Thalia stopped, her face pale, eyes wide in fear and shame. Cherie knew what her friend needed. She knew she should put her arms around Thalia and tell her it's all right, she did what anyone would do. What anyone would do. That's when she snapped.
"Jesus, Lia, you just stood there? And then you asked her what they did? What does it matter what they did!?" Cherie turned away from Thalia and to the mirror. "They held her down and she was crying and you let them do whatever they wanted to her. That's the point! It's not about what they did, it's that she couldn't stop them." Cherie closed her eyes. She couldn't see her friend's shame. "They took her control. And you just let them." Cherie stopped, allowing her voice to echo through the stalls.
"They took mine too!" Thalia's scream was a whisper. "I was scared too. I was scared of what they were doing and scared they'd do the same to me." Thalia fell to her knees, crying into her hands.
Cherie turned to Thalia, lifting her chin with a finger so Thalia had to face her. "That's my point, Li. You could have died. You both could have. She was powerless, but you could have done something." With that, she let Thalia's chin drop. She steadied her voice. "What if the tables were turned, and she was by the door. Don't you think she would have ran? Called someone? Jumped on one of their backs and started scratching their eyes out?" She challenged.
Thalia held Cheries gaze. "You weren't there. You don't get it." She glared at her before turning her face into her elbow.
Cherie softened again, hating herself as she did. "That's just it, Thalia. I kind of do. I know what it's like to be scared and alone." Her voice rose. "I've been in a bad room with a bad boy and wished there was just one person to see, to acknowledge, to get help." She shook her head, casting off the memory. "I've been there, and I'd do anything to save someone from living through that kind of fear." She let her forehead fall to the stall door. Her voice came out measured, even. Thalia needed to hear everything word. "Because whatever fear you felt from the doorway, you know is nothing like the fear Sarah felt on that table." She spat You knew it wasn't, which is why you didn't have the balls to stop them. Just the thought of going through what was happening was enough to make you let them do that to your friend. Your best fucking friend. Unbelievable."
With that, she pushed open the bathroom door with her palm, leaving a sobbing Thalia in her wake.
Of course, by the next day, after someone saw her emerge from the girls' room red-faced and pissed, and someone else saw Thalia run to the nurse's office crying with her hands covering her face, and her homeroom noticed Thalia was absent, the rumors flew again about Cherie and her violent temper. This only added to the general vibe of fearful awe from the general public at South Coast High, and Cherie's stock continued to soar among "The Group".
For the rest of the week, Cherie's dreams continued to haunt her. She was just running with these faerie-type things, running and flying and running from tree to tree. It didn't matter that she couldn't fly, they mostly ran. Treetop to treetop. She tried to get their attention, ask what they were running from, but something about their silence spurred her ever forward, and fast. To what she didn't know. From what, she didn't want to.
Cherie woke up every morning with her legs shaking in violent tremors. She didn't get it. She'd cut out all caffeine. Cold turkey. No Frappes, no more Diet Cokes. She slept like a log all night, with these weird-ass dreams and woke up every morning with her legs shaking worse than Bella's whenever a new dog came up sniffing from behind. It got to where she started lacing up her sneakers as soon as she could crawl her way out of the bed. She literally ran the shakes right out of her legs. This freed up her afternoons. It was around this time that despite the fact that her nights were dominated by monster-under-the-bed nightmares and her friendship with Thalia was in crisis and her mom was getting worse and Kai was starting to really get worried, that Cherie experienced the first real sense of calm she could remember. These morning runs created for her a sit-rocking-in-mama's-lap kind of calm. The hot,sticky air hugged her to the road. Her feet thudding out a slow, lazy heartbeat. Thud, slap, thud, slap. The birds. God, the birds. It was so loud here, between the bugs and the birds. She couldn't be lonely here if she tried. Bugs and birds flew along with her, past Genesis house, left at the ice cream shop, past the firehouse where, thankfully, Tomas had yet to spot her. Across the entrance of the weird "Edgar Allen Poe" Gated Community, and back home in time to wake up Kai, jump in the shower, and head to school.
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