Walking through the familiar yet unfamiliar school hallway again after the weekend, I looked around. School was almost over, just a lunch break, and then afternoon classes were upcoming.
"Uhm, hi," I heard a girl's voice beside me. I turned my face to her and saw the girl with a book from Friday.
"Hi?"
"I realised you were new here and I wanted to ask if you're interested in the literature club. I'm Amani, by the way."
Looking at her with raised brows as I stopped walking, I thought about what she had just said. Did I look like a bookaholic? I had books at home, I read sometimes, but I didn't know I looked like one of those who had their nose in them all the time.
"I'm Sidney… but I—uh, I dunno…"
"Think about it," she smiled at me before walking off in the direction of the canteen. I could be sure that I would be able to find her probably by the same table as on Friday, with a book in her hands.
Sighing over the maybe friend request I just got, I shook my head. Literature club?That sounded like something very serious, classic, quiet, and did I say classic? That was something that made me not want to participate in it. I read fantasy books and similar things, but Jane Austen and other classic writers didn't sound like fun to me. Maybe Poe or Wilde, and that was about it.
I went back to walking, also heading to the canteen. I could be sure, from the number of my schoolmates that kept on reducing, there wouldn't be many places for me to sit. And definitely no table where I could sit alone.
As I went past another class door, I heard someone clearing their throat. And so, I turned in my place to see if it was for me or someone else, hoping for the latter. Unfortunately, when I saw the person's face, I knew that I wanted to vanish at the spot. It was the cleaning girl from the restaurant.
"You've gotta be kiddin' me."
"Can we talk?" she asked. Although it sounded more like a demand.
Rolling my eyes, I followed her into the empty classroom. This didn't really feel like a good thing to do. However, I was already there. All I had to do was to hear her out, and then I could go and have my lunch. In peace.
"So?" I asked as I crossed the threshold.
"Close the door," she demanded again, sounding as if she was some kind of queen or something. So instead of listening, I only raised my eyebrows. "Please."
This time, I did as she asked, narrowing my eyes at her afterwards. Waiting for her to speak, I crossed my arms over my chest. She definitely took her time before speaking as the silence became quite loud for a moment.
"If you tell anyone you saw me, I'll make your life hell," she stated while looking like she wanted to explode. Was it even possible? Just like that? Probably not.
"I don't know what you're talkin' 'bout," I shook my head. However, I knew. Well, if she meant her job at that restaurant.
Was she embarrassed about having a part-time job? That would be pretty stupid.
The dirty blonde girl sighed as she made a few steps towards me while crossing her arms over her chest, "You know what I'm talkin' 'bout."
I also took a few steps towards her. Now, we were just about only a few inches away from each other, staring into each other's eyes. Hers were so green but also not. Not like the green ones gingers have.
"I have no idea what you're sayin'," I said, tilting my head to the side. "Or… you mean you scrubbing the floors instead of shoppin' with your friends?"
My admitting that I indeed saw her doing her job made her look angrier. I still couldn't understand what was wrong with working. She probably just wanted some money of her own for things or whatever—there was nothing wrong with that.
"As I said," she said through gritted teeth as she slightly raised her head before continuing, "If you tell anyone, I'll make your life a hell."
I couldn't help but to chuckle, "Only if you stop annoying the shit out of people."
My words made her furrow her light brows. She didn't exactly annoy people, more like bullied them—as it appeared. Although it still must have been annoying for the bullied ones, so… same thing. But for sure, she was now annoying me.
"Shut the fuck up."
"Make me," I smirked at her as I straightened my back, which made me a little taller than before. I didn't even know what made her swear as I hadn't said anything that bad, at least not yet.
To tell the truth, I was expecting her to say something. Something I probably wouldn't have liked. However, there was only silence surrounding the two of us as we stared into each other's eyes. And looking into hers, I couldn't help but admit she had pretty ones. Just if they didn't belong to her.
"What are you starin' at?" I heard her ask not very nicely, which made me chuckle.
"You're the one who's starin'."
Hearing my words, her eyes shot daggers through me. I didn't know what made her think that I would back off the second she told me to talk with her. However, pushing her and making her mad felt somewhat like a fun idea. Maybe I should have made some friends in this school because this wasn't a safe kind of fun to have.
"Crazy bitch," she whispered through her clenched teeth before she shoved me into a wall behind me and left the classroom. What was she so mad about?
Shaking my head, I ran my hand over the fabric of my uniform before I left the room, too. The hallway was empty now. Only I was walking through it to the canteen. I didn't really know how long our 'conversation' was, and so all I could do was hope that I was still going to be able to eat my lunch.
As I was looking around the room for a possible empty seat, my eyes fell on the girl with a book. I smiled to myself. She wasn't sitting alone this time, but, thankfully for me, there was still an empty chair that I could claim, hopefully.
After I made my way to the familiar girl at—what seemed to be her regular—table, I cleared my throat, "Can I?"
My words drew the attention of all five of the people sitting there. Everyone except Amani looked up at me with questioning expressions as if there weren't six chairs around their table. However, thankfully, Amani nodded at me before going back to reading what looked like a new book.
"Hey, I'm Jade," said a girl with ginger hair tied in a bun as she gave me a warm smile.
"Sidney."
"Ah, you're the new girl, right?" asked one of the two boys this time.
Turning my head to him, I saw a slightly familiar face surrounded by blond, messy hair. I had been here for over two weeks now, so it wasn't impossible to already recognize some people.
Nodding once again, I turned my attention to the food in front of me. I stabbed a fork into my spaghetti before rolling the noodle around and taking the fork to my mouth as I looked up from my meal. Seeing the boy, who had just talked, staring at me. I raised my eyebrows in question.
"Are you single?"
His words made me cough the same way they made a girl with black hair tied in a ponytail next to him hit him in the arm, "Henry!"
"It's okay," I laughed. "And yes, I am. And not interested."
The nameless girl shook her head, "Don't pay him any attention, he's just crazy. And I'm Leah."
Crazy. That word reminded me of the moment that happened only a couple of minutes ago. People are just crazy these days, huh?
Nodding in understanding, I turned my attention back to my food as I halfway ignored the conversation among the group of friends at the table. Only Amani didn't say anything as she was too busy reading her book.
"Why are they lookin' this way?" I heard the other boy say, the one who introduced himself as Liam, which made me pay attention. Their conversation about Jane Austen before wasn't as interesting as some drama in the room. Life was pretty boring otherwise.
"Dunno, I haven't talked with any of them since last November," said Jade, to which I looked up at everyone. Even Amani was paying attention to her surroundings now. And for some reason, they all looked kind of worried.
"Sidney?" asked Leah.
"Hm?"
"You don't have any problems with them, right?" she asked before nodding somewhere behind me. And so, I looked at the people in question. In a not very subtle way. I was very much aware of that. Seeing a few familiar faces didn't surprise me as much as it probably should have.
I turned my head back to the one who asked me and shrugged before looking down at the rest of my lunch. Seeing that ginger giant didn't really do any good to my appetite. I couldn't understand why she, especially, was staring at me like I had killed her entire family. Or maybe it was just her resting bitch face.
"I don't wanna sound like some scared nerd from an American high school drama but… don't mess with them," Jade warned before she took one last look in the ginger giant and her friends' table direction. Then she started picking at the rest of her food.
Nodding, I shifted my gaze to Amani who had been staring at me since we talked about that group of girls. I raised my eyebrows in question, but got only a shake of her head as an answer. I couldn't understand why they all were so scared of those girls. They couldn't be that bad, right?