Forgiveness

"We'll pick you up later. For today, there will be no stressing. Just fun for all the girls."

"I'll see you later, Spence. I have to tell my orphanage mom that I'm going out when she comes back from getting groceries."

After we had our group hug, Grant and I spent time calming Jamie down, even getting her to laugh. I told her about the night out and she agreed to come.

"So, is everything ok," Alexandra asks.

"Yeah, so let's get everyone home to get ready for girls night out."

When we were outside my house, I could see my brother outside arguing with Paris, his girlfriend. It looked like an all out war.

"Who are they? What's going on," Alexandra asks. I forgot she never met my brother.

"My brother and his girlfriend. I have no idea. I'll see you guys later. Let me go see what's going on," I tell them, stepping out of the car. Sky drives off.

"Look Nick, I'm going. I can't stay here!"

"But I don't understand why you want to leave. Our families are here. You can't just ask me to leave my family."

"You can see your family any time. You can always visit. Lets just hit the road."

"When does your life of just living on the road end? You can't just keep running. When will you just slow down and settle?"

"You were just stuck in rehab. Why would you want to stay in just one place, when you can see the whole world?"

"I just got my family back, Paris! I'm not leaving."

"If you don't come with me, then we're done." Everything got quite. They were just staring at each other. Paris with anger and Nick with uncertainty.

Nick finally saw me standing behind them, listening. When Sky saw him looking at something else in the distance, she turned and saw me too.

"Bye, Nick," and with that, Paris leaves.

"What happened, Nick?" We we're now sitting inside, in the living room. He was trying to avoid talking, but I trapped him.

"Mom says she's coming tomorrow night," he says.

"Don't try to change the subject. What happened with you and Paris?" He looks like he's preparing himself by taking deep breaths.

"She wants me to live in an RV with her, so I can travel with her and her band mates. She doesn't understand that I want to stay with my family. I know the only reason she wants to leave is to avoid her family. I don't want to do that because family is important to me and I don't want to lose you."

I pull Nick into a hug.

"Nick, I don't want to lose you either, but make sure this is what you really want to do. I don't want to be the reason you broke up with your girlfriend and your unhappy.

"Trust me. Your the reason I'm still here," Nick says, holding me tighter.

"So, what was that you said about mom coming tomorrow," I ask him pulling away.

"Yeah, she called me today to tell me. I don't think I was supposed to tell you, though. I think she wanted it to be a surprise. Are you mad?" I thought about it for a second.

"Just like you said. Family is important to me too. I miss mom and I hope she's coming to stay. I freaked out a little earlier, but I'm fine now."

"SPENCER! ARE YOU DONE GETTING READY YET," I hear a shriek from downstairs.

"HOLD ON! I'M COMING!" I finish putting on my finishing touches.

I'm wearing a red dress that fits my curves and reaches thigh length, a black leather jacket over it, and black high heels. My matted, red lips and the rest of my makeup matches my look.

I run downstairs to the impatient girls.

"What's Hope doing here," I ask them as I stop in my tracks.

Hope was among the other girls, all dressed up and ready to go out.

"I needed a night out too, if you don't mind," Hope says to me quietly.

I walk up to her, take her arm, and drag her outside with me, away from the others.

"What's your game here," I ask her furiously.

"Spencer, I'm really sorry for what I did to you, even if my attempts failed. I'm so, so sorry I'm such a horrible person."

At this point she was crying. She was crying a whole damn river. But what scared me was that I felt bad for her. I don't know why.

Why do I have to be so sympathetic?

This girl has been at my throat since day one. She sprayed ketchup on me, gave me a hard time when I wanted to join the cheer team, kissed Chester in front of my locker, and now she wanted me to forgive her?

No matter how angry I was before, I couldn't hold any of it now no matter how hard I tried.

I could see that Hope was really stressed out about something and she just really ended a break.

"What happened with you and Chester," I ask her. They threw their relationship in my face and it hurt. So, if she wanted me to forgive her, I wanted the whole story.

"It wasn't real," she says with her head looking down at the ground. I pause for a second.

"What do you mean it wasn't real?"

"I just needed a favor from Chester and he told me that if I pretended to date him, then he'd do it."

"Why would he do that?" Now I was confused.

"You'd have to talk to him about it," Hope tells me, but I can tell she knows something.

"What's going on? You guys are taking forever. Can we go already?" Sky was by the door, tapping her foot impatiently.

Hope looks at me with hope in her eyes.

"Alright. I forgive you." Hope wipes away her tears and gives me an unexpected hug. At first I was shocked, but I recovered and hugged her back.

"Alright ladies, let's get moving," Alexandra pops her head out the door, like a sergeant.