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Do you hate us?
I stared down at the simple short question, written in a messy scrawl of letters.
Did I? They were nice to me for the most part, and other than Bryan being a jerk, they seemed like overall good guys. Didn’t mean I’d let my guard down around them. And Calvin and Bebe were wonderful, adorable creatures who wouldn’t be so great if their life wasn’t stable and filled with love. I sighed and stared at the note for a moment before replying.
No.
I tossed the paper back to him and went back to work, zoning everything out. I no longer heard the sounds of pencils scratching against paper, or cloth rustling against chairs, or feet tapping against the floor. Not even the fingers pattering against wood could disrupt the flow of my thoughts. All my focus was on the words on my paper, forming a song to represent something very real in my life.
It wouldn’t really come together until I could get my hands on a piano or guitar to work on the music notes, but I was forming a strong foundation. When the bell rang, I snapped my head up to glare at the clock as all my thoughts flew away. I blinked, slowly realizing that annoying noise was the sound of class ending.
Crap.
I glanced at Toby, only to meet his eyes. He stared at me with a thoughtful expression. The high energy boy who didn’t take anything serious in life did not exist in that moment. I looked at someone who knew shit sucked and he wanted to help make it suck less. My heart thudded against my chest at the unexpected seriousness from him. He was too intense for my comfort, his hazel eyes a little darker than normal, the deep forest green edging to create a ring around the deep brown.
“What?” I asked, my voice low as the students around us filed out of the room, more than ready for lunch.
He stared for a couple of beats longer, the silence playing on my nerves. Finally, he broke out into a smile. “See you at lunch.” He grabbed his bag and disappeared out the door before I could respond.
I sighed and grabbed my things, heading to the nurse’s office for a check-in. The nurse was young and kind. Her knowing eyes stayed on me as I filled her in on the situation the principal had already made her aware of. Then I provided her with all the necessary paperwork. She watched as I took my medicine. Since the gabapentin was a prescription, they wanted someone to watch to make sure I wasn’t abusing them at school. While others would be annoyed with this, I was thankful. I handed her the bottle and promised to come here every day before lunch to take one.
After getting everything settled with the nurse, I headed to the cafeteria for senior lunch and hoped I wouldn’t run into the boys. I was delayed enough that they should already be sitting somewhere.
School used to be a safe haven, but now it was beginning to feel like a chore all on its own.
Chapter Nine
The massive courtyard was already filled with students when I got there. Picnic tables were claimed, spots on the lawn staked out as students walked through the maze in hopes of finding a spot to soak up the limited sun before going back inside to deal with school. I recognized some faces, but most were new to me.
I snorted to myself. I had to be real here. All the faces were new because I never bothered remembering them. The only people I recognized were the ones who were in more than one of my classes. I only looked at them now so I could avoid four boys and hide before they spotted me. After not seeing them right away, I hoped they were eating in the cafeteria instead. Mindful of stretched out limbs, I picked my way toward my spot. It was my hidden treasure since freshman year.
There were large trees scattered throughout the courtyard and people tended to use them for shade or to lean up against. All except for mine at least. Mine was a massive, practically dead tree that didn’t provide any shade. It was ugly to look at. It also brought me to the corner, farthest away from the doors in the courtyard, and for that reason, not many came near it. I was pretty sure that in the next couple of years, they were going to replace it with something livelier. I loved it because the trunk was so wide that when I sat behind it, no one was able to see me. I’d spent the last three years with this tree, and I was going to spend my last year with it too.
Well, at least until the weather became too unbearable to stay outside, which would be in the next month or so.
I settled down behind my friend, leaned up against the harsh bark, and put on my headphones. It didn’t take me long to start humming to myself while I worked on the little bit of homework I did have. Lunchtime was always treated like a study hall to get as much homework done as I could, since when I was home, I focused on working instead of wondering why a function even needed a derivative.
Two bodies plopped in front of me, and I jumped, meeting matching brown eyes.
“What?” I looked back and forth between the two girls sitting in front of me, each with a huge grin stretched across her face. It was a bit eerie, definitely creepy.
What the hell was going on? Why were they here? I glanced around, wondering if they were lost or something. No one else was with them, and their big wide smiles made my skin prickle in discomfort.
The Wright sisters were popular twins with minor differences between them. Hazel’s hair was a shade lighter, and kept short, while Lillian’s darker hair was always long. Lillian’s face had wider features, but they had similar nose and eye shapes. Lillian’s lips were plumper. The two of them loved to have fun and that sometimes got them into trouble. I didn’t know much about them. I knew more about Lillian since she’d been in my classes since freshman year and we’d done some projects together. She was also in my calc class this morning, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she were in my physics class later this afternoon. She was smart, easily one of the top ten students in our grade. The two of them also dominated the volleyball courts each year since freshman year. They made it into varsity as soon as they entered high school.
That was all that I knew about them, other than the obviousness of them being twins, with brown hair, brown eyes, and tall lean bodies.
“I told you she’d be here,” Hazel said to her sister, unhooking her camera from around her neck.
“You’re right.” Lillian’s smile had me narrowing my eyes.
They were up to something. They had to be. A new kind of prank, maybe?
“Cadence, if this summer has taught us one thing, it’s that we don’t want to graduate with blinders on. Therefore, congratulations! You’re our new friend.”
That caught me off guard enough for my mouth to pop open. “I’m sorry, what?” I finally managed to ask.
The two of them continued to smile, their eyes bright with happiness. Or maybe it was mischief. I didn’t know them well enough to tell the difference.
