Borrowed Time

Chapter Five

If there was one good thing about football games, it was halftime... the band took center stage and Juliette could finally take the smile off her face for a moment and exist. She leaned against the wall, furrowing her brow as she tried to think of the quickest way to get to her ibuprofen... but there was no way. She'd simply have to deal with her cramps, even if they were making her want to tear her ears off to get rid of some of the auditory stimulation surrounding her. She leaned off the wall and stretched... perfect time to step away, even if Ingrid told her not to.

"I'll be right back." Juliette said, and she felt a cold hand grip her arm, making her wince. Bad day to forget her windbreaker.

"Hold on." She shook Ingrid's hand off her arm, giving her a look. They were kind of friends, but no longer close enough to actually touch each other, and the feeling of her hand on her arm made her feel like she wanted to take off her skin and wash it.

"What?" Ingrid leaned back on her foot, examining her. Gross.

"Where are you going?" She asked, looking at her with an amount of distrust that Juliette had never seen. She paused, giving her a nervous sort of smile as she tilted her head toward the stairs.

"Running to the bathroom. Unless you'd prefer I bleed on the turf." Juliette said, keeping her tone dry. Ingrid rolled her eyes, jutting her chin at the stairs before glancing back at the field. Please, like anyone would even notice that she was missing in the first place.

"Alright, well... hurry back." That was the plan, no one hated being in the school bathrooms more than she did, they were always disgusting, even if they were just cleaned.

"We're good, the band is performing for at least another 10 minutes." She said, and Ingrid sighed, crossing her arms. God, what had gotten into her recently? She used to be at least almost kind, but this year she'd turned... cruel.

"Fine." Ingrid said, and Juliette shook her head, turning to make her way to the stairs, hellbent on making it there and back before anyone even noticed she was gone, before anything could really happen that would be of note.

"You know, I've never been one who saw the appeal in cheerleading... But I think I'm starting to see it." Juliette jumped, turning around to see Esme leaning against one of the walls of the school, giving her a wide smile. She looked pretty... it looked like she'd freshly applied her eyeliner and lipstick and maybe done her hair since school... Maybe there was someone here she was trying to impress. Something about the thought of that made Juliette's stomach twist... or maybe that was her cramps... or maybe just a little bit of both, but she only wanted to acknowledge one of them.

"Esme!  I thought you said you didn't do football games, what are you doing here?"  She asked, and Esme shrugged, tucking her hands into her jacket pockets as she spoke, looking to the side.  The tip of her nose and ears were a little red from the chill in the air... she looked cute.

"I never said I didn't 'do' football games, I said I'd never had a reason to go before.  I figured since I have a friend on the cheerleading squad that I should show up and give my support." Esme said, and Juliette arched her eyebrow, giving her a small smile.  She'd never heard Esme say out loud that they were friends, it'd kind of just been unspoken... but it was nice to know that she wasn't assigning emotions where there were none.

"So... We're friends now?" She asked, and she noticed that Esme's face seemed to drop a bit, that her smile got nervous as she tucked herself further into her jacket. Oh. She hadn't meant to make her uneasy, she was trying to joke around with her.

"Are we not? Only friends get to see the inside of Bertha and sleep in my bed, so you'd better let me know if we aren't so I can see if I can get my hands on some brain-wiping equipment, like in Men in Black." She said, and Juliette furrowed her brows. She'd never actually seen that movie, even if Micheal quoted it all the time... God, they should hang out, she was pretty sure that Esme and Micheal would become best friends immediately.