Deadly Love

Chapter 4

The last days of the week went by rather quickly after that. Bethany didn't know if it was because of the excitement to go to her first party with people from this school, or if it was her friends that made time speed up. Anyhow, it helped her feel better for each day.
   Bethany had gotten to know her friends much better in the last days, mainly Petra because she was her roommate. It felt as though she had known Petra her whole life, and not only for a few days. They shared the same interests; such as reading and wearing black clothes, and they could also talk about almost anything. Bethany couldn't remember the last time she had felt this happy.
   She had also learned that her friends actually were friends, (if you could call it friends), with Saya, Maria and Willy; the guy with the braids from the street gang. But because they were part of the "better" gangs, they had a reputation to uphold and therefore could not be seen interacting with any of the rats.

Today, Bethany was going to meet the rats' other friends, and she was pretty nervous about it. It was mainly because she wanted them to like her, and she didn't want to embarrass herself. But it was also because she had met Saya and Maria once before; when she first was asked to attend the school. They hadn't seemed that eager to get to know her then, which Bethany desperately hoped they were now.
   "Hey guys!" Billy said and sat down on a chair in the library.
   Bethany had been told they usually met in the library if they wanted to meet in the school, because people rarely went in there out of free will. The other times they met were outside on the streets of San Francisco somewhere.
   "Hey, how are you all?" Maria, the girl from the Soto Vatos, said and smiled.
   "Good," everyone answered in some type of way.
   "You're Bethany, right?" Willy said and reached out a hand for Bethany to shake.
   "Yeah, call me Beth please. Nice to meet you," Beth smiled and shook his hand, he smiled back.
   "Saya," Saya said and shook Bethany's hand, she didn't really smile but she didn't look like she was in a bad mood either.
   "I remember you," Maria said and also shook Bethany's hand; rather violently in her opinion.
   "Yeah hey, nice to meet you for real this time," Bethany said and smiled nicely.
   Maria returned the smile with a sort of fake giggle, and then walked over to sit on one of the tables. She cast a bit less friendly look at Bethany, before turning the other way and started talking to Marcus.
   Bethany looked at her quite confused. What had she done to upset her? Surely it couldn't be just because she was new there, or could it? Or could it be because she was friends with the rats? Either way, Maria acted very strangely.

The library was actually pretty cozy, and Bethany soon decided this would be a good place to read if she wanted to be alone. There were several bookshelves with lots of different books, divided into alphabetical order. Between the bookshelves, there were dark wooden tables and chairs to sit on of you wanted to read. On the tables, there were green lamps that cast a colorful but dim light over the area. It was an interesting choice of light for reading, but Bethany couldn't more than agree it was stylish.
   Bethany turned out to have a pretty good time with her new acquaintances, and she got along pretty well with Saya and Willy. Saya seemed bit reserved and like a lone wolf at first, but she soon opened up to be a bit warmer. It seemed like she liked Bethany, which made her glad she made a new friend. Willy was also nice, and he made jokes all the time which made everyone laugh.
   While they were talking though, Bethany held an eye on Maria. She hadn't tried to talk to Bethany even once and didn't even seem to notice her presence. Bethany just couldn't understand it. She thought she had been fairly nice to everyone, but what had she done to Maria?

   "Bitch," Saya muttered under her breath while eyeing Maria skeptically.
   "What is it?" Bethany turned and followed Saya's gaze.
   "She's always talking to Marcus like that. She walks very close to him, touches him, drops hints about sexual stuff, she just seems to not get it."
   "So you're a thing?" Bethany smirked a little.
   "Well, I think so... Yeah, kinda I guess. And Maria knows that. But she's still at him like a hawk all the time. It's exhausting to watch. And she's supposed to be my friend," Saya sighed and shook her head in frustration.
   "Sounds really annoying, why would she do that if she knows you and him have a thing?"
   "Don't know, you never know what she thinks. It's always something entirely different going on in her head, which I never seem to understand."
   "Talking about that, do you think you could find out why Maria doesn't like me? She has been cold to me the whole time we have been here, and I just can't understand why," Bethany said and furrowed her eyebrows.
   "That's weird, but yeah I'll try to find out why," she gave a small smile.
   "Thank you," Bethany smiled back.