Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A couple of months of messing around at parties with Kie Carrera is not what Jules expected from her year, but she was not about to complain. If she was being fully honest, she'd thought this would happen maybe twice more, then Sarah would drop Kie and they'd go back to being strangers since whatever both of them had going on with their best friends was the only thing that really joined them.
Except, Sarah didn't drop Kie when a few weeks passed, didn't cut her off or push her away at the first chance she got to make it hurt. And, although she would never admit to being wrong, Jules couldn't help but think that maybe Sarah had changed. People changed, didn't they? Maybe Kiara was finally the one to not get burnt.
What did that mean for Jules and Kie's arrangement, if Sarah actually cared? She tried not to think about it, so she thought about Riri all the time instead. Riri and that boy.
Danny Quinn was a pain in the ass. Riri looked at him like he hung the stars and he didn't even seem to notice. Jules never thought being able to read her best friend was something she'd regret, but watching as she was genuine with this boy in such a nervous manner, as she was so vulnerable, and as he didn't realize how important this was, Jules wished she could go back to not knowing how to figure out Riri.
The worst part of it was that he was nice. Danny was soft around the edges in a way that seemed almost naïve to Jules, he treated people kindly when he had nothing to gain from it, when they wouldn't offer the same treatment to him. He assumed the best of everyone, no matter what. It drove Jules insane. How was she supposed to hate someone who didn't appear to hold the ability to hate her back?
His friend could not have been farther from him. The girl that had taken to hanging around them, likely dragged along in the Riri-Danny adventure in the same manner Jules had been, held a very clear dislike for the entire thing. Liza something-or-other was her name, and despite the pale skin and blonde hair, Jules suspected they much looked the same when the four of them were hanging out. She didn't know if Riri actually expected them to become some kind of group, but Jules highly doubted that this would be easy when half of the people involved would rather be anywhere else in the world.
So, she stayed away from their group, maybe a lot more than she should. Which meant spending a lot of time with Kiara. Sometimes there were even full conversations involved. Jules might be getting too attached.
She walks through the party, for once Danny and Riri and Liz being there too, although they didn't seem to notice when she walked off. She turns back to look at them, stares for a second, and they seem perfectly at peace. Like they actually fit together when she's not there.
