Shower Power

Harri's POV

"No, Jazz!"

She stomps her foot in a huff at my refusal. "Yes, Harri!"

"No!" I say again and mean it.

She pulls the covers off the bed, "girl you're going!"

Goosebumps erupt all over my skin at the sudden loss of warmth. I pull my knees to my chest and drag my pillow over my head, laying there in the fetal position hoping she'll leave and let me go back to sleep. My hopes are dashed when she starts screaming moments later, "OH MY GOSH, H!"

I peek out from under the corner of my pillow. "What is it now?"

She stares at me. One hand on her hip the other pointing to my body, her mouth agape. Just when I think she is about to say something about my hair she speaks, "H. Pleaseeeeee do not tell me that that is the same outfit you wore to school the other day?"

"So what if it is?" I say attempting to defend that fact that I haven't showered in days.

I try and pull the covers back on top of myself. Unfortunately Jazz still has hold of the other end and we end up in a pathetic game of tug of war. "Let go, Jazz!" I cry giving the bedding one final tug that uses the last of my energy.

She yanks on her side harder than I anticipated almost pulling me off the bed. "Not until you agree to come."

I steady myself. Sitting up on the edge of my bed I let my end fall to the ground. "No! I don't want to go. I don't want to speak to anyone!"

"Well, that's not hard. It's not like you speak to anyone at school anyway, Harri!"

"Well we can't all be social butterflies like you, can we, Jazz?" I reply bitterly.

She's right, I don't speak to anyone at school or anyone outside my immediate family for that matter. A few days ago you could have added SJ to that list but now that seems like a lost cause too. It's not that I don't want to speak to people. It's more than I can't. I've never been someone who enjoyed being the centre of attention and I guess that's why finding out about SJ's real identity scared me. He spends his whole life is in front of the world and I break out in stress rash at just the thought of a school assignment that involves speaking in front of people. I just don't see how that could ever work. How we could ever work.

How I could ever work.

Jazz lets out a deep breath. "Just because I talk to people doesn't mean we're friends, Harri. I could care less if they ditched me for days without a reason, but you? Your my best friend and you won't tell me what's going on. I had to hear it from Theo," she cries as she paces the length of my bed. "At least I thought we were best friends..."

I didn't mean to take my mood out on Jazz. Seeing her upset is only making my mood worse and reaffirms my point about not talking to people.

"Jazz we are best friends," I reassure he pr while making a mental note to talk to Theo.

"Yeah, well?" She says pointing to the empty gummy packets laying beside my bed. "What's the story?"

I push the packets under my bed with my foot. "I don't want to talk about it."

"H, please say this isn't about that stupid rumour?"

"No!" I answer entirely too quickly. "Wait... what rumour?"

"The ridiculous one about you dating Senna Jager," she says laughing a little too hard for my liking.

"Oh that... no that's not it. And why is that so funny?"

She sits down next me and attempts to brush my hair with the brush she took from my dresser when I wasn't watching. "Harri, if you were dating Senna Jager I think I'd know."

I grab the brush from her hands and continue to do it myself. "Really, how?" I ask amused at her confidence.

"I'd know that boy anywhere. Plus you've only just got yourself a boyfriend. I can hardly see you two-timing him."

"Had," I mutter correcting her on the boyfriend status. I decide against mentioning the Senna thing just yet but do think it funny how confident she is that she'd recognise him knowing full well she met him and didn't.

She eyes me curiously, "had what?"

I pull the brush through the tattered mess that I've let my hair become since my visit to the hairdresser a day or so before. "Had a boyfriend...past tense."

"Oh. Shiitake. I'm sorry, H."

"Yeah well, it is what is it."

"So that's what this is about?" She asks moving her bangled arm around in my general vicinity.

I set the brush down on my side table and tuck my hair back behind my ears. "Yes. No. I don't know..."

"I'll kill him! I swear! I've seen enough CSI type shows that I could do it and make it look like an accident, or make it so they'd never find his body!" she rants. Her bangles clinking with every movement. "I just need an ice pick, burner phone and a packet of Skittles."

"Calm down, Dexter.!"

"I could just as easily maim him or break his knees. Tell me what you want and I'll make it happen!"

"What are the Skittles for?" I ask confused by her plan.

"Never you mind what the Skittles are for. The less you know, the better!"

I fall back onto my pillow, "it's okay Jazz. I don't want him dead."

She jumps to her feet indignantly. "No, Harri. It's not okay. How dare he break up with you!"

