence for a second. "Your letter didn't work. Time to try my plan." she said and began to explain.
A/N i know that my readers want them 2gether bt this is how it came out. sorry people :( plus at least shauna wants him an is on his side :)
