Chapter 31: A Shameful Marathon

                                    

                                          
Fear. It dictates your body with so much control that even a fucking festival could feel like a marathon. 
Jenna palmed her lips with her free hands as the other stood frozen around the phone. Nervously, she looks at the crowd of people inside the festival ground, and on cue, the fear Jenna hasn't felt in her life settles in. In a flash, she realized just how much she could lose right at this moment. How much David would lose because of her. 
His daughter. His only family. The reason why he has made it so far. And her? She would lose the only friendship that people wish to have in their lives. The only friendship where the friend in question had never hurt her. Never betrayed her or played with her feelings. But look at her. Look what she did. She played every part she feared someone else would do to her. 
She would lose Del but more importantly, the foundation of their friendship, the trust they had built together would break and that would hurt more. 
Before she could think of anything, her feet started moving. She ran to the festival ground as fast as she could hitting the back of a jeep on her way inside. She grunts in pain and holds her stomach. Inside, the place was as crowded as a Coldplay Concert. People have started to gather and it made it nearly impossible to reach the stall in less time. 
The path between the stalls was crammed. There was no place to walk. No place to squeeze in. She checked the time on her watch and fuck, it was close to opening. As she watched the crowd of people mellowing around with all the care in the world, more anxiety built inside her. 
Del would've seen the pictures by now. If she has her phone with her, there's a chance she must've seen it all. She could imagine her face, the disbelief at finding her friend with her father all tangled and twisted with each other in the darkness of the storage room. The hurt that she would feel.
She has to go. She needs to be there and explain everything. Tucking the phone back in her pocket, Jenna squeezed herself into the crowd. Groaning as the body crushed her from both sides, sandwiching her in one place for more than five seconds. 
"Excuse me!" she yelled and tried to wiggle in, "Coming through," 
Jenna pushed the people who got too close and barricaded her from moving forward, deciding it was best to crawl there. Going on all her fours, Jenna put the messy locks of her hair behind her ear and began crawling. Less than a minute later, she was already regretting her decision as she felt people step on her fingers. 
Jenna held back a painful moan, bit her lip from crying, and urged herself forward. "Come on, please," 
She bumped the people on their calves with her shoulder to make a route for herself. Hoping some will clear the way. Wherever she found space she crawled there. It wasn't until she could see an opening that she rose on her wobbly feet, her knees scratched and fingers a dirty painful mess. 
Dusting them on her pants, she limped at the beginning before she started running again. The stalls aren't far from here but it still has a good six stalls before them. The restlessness of reaching her stall and finding the unknown was terrifying. Even more so, the probability of how the reality could be much worse than what she thought doubled her panic. 
Rushing and bumping into people, she finally made it near her stall. She saw Del with Julie and came to a screeching halt. 
The first thing she noticed was her smile and the pleasant expression that concluded she hadn't seen the pictures yet. Jenna relaxed but only so much. It's too soon to jump to conclusions yet. Knowing Del, even if she did see the pictures she wouldn't react in the company of people. That's how guarded she is with her feelings.