Chapter 9

Just as I lay down in my bed there was a loud banging at my door, "Mila you better get out here, I mean it, let me in!" Ah jeeze… I had completely neglected the thought that my disappearing for an entire day and missing dinner would completely rattle Parker. I reluctantly got out of bed and opened the door for her; the look of complete and utter rage on her face tore right through me. "Where the hell have you been? I have been looking everywhere for you! You weren't done with your assignment when I was, so I waited for you at our usual spot under the willow tree, and then you never showed so I assumed you went to your room after, but surprise, surprise you weren't there either, so I went down to dinner to meet you there, and once again you were a no show. Do you have any idea how crazy you have made me today? I have been worried out of my mind Mila!" I looked at her with eyes half opened, "I'm so sorry my friend, I guess I must have fallen asleep during my assignment and I only just woke up a few minutes ago, I thought dinner would be over already so I just came straight to my room." I could feel her stare bearing into me, even though I couldn't maintain eye contact. I was a terrible liar, I knew it, she knew it, and she knew it right now. "I don't believe you Mila, I'm sorry but I've known you most of our lives, and I know when you are lying, you are about as transparent as a window. Now I will forgive you for lying to me just this once, but I need to know what's going on with you, were supposed to be best friends, and best friends don't keep secrets from one another, now I'm coming inside, were going to conjure something up for you to eat, and you're going to tell me everything!" She was right, I knew that I wouldn't be able to keep something like this from her, and more than that I didn't want to, she was my best friend, and she was the one and only person here I knew with certainty I could trust. "Come in." I sighed. We sat down in the lounge and I looked at her bleakly, "first things first" she said, as she conjured up a bowl of spaghetti bolognaise for me, "you need to eat something, and then we will talk." She flicked on the TV and shifted through the channels while she waited for me to finish my meal. "I'm done." I said, and she turned to face me. "Spill it. What is going on with you? You have NOT been yourself the past few days." She said, "I know you're going through something, and I want you to know that I have always been, and will always be here for you to confide in. C'mon Mila, we have no one else to turn to, all we have is each other, please don't shut me out." So I told her, I told her absolutely everything, from the deeply disturbing dream, to scaring the living daylights out of Miss Smallwood, to her dragging me up to Principal Roses' accommodation, to being told I have the power of Invoke and finally to my additional studies and help from the Principal herself. She sat staring, dead silent, but her expression said it all. She thinks I'm a complete moron, I thought to myself. She remained quiet for at least three minutes before she finally spoke. "And why did you think that you couldn't come to me with this? Do you think I would have turned my back on you, or mocked you, or not offered to help you, what was the reason?" "I don't know, Principal Rose told me that I was not to tell anyone until we have more information and better control over it. Trust me, I wanted to tell you, that's all I wanted to do, but I was scared, I was afraid that telling you would jeopardise our friendship, or that it would land me in trouble. I didn't know what else to do…" She bowed her head in a frown, and said, "All you had to do was trust in me, and our friendship, and told me. You had to know in your heart that something like this would never have had a negative impact on our friendship. You should have believed in me and in us." I thought about it for a minute and I knew she was right. I should have gone to her first, and then to Miss Smallwood. I should have told her everything from the start. "I don't know what to say Parker, you are absolutely right, I should never have kept this from you. You are the only person I trust, and you are the only person here who has always been there for me, I promise, I will never keep anything from you again. Please find it in your heart to forgive my foolishness. I can't do this without you." She began to raise her head again and I could see her lip curve on one side into the slightest grin. "Water under the bridge my friend, just don't do it again." She got up and hugged me before giving me a little slap upside the head. "So, I have an Idea." She said, "Let's have a slumber party! We have hardly spent any time together since we arrived here, sure I'm partly to blame, I'll admit, but you're definitely mostly to blame." She chuckled and I agreed. We stayed up almost all night, talking about school, and dream boys, and shopping, we conjured up some chips and dips and watched a few movies, and then she tried on almost all the clothes in my closet, which no surprise looked amazing on her! All in all we had an awesome girl's night.