Borrowed Time

Chapter Four

There was something so comforting about the silence that only Shelby and Micheal knew how to provide... It made Juliette feel safe in situations where she normally felt too uneasy. Every time there was a break in conversation with people who weren't them, she would be filling the air with words... but this was different, this was better. Even if when they did fill the air with words, they asked stupid questions.

"So... How's your lab partner doing?" Micheal asked, and Juliette sighed, setting her book down beside her as she looked down at where he was seated on the floor. Why was he asking about that? It literally had no bearing on his life, nor should it have been anything that he found any interest in, and yet here he was. Asking his ridiculous questions.

"God, have we run out of things to talk about? After so many years?" Juliette sighed, and Shelby snorted from her spot. Micheal sighed, shaking his head at them both as he began to scroll through his phone. Bullying him was second nature, not in a way that was truly harmful, just enough to nudge him along when he was being... Micheal.

"Jesus, okay... Just making conversation." Micheal mumbled, and Juliette chuckled, reaching forward to place a hand on his shoulder. He wasn't doing anything wrong by asking, it was probably a good thing that he was trying to take an interest in her life.

"I know, I'm messing with you. She's nice." Juliette wanted the air to be full of words suddenly, something felt weird about leaving it on a question about Esme. "How was your guy's date last night?" She asked, and both of them froze for a second, like she wasn't supposed to know that they liked each other... but it was clear as day, there was nothing that they could do to hide that from someone who'd known them both for years.

"Date?" Micheal asked, his voice squeaking up at the end, and Juliette nodded slowly. Yeah. A date. Why was that suddenly a bad word to them?

"It wasn't a date." Shelby said, lifting her head off of the curve of Juliette's back so she could glare at her. Alright, she hadn't expected that to have produced such a visceral reaction, she just wanted to know if they'd had a good time... whether it was romantic or not could be up for discussion.

"Sure..." Juliette joked, and Shelby smacked her shoulder, shifting around so she was laying next to her, giving her the perfect amount of evil eye. Alright, she could take a hint.

"C'mon, we're serious." She said, and Juliette nodded solemnly. She could pretend, she could act just as much as they did... she'd just do it in a way that was far more embarrassing and over the top.

"Oh, I know." There was a knock at her door, and a moment later it swung open. Great.

"Ahem. Juliette." Juliette winced, looking up to where her stepmother was standing in her doorway, something glinting in her eye, like she'd figured out a way to get Juliette into trouble. In her hands was Juliette's phone.

"What, Samantha?" She sighed, looking at her phone. How had she gotten in? She'd just reset her password two days ago, how was she doing this so easily?  She dangled it forward, the expression on her face only darkening.

"I've been going through your texts, and I found some that are concerning. I think it's time for Micheal and Shelby to head home." She said, her tone dripping with sickening sweetness. Juliette felt uneasy, trying to think of if she'd cleared her browser history, not that anything was in there... but looking up photos of Gwendoline Christie to see a list of everything she'd been in wasn't something that was easily explained.

"Why were you going through my phone?" She asked, and Samantha's face crowded with her normal expression of distaste and anger that it had when she looked at Juliette... like she was some kind of problem that needed to be eliminated.