Hurricane Love

Nine

'Amelia, why did you run out like that?' Mason asked me, as I finally picked up the phone to him when I got home to my bedroom. 'Why weren't you answering me?'

'Why do you think I ran out?' I asked, abruptly. 'Your best friend is the biggest prick on the planet, that's why!'

'Okay, look, he was out of line,' Mason said.

'I'm glad you finally see sense for once!' I cried, throwing myself down on my bed.

'It's just the way he is, babe,' Mason sighed. 'He doesn't mean to upset you or hurt you; he's just an arsehole and that's how he is with everyone.'

'There's no justifying it, Mason,' I said. 'You can't just go around being an arsehole to everybody just because life has been a little hard on you. I certainly won't take it from him.'

'Amelia, you of all people should understand,' he said.

'So, you're saying that I'm an arsehole to people because life's been hard on me?' I asked, sitting up straight as my face turned into a frown.

'No,' he replied. 'I just mean...well...yeah, I guess in a way that is what I mean. I don't mean it horribly but you can be a little rude and bitchy with people...in fact, with most people!'

'I'm so done talking to you,' I said. 'Call me when you've managed to remove your head from Ryker's arse!'

I hung up on him and threw myself back down onto my bed, groaning as I glared up at the ceiling.

'Amelia?' Christine said, as she opened the door and poked her head around. I immediately sat up and greeted her with a hostile glare as she stepped into the door. 'Why did you just storm in and slam the door?'

'It's your fault actually!' I yelled.

'Of course it is,' she said, calmly. 'It always is. What happened now?'

'I tried to be Ryker's best friend and be nice to him!' I cried. 'He knew what I was doing and he played just as nice back to me and then ruined the whole day by causing friction between Mason and I again and made me storm out.'

'The plan failed,' she said.

'Yes, Christine!' I cried.

'So he's a smartarse, huh?' she murmured. 'Amelia, maybe it's for the best if you just ignore him altogether. Don't bite at anything he says.'

'I think I'm done listening to your advice on the matter, thank you,' I scoffed.

'You know, they do always say that there's a reason boys pick on girls,' she said, looking at me suggestively.

'Ew, don't even go there,' I said, with a scowl. 'Ryker doesn't care about anyone but himself, including Mason. I know for sure he's just using him to get away from whatever fucked up shit he has going on and he's going to drag him down with him.'

'Honey, I think you should just avoid this boy full stop,' she said. 'Just focus on you and Mason, okay?'

'Can you leave my room now?' I asked.

Christine rolled her eyes and stepped out, gently closing the door behind her. I moved to my feet and headed towards my wardrobe, standing in front of the floor length mirrored door studying my reflection. Now that I was stood looking at myself with my pink hair flowing down my shoulders, I felt silly after the conversation that had just happened. Mason didn't like it, Abbie had advised against it, Christine wasn't happy about it and Ryker wouldn't stop calling me stupid names over it.

My face creased up the longer I stared at myself and I squinted my eyes as tears formed the more I stared at myself. I began to feel a familiar sense of disgust at my own reflection, something that had happened a lot to me over the years. Another familiar feeling began to arise inside of me and I felt my breathing quicken and suddenly I was panting in front of my mirror, struggling to catch my breath. I reached out and leaned against the mirror, grasping my throat as I tried to find air and panicked cries began to fall from my mouth.