The Colors In Her Voice

☆Chapter 28☆

Lunch break after sitting for the torturous subjects sounded like a haven. With the food tray in my hand, I made a beeline toward my usual table which also happened to be where Bethany and her friends sat but I couldn't spot her.

I stopped on my tracks and traversed my eyes around her table to confirm that I hadn't missed her out somehow but I still couldn't find her. 'She must be late,' I thought dismissively.

As I reached the table, I saw Dylan wasn't there either. 'Weird. Both the siblings are unavailable?' They were not absent because I had seen them both before the first bell had rung. 

Ashley and Serena were fooling around with the guys which made me wonder where Bethany could be without these two? On a second thought, Bethany isn't even seen hanging out with them much these days.

Taking a seat beside Mason, I smiled at him. "Hey."

"Hi, Rach," he greeted, fisting a few French fries from my tray. I looked at him with a frown but didn't say anything. He just laughed at my expression and my features softened. I couldn't be mad at him even if I tried to.

"You do know that you have the same food as me on your tray... right?" I asked him, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah but what's the fun in that?" He asked me with a huge grin. 

'Is he flirting with me or am I looking too much into things? Gosh, I really need to stop having such high hopes.' "You're definitely right," I agreed with him and took a fistful of fries from his tray as well. "This is totally fun." His mouth hung open and I bit the inside of my cheeks to control the upcoming laughter.

"Smarty pants," he muttered to himself but I heard him anyway.

Smiling and waving at everyone on the table, I looked at Martha expectantly. "Hey, Martha, where's Beth?" I asked her, stuffing my mouth with the cafeteria burger which didn't taste so stale like everybody makes it out to be.

"I don't know. She'd said that she's going to the washroom and it's been over 20 minutes now. She went in there before the lunch break started, if that's what you're wondering," she said with an uncertainty in her voice and shrugged in the end. 

I was actually surprised by the amount of indifference shown by Bethany's friends, especially Ashley and Serena. I thought that the three of them are the best of friends and have an unbreakable bond between them. They were all laughing and making jokes as if Bethany gone for more than 20 minutes wasn't strange.

"Oh," I replied and looked at Mason who was listening in on our short conversation. His eyebrows were furrowed and it seemed like he was thinking the same. "I'll go and check up on her," I whispered to him.

"Sure," he said, nodding his head and I stood up from my seat.

"Where are you going?" Serena asked in her usual nasally voice. Everybody's eyes were on me now and I started feeling conscious of their stares. What's even worse than being stared at is being aware of the stares. 'Why did she have to speak up now?!'

"Erm... going to check up on Beth?" It came out as a question. I was feeling nervous because of their eyes glued to my face. I resisted the urge to cover it with my hands.

"What? Why? You don't need to," Martha said with an assuring smile but I wasn't in the least bit assured. "It's a usual thing for us now. You'll get used to it too."

"What do you mean?" I didn't mean to snap but it came out naturally and her eyes widened but she went back to smiling at me. 

Martha's not a bad person, it's just that she's a bad friend. I was saying this because out of everyone, she's the only one to make me feel welcomed and has defended me from Dylan most of the time.