Kabanata 7: Chapter 7

Jade took a deep breath. She remembered the way she had betrayed her most valuable friend at a time when she was blinded and unable to think straight, and how, despite the amount of regret she felt afterwards, she was too afraid of the response she would be faced with if she even dared to try apologizing. Her stupidity and fear had caused her to separate with Helen on an awkward note.

Although neither side harbored negative feelings for one another anymore, there was a barrier built in between them as a result of the lack of communication, causing them to distance themselves from one another. Even so, neither Helen nor Jade had been able to bring themselves to delete the other from their contacts, holding on to the tiny strand of hope that their friendship might someday be repaired.

"I don't know how you could ever forgive me for what I did back then, but I've never valued a friendship as much as I valued what I had with you. I'm so sorry, Helen. I don't know why it took me so long just to apologize to you but I'm sorry." Jade ranted emotionally, finally letting out everything she had been holding back for the past three years.

Helen, on the other hand, had a small smile of relief making its way on her face. She had never been holding what had happened in high school against Jade, but was waiting for her friend's apology all along, knowing that, with Jade's personality and her habit of guilt tripping herself, their relationship would never go back to normal unless Jade took the initiative to repair the damage from her own mistake first.

"I'm just glad you finally overcame your fear of rejection, dummy," Helen laughed lightly, "now that we've finally gotten that out of the way, can you tell me the other reason you called me? I don't think you were wailing like a crybaby for so long on the phone just because you missed hearing my voice."

With Helen's joking tone loosening the tension that had been building up within her all day, Jade told her everything. From the incident 3 months ago, to her mom and boyfriend's reactions, and the fact that she now had no one to go to for support. She ended off her story with a desperate question for her friend that was shaking in fury the whole time at the unjustness of the whole situation.

"Helen, what am I supposed to do now?"