Sadie
At 4:30 am, we packed everything and took a walk from here downwards--which is a longer walk than up the hill well, at least we are not going to walk a steep path up or we might die here. 
I am worried about Anya. She barely slept, and I know it’s because of me. I keep telling her that we can stop for a while but we only do so whenever we make raw s'mores—s'mores minus the burning of marshmallows in the fire—to amplify our energy. I already contacted our first destination and I’m surprised she was awake when I did. 
So this plan, according to the mastermind who created it, is called “OPERATION: BUILD YOUR WORLD” which she took from my notebook and I was pretty embarrassed when I found out she saw it.
“Don’t worry. I find your planet very wow.” She said. I don’t know what that means but it’s better not to know. I made this “planet” thing at 14 years old and embarrassingly, I am still filling up the list.
So she plans to get us away from our problems and “create” the planet I made by visiting the places I’ve mentioned. She has this all planned out. She had a big map of the Philippines for Goodness sake! While we were in the tent, she pointed out the places we will go and how to get there. I don’t even know where most of the places are on the map! Geography is not my forte.
“And how is that gonna work?” I ask for the fifth time while walking since I still don’t get how this is a good idea.
“Because I wanna know what that planet looks like—and if I should inhabit it.”
I roll my eyes. Why should I care whether she will like this stupid imaginary planet I made up because I was sad and bored?
“There is no turning back from this." She continued. "It’s too dangerous if we show ourselves. Like you said: mom might not stop blaming you for something you never did. Best case scenario: runaways~” Anya sang the last part. She, then, gasps shortly right after. “What if we could make up our team name for us? Runaway Duos? Castaway Girls? Oh! What about Power Couple!”
“Power Couple? Really?”
“Yeah! Why not?”
I turn and give Anya my really? Look, “Couples?”
“Well, couples are not just for lovers! It could be for the best duo ever created like us!” She spread her arms out while grinning. She looks proud of her explanation which makes no sense at all. “What do you think?”
I shrug, feeling quite tired. “Suit yourself.”
“Hmm...I’ll try thinking of a better duo name. Oh Oh—I can try to name the planet!” She mentioned a lot of things, but I only heard a few—“Earth without ‘Eh’”, “Seydearth”, and “Caster”—all of them not approved by me.
Mind you: She barely gets any sleep from planning all this, and we barely have anything but marshmallows and chocolates in between biscuits, yet she acts like she is a fully charged phone or a kid on sweet drugs. I let her talk as I try to listen while we make our way to our first stop.
>< <> <> ><
I knock on the door to a house almost the same size as mine but bigger by an inch. As soon as the door opens, I am met by two arms wrapping around me. “Oh, Sadie~! Oh, thank fuck you’re safe!”
I scoffed, “Can you not overreact?”
“OVERREACT?” Georgia pulls me away, her hand gripping my shoulders. Every month, she does her hair in different styles. Right now, she has thick curly hair, which makes her look like the Filipino Hannah Baker. “YOU’RE ALL OVER THE NEWS! OF COURSE, I’M WORRIED LOVE~” She squealed loud enough to cut off my thoughts of her making 13 tapes about people--shit I hope not, but if she did I wonder who I am in her story.
I scoff at what she said. I don’t even know what to say. Hell, I am not even hugging her back but it’s because it’s just what I am. I barely hug people. The only time I hugged Georgia was when we won the big bear plushie at the amusement park last year, defeating the kids crying out loud for the toy. Take that brats!
Georgia’s smile suddenly fades when she sees who’s behind me. I look at Anya, smiling awkwardly, and whisper a ‘hi’ only I could hear. Georgia took my arms and pull me close. “What the fuck is she doing here?”
“Why?”
“What do you mean why, you stupid dork?!” when she let go of my arm, we are already inside the house, leaving Anya just standing there which makes me worry a bit. “What happened?! Is it-? The news about-”
“Anya’s mother thinks I kidnapped her daughter, yeah I know that.” 
