Ginny and Georgia: The Younger Shadow

Chapter 5- New friends
The lunch hall was buzzing with chatter, and I nervously tried to hold in the thoughts messing with my mind. Scanning all the unfamiliar faces, I tried to look out for Ginny. Thankfully, I spotted her. But that wasn't what made the gasp escape from my mouth. I was astounded. She was sitting with a group of girls who all looked like Madi, Aria and Kara. They must be the Man group. And they were all sitting around Ginny, seemingly intrigued . I walked over to them.
"Ginny, hey." I sat down next to Ginny, and at once all noise ceased. They were all staring at me. I hated how the eyes of everyone always turned into such a calamity for me.
"Uh,hi." I said. They stared at Ginny.
"Who's this, Ginny?" The redhead, Abigail, asked. Something about her seemed a little eerie. Aria was definitely a lot more friendly. But she seemed judgemental.
"Guys, this is my little sister Charlie. She's a freshman"
"Hi, Charlie. I'm Max" She looked the spitting image of Madi.
"Hi, I know. I met all your little sisters. Madi told me about you." An amused look glittered in their eyes.
"Oh yeah, our sisters can't keep their mouths shut. Let's call then over to eat with us, you seem interesting, Charlie."
Norah called out to where I hadn't noticed Aria, Kara and Madi eating.
"Come here! We have little Ginny." Little Ginny? I didn't look anything like my sister. We both had different dads. Hers was Zion, who I suppose acted like mine when he was around, but while Ginny had smooth chocolate skin and masses of dark curls, I was a lot more awkward with myself and lanky, whilst skin was fair, and spotted with masses of red freckles. They were my biggest insecurity, the way they snaked up my arms and legs.
"Char! We were looking for you!" Aria called out, and the group plunked themselves on the table.
"Come on, do we have to have Aria, Madi and Kara here?" Asked Abby, and Aria stuck her chin out at her.
"We've officially invited Ginny to our group. But now we'll be Mang instead, for the G. Is Charlie in your group, Madi?" Maxine asked, while spooning strawberry yogurt into her mouth. I noticed that while Max had announced my sister in their tight knit group, Abby had rolled her eyes to the back of her skull, and picked at her nails, as if she really didn't want Ginny to be there. Aria had told me Abby could be a bit daunting, but On the inside she was soft and sweet. Well, she must've had a good shell of armour on her. It felt nice to talk to everyone and feel included, though. Anika hadn't texted me for days, and I wondered what had happened to her. She  didn't reply to any of my calls or texts.
"Mads, I have theatre practice after school, so go home with Marcus, ok?" Max asked, and Madi scoffed. "Are you my mom or something, Maxine?"
Max flicked some of her yogurt at her sister, but missed, and it landed on me Instead. When she realised what she'd done, guilt was written all over her face, and her dark eyes stretched to the size of glass balls.
"Charlie, I'm so sorry. Oh my god." She tried to dab at my shirt, but I didn't really like other people touching me, so I brushed her off.
"It's ok, really. I'll just- it's ok" I repeated and I tried to flash her a smile showing all my teeth, that meant I was sincere. Max visibly relaxed her shoulders.
Madi took out a shirt from her bag and walked me to the bathroom.
"Charlie, just change in the cubicle and I'll wait outside. You know, you seem nice. My sister's a lesbian, you know. Just wanna make sure you're not homophobic or anything."
I laughed, then answered, "That's fine, Madi. It's cool that Ginny is in that group, and you've let me in yours. I really appreciate it. I've had fake friends most of my life. They always promised to call me or visit me when we moved, but I never heard from them. They just vanished off the face of the earth, it seems. But I like Wellsbury. I like it a lot."
After washing my hands, Madi and I walked out of the bathrooms. There was a lot of graffiti in there, but what was interesting was when I was taking my shirt off, I saw a message in faded pink pen. It was so small, I didn't think you would notice if you were in a rush. It said, "Abby loves Maxine". They must've had something going on between them. Nobody had mentioned them together, though. I decided to ask Aria about it later. But I didn't want to pry too much. "Mads, after school Norah, Abby and I think Ginny are going shopping. They need new dresses for the Sophomore sleepover." Kara said., shuffling from foot to foot.
"Sophomore Sleepover?" I echoed, "What's that?"
"Every year at the start of school the sophomores get a sleepover and party in the gym. They get wasted, drunk, and have sex"
"Oh" I replied, a little thrown off. My sister must be going to that with Mang.
" And were going too" Aria cheekily added, and Madi and Kara grinned back at her. Wait. What?
"What do you mean?"
"We're going as well. And you, Charlie. You're stuck with us now. Our sisters will go, but who cares if we're not sophomores? Well sneak in! We did last year, and no one caught us when we slept underneath the bleachers" Kara added. Wow. They were crazy. Should we do this?
"What If our sisters catch us? We'd be in so much trouble!" I exclaimed. If mom ever found out, she would beat me within an inch of my life. I felt sick thinking what would happen then.
"Pah! Don't worry. Aria, tell her what happened last time we went" Madi added, while glugging down some cold water.
"Hah, our sisters are pathetic! Honestly! Charlie, when we went to sophomore sleepover, we slept in the bleachers. But since we couldn't risk partying and getting caught, we decided to dance in the classrooms. a sophomore called Cece Barnes was drunk and I caught her having sex with Gavin Smith! They didn't even say anything! I just ran for my life. But we can drink there too. They'll be alcohol. I know our sisters will definitely bring some. All we have to do is pinch it from them!"
Never in all my life did I think this would happen in the seemingly tranquil town of Wellsbury.
"Let's go to Blue Moon Cafe!" Kara said, and together we walked through the vast hallways. And for once, I felt sanguine. I felt like another person. Definitely not Charlotte Marie Miller.