Autumn of 95

Chapter one: lab partners and restaurants

I walked into last period and headed towards my table to set down my things. The bell rang as I grabbed my notebook. I had to sketch. A minute later, I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned. Elias grinned, his outstretched arm holding a folded paper. I grabbed it and turned back before the teacher noticed. Opening the note, I tried not to reveal the contents, in case someone was looking.
Scribbled on the page was, hey I asked Tris and Carter if they wanted to go to Edulis and they said yes, are you coming too? If so, meet at 5:00!
I quickly wrote, alright!
The teacher dropped a book on his desk. "Buffy? Are you paying attention back there!?"
I nodded. "May I use the bathroom?"
He shrugged. "Make it quick. I don't want you missing class."
As I slid out of my desk, I dropped the refolded paper onto Elias's notebook. His fingers covered the note.
Once I came back from the bathroom, I noticed my lab partner finally showed up. I took my seat again. "Hey did I miss anything."
My lab partner shed a small smile. "Just some notes."
I hesitated. "Do you mind if I copy off of you?" I leaned into my backpack pulling out my chemistry notebook. My lab partner slid the notes over a bit, trying to not get called out. As I started writing it down, a paper airplane hit my head. I looked up and grinned at Elias who threw it. I wadded the paper into a ball and aimed to hit his head.
The teacher looked over from the board. I acted like I was working, hoping he did not notice. As I finished writing down the notes, the bell rang. I grabbed my things and headed to my locker to unload my textbooks.
Once I deposited my items, I headed towards the parking lot to meet up with Carter.
Elias soon caught up with me. "Hey, do you mind if I catch a ride?"
I considered it would be convenient, since we're neighbors. "Sure!" I hopped into the driver's seat and buckled my seatbelt, waiting for my brother Carter to make it to the car.
After about five minutes of Elias and I talking about some stupid topic, Carter was heading over, waving bye to some people.
We had small conversations in the car on the short ride home. I pulled into our driveway, letting Elias get out and walk next door. I grabbed my stuff and locked the car before heading inside to get my stuff together.
I emptied out my backpack on the bed and put away some stuff. I checked the time. It was almost four, so I had about an hour to chill. I grabbed my phone from the desk and dialed Tris's number. I hadn't talked to her since that morning.
After a few rings she picked up. "Dude, I literally just got to my room, how did you know?"
"I'm that good!"
Tris gave a small laugh.
I remembered one of the reasons I had called. "Hey do you need me to pick you up to go to the restaurant?"
"Yeah. My parents are out tonight and I can't drive."
I smiled. "That's fine, I'll pick you up at around 4:30."
After talking to Tris for a while I hung up and put the phone back on the reciever. I went to my bookshelf and opened my novel to the last dog-eared page. I glanced over at my alarm clock to see the time. It was almost four, so I had time to read.
    A knock jolted me upward. I dog-eared the middle of my chapter and went to answer the front door.
Carter peered his head out of his room on my way. "Who is it?"
"I don't know. I haven't answered it yet." I peered out the side window. Elias was early.
He jumped as I opened the door. "What took you so long?"
"Sorry. I'm apparently a slow walker."
He laughed at my sarcasm before stepping inside and following me to the kitchen.
I opened the fridge and grabbed a soda before hopping onto the counter, using it as a seat.
Carter emerged from his room. "So what time are we leaving?"
"Right now! It's 4:23!" I hopped down and ran to my room, hearing Carter frantically gathering his stuff. I threw my wallet into my bag along with a pen that had a light attached to it. 
In the driveway, I laughed at Elias and Carter shoving each other over shotgun. Carter soon gave up, giving in to the backseat in disappointment. I started the ignition and turned on the radio. Beatrice's house was only a seven-minute drive.
Carter rambled about school drama, which was amusing. As he finished up, we pulled into Tris's neighborhood. We drove down several roads until we finally got to hers. When I stopped in her driveway I honked the horn of the car to get her attention and waited. She was taking too long, so I honked it twice more before she finally opened the door.
Tris ran to the car with her red hair flopping everywhere, glaring at Elias in the front. She hopped in the back. "Wow you guys are impatient!"
Carter replied "It wasn't me. It was Buffy trying to be annoying."
Beatrice mumbled under her breath "Of course she was."
Within the next couple of minutes we got to Edulis. It wasn't too fancy of a restaurant despite the name sounding kind of lavish. I parked my car and we hopped out. Carter got to the door first and purposely tried to slam it on me. I rolled my eyes and succeeded at kicking him in the heel.
I rested my forearms on the counter. "Can I get the ravioli with a side of bread?"
The girl at the register rang it up. "Can I get a name for that?"
"Yeah, it's Buffy."
She smiled. "Okay!"
I picked up a number for my table and pulled a cup from a stack on the counter. I chose lemonade from the vending machine and pushed a straw through my cup lid.
Beatrice approached and filled her cup with ice and soda. "Hey. So how's your day been going?"
I turned to her. "It's been good, but Elias almost got me caught by Mr. Palassi in chemistry."
Tris laughed a little, tucking her hair behind her ear. "What about you? I haven't seen you all day!"
"Oh, just the same. Nothing interesting."
Elias and Carter fixed their drinks as Beatrice and I chose a booth. I sat closest to the wall, so I could lean my back into it.
Carter sat in the seat next to me. Elias sat next to Beatrice. We talked for a couple minutes until a waiter brought over our food and took our numbers.
Soon after, my lab partner walked in the door and ordered. She eventually sat down.
Tris noticed I was distracted. "So what are you staring at?"
"Oh. I just saw my lab partner walk in."
My partner sat at a table, looking kind of annoyed.
I ignored it and ate my ravioli.
Carter asked Elias "So didn't you want us to come here to talk about something?"
Elias sat up and mumbled "How could I forget! So you know how we're on Halloween break, correct?"
We all replied "Yeah!"
"I was thinking. We could go to the carnival since it's open this year!"
I sat up, excited. "That would be cool! Isn't there supposed to be a haunted house this year?"
Carter hesitated. "Guys, you know I don't like jumpscares and things like that."
I patted his back to make him feel better. "Don't worry. We will be right by you. It'll be fun!"
Talking about our plans made me feel excited. I remembered my lab partner being here and looked over. She seemed lonely. I pushed Carter from the seat. "I'm going to say hi."
I approached her booth and sat. "Hey. Are you waiting on someone?"
"I was but they never showed!"
I felt bad that she looked disappointed. "I keep forgetting your name. What is it again?"
She lifted her head. "It's Phoenix."
I smiled. "Cool name!" I felt like I was being stared at and looked over at my table. Beatrice peered through the top of the booth before sitting back down. I turned back to Phoenix. "Hey, so tomorrow we were thinking of going to the carnival and I was wondering if you would want to go?"
She perked up. "I have something at five but I can come later."
"That works for me. See you then."
I went back to my table and finished my food. Everyone was staring at me like I did something bad. "What did I do!?"
Elias shrugged a bit. "Nothing. We just wanna know what that was about." 
"Oh. It just looked like she was not having a good time. I was just seeing if she wanted to meet us at the carnival."
Elias sat straighter, leaning into the table. "Oh so that's why."
Beatrice was staring at something, probably lost in her thoughts. I waved my hand near her face trying to get her attention "Hellooo? Are you there?"
She blinked and smiled. "Oh sorry. I was thinking about something."
Carter stood and cleaned our plates. I lifted my legs from the floor to stretch, crossing one leg over the other but leaned further into the wall. I turned my head to Elias and Tris. "So what time are we going to the carnival?" 
Elias suggested, "I was thinking of maybe five, so we can be there when it's dark."
Carter returned and overheard "That works for the both of us!"
He smiled over at me, which made me smile back. He shoved my legs off the booth and sat. I opened my jaw and gasped before putting my legs over his lap. He tried to push them off again but I fought to keep them there.
We talked about ten more minutes before leaving Edulis. Phoenix wasn't at her table, so I assumed she left. I pushed open the door and cool air blew in my face. I fished in my bag for car keys, my hand shuffling through stuff until I felt the metal clinks. I clicked the button and stepped down from the curb to open my door.
Tris hopped in the front seat as Elias and Carter slid in the back. I inserted the key and twisted before turning up the radio. I wanted to see if anything good was playing but there weren't really any songs that I liked.
Tris soon took over and found a song that she liked. I started the drive to Beatrice's house as we listened to her song.
I looked in the rearview mirror. Carter was fiddling with something.
"Hey Carter, how is basketball going this year?"
He looked up towards the front."Our team isn't as good as last year. Nobody has really stepped up the game."

