Someone sat next to me. I peered up to see Anna.
“Anna!” I exclaimed as we hugged.
“How have you been? I’ve missed hanging out with you,” Anna replied.
“I’ve missed it too. We should hang out soon.”
“We should.” I looked up towards the cafeteria door to see Lucy standing there with her friends as she pointing and laughing at me. “Sara?” Anna questioned waving her hand in front of my face.
I glanced at her. “Yeah, sorry.”
“What’s with you?”
“Nothing, let’s look at our schedules and see if we have a class together?”
“Okay.” She took hers out. “We have first period, lunch and fourth period together.” The bell rang. “I’ll see you in math.”
“Okay.” We hugged and went our separate ways to homeroom. When the bell rang for first period I headed to math class.
“Sara,” Anna called me over to sit at the desk next to her.
“Hey again,” I said sat I sat next to her.
“What was with you in the cafeteria?’
“What do you mean?” I asked trying to play it off like nothing was wrong.
“You know what I mean. When you saw Lucy.”
“I don’t know?” The teacher walked in saving me.
“Saved by the teacher,” Anna whispered to me.
The bell rang to start class. Once class was over Anna, and I walked part of the way together to our next class then we parted to our-classes. I was glad when school ended for the day. I walked over to my car and was about to get in when Anna stopped me.
“Now you can tell me what was wrong with you earlier?” Anna quizzed.
“I could,” I replied.
“You will. Now spill.”
I sighed. As we sat on the hill in front of my car. “Kaden suggested that I get Kyle and
Lucy hooked up.”
“What! Is he nuts?”
I giggled. “That’s what I thought too at one point-”
“At one point?” She asked worriedly.
“Yes, he told me this story last night about him and his best friend and it made me think that I should at least try.”
“What story?”
“Kaden’s friend was murdered by the kid next door.”
She put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, my! I’m so sorry.”
“He’s dealt with it and is better at holding in his emotions.”
“I can’t believe that!”
“Neither can I.”
“What’s this have to do with Lucy? She betrayed us and you want to befriend her again?”
“Anna, hear me out, please.”
“I’ll listen, but don’t count on me agreeing with you. But answer me why you were acting weird when you looked at her earlier today.”
“Because I called her yesterday and she said that she’d like to hang out today with me today and that she’d meet me by my ear after school. So when she was pointing and laughing at me in the cafeteria with her friends that made me a little mad.”
“I wasn’t laughing at you,” A girl said from behind Anna and I. we stood up and turned around to see Lucy.
“Hi, Lucy,” I said as I nudged Anna to greet her too.
“Hi, Lucy. Sara, I have to run. Call me later?”
“Sure will. Bye.” We hugged. “Bye, Lucy.”
“Bye, Anna,” Lucy said.
Once Anna left Lucy and I hopped into my car and headed to my house. Once we arrived there we walked in to find Kaden cooking dinner. He stepped over and kissed me.
“Did you have a good first day?” Kaden questioned.
“I did,” I replied happily.
“Hello, Lucy,” Kaden greeted.
“Hello,” Lucy greeted back.
“We’re going to sit by the pool and chat. Call when dinner is ready?” I said.
“I will,” Kaden said as he went back to cooking.
Lucy and I put or book bags on the sofa then we sat out by the pool. The pugs came running up to me to greet me and Lucy.
“Awe, they are so cute! One a boy and the other a girl?” Lucy quizzed.
“Yes, this is Coco,” I explained as I pointed to him. “And this is Sadie,” I explained as I pointed to her.
“They are just too cute!”
“They’re my babies.”
“Do you plan to breed them?”
“I am. I’m giving one to my little sister.”
“Awe, that’s sweet of you.”
“She’ll love it, I’m sure.”
“I bet so.” Kaden called the pugs to go inside and they ran off. We lay back on the chairs to relax. “Let me start out by saying that I wasn’t laughing at you today.”
“You weren’t?”
“Nope, there was a girl behind you that I was laughing at.”
“That’s not nice”
“Tell her that when she trips us when we’re walking down the hallway.”
“Oh, well, then maybe she deserves to be laughed at.”
She giggled. “I’m guessing Anna doesn’t like that we’re hanging out today?”
“Nope, she doesn’t.”
“How’s Susie?”
“She’s pregnant.”
“What!”
“Yeah, Susie was dating this guy name Josh, but he died in a car crash. She’s carrying his baby. But she’s been talking to this guy named Jake-”
“The guy from summer visits?”
“That’s him,” I smiled.
“Awe, well, that’s good.”
“Yeah.”
“Wow! So much has happened since we stopped being friends.”
“That wouldn’t have happened-”
“If I hadn’t kissed Kaden. I know that was wrong and I’m really sorry. I have an explanation for that.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t really want to tell you, but I started hanging out with the wrong crowd. They got me into drugs and I got hooked on them. They made me do stupid things.”