"WHAT? Why would assume he broke up with meeee?" I question, unable to hide the hurt in my voice.

Her bangles chime again as she throws her hands in the air in protest, 'I just know how much you liked him. I didn't mean anything. Shiitake on a stick you're touchy today."

I give her a look that tells her I am not really in the mood for her sass but in true Jazz form she ignores me and starts gathering some clothes together before throwing them in my face. "Here put these on."

I swat them away and let them fall straight onto the floor. The sweater she chose lands on top of an empty gummy packet with a crunch. "I told you I'm not going."

"You have two choices, Harri.  We can stay here and you can tell me what happened in every excruciating detail while we have Gate Thirty Four marathon or you can get your thicc butt in the shower and put some fresh clothes on so we can go to school. Where I won't ask about it again....at least not until lunch."

My face distorts at the mention of Gate Thirty Four, talking about the last seventy-two hours and the idea of school. Okay, so it basically stayed distorted the whole time she was speaking.

"Fine I'll put the fruit cupping clothes on, but don't expect me to place nice today," I grumble as I make my way to the bathroom.

I hear Jazz yell, "do you ever?" as I shut the bathroom door. I don't bother replying since she's probably right. People are not my thing and I have come to accept that.

The water on my back feels great. Calming. Refreshing even. By the time I get out and have dried myself I am almost happy that Jazz is forcing me to go to school. It can't be any worse than laying in bed for another day, living off gummies and scrolling through Twitter reading everything that people have to say about Senna's mystery girl or scrolling through articles explicitly outlining his extensive dating history.

I mean how has he had the time for all these girls...women. He's only seventeen.

Jazz knocks on the door, "gurllll hurry up. We're gonna be late. And you know how much Mr Grayson hates that!"

I finish drying my hair and apply a coat of mascara, making a promise to myself that I won't cry it off. "What if we just go in after his class? If we miss the whole thing, we're not really late," I justify as I make my way back to my room.

Jazz is sitting at my desk watching Gate Thirty Four videos on my computer. She looks away from the screen and eyes me curiously. "Did all that bleach seep into your skull? Where is the Harri I know and love? The one who hates being late, let alone skipping"

"Sorry that Harri can't come to the phone right now." I joke as sit on the bed to put on a fresh pair of socks.  "Why? Because--"

She cuts me off with a laugh, "--She's not dead! Just single,"

"Hey!" I protest.

"Too soon?"

"Maybe," I say smiling for the first time in days.

"Shower worked, I see. You're in a better mood," she notes cheerily before she tactfully asks again what happened. At least as tactfully as Jazz knows how which is about as blunt as a doorstop.

I give her a heavily edited version of the story essentially telling her that SJ wasn't who he said he was. Of course she asked questions about details which I do my best to brush off. I need my best friends opinion and I need that opinion to not be clouded by her obsession with the band.

"But he didn't really lie did he?"

"No. Not really," I admit.

She runs her hands through her hair, "and he was always honest in saying that he didn't want to tell you."

"I guess."

"Whatever it is Harri it can't be that bad. I mean you said it's not illegal and I've met the guy he's hardly a catfish... "

"Maybe it's not so bad to you, but to me it is."

I look up at her and see the computer screen just over her shoulder and come face to face with a vision of SJ. How could I not have seen it before? It's so obvious. Those green eyes. Those curls. Those dimples that are big enough to live in. Those warm arms that I just wish were wrapped around me making me feel safe and protected.

As the frame changes to clip of the boys on stage, Jazz sighs. "Can you believe that girl with the regrowth broke his heart?"

"What?" I ask surprised.

"Yeah, it's all over Twitter. Apparently someone saw them arguing on the side of the road after the whole cafe thing and then he was seen driving around alone and upset. Someone even said he was crying, " she explains making a point to mute the video while she speaks.

"Oh and then there are all his tweets about him finally letting someone in and it all falling apart. I mean they could just be song lyrics but we can read between the lines. Like can you imagine being that girl?"

I take a deep breath and blink away the newly developed tears that threaten to ruin to my personal promise not to cry. "Hey, Jazz."

"Yeah, H?"

"I think I made a huge mistake..."

------

Author's note:

Hi everyone,

Quicker update this week! only 4 days apart :)

What do you think of Harri's admission?

Where is this all going?

I want to know your deepest darkest thoughts.... oh what about Harri hiding the details from Jazz? Should she tell her?

Peace ✌️, love ❤️ and unicorns 🦄

- Trudz