The Outlier II

THREE

Every day I sat at Edward's desk in English, talking to Nicholas, I half-expected him to show up, demanding that I get out of his seat with the same bitterness he stabbed into me that day in the woods; but he didn't. He didn't even bother to show up. 

"Are you going to Mr. Mason's philosophy class?" Nicholas asked. 

"Maybe," I shrugged. "You?" 

"I don't know. I'll probably go cause I want Mr. Mason to like me," he said.

"Well, my only reason for not going was not knowing anyone there, but since you're going to be there and I'm free, I might as well go." 

"Alright, see you there on Sunday," Nicholas waved once we came close to my table. Like usual, he left to sit with Elizabeth Daws and his other friends whose names I haven't bothered to remember.  

The moment I sat down, I noticed Eric and Angela were gone. I reckoned they were prepping the gymnasium for Prom. Once they returned, stacks of papers and tickets in hand, I could hear them bickering— or the closest thing to bickering that Angela could muster.

"I'm telling you, Eric, it was huge," Angela said. 

"What was?" Jessica asked curiously. 

"Well, my parents made me take the twins to a picnic near the springs. There's a good spot about a mile up the trail but when we got there... we saw something." Angela shuddered. 

"Saw something, what?" Now, everyone was listening. Hardly anyone, even Ashton-obsessed Lauren paid any attention when Ash sat down despite the screech the chair made against the linoleum tiles. 

"Angela thinks she saw a bear," Eric taunted, his eyes turning mocking. 

Lauren rolled her eyes, "not you too!" She too, thought Angela was lying. "Tyler tried to sell me that last week." 

"It doesn't sound likely to see any bears that close to the resort," Jessica said, siding with Lauren. 

"She's right, you know. A couple guys that swung by at work were talking about it," a timid voice called. 

Everyone gaped like fools. Everyone stared at the girl like she hadn't been sitting with us during lunch all year. Angela looked grateful to see someone standing up for her. 

"Yeah, a couple guys at the petrol station were talking about how their friend saw a big black animal," Ash added, "they reckoned he was talking out of his arse but I don't think it was nonsense." 

After a moment of very awkward, incredibly loud silence, Bella spoke once more. 

"Would you guys mind if I sat down?" 

I was about to pull out a chair for her from an unused table but Lauren's awfully nasally voice interrupted my train of thought. "No, there's not enough chairs. Sorry." 

"Oh," Bella said in a small voice, her cheeks turning a furious magenta with each second that passed. 

"No worries," Ashton suddenly jumped up. "I was just leaving. I'm supposed to talk to— er— Mr. Banner and I just remembered. You can take my seat, Belle." 

"Bella," she awkwardly corrected. 

"Close enough," Ashton shrugged, grabbing their jacket and bag. Lauren looked upset that Ashton was leaving but was clearly too embarrassed to say anything about it. 

Just as Ash was leaving, they placed a firm hand on my shoulder, squeezing it with more strength than I thought was possible for them. I was sure this was their reminder, telling me to go to their white '96 Fiat so we can hang out together instead of going to Gym. Bella sat down beside me, pursing her lips as she put down her bag.