“So when we were heading to the beach you were high?” I questioned angrily.
“I’m sorry.”
“Oh-my-gosh! You are something else. We loved you like a sister. You didn’t have to go out and do those things.”
“I realized that after I lost you guys I decided why the heck should I keep doing this? I had no friends that cared about me.”
I hugged her. “Lucy, if I’d of known I would of helped you.”
“It’s alright; I’ve been drug free for five months now.”
“That’s awesome!”
“Yeah, I’m never going back.”
“I would hope not.”
“You don’t have to worry about it.”
“Good. So why did you date Trevor? You know he slept with Tiffany.”
“Yeah, I know he did and he was the one who got me hooked on drugs.”
I sucked in a deep breath. “Good thing I broke up with him.”
She laughed. “Yes, it is a good thing because he told me he was going to get you into doing drugs.”
“He’d never make me, I’d never do them.”
“That’s what I said to him and I still ended up doing them.”
“Everyone’s different.”
“That they are.”
“So are you going to ditch those friends of yours and be Anna’s, Susie’s, and my friend again?”
“Sure if they want to be my friend again?”
“They will once I talk to them.”
“There is one girl I met while I have been sober and she’s a sweetheart.”
“Who’s she?”
“She is considered the nobody girl at our school. Her name is Raven Hawkins. She’s a doll. You will love her like your sister when you meet her.”
“Alright, I can’t wait to meet her. Do you want to hang out again tomorrow, Bring Raven with you?”
“Sure. I’ll mention it to her.”
“Alright.”
“Well, I’d stay for dinner. But I’ve got to get home.”
“Okay. Well, it was nice talking to you and hanging out. See you tomorrow at school.”
“Will do.” She grabbed her book bag as I walked her to the door.
“Do you have a ride coming to pick you up?”
“No I’ll walk.”
“Are you sure? I can take you home.”
“I’ll be fine.” She stated as she smiled.
I grinned. “Okay, bye Text me to let me know you made it home.”
“Will do. Bye.” She left. I shut the door.
I stepped into the kitchen with Kaden. “She doesn’t want to eat my coking?” Kaden questioned.
I giggled. “I don’t know? She said she had to go home. What are you cooking?” I quizzed.
“Hot dogs and tatter tots.”
“Sounds yummy!”
“It will be because I’m cooking it.”
I chuckled. “If you say so.”
“Oh. I do. I’m the bomb.”
“Are you now?” I asked as I smiled.
“Of course.” We giggled. I sat down at the table while Kaden poured me a glass of lemonade. “I have to say I will miss this house.”
“I will too, but there is no point in keeping the house if we will only use the cabins for one year”
“I know. But still.”
“We’ll find a better and bigger place in Rome.”
“I know. But this house is our first home. It’s special.”
“It is. I love this house. But you know sometimes you have to do what’s best for you.”
He smiled as he started fixing our plates. Once we ate we sat on the couch with the pugs.
I heard my phone ringing. I pulled it out and saw I had a text. I opened it to see that Lucy texted me.
“Who’s the text from?” Kaden quizzed.
“Lucy,” I replied.
“What she say?”
“That she made it home and that she looked forward to hanging out tomorrow.”
“Well, that’s good.”
“Yeah, I guess.” I texted her back, “Good and okay.” Then I put my phone on the coffee table.
“Why do you guess?”
“It’s going to take me time to not feel like this is a joke.”
“Why would it be?”
“Kaden, she told me something outside that broke my heart.”
“What?”
“After Anna, Susie and I stopped being friends with her she got into the wrong crowd.
She started using drugs.”
“Oh, no! Has she stopped?”
“She has. She’s been clean for five months now.”
“That’s a good start.”
“It is and I hope she doesn’t go back.”
“I don’t see that happening since you’re back in her life.”
“I just can’t believe she’d do that.”
“People do some crazy things when they lose someone sometimes they turn to drugs.”
“That reminds me. She said she was on drugs the day she kissed you.”
“That doesn’t surprise me. We all figured that’s what she was doing huddled all to herself in the limo.”
“I wish we had done something about it then. I was just so angry with her for kissing you.”
“It’s not a big deal now. At least she’s clean now.”
“Yeah, that’s all that matters.”
“That’s a good thing. Do you think Anna will warm up to being friends with Lucy again?”
“I’m not sure? But I will tell her that Lucy went on drugs then maybe she’ll want to be friends with her?”
“Hopefully that works.”
“I hope so too.”
“Kyle has been asking about you.”
“He’s been calling you?”
“Yeah, he called me yesterday, but I forgot to tell you.”
“Oh, how is he?”
“Good, misses your friendship.”
“I miss his friendship too. How have your parents been since we left?”
