Jackie padded, barefoot out into a small clearing somewhere in the forest. Every now and then she would hear the small crunch of a twig as it snapped underneath her foot, and she would hear leaves rustle on an oak tree nearby. It was lovely out and Jackie needed a refresher in something pleasent.
She knew she hadn't been around campus a lot. A tiny tinkle of a laugh trickled out of her throat at the thought of other people's thoughts about her. (Convoluted sentence, I know) They probably thought she was an antisocial freak, but she frowned at the real reason behind her disappearence.
Her step mom had gotten breast cancer. Usually it was treatable, but it was caught to late. When she was called by the doctor, she was told the only thing she could do was come to say goodbye. Jackie had gone to San Francisco to see her in a hospital room. There wasn't any special care. It was like the doctors had given up. When Jackie had thrown a table through the wall in frustration, she had to leave. Two days later her mom died. Ever since that, she had been virtually dead. She hadn't talked to anyone in ages. It was torture.
"Jackie?" A voice called. A thin figure stepped out from behind a tree, a figure that was all too recognizable. Her eyes were lime green with shock, and her hair was shorter, but it was her face under her new skin.
"Oh my gosh, Jackie!" She nimbly lept over branches and up to Jackie, someone she loved that she hadn`t seen in a long time. So much had happened since Jackie had left. So much. Too mich to say. But for now, she just wanted to make sure the figure that was Jackie was real.
Leah heard a quiet laugh echo of the trees in the still forest. She stopped her slight jog, freezing almost instantly after she heard the laugh. She knew that laugh. It took her a moment to process it, for the holder of the laugh had been gone for sometime. When she finally placed it, her face lightened. Could it be true?
She began to jog lightly through the trees in the direction of the laugh. When she say a flash of white-ish blonde hair and pale skin, she let out an extremely loud, yet joyful scream. She could hardly move. Her feet knew that they had to run to the long gone friend, but for some reason, they couldn't.
She stood frozen to the spot. Her disbelief and overwhelming happiness combined into one to create an unimaginable feeling. She was happy, and yet couldn't let herself believe that her friend was truly back. This had happened before. She had thought she had seen Jackie, and then it had turned out to be someone different. Leah had been crushed for the rest of the day. She couldn't raise her hopes like that again. Sadly, it might already be too late.
Jackie heard a shreik from the forest, but her attention was already taken by the girl in front of her. She had been isolated so long that she had almost forgotten how to interact with people. "Hi..." She finally studdered, looking somewhat confused, like a deer in the headlights, eyes wide and all.
When Leah heard the soft voice ring through the forest, she knew it must be true. No one could immitate Jackie's voice, not even if you had heard it a million times, and were taught how to make your voice sound like hers, it still wouldn't be the same. There was a certain ring to her voice that no one could perfect.
She began to walk forward, then jog, then sprint. She stopped right behind her friend, close to tears. Her joy radiated off of her, so much so that she could not bring herself to smile. She still thought she was dreaming or something of the sort.
Jackie had whirled around when she had heard footsteps, and asumed the defensive crouch. She may have forgotten hor to interact without looking stupid, but she could defend herself still.
She was about to growl when she saw the person standing there, but stopped. Her spine straightened itself and she stood straight as a rod. "L-Leah?" She studdered, her voice taking on a strange tone. It was close to crying, growling and breaking at the same time. "I... I'm sorry. I have been away for a period of time." She said almost mechanically. Talking and conversing came difficult to her now after so long. Her thoughts were also sketchy, but she remembered one thing she had wanted to ask. "Is..." She struggled, forming words with effort. FOrming a sentence became frustrating, so Jckie used one word she knew would suffice. "Nate?" She asked, her voice getting even softer.
Leah stood still, knowing that no matter how secluded and removed from society Jackie had been, she would never attack her. Leah smiled at her friend. She knew how difficult it must be to return after so long. She smiled and hugged her gently, assuming that she wasn't used to human contact anymore.
She smiled at her and said, "He's here honey, and he's alright." She remembered how attached Jackie had been to him, and how hard it must have been to stay away from him for that long.
Stacey had a wide grin on her face. Jackie was back. But she couldn`t help but feel a little out of place when Leah suddenly appeared. She took a step back, watching their display of friendship. It was amazing to watch. And, Jackie was BACK!
However, when Jackie`s thoughts turned to Nate, she froze. She couldn`t help it. Nate and Stacey had had a relationship. Of course they both understood each other well enough not to feel weird when they were around one another, but it was the way it was. She still cared for Nate, and so did Jackie.
Jackie smiled tentatively and shooed him away from her thoughts. Then she turned to Stacey. "Its good to see you again. I've missed you both..." Jackie said, her face pinching a little. "You have no idea how much I've missed you... And I suppose I owe an explanation for why I was gone so long." She added, words flowing fluently, and her face relaxing. "Or... Do you want to know why I was gone? I suppose it would also be right to just put that behind us."
Leah smiled. It would be nice to know, but it didn't really matter. Whenever Jackie felt like telling her, she would.
"It's up to you." She said, trying to help Jackie to understand it didn't truly make a difference to her.
((Sorry for the short post, I'm on the run!))
"Yea, will listen if you want to tell." Stacey agreed, walking closer to Jackie and Leah. You culdn`t help but be drawn in by her personality, it was so unique and fun. Just being around Jackie made Stacey feel younger, which was odd after having to grow up so fast.
"Oh, Jackie, I have so much to tell you, so much has happened." Stacey sighed, grinning broadly. She didn`t know if Jackie had yet noticed the glittering ring on her left hand. "But you first." She added quickly.
"What's all the fuss here?" A soft voice called. Sky was approaching the group with her hands in her gray hoodie pockets, not yet noticing Jackie. She could sense a lot of happiness in the air. The happiness of being reunited with something. Or someone. Sky walked closer and could see somebody who she hadn't seen in a very long time.
"Jackie?" Sky said, a little surprised. She grinned. "It's nice to see ya back here!" She exclaimed, giving her a quick hug.
((Yeah...no clue what's going on. Haha. So If I'm like in the middle of something important, just have your character kick Sky in the shins.))
(BAM! I kicked Sky in the shin. lol. Jk.)
Jackie laughed, at Sky and then turned to Stacey. "Hah, no, I want to hear whats been going on here first. Like who went and..." She trailed off, her eyes wide and locked on Stacey's hand. Jackie screamed. "OH MY GOD!" Then, she tackled Stacey in a hug. "You... when... WHO?!" She screamed, jumping up and down once again.
((BAM! Kicked Sky in the other shin! haha Sky is getting ambushed!))
Leah laughed, it had obviously taken Jackie only a short time to get used to being around people again. She was glad to have the old Jackie back. It felt... normal.
She was glad that Jackie felt comfortable enough to decide not to tell them yet. She missed Jackie, and wanted to help make the transition back as smooth as possible. Though unexpected, her move should be easy.
Stacey gasped as she was tackled. It had been a long time since anyone had attacked her, especially Jackie. She laughed, and tried to pull away so she could talk. "Aiden Gray. Like, last week." She said, her face breaking into a huge grin.
"You kinda missed a lot." She added, starting to blush.
((I SAVE YOU, SKY!))
Leah nodded. "That's for sure! The wedding I think is the biggest, though!" She smiled, not wanting Jackie to feel like she had missed out on everything, though that was inevitable. She smiled bigger still when she noticed Stacey blushing. She always thought it somewhat funny to see her friends blush.