A sad smile twitches at my lips at the memory. It was awkward, painful and downright awful, but a memory all the same.
I sit there for hours, lost in my own thoughts. A few people come and go, but no one talks to me until a group of kids, all laughing and joking, head my way.
“Emmie,” Misha says, bounding toward me with a massive smile on her face and a giant pink ‘Happy Birthday’ badge on her shirt.
Lovell Sixth Form don’t wear a uniform, and the fact that I’m still wearing mine makes me feel even less like I fit in than ever.
“I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Surprise,” I say, plastering on a smile as she seems genuinely pleased to see me. “Happy birthday.”
“Thank you! We skipped,” she says, stating the obvious. “Thought this would be more fun.” She pulls a giant baggie of weed from her pocket and shakes it in front of me. “Thought we’d kick back here like old times then head to the den. Cherry told you that Archer’s organised me a party, right?”
“She sure did. What did you do to deserve that?” I ask. He doesn’t go to the effort of planning a party for anyone.
“Oh, you know.” She wiggles her brows, giving me a very good clue as to how she convinced him to do it for her. “Shit, that’s not weird for you, is it? I know you were…” She trails off, not really knowing what to say.
“We were nothing,” I say, helping her out. “You’re more than welcome to him.”
“We’ve missed you Emmie,” Dax, one of the guys I used to hang out with, and Archer’s friend, says, swiping the baggie from Misha and setting about rolling her a fat birthday joint while resting his arse against the swings.
“Yeah, it’s not been the same without you,” Low adds.
It’s a lie, the two of us never really saw eye to eye. But that pretty much summed up my life here. I tolerated everything and everyone. Some were just easier than others.
“Birthday girl,” Dax says, passing the joint over and letting her take the first hit.
“So shouldn’t you be at your fancy pants school right now?” Low says, her lip curling in disgust that I actually managed to get out of the estate.
“I got suspended for breaking a girl’s nose.”
Misha snorts a laugh, smoke spilling from her lips as she chokes on her hit.
“You can take the girl out of Lovell, but you can’t take Lovell out of the girl,” Dax helpfully points out.
“Give me that,” I say, holding my hand out for the joint. “Fuck yes,” I breathe, letting out my first hit. “Exactly what I fucking need.”
“Got plenty more where that came from.”
“Bring it on.”
* * *
Before the sun sets, we make our way toward the den where Archer was already getting Misha’s party set up.
A smile lights up his face the second he sees her, but then his eyes drift to me and I swear it gets wider. Meanwhile, my stomach drops to my feet as reality sets in.
If Dad is wrong about the Wolves, then I could have just made the dumbest decision of my life.
“Emmie,” he booms, pushing Misha aside in favour of me, much to her disgust. “It’s been too long, girl.”
“Yeah, I know. Things have been…”
“I heard your grandad has issues,” he says, making me wonder just how much he knows about my current situation.
“Yeah, I guess. I’m not here to get into all that, though. Just celebrating our girl’s birthday.”
“Hell yes,” he says, finally reaching for Misha and pulling her into his body. “It’s time to party, babygirl.”