The Dumped Club

16-Rain

I ran out of the toilet, completely forgetting why I went in. Snaking between cliques and groups, my eyes scanned the room to search for Amy. I needed to find her and go home and I had under fifteen minutes to do that. Having looked around the whole pizza place, my heart sank and tears pricked in my eyes. It was pretty dark, with the disco lights being the only source of illumination and the music blared in my ear drums. My heart ripped out of my stomach when someone put their hand on my shoulder. I jumped, turning around to face a hysterically laughing Amy and Ryan. Amy fanned herself for breath and Ryan leaned on her shoulder but they stopped laughing shortly when they saw my expression.

"What's up?" Amy shrugged, chugging coke down her throat. I didn't even roll my eyes at her casual manner.

"We need to go home immediately. We're going to London because Katherine's been accepted into hospital but the baby won't come out," I panted and Amy choked. Ryan patted her on the back and she faced me once she had sobered up.

"O-OK. Go tell your friends and we're leaving in five minutes."

I set off once again, this time searching for my friends and found them dancing to 'Side to Side' with some other girls in our form.

"Hi Hope," Grace smiled her contagious smile and Faith whirled around.

"Hey. Listen, guys, I'm really sorry but Amy and I have to get home immediately and go to London because our step-mum is in hospital. Faith, I apologise about having to leave. You can come round anytime, it's just that we really have to go and I don't know what's happening and Mum called me and-"

"Hope stop!" Faith shushed me. "It's OK. Love and Prudence have invited me round anyway and I'm sure they've got a spare uniform or something. Go home and text us when you're back."

"Thank you. I'll see you guys later." I ran out of the pizza place, wrapping the cardigan around me. I really didn't want to cry but my determination didn't stop the hot tears sliding down my cheeks. Amy was already outside, saying goodbye to people and embracing Jess.

"Call us when you're home," Jess said, rubbing her arms.

"Bye," Amy caught up with me and we sped home. My legs were freezing and I made a mental note to change into jeans and something warmer. We reached our doorstep and Amy unlocked the door. Mum was wrapping a scarf around her neck and Martin sliding his feet into a pair of shoes.

"You're back! You don't have time to change so I've put some clothes into my bag. Amy, put on shoes that are more comfortable to walk in and we'll head off to the train station."

Amy didn't question why we weren't going to use Paul's car and instead took off her heels and threw them at the shoe rack. She put on a pair of trainers and grabbed two coats before running out of the house.

We very nearly missed the train but we found a few seats as the train started moving. I sighed, crossing my arms over my chest and looked outside while the night became darker and the artificial lights dug themselves into my brain. There was something about the night that I had never understood. It was a monster and a way of freedom at the same time. It was quiet, empty, free and it finally felt like you weren't being suffocated. Yet it was dark, scary and often engraved in your nightmares. If you let it scare you. I was never scared of the night- in fact, I would make Amy come with me to the beach during the summer for a few minutes just so we could breathe. I was never scared, not until the car accident. The screech of the car replayed in my head. I shuddered and looked away from the window.

Mum and Martin had fallen asleep and Amy had curled up in a ball opposite me. I shifted in my seat and decided to scroll through Instagram to distract myself. My feed was filled with selfies, videos and pictures taken at Fred's party. I had only taken a picture of my pizza. I know right, I'm "one of those teenagers". The one that buys food just to take a picture of it and spent twenty minutes picking a filter. While eating the pizza, of course. Whatever, I wasn't going to post it anyway.