Chapter 5

They both supposedly worked late every Wednesday night, the same night they were due to meet their therapist. How unusual.

It was comical how she still seemed to think I was none the wiser. She assumed I was still the clueless eight-year-old that believed in superficial concepts like the tooth fairy, and the idea that my parents would stay together forever.

With regards to their couples' therapy, my parents were essentially placing duct tape over a large crack in our house that would continue to grow. They could fake all the performances they needed to in order to believe that they were getting somewhere, yet for every step forward, they were always taking another five steps back.

"Thanks for dinner," Mom smiled over as I tipped the remains of the food into the trash can and placed our cutlery and plates into the sink in order to start washing up.

"You're welcome sweetie," She walked over timidly and took the wet cloth from my hand, "you go and do your homework; I can finish up here." I hesitated to leave with the heartache hidden behind her eyes, but I knew she wanted to be alone. She always deserted herself from everyone when she was feeling like this.

"You'll be ok," I muttered underneath my breath before I began to walk up the stairs. I knew she hadn't heard me, but I knew she would be. What she sometimes lacked in honesty; she had a determination to fix what was irreparable. And I couldn't help but commend her for it.

I spent the rest of my night swapping between N*****x shows and scanning through my phone at the useless information I would never read whilst texting Valentina about the party that April had somehow agreed to as long as Henry was on board.

However, I hadn't realised how difficult that task would be until he was standing in front of me at school.

"If April's willing to go, then why aren't you?"

I had been following Henry around like a lost puppy whilst he attempted almost every corridor to escape my relentless questioning. "I don't want to go, Savannah. You know I don't like going to them."

"What if something happens to April?" I'd hope to hit a cord, but I knew that even if I had, Henry was one of the best people I knew at masking his emotions.

April and Valentina had yet to meet us for lunch and I had somehow crept through the morning without seeing Josh or any one of his friends, although I'm sure they'd probably skipped instead before my luck most likely ran out. I'd caught Henry whilst walking to the cafeteria, barley giving him a chance to speak before I had probed him to go to the party.

He drove a hard bargain when he slipped into the bathroom, but the stubbornness inside me, passed on from my mother, didn't stop me from following in behind him.

The sudden trace of urine and boy-stench crept into my nasal cavity, causing my fingers to squeeze around my nose, hoping to keep the smell from entering. "Why did you follow me?"

"Why won't you go?" I threw back, unbothered somehow by the curious stares from a couple people in there, heading straight for the cubicles instead of opting for the urinals.

"I know Finn. I know the guys he hangs round with. He's not a good person, Savannah. And I don't want to go, and you shouldn't either," his stern expression was something we'd only see when something truly got to Henry, and although it interested me, I didn't want him to win.

"I'm going whether you're going or not," I decided, throwing my arms against my chest in the hopes of looking more intimidating than I usually did.

"Don't come running to me if something goes wrong."

"Whatever, Henry," I made it a plan to storm out of the bathroom, mostly to prove a point to him that had he failed in his deterrence of me going to the party. Of course, I wasn't crazy about going to it, but my determination had shifted to proving a point rather than anything else.

Without regard to anything in front of me, I pushed the door open to the bathroom, only for a hard wall to present itself in front of me, knocking me down to the floor.

"Really?" I shouted out before looking up and capturing the eyes of someone I had been avoiding as best I could.

Until this very moment.