Burning Hope

Chapter 30: Team Burning Hope

Madia had explained her story once again to all of my friends, and their reactions all differed. Kallan ended up crying halfway through the story, while Talia's face remained cold and unrevealing. Luc knit his eyebrows in a intent expression, signaling that he was giving Madia his full attention, while Jian's focus seemed to be more on her face rather than her story. Me on the other hand, I sat by her side for support. I was heartbroken that she had to go through something like that.

"So, I guess what I'm saying is, I'm used to rejection." Madia finished, casting her pink-eyed gaze to the ground. "If you guys don't want anything to do with me anymore, I completely understand. I mean, we've all had some good times, and I really enjoyed your guys' friendship more than anything. Know that I didn't mean any of it. It was all Skarn's doing. There were so many times that I tried to fight him for control, but he was just too strong." She began to cry. "I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt anyone."

I immediately wrapped her in a tight hug, causing her to jump in surprise. She loosened up and fell into my shoulder, sobbing like a little kid. I pat her back and began to speak to her.

"Madia, I'm going to tell you the same thing I once told a friend in a similar situation to yours." I said, taking a deep breath. "I'm not going to forgive you. There's absolutely nothing that I can forgive."

Madia looked up at me, tears still flowing from her eyes. "Like I said, I understand."

I held up a finger. "You didn't let me finish. I'm not going to forgive you because you didn't do anything. It wasn't you that tried to kill me, like you said, it was Skarn. I've admired hanging out with you. Madoc has always made me laugh, and showed me the brighter side of things, and I know that you will continue to do the same. You're fun, outgoing, and a spontaneous ball of energy that we can't help but love. That's why I'm still going to call you my friend, Madia."

She fell back into my shoulder and sobbed even harder. This must have been something that she needed to hear for a long time now. I couldn't imagine how much it meant to her. Just like the rest of my friends, I was going to continue supporting her, no matter how hard things got. Once she looked back up at me and the tears seemed to stop falling, I smiled at her and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye.

"Does that feel better?" I asked her.

She nodded. "A lot."

"Um..." Luc interrupted. "Not to be a killjoy or anything, but what about the school? If we don't give them a believable story, don't you think they'll find it the least bit suspicious that Madoc just randomly disappeared? What are we going to tell them? If we tell them the truth, Madia would be persecuted and her life would be at risk."

I shrugged. "Well, first, let's give her a new style." I said. I looked to Hazu. "Do you still have those scissors that you used earlier to make my dress a bit shorter?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I placed them in Kallan's purse for safekeeping." She gave me an inquisitive look with her green eyes. "Why do you ask?"

"Can you give her a haircut?" I asked, gesturing to Madia's shaggy hair. "She needs something a little more feminine."

"Ooh!" Madia said, clapping her hands excitedly. "By the end of this, I'm going to look so hot that unicorns will be jealous of my fabulousity!" She flipped her hair and smiled.

We all laughed. "Now there's the Madia we all know and love." Kallan commented.

"You still haven't told me about what we're going to say to Xiao about the whole Madia/Madoc situation." Luc pointed out.

"Don't worry about it." I told him. "I got an A in Creative Writing. I'll come up with something that will be believable."
*                    *                    *
By the next day, we had enrolled Madia Ochoa as a student at Eternal Academy. I had told Xiao the truth, but told him to say something else to the students about what really happened. For all they knew, Madoc O'Brien had been found as the traitor and disposed of. Madia was just another new student on campus at our school.