CHAPTER 13

I ring Lucy's doorbell and Chris opens the door. 'Kiera!' He shouts over the loud music and hugs me. I return the embrace before walking inside the house. We both walk into the kitchen and he hands me a drink. 'Why haven't I spoken to you?'

'I'm not really sure.' I shrug my shoulders.

'Are you okay?' He asks as he notices my facial expression.

'I went to visit Dave Hayden in prison today, but apart from that, I'm good.'

'Kiera-'

'I said I'm good Chris,' he nods his head and sips his drink.

'Chris you are taking forever-' James stops talking once he realises why Chris is taking so long.

'What is she doing here?'

'Shut up James.' Chris replies.

'Why are you even talking to her? She is such a cow.' I try distracting myself by finishing my drink and getting another one. I ignore the burning sensation in my throat.

'Why don't you go back to doing whatever it was that you were doing?' I ask coldly.

'Gladly,' he replies glaring at me.

'I'm sorry about James.' Chris sighs sadly and he continues 'he shouldn't be acting like that.' I don't know what to say so I finish my second drink and stand up to get more. 'Kiera, I think you should stop with the drinks.'

'One more won't hurt.'

'Kiera.'

'Chris,' he sighs and moves out of my way. I smile happily and help myself to another drink.

'This sucks!' I moan as I finish my vodka.

'You've drank way too much Kiera.'

'I haven't.' I stand up too quickly and hold my head trying to reduce the dizziness I'm feeling. Chris eushes to my side, putting his hands on my shoulders and asks 'Kiera, are you okay?'

'I'm fine.' I jump up and he raises his eyebrows at me.

'What?' I slur. He sighs before saying 'you're drunk.'

'Nonsense'! I reply punching his stomach.

'Kiera!'

'What? 'Come on, let’s go and party Christopher!' He sighs loudly allowing me to pull him. We walk into the living room and a lot of drunken teenagers are dancing to the music. I pull Chris to where everyone is dancing but I see some drinks on the table. 'Oh my God drinks.' I squeal before skipping over to them.

'Kiera, stop.' Chris tries taking the drink from my hands.

'Get lost Christopher and leave my drinks alone!' I snatch one and finish it in one gulp. I wipe my mouth using the back of my hand. I reach for another one but he slaps my hand away.

'Is she drunk?' Katie asks as she walks towards us.

'Yes, she is.' Chris replies answering her question.

'How many has she had?'

'That is her fifth,' he motions towards the cup I'm currently drinking from.

'Wow,' Katie mutters. 'Kiera, enough!' Katie says as she holds my back.

'Katie.' I squeal.

'Kiera, you're drunk.' She tells me as she gives me a disapproving look.

'I'm not, I'm fine.' I say unconvincingly.

'Kiera, you are far from fine.'

'Shut up and leave me alone.' I whine helping myself to another drink. Katie slaps my hand hard making me spill my drink all over myself. She gasps and says 'I'm so sorry.'

'Just go away Katie, you ruin everything.' She sighs loudly dragging me out of the room and into the hallway. 'I want a drink.' I put my hands in my hair. 'No, you have had enough of those and you need to get yourself cleaned up.'

'I can do that at home.'

'Your clothes are wet Kiera!' The words repeat in slow motion in my head. I close my eyes, hoping it will help but it makes everything worse. I hold my head and Katie walks towards me and asks 'are you okay?'

'Give me a drink and I will be.' She scoffs loudly and I'm guessing the answer is "no."

'Oh my God, is she drunk?' Lucy asks as she walks downstairs.

'Afraid so.' Katie replies.

'Stop talking so loudly.' I moan uncomfortably.

'Why is she wet?'

'I spilt her drink; she needs a shower and clean clothes Luce.'

'Take her to my room and pick out some pyjamas, then put her to bed.' Katie nods as she helps me upstairs.

We go to Lucy’s room and I'm about to sit down on the bed but Katie stops me. 'Shower first.'

'Katie, I'm tired.' I whine.

'Tough,' she replies as she guides me into the bathroom. Instantly, I run and sit in front of the toilet seat and empty my stomach's contents. I feel a warm putrid feeling rising up my throat. There is an acidy bitter taste in my mouth that I can't get rid of. With every purge, I feel a tingling and almost burning sensation left in my throat and mouth. Katie sits beside me and puts my hair into a messy bun away from my face. She rubs her hand up and down my back, waiting until I have finished. 

Once I have finished, tears stream down my face and my body is shivering. I sit there in front of the toilet, not having any energy left in me to move. 'I'm going to get water,' Katie announces as she grabs her phone and dials someone's number. She tells them to bring water upstairs and within moments Lucy brings a sealed water bottle and hands it to me. Katie flushes the toilet as Lucy helps me get up. She sits me down on her bed and I hide my face in my hands, ashamed of what happened. 

My whole body feels uncomfortable and I mumble 'I need to take a shower.'

'Can you shower by yourself?' Lucy asks.

'Of course I can, I'm not a baby.' I snap.

'I was just checking, you couldn't even get up a few minutes ago.' Lucy replies quietly.

'Well, I'll be fine, just hand me a towel and some clothes.' I demand. Lucy sighs before giving me what I asked for and I close the bathroom door, locking it.

I run the shower, stepping indie it and adjust the temperature of the water. 

I untangle the knots in my hair, letting the water run through it. I sigh as I try to relax. I use Lucy's Pantene shampoo massaging it into my scalp and do the same with the conditioner. I use her dove body wash and scrub the alcohol from my body. After I'm satisfied that all the alcohol is gone, I turn off the shower and dry my body before getting dressed. I grab my dirty clothes in my hand and walk out to see Lucy and Katie talking. 'Are you feeling better?'

