The Literary Misadventures of Juniper Rosewood

31- No Matter What

By lunchtime, Stella had managed to find the time to apologise to Etta, and so she seemed to be in good spirits as she sat with her back to the window next to Circe, who was sitting next to me. The two of them were holding hands under the table. I couldn't help but smile as they tried to act nonchalant, but inside I could tell that their hearts were doing backflips. Ingrid and Rashid were still waiting for their chicken nuggets in the queue, and so only Preston and Emma sat opposite us. When Ingrid arrived, Rashid trailing behind her with a tray piled high with nuggets, she seemed incredibly excited.

"Guys, you'll never guess what happened!" She squealed. I could practically hear all of the eyes rolling beside me.

"Ooh, ooh, let me try," Emma replied, with enthusiasm that may have been sarcastic, but I couldn't quite tell. "Somebody popped a cap in the headmaster and so now we can all go home!" Okay, so it was definitely sarcasm. Ingrid rolled her eyes but bounced upon the balls of her feet in excitement.

"Cressida told me that J.B asked Stella out, and she said no."

"Why are we arsed?" Asked Circe, but something changed in Etta's expression and she motioned for Ingrid to continue.

"What? That's all she told me."

"Come on, Ingrid, you're supposed to be a fountain of infinite social knowledge!" Preston huffed.

"Juniper?" Etta looked at me.

"Yes?"

"Stella told me she talked with you this morning. What exactly did you say?" Suddenly all eyes were on me, and I withered a little under their scrutiny.

"Presumably nothing of consequence. I did point out that J.B wasn't a very nice guy though."

Preston slammed his hand down against the table, making me jump. It didn't seem as though he was messing around, either.

"Damn it, Juniper! You're supposed to look out for yourself!"

"What?" I asked, genuinely bewildered. My friends seemed to understand the tiny nuances of the teenage social consciousness much better than me, I realized as I gazed at them with a confused expression.

"J.B is going to be absolutely livid with you now," Rashid explained with a small frown, sitting down next to Ingrid, opposite me.

"You guys worry about this sort of thing too much. J.B hasn't done anything to bother me. And I doubt he will."

"You don't get it, Juniper," Etta said earnestly, "Stella was his back up plan. If he can't have her, he can't have anybody." That statement struck me as a little odd. Stella was a backup plan? He evidently didn't value her as much as she had thought that morning.

"Well that serves him right for being such a manipulative prick," Circe said, tightening her grip on Etta's hand.

"He's going to think it's on you," Ingrid explained. I looked up from my chicken nuggets and shot Ingrid a quizzical glance.

"These sort of quarrels are of no consequence to me. I don't care enough," I shrugged, and Ingrid just stared at me like I was the craziest person she had ever met. Either that or the stupidest. Probably the stupidest.

"Well, let's hope you're right," She said, returning her attention to the tray of chicken nuggets in front of her.

"Can't we just let it go? We have more important things to talk about," Circe said.

"Like what?" Rashid asked, and Circe smiled slyly at Etta. They lifted their entwined hands so that they were resting on the table.

"This," Etta said with a wide grin. I laughed and patted Circe on the shoulder as Ingrid practically fainted with excitement. Rashid and Preston just grinned, where Emma pumped her fist with a victorious "I knew it!"