Hearth

25: traitor

Annaliese

"Your assignment will be due at 11:59pm Friday. There will be no exceptions for tardiness. Don't forget to study for your quarter exams coming up," The teacher reads through his to-do list. The bell rings and he waves us off. "I don't want to see you anymore than you want to see me. Go."

I quickly set my books and school supplies into my bag so I can follow after Nora. Slinging my backpack over my shoulder, I call out Nora's name, "Nora!"

The cheerful girl turns to face me with a surprised face. "Annaliese?"

"I'm glad I caught you," I smile, walking along side her in the halls. "Do you think we could talk for a minute?"

"Sure," She responds, a forced smile on her lips. I can feel the discomfort radiating off of her. "We can go outside."

The two of us walk outside the school building and sit on a bench near the door. She changed her hair style recently to long, thin braids with dark purple mixed in. As I quickly text my brothes about what I'm going to do, the confusing situation seems to grow more concerning. Nora has never been a bad friend to me, or a bad person in general. It's weird just thinking about how to bring this topic up.

"I really don't know how to bring this up," I nervously laugh, kicking my feet under the bench as they don't touch the ground. "It's just, earlier last week I tried texting you to come to a sleepover with Sophia, and it said that you blocked me. I'm just confused.. Are you okay?"

Nora shifts on the bench awkwardly. "I'm okay. That's something I was confused about too. When I tried texting you, it said that you blocked me. I've been waiting to ask you if I did something wrong."

My eyebrows furrow at the new information she brings. "Wait.. so if I blocked you and you blocked me... Why would you talk bad about me?" I wonder aloud.

"I never talked bad about you," She immediately denies, shifting her body to face me directly. Her brown eyes are filled with honesty. "I value you too much as a friend to risk losing you. Who told you that?"

Before I could answer her, the girl herself appeared. "Hey girlies, whatcha talkin' about?" She smirks. Her dark blue eyes glance between us curiously. "Secret meeting?"

"Little A, what're y'all doing out here? Our spot's the other way," Ryder calls out. I brighten at an excuse to avoid the situation brewing and hop up from my seat.

Hoisting my bag over my shoulder, I grab Nora's hand and help her up from my seat. "Let's go eat lunch, I'm hungry," I say as an excuse and lead her towards Ryder. Sophia follows next to us with a frown etched onto her lips.

I run up next to him to avoid the growing tension in the air. He throws an arm around my shoulder and walks ahead of them. "Damn, I'm stressed just looking at you guys," He grumbles to me, shaking his head. "What happened between you guys? Do I even wanna know?"

I let out a sigh and lean more into his embrace. Ryder is someone who's always protected me and he's the first person, after the incident, to make me feel safe. "It's kind of.. a lot," I giggle softly.

"They're not being mean, huh?" He questions me with a semi-serious look in his eyes.

I shake my head no. "No, they aren't. Just some miscommunication I think."