“They are good. They’re really excited to see us again.”
“Are your brothers and sisters doing well?”
“They are. When we get married and move there you will get to know my family better.”
“I hope so. I feel kind of left out when I’m there.”
“We chose kind of a bad time to visit because everyone was getting things done and going out with their friends.”
He hugged and kissed me. “They’ll talk to you don’t worry.”
“Alright, I’ll take your word on it.”
Once we were dressed for bed I stood in the living room staring at the pictures Kyle drew for us. I must have been deep in thought because I didn’t notice Kaden had dressed and was standing beside me looking at the pictures too.
“Are they that interesting?” Kaden quizzed.
“It’s a very nice drawing and he has talent,” I responded.
“He does.”
“Speaking of drawings what happened to that drawing you drew of us?”
“I was wondering how long you were going to take to ask where it is.”
“Did you bring it home?”
“I did. It’s in the bedroom.”
I walked into the closet to find the drawing hanging on the wall across from our bed.
“You must have just put that there because it wasn’t there when I got out of the shower.”
He chuckled. “This drawing has been hanging here since we got back from Rome.”
I looked at him embarrassed. “I am sorry, Kaden.”
“It’s fine. At least you asked where it was.”
I smiled. “I’ve had so much on my mind that I haven’t paid attention to much of anything.”
“I know, and I hope everything goes well with your Dad.”
“Me too.” I sighed.
He hugged me. “Everything will be okay.”
“Yes, it will.” I smiled.
When we got into bed no sooner than Kaden’s head hit the pillow he was falling fast asleep. I laid there for hours and thought about my dad as tears slid down my cheeks. Soon my eyelids shut and I fell fast asleep with tear stained cheeks.
27
17th Birthday
The following day of school went well. Before Lucy and I headed to my house she introduced me to Raven. Raven was a petite African American girl with green eyes and long black hair. She did however; turn out to be shy just as Lucy had claimed. But she had an awesome personally.
“Sara, this is Raven, Raven, this is Sara,” Lucy introduced us.
“Hello, nice to meet you,” Raven greeted me.
“Nice to meet you too,” I responded smiling.
“Sara!” A girl’s voice exclaimed from behind me. I turned around to see Anna running toward us. When she reached us she was gasping for air.
“Did you run a marathon?” I joked.
She giggled. “I feel like I did, but no. Can I go with you guys?” Anna quizzed.
“Sure. I don’t see why not. Is it cool with you two?” I questioned Raven and Lucy.
“Cool with me,” Lucy replied.
“Okay,” Raven agreed.
“Looks like you’re in,” I claimed.
“Awesome!” Anna stated.
/> When we got to my house the girl’s headed out to the pool as I greeted Kaden. When I joined the girls they were sitting on the edge of the pool dangling their feet in the water as they appeared to be having a grand time. I smiled feeling like I did the right thing by befriending Lucy.
“So, Raven, what do you like to do?” I quizzed as I joined them.
“I’m really into horses, but yet to have one of my own,” Raven replied.
“I love horses too! You don’t seem as shy to me as Lucy had informed me,” I responded smiling.
She giggled. “I usually am. But I feel comfortable around you guys,” Raven stated.
“That’s cool,” Anna said.
“So how did you and Lucy become friends?” Anna questioned.
“Well, I was doing an assignment for class in the library one day and I spotted Lucy out the corner of my eye. She seemed to be having trouble with the same assignment I was doing. So I walked over to her and offered my help. Since that day we’ve become great friends,” Raven explained.
“Oh,” Anna replied.
“I want to tell both of you something,” Lucy stated towards Anna and me. “I want to tell Susie also. But I guess I’ll have to call her,” Anna and I stared at her waiting for her to tell us what she had to say. “I’m sorry, for what I did to you guys. You guys were true friends and I couldn’t ask for better ones. I hope you guys can forgive me one day.”
“We’re not going to just-” Anna started.
“I know. I don’t expect you guys to just take up being my best friend automatically. I’ll prove to you guys I mean what I say,” Lucy claimed.
I grinned. “We’ll get there don’t worry,” I said.
Lucy smiled. “Now we have a new best friend,” Lucy gestured as she touched Ravens hand.
“We sure do,” I replied.
“Yeah, she’s going to be great in our sister bond,” Anna claimed.
“I’m glad to be a part of the sister bond!” Raven stated overjoyed.
“Do you guys want to jump in the pool?” I quizzed.
“We don’t have bathing suits,” Anna claimed.
“That’s okay.” I replied as I hopped up. “Clothes and all are welcome.” I jumped into the pool knowing I splashed water all over them. We all started giggling. Then Anna jumped in followed by Lucy and Raven.
After about an hour we got out and they sat in the sun to dry off while I changed into dry clothes. I also poured each of us a glass of lemonade.
Love Goes On Page 28