The Poetry Club

Worry

It was as ordinary a Monday as any other, the sunshine and blueness of the sky was overcast by clouds obscuring the peace and serenity of a clear sky, a blue sky that I may never believe in again, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. I was walking to school alone as I normally do, such things happen when you're alone who doesn't really connect with anyone who isn't also a loser. But as I was walking I heard a voice call out from behind me, the voice of my one real friend, my childhood friend, the girl next door, Sophie. I stopped walking and turned around to see her running full pelt, her short shoulder length strawberry blonde hair bouncing up and down with every stride. When she finally catches up she doubles over and puts her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. She holds up one of her slender fingers at me, motioning to give her a second. "It's been a while, Sophie. I'm honestly surprised you're up on time... barely." I say teasingly, Sophie and I do that a lot, though sometimes I do worry I go too far, and maybe I did.
"Heyyyyy, don't be a meanie." Sophie said in a huff, standing up and crossing her arms at me, pouting. I smile and ruffle her hair.
"You know it's all in good fun." I say with a smile and then change to a more serious tone as I continue walking to school, motioning Sophie to follow. "It is true that I haven't seen you in a while though, what's been going on?" I try to hide any worry that might have showed. "Hmmmm." Sophie ponders that question for a little before turning to me and smiling with a twinkle in her ocean blue eyes. "Nope! I'm just really lazy is all!" She giggles a little and I breathe out, relieved that she's doing okay.
"You know, that lazy mentality is going to ruin you someday." I said half-jokingly. Sophie didn't respond, instead she posed the question I did to her.
"Well how about you? You're a second year now right?" I laughed slightly at her question.
"You know I am Sophie, we're in the same year, silly." I paused for a moment before continuing. "I have been feeling kind of lonely as of recent though, I'm sure you wouldn't understand that though" I say with a sad laugh. I look over at Sophie, who's stopped walking and is just standing there with a slight downcast look, but it's gone as soon as I see it, did I see it? Sophie quickly jumps up and basically screams in my face.
"Oh my gosh! I have a fantastic idea! You should come check out my club!" I stand there, almost awestruck, did Sophie just say 'her' club, I was impressed, or I was until she added "Well, Veronica's club... I'm the vice president though! And honestly it would be a real life saver if you said you'd come along." I think over what Sophie said before I realize who's name she said. "Wait, Veronica? Veronica Waters?" I say in disbelief. "She's like the most popular girl in school!" Sophie looks away as I go on about Veronica. I think and realize my mistake. "Sorry, Sophie." I say, beginning an apology. "I'm just still surprised by how many amazing friends you have, guess it really reflects how great you are right?" I nudge her shoulder with my elbow hoping to get a smile out of her. She just continues staring into nothing.
"Yeah. I guess." Her eyes look downwards, seeming darker than usual, as if she's fighting a war inside that head of hers. She quickly snaps back to her usual happy self. "Thanks for the compliment Ryan! It makes me happy to know you think that!" It feels nice to hear Sophie say my name again, although I can't get over that look she had on her face, I'm sure she's fine though, right?
"Well, what's the club? Like what activities do you do?" Sophie hesitated for a moment before explaining.
"Well, it's a poetry club-" I almost recoiled in horror at that thought, me, at a poetry club? I could barely write text messages and now Sophie's expecting me to join a club to do with literature? Sophie could clearly see that I wasn't overly thrilled by the idea of a poetry club so she quickly added "We don't really have many club activities and I'm sure you'll meet some amazing people and honestly we all really need another friend! Plus we've got cookies!" Sophie was red at this point, she got way too overly excited about me joining her club and seems to have exhausted herself from all the yelling she's been doing.
"Whoa whoa calm down." I laughed under my breath, not even believing the words that were about to come out of my mouth. "I'll definitely come check out the club after school today okay?" I placed my hand on Sophie's shoulder, reassuring her I wasn't lying, she eyes me up and down as if trying to determine whether what I had said was the truth or not before she finally believed me.
"Oh yes! Thank you! Thank you so much!" Sophie jumped up and down and enveloped me into a very squeezing hug.
"Ease up Soph, you're going to break my spine if you're not careful." I teased, hugging her back. After her initial excitement had worn off she let me go and looked up at me with that sweet smile of hers, and those eyes, her eyes always did remind me of the calm of the blue skies, just her gaze alone was reassuring. We'd finally arrived at the school and were about to say our goodbyes and go off in different direction before I realized I had no way of knowing where the club was. "Wait, Sophie!" I shouted turning and running in the direction she'd gone. Sophie turned around with a half-smile and an expective look, did she want to say something more? Did she want me to bring something more up? I didn't think about that then though, all that I said to her at that time on that day was. "So where's the clubroom?" Sophie's eyes widened and she quickly reached into her bag to pull out a club pamphlet, did she just have those in her bag? Or had she packed one specifically for me? I may never know.
"I'm so sorry Ryan, it completely slipped my mind." Sophie looked at me apologetically as she slowly handed me the pamphlet, something felt off, if I could just put my finger on it.
"Sophie is everything alri-" I began to speak but the bell for first period cut us off.
"Oh! Shoot! I've got to go, I have arts!" And with that she ran to class, leaving me with a burning question on my mind, and a pamphlet for the poetry club in my hand.