“And?" Georgia raises her eyebrows and gestures her hands in a circular motion like she's telling me to keep going. "Why the fuck is she here?”
“Long story, okay? I'll tell you once we get inside." 
Georgia side-eyes Anya with her hands on her hips. Her eyebrows met in between her eyes when she looks back at me. She looks so mad that when she huffs, it feels like there's a hot smoke coming out.
"Why do you sound like you hate her so much?”
Georgia's expression changed to surprise-confused. “Hey, you hate her as well!”
“Not as much! Like...you seriously sound so bitter. Like, mean-girls bitter.”
Georgia starts to stutter, almost saying all the vowels. 
“Hey, you know what? It doesn’t matter. Can you let Anya in before she gets recognized?”
We both look at Anya. I can feel Georgia looking at me but I did not look back. All I see at the moment is Anya Moore and that cute smile of hers.
>< <> <> ><
Georgia finally let Anya in. I look around the room and instead of furniture that we usually see in living rooms, all I see are some posters of random people, chairs in front of wall mirrors, and beside one of them are rolling trollies filled with different types of scissors and combs, straighteners, blow dryers, and anything hair. Georgia told us to just lay our things on the corner just behind the door.
“So when will tita arrive?”
“In the evening. We got the whole place for ourselves--for now.”
“What’s your mom’s job?” Anya gets to ask. 
Georgia takes one look at her before she answers. “Well…” She exhales one sharp breath. “Hairdresser.”
“Oh yeah right! Is she running the place?”
She turns her back against the pop star and I see her roll her eyes. “Obviously.” She murmured. 
Being in front of her, I slap her shoulders. While Georgia looks at me with furrowed eyebrows, I turn to look at Anya. “Yeah but Georgia helps. She knows the basics." I grab Georgia's shoulders and turn her to face Anya. "That's why she is our chosen one for this!” I pat Georgia's shoulders. When she turns to glare at me, I just smile.
“That’s great!” Anya cheered. She never fails to give a genuine smile that could make others smile, or at least I smiled, not sure what's up with Georgia. Maybe because of the stress when I disappeared. As Anya looks around, she covers her mouth and closes her eyes. It looks like she’s yawning.
“Hey,” I called her attention. “If you wanna sleep, you can sleep here.”
Georgia gives me an offended stare but I ignore her. 
“Oh no no! It’s fine Sadie-”
“Please. You can sleep on the couch there.” I pointed at the red couch near the door. 
I look at Georgia, talking to her with my eyes. Just let her sleep on the couch.
She rolled her eyes and then look down, which translates to Ugh lemme think about it. Not too long, she looks back up to me glaring, meaning Sure, but I’m still mad. She looks at Anya. “Yeah. You can sleep on the couch.”
“Oh umm…Thank you.” Anya slowly walks to the couch. I can see that she’s holding back but as much as she wants to decline the offer, she is sleepy. I can see that because the moment she reaches the couch, her body flops down and she’s snoring. I chuckled. Cute.
When I return to Georgia, I am met with a glare, like a fire-in-the-eyes glare.
"What's up with you? Are you mad at me?"
"Maybe! You disappeared for a night and now you're in my house and let Anya fucking Moore into my house without my permission."
“Why so bitter about Anya? What did she do to you?”
“She got you in trouble! You are all over the news now! People are looking for you!”
I rolled my eyes and huffed upward, part of my hair flies up. Thanks, Georgia. You just brought my anxiety back and I wish Anya did not save me.
“What did your mom say?”
“I don’t wanna talk about it, Georgia-”
“They’re worried!” Yeah, Georgia. They’re so worried they called me useless. “Where have you been?”
“Please Georgia-"
"You told me you're gonna tell me about it."
"Not now. I don’t have time for this” You triggered it, G.