"Oh man that sucks!"
"It really does." He sounded a bit disappointed.
We pulled into Tris's neighborhood and soon got to her house. She hopped out and waved bye. Elias climbed over the middle of the car just to get in the front seat.
"Are you happy now?" I laughed a bit.
"Yeah I'm actually pretty pleased!" He put his arms behind his head and propped up his feet. I rolled my eyes and let out a chuckle.
I pulled out of the driveway and started heading back towards our neighborhood. The sun was setting and the fall leaves were slowly floating down from the trees. Some kids jumped into a pile of leaves in a yard, laughing. I smiled at the kids as I drove by. I pulled into my driveway and unlocked the doors.
Elias bolted out. "See you guys tomorrow!"
"Alright see you!" I walked towards my house.
Carter followed and stepped inside. "I'm going to get ready for bed. Goodnight." 
I stopped at his room before going into mine "Night!"
I shut my door and went into my bathroom to brush my teeth and change. I plopped onto my bed, pulling myself under the blankets. I turned to the nightstand grabbing the book from earlier flipping to my marked page. After reading for an hour or so, my eyes felt heavy, so I slipped in a bookmark before setting it back down on my nightstand. I flipped the light off and quickly dozed off.
I woke to Carter bursting into my room.
"Are you pranking me?!" He ran over to me holding a paper
I sat, wiping my eyes. "What are you talking about?"
He handed me the paper. I opened it and read the ominous words.
I'm watching you..