Graffiti Girl // Michael Clifford

|| 22 ||

You can't tell me to heal. And, it hurts remembering how it felt to shut down. You can't be too careful anymore.

«Careful» Paramore

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"Ha! I will destroy you!" I laugh and roll up another paper ball.

"Ha! Ha! That's funny," Evan laughs and chucks one across the table, bouncing it off my forehead.

"You little shit!" I yell and throw one back at him while he's distracted in trying to hit Ember.

"You're wasting paper!" she laughs, using her arms as a shield and trying to throw balls through the X.

"This is two against one! S'not fair!" he complains.

"Oh, too bad!" I launch another ball at him. "You started it!"

"Okay, this means war!" he grunts and tries to dodge the flying ammo while he grabs something from his backpack. When he sits back up, he has a huge handful of tinfoil. He takes a chunk and balls it up, chucking it right between my eyes.

"Ow! What the fuck?!" I shout.

"Why do you have so much tinfoil in your bag?" Ember laughs.

He shrugs with a straight face. "I kinda just collect it in there."

"Why?!"

"For times like this! Duh!"

"I'm never giving you my scrap tinfoil ever again," I spit.

"You give him tinfoil? Where do you get tinfoil?" she chuckles.

"Lunches and stuff. He always wants it and, I mean, I'm not gonna use it."

"I have no response to that," she laughs.

"Probably a good idea," he chuckles.

"Hey, guys," Luke says, coming up beside the table. "Mind if I join you?"

"When did you get in this class?" Evan asks.

"Well, good morning to you, too," Luke quips back.

"Hey, just asking," he defends.

"It's because he's more interested in slip-n-slides than Physics. Let's just leave it at that," I butt in, not wanting to get into the story again.

"Yeah, but I'm still in Chemistry, so it's not like I'm not taking any sciences."

"Why were you taking double science?" I ask with disgust.

He looks down at his shoes, shuffling his feet shyly. "My mom made me," he mumbles.

All three of us can't help but start laughing as a blush creeps up his neck.

"Awww," I mockingly coo. "Poor Lucas."

"Whatever," he scoffs. "Can I sit here?"

"I don't know," Evan says, trying to contain a smile. "Are you sure you're allowed? Wouldn't want to get you grounded."

We all burst into another round of laughter. Luke just rolls his eyes and takes the seat next to Evan, across the table from Ember.

"Well, now you have no choice," he chirps.

"Well, welcome," I say, overly dramatic.

"Thank you," he greets back.

We continue chatting, spending at least ten minutes having Evan explain the emu war situation to Luke, ending with Ember and I in tears of laughter. About five minutes after the final bell, the talking around the room quiets as Mrs. Trixie walks through the door with arms full of supplies. She sets them down on her desk with a smile and a sigh before turning to the class.