Lilacs Forever

Chapter 15: Cliques

The cold air bit Delilah's face as she walked into the building. "Hi Janet!" She waved as she passed the front desk. Janet waved back cheerfully.

She then passed the janitor. "Hey Paul!" Paul smiled and gave her a high five.

It had been a good week. The week before she had babysat Anita's kids, after that it was uneventful. At least she got to talk to her mother over the phone. Turns out, the house seemed a lot emptier and her little brother, who usually kept to himself playing video games in his room, had started to miss her as well. Her mother asked if she was able to come home for the holidays.

"But mom, I'm still new to the company, I can't choose my vacations." Delilah felt the pang of homesickness throb in her chest.

"You have friends though, right?"

"Well of course I have friends!"

"Spend time with them, don't spend your Christmas reading books. Have fun." Her mother laughed.

"Of course I will, don't worry about me, Mom!!"

Delilah couldn't help but laugh back at the memory, it had been a while since she'd spoken to family. She passed the clique and said hello. They only stared and whispered among themselves.

I guess it's them being them, Delilah assured herself, and walked on.

But she was wrong. It seems that a lot more people were involved. Rumors of a certain group chat circulated around the accounting and sales department. Delilah could hear snickering from behind the cubicles she passed by.

What was so funny? And why wasn't I invited?

She felt a little discouraged as she wasn't able to join the fun, everybody really seemed to be enjoying themselves.

—-

Anita took a sick day so Delilah didn't really have anybody to talk to. She was glad to see Alyce checking on her from time to time.

"So Alyce, are there any group chats you know of? Work related of course."

"I'm not so sure, I haven't heard of such a thing, maybe it's among friends?"

"Y-yeah, that must be it. You know the girls that always stick together? It must be a friend thing... although I don't really like being left out."

"Well, what can we do? Oh, and by the way I'll be a little late in joining you for lunch, I have to do a couple of things real quick."

"Okay!" Delilah smiled.

Delilah didn't know why, but she felt a certain dread when thinking about what that group chat could possibly be about. Yes, it could be inside jokes with friends, but the way they looked at her and whispered among themselves was alarming.

So, she decided to sit at the table closest to those girls. She ate her sandwich as they giggled. What they're laughing at must be funny, she thought. And harmless too...

"Miss Piggy" and "cow" were what they were laughing about. She didn't like to eavesdrop but curiosity and fear got the best of her. Her stomach was tying itself into knots, she hoped it wasn't true.

Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw a flash and click of a camera in her direction. She had enough, she had to sit somewhere else. But she made sure to catch a glimpse of one of their phones. There she was, in the middle of eating her sandwich and another one that focused on her behind. "Big girl's gotta eat" was what it was captioned.

They laughed as she ran from the cafeteria, with tears in her eyes.

She ran to the bathroom and cried.