“But you have time for Anya Moore?! What did she do to you?! Is she forcing you to do these things? Is she blackmailing you?!-”
“No! I’m good Georgia! I’m fine! Anya did nothing!”
“Why are you being so nice to her?”
“Because!”
“Because what!?”
“She did nothing to me! I swear we are all good. She is not like her mom!”
“Well, how would you know? What if she is just…Love bombing you or something! I bet she tricked you into being her slave because she knows you like h-”
“She doesn’t Georgia! Stop that!” I raised my voice and it surprised Georgia. Shit. She knows how I am when I am mad, but I am never mad at her...
What have I become?
I place my thumb and my middle finger on my forehead. Suddenly, the room is spinning. I grab the nearest chair behind me as it turned slightly. “I’m sorry. There is just…Too much happening and I am tired, G.” Holding onto it tightly, I walk to the chair and sat down. I sigh with my elbow resting on my knee.
My friend walks up to me and squats down so she can see my face. “Hey D, I'm sorry. I am just worried.”
I produce another sigh. “It's fine. I just need to rest for a while. You know that you are the one that I can run to whenever I need a shoulder to lay down on. ” 
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Georgia press her lips together and look down. “Really?”
“Yeah.” Despite most of her hair covering the sides of her face, I can see her smile. “You’ve been a great friend to me throughout these years.” I can feel my lips curl up and I let it. I don't usually smile in front of Georgia because she would tease me about it. Though I'm expecting that now, instead Georgia’s smile fades and she’s back to her pressing her lips together. “Hey what’s with the smile disappearing? Do you not want me as a friend? Am I bad?"
“No silly! I just…” Georgia licks her lips and looks up at me. I can see her face now, her smirk is visible without having to tilt my head. “I just think it’s disgusting.”
“Fuck. You.” I laugh in between pauses, and my friend laughs along. I am not saying this is not how Georgia is, but this is not how she usually reacts when I say "sweet" things to her. She usually is happy and excited whenever I get genuine about her and sometimes teases me about it, while I am the one who gets bitter or "grossed out" whenever she says sweet things. Not saying I am not relieved that she did not poke fun at me for being a nice friend and saying nice words but...It's weird...  
“So” Georgia changed the topic. “You've eaten already?”
“Does chocolate and marshmallow count?”
Georgia giggles, then reach her arm out to ruffle my hair. “Silly! Come here baby, you should eat.”
I roll my eyes. “I told you not to call me baby.”
“Aww~ you’re cute!” She puts both her hands on my cheeks and presses them together. I glance at the mirror, seeing that it reflects the back of Georgia--still sitting on the floor--while my face is forced by her hands to make a silly face. As soon as she lets go, she stands up and dusts off her butt. She then extends her hands out to me which I take even if I can stand for myself. She pulls me up until I am on both my feet, but she did not let go after that. As we make our way to the kitchen, I can feel Georgia slightly rubbing her thumb on my skin, one of the weird things she’s done. 
The way she is acting up now, it’s weird. I mean we are always this close. She gets intimate with me but it’s normal--she’s friendly like that. It never bothers me because Georgia is one huge weirdo and weird friends kiss your cheeks, buy you too many gifts, hold your hand, touch/slap your butt, and among other things. This is almost the same but..weirder feeling. Like the atmosphere is sending a signal I can't quite understand.
What's weirder is how she hates Anya more than she did back then. She listens to songs similar to Anya’s style and kind of hates rock--she tries to like it and tells me she likes it, but she is a bad liar and it's obvious that she is disgusted by the genre. I always wonder why but she said that Anya’s basic, despite listening to songs that are even more basic than Anya's music. I thought it was just her disliking the songs but she sometimes attacks Anya for almost everything--what she wears, the way she smiles, et cetera.
I don’t get Georgia sometimes, but I don't mind it too much. She is a great friend. She always got my back. I just wish that whatever grudge she has against Anya, she will not take it out on her.