Interesting as a Noun

Brice's Wisdom

TW// Fire and Gore

"Brice is the coolest!" 

That's what Melanie had always believed. As her older brother, naturally he was her role model and best friend when she couldn't connect with her peers. He may have been five years older than her but he'd never pushed her away. 

Which was why Melanie was confused when Brice disappeared when she was in seventh grade. 

He'd left a note: I'm being pursued. I cannot tell you any more. Hide your ability. Which, needless to say, hadn't been very helpful. Melanie spent the next two years wondering about where Brice had gone and fearing why.

Then ninth grade rolled around. 

Melanie stood in the shadows like she usually did, it was more comfortable there.  What was the point in trying to make friends when she knew how it would end? She couldn't close the gap between herself and the others no matter what she tried. 

There was always something else, something too intrinsic to be changed that everyone except for her knew existed. Something too important to be ignored that no one could even name. So she'd reach out, just as she'd been instructed by the adults in her life with their 'you can't always wait for others to make the first move's and 'just be yourself's, but her peers never reciprocated. It was easier to stay alone than to be rejected over and over again. 

Couldn't this stupid orientation be over already? 

She watched the to-be high school students form tight circles on the lawn as they ate their lunches. Sometimes a new person would approach an already-formed clique and ask to sit with them. They'd be met with half-hearted scooting that didn't really open up the circle, forcing them to sit visibly behind the others. That's what happens if you don't embrace the solitude. 

Better to be the weirdo who sits alone than to be the weirdo who intrudes. 

A car pulled up to the front doors and a familiar boy stepped out. "Theo?" 

The boy looked around, quickly spotting Melanie in the shade. He ran over to her. "Melanie! You're going to this school too?" 

"Yeah. How have we never talked about this? I see you almost every day." 

"Dunno. But I'm glad you're here. I didn't want to show up late and have no one to talk to. What about you? Made any new friends? Have you replaced me yet?" 

"If I never replaced you in middle school even though we went to different schools, I'm not replacing you now." But as she said that, Melanie glanced over to the group of five that sat a noticeable distance away from the others. Actually, they were closer to her than to the rest of the student body. 

She'd been watching them the most. No one approached them when they didn't have a clique to sit with, the group laughed and got into heated, but ridiculous, debates that made her feel warm inside even though she wasn't a part of them, and overall there was just something about them that drew her eyes and pulled on her heart. 

Theo followed Melanie's gaze, "So you have replaced me!" He joked. 

"No, I don't know them. They seem nice, though." 

The teachers called that the lunch break was over. Melanie looked at the half of a sandwich still in her lunchbox, "Do you want it?" 

"Nah. I got something on the way over here." 

"Where were you anyway?" 

"Deciding whether or not to come at all. I think I made the right decision."