'Not really, my head still hurts.' I reply answering Katie's question.

'Well you did drink a lot,' she replies and I roll my eyes. 'Here,' Katie says handing me aspirin and the water bottle. I thank her before taking the aspirin and washing it down with water.

'Lucy do you still have my pyjamas and stuff?' She raises her eyebrows and walks towards her wardrobe.

'Yeah, I do, you can wear them if you want.'

'I just want my slipper boots,'  I reply and she nods as she hands them to me. I smile gratefully and mumble 'thanks.'

'No problem,' she replies.

'I don't know what to do with this.' I motion towards the clothes in my hands. Lucy walks towards me and takes them from me.

'I'll put them in the washing machine for you.'

'Thanks.'

'No problem,' she replies as she leaves the room. I notice Katie starring at me, making me feel uncomfortable. I ignore it and hope she stops but when she doesn't, I ask 'what?'

'Nothing, I'm just wondering if you two did actually have an argument.' She replies with an amused grin on her face.

'You know about that?' I ask. She nods her head and briefly explains 'Lucy told me about it.'

'What did she say?' I question becoming interested in the conversation.

'She told me you went to visit your dad, how did that go?' 

'Horrible, he hasn't changed one bit,' she rubs her hand up and down my forearm and asks 'do you want to go downstairs?'

'Okay.' I reply and we walk downstairs where the music is blasting. 'Can we go to the kitchen? It's too loud in there.'

'Yeah, sure,' she replies linking her arm with mine. We sit on the stools and notice James is in the kitchen making a drink. He rolls his eyes at me and goes back to making his drink. 'Grow up James.' Katie replies.

'What did I even do?'

'You know what you just did.'

'Whatever, I don't even have time for this,' he mutters angrily as he walks out of the kitchen.

'Do you want to go to the living room now?'

'Fine.' I reply and we walk across the hall. We notice multiple drunken teenagers all over the place. She drags me inside and we sit on a sofa that is empty. 'God this party should just end.' Katie states inspecting the room.

'I know right.' I agree. I rest her head on her shoulder and she plays with my slightly wet hair.

'I was looking for you two.' Lucy states annoyed as she sits next to me.

'Well now you have found us,' Katie replies. Before Lucy can reply Katie announces 'I'm just going to the toilet,' we nod and she leaves the room.

'So how was it?' Lucy asks in attempt to start a conversation. I sigh as I remember the conversation I had with him. I look at her and notice she's silently waiting for me to answer so I say 'horrible, is that what you wanted to hear?'

'No of course it isn't,' she replies instantly and it’s clear that she is offended. 'Is that why you got so drunk?' She asks curiously and I shrug my shoulders.

'You should tell the police about the letters he keeps sending you, it is harassment,' I advise her.

'He is your dad Kiera, I'm not going to do that to you,' she replies softly.

'He stopped being my dad years ago and you should be selfish for once.' I mumble as I put my hands in my hair.

'Wasn’t I selfish when I picked on you?' I sigh rolling my eyes and turn to look at her, asking 'why are you bringing that up?'

'You brought it up today remember,' she responds and I lean back on the sofa once I remember what I said. Silence falls upon us and I break it by quietly saying 'I'm sorry.'

 'I deserved it.'

'No, you didn’t, you were pushing me away again and I didn't bother breaking down your walls, I'm sorry Lucy.'

'I'm sorry too for calling you stupid, I don't even know why I did that, I mean it isn’t even true because you're not stupid.' I smile and she engulfs me into a hug.

'Lucy, my head hurts, your arms are too tight.' I whine.

'Sorry,' she apologises as she loosens her grip.

'Hey Luce,' a boy with strawberry blonde hair and a confident smirk says. I untangle myself from Lucy and raise my eyebrows at her.

'What do you want Jamie?'

'Oh you mean apart from you?' She clenches her jaw and I smirk.

'I'm going to leave you two to it.'

'No, Kiera.' Lucy replies as she holds my wrist.

‘Kiera that would be lovely,' replies Jamie smirking.

'Lucy, I'm not going anywhere, just come and find me afterwards okay?' I ask and she nods her head. 'Where's Lily?' I ask.

'She is all the way down there,' Jamie replies pointing to the other side of the room where Lily is checking her phone. 'Oh okay thanks,' I reply and walk off.

'Hey.' I state making Lily jump as she turns around to face me.

'When did you get back?'

'Ages ago.'

'Seriously?' She looks at my outfit and smirks 'clearly.'

'Shut up I had to take a shower.'

'Why?'

'I drank a lot of alcohol, managed to spill it over my self and then started vomiting and now I feel like crap.' She smiles and says 'sounds like your lucky day. How was the visit?'

'Horrible and I regret it, I should've listened to Lucy.' I mutter.

'No, don’t think like that, you just wanted to make sure and now you have so it's a good thing also,' she replies. I smile at her and say 'thanks Lily.'

'For what?'

'You just know how to make me feel better,' she grins and hugs me.

'Have you seen Lucy anywhere?'

'Yes, I was talking to her but then a guy called Jamie also wanted to talk to her and I left them to it.' She smirks and looks at me 'he has blue eyes doesn’t he?' She asks. 'And strawberry blonde hair with a confident smirk.' I add.

'Well, that is him, he moved to our school at the start of the year and has been after Lucy ever since.’

 'Wow, he must like her then.'

'Yep, I think he does, I'm not sure if she likes him though,’ she replies. I look at where Lucy and Jamie are sitting and notice that they're hugging. 'Maybe we could help them out..' I say to Lily who follows my gaze. 'What did you have mind?' She asks.

'I'm not sure but when I think of something, you will be the first to know Lily' she nods her head and I grab a drink drowning my thoughts away.