Grinded

chapter VI.

The students at Sunset Ridge High came hurtling out of their classrooms as the lunch bell rang, bouncing throughout the light blue painted corridors of the school; it was reminiscent of a hospital, but the energy couldn't be more different as the teens rampaged down the halls to get to the cafeteria, and, more importantly, outside for fresh air after being cooked up all morning.

Sat at one of the tables in the corner of the hectic cafeteria was Thomas, Lily, and August. Lily took a petite bite of her sandwich from home, complete with an ice cold bottle of water from the vending machine and a big bag of spicy Cheetos. She dusted the crumbs off from her hands, noting how the vibe of the school was still flooding with mayhem.

"Dude, I might need to go for a little smoke break soon," Thomas said, loudly chewing on the piece of spearmint gum, blowing a perfect bubble, "if you two care to join?"

Lily shook her head, pointing down to her food, "I'm kinda busy, babe."

Thomas then looked over to a stern faced August, who had his elbows resting on the stainless steel table. Sighing, Thomas lolled back in his chair, holding his hands behind his neck and flexed his biceps to hopefully lessen the lecture August was clearly dying to give him.

"Spit out, Auggie-boy," Thomas said with a faint smirk, "I know that look."

"What's the point, you're gonna go ahead and smoke anyways," August stated with raised eyebrows and a playful smile playing up on the corners of his plump lips. "Just tone it back a bit, you know? Don't want my best friend getting kicked out or, you know,  developing cancer."

Thomas beamed at August's words, knowing all he ever did was mean well. He's always been this way, ever since they were young, and it was something he really appreciated. Plus, he was also right on this one - smoking as much as he did, and as recklessly, he was bound to get a harsh kick in the balls from reality pretty soon about it.

"God, you guys can be unbearable," Lily piped up jokingly, eyes flicking back and forth between her two friends. Peering over Thomas' shoulder, she spied out Sophie heading straight for them with an expression of pure rage plastered across her gorgeous face.

Dropping her bag onto the table with a loud thud, Sophie slammed down into the seat next to Thomas. She felt him jump out of his skin at her sudden appearance, feeling his glare burn through her.

"Jesus, Soph," Thomas said almost breathlessly, staring at her with piercing eyes. "Why are you lurking around like fucking Gollum for?"

Sophie ignored Thomas' sarcasm to avoid getting herself any more worked up than she already was. "Fucking cramps are killing me, dude."

Empathy struck Lily like a bolt of lightening, shooting her attention over to Sophie. Without a further word, the only straight person at the table began fishing through her bag frantically. Her hands scoured every patch of the fabric until she found what she had been looking for.

"Need one of these, Sophie?" She then asked, pulling out a tampon. She flashed Sophie a tender look, holding her hand out. Lily made sure to obscure it from the view of the entire student body, not wanting to humiliate her friend.

Sophie managed to crack a smile at Lily's heartfelt gesture, but gently pushed the tampon back to where it came from. "Already good on that front, but thank you, Lily."

Lily nodded, mouthing the word 'anytime' before quickly slipping the product back into her bag. "If you need anything else, I've got you covered. Just ask me, 'kay babe?"

A faint gaggle of guys from the swim team passed through the cafeteria, one of them making an obnoxiously loud remark about the interrogations that were underway earlier. August rolled his eyes, shaking his head; he would never understand how some people could be this insensitive.