"Please, Grace?" She continued to implore. "I know high school was horrible, but I promise you that the people on the committee are all nice. They know you're coming and are excited to see you. And I promise, if you do this you don't have to stay or even go. I just feel so bad that they're going to be one down."
And what about feeling bad for me?
I wasn't one to wallow in my past or use it as a way to hold me back emotionally. But I was truly baffled and offended by Amelia's behavior. After all, she had been there for every verbal shut-down, every shove against the bathroom sink, every mocking laugh and foot trip. Hell, she even lugged a bucket of warm, soapy water into the girl's bathroom and furiously scrubbed off the derogatory comments thatsomeone—AKA Jessica—had written.
I felt like my feet were stuck in set concrete. Everyone had moved on and was acting like the fuckingBrady Bunchwhile I was left playing a painful game of catch-up.
"If it's only three meetings, why am I even needed? Haven't they already planned the damn thing by now?"
"Because a couple of people pulled out of the committee. That's why I felt bad; I hate letting people down," she explained. The irony of her statement was not lost on me but seemed to go right over her head.
"They just need some last-minute details finalized, and that's it."
I searched Amelia's earnest face before my breath puffed out in slow disappointment. This was going way above my Maid of Honour duties. I didn't want to let Amelia down but how could I possibly say yes to helping out an event that had made me so miserable?
"Gracie," Amelia appealed. "I know this is a lot to ask–"
"I don't think you do if you're asking me this." I shook my head at her audacity. The volcano of frustration that had been building was now blowing its top.
"This isn't just some last-minute bridal duty you need me to do—which I would happily do, by the way—you are asking me to open a wound that I have stitched up and bandaged for years. One that took me a long time to heal from. Why would you do this to me?"
Amelia's face fell. Her slim shoulders deflated as she hung her head in what I hoped was self-reproach. "I told him this was a bad idea," she sniffed.
I frowned. "Who?"
"Uh, Liam." Her eyes quickly shifted away. "He thought you would be okay to do it but..."
"Well, I know I didn't confide in Liam as much as you, but surely he knew how I would feel," I snapped.
"He does, he does." She raised her hands in appeal. "Don't be mad at him; it's me who's put you in this position. I'm so sorry, Grace, I wasn't thinking."
I stared at the crestfallen face of my best friend since childhood, and a smidgen of compassion and understanding took over.
Amelia was my ride-or-die. She had also been bullied for hanging out with me—not to the extreme extent that I was, but she was still picked on a little. Once Liam came onto the scene, the bullying died down for her, but she was still a social pariah for maintaining her friendship with me.
Even though she had sworn with me that she would never forgive the perpetrators involved, I wasn't delusional enough to think that a promise made as a bunch of emotional teenagers would hold for life.
My family and Amelia were half right. People did change, and it was possible that Harrison's change was for the better.
I had changed, too, after all. If Amelia and Liam could forgive and move on from their time in high school, then I could try, too.
It didn't help that I moved away and rarely came home, so I didn't have the time and history that my friends did in healing any rifts. But I could try now. And who knows, maybe this was the closure I needed. Perhaps I could actually come to see my family more often rather than their sporadic trips to California and my stealthy cloak-and-dagger visits to Ashburton.
"I can do it," I found myself saying.
Amelia shook her head, red curls bouncing. "Gracie, no. It was stupid. I should have never suggested it."
"No, no." I reached out and clasped her hand. "You're right. People change, and I need to give them a chance. This is my hometown, and despite my grumblings in the past, I have no issues with Ashburton as a whole. I'm proud to come from here. School was a good chunk of my life, and the education I got at Ashburton helped me get into an excellent university and career." I nodded confidently, feeling better the more I talked myself into it.
"So yeah, I can attend a couple of meetings and show my face at this shindig."
Amelia moved her hand away from mine and twisted it nervously. "There's something else I want to confess before you fully agree."
Fucking hell."What?"
Amelia took a deep breath and looked up at me with censured eyes. "Harrison is on the committee."
A sharp ache pierced the center of my chest, and I fell back a step. "What?"
