Basorexia - J.MAGUIRE

[2.39] prom announcement

The group stood in the assembly hall of their school, all listening to the grotesque sound that was the school 'choir' singing their Monday morning welcome. Chip, knowing how Sister Michael felt about this singsong, usually found it insanely hilarious to watch her reaction during the songs but today she could not be bothered to even change her sightline. "I'm too hungover for this shit," Chip grumbled, pinching her brow with two fingers.

Chelle turned and frowned, "You drank last night?"

"Had a nightmare about Cal," Ciara responded softly, telling her all she needed to know about that situation.

"You could have rang me," Chelle whispered back, not quite knowing what else she could say or do. She had always made it known that Chip, upon any occasion, could ring her for whatever reason without complaint. And it went vise versa.

"It was one in the morning," Chip shrugged, having not wanted to wake her friend from a sleep that she knew was rare at the moment. "The drink did the job anyway. Slept like a baby."

"Chip..."

"I know I know, it's not healthy behaviour... Could have been worse though," she shrugged once more, wincing a sudden squeaky high note that ricocheted off the inside of her head.

"What would be worse than you developing an alcohol dependency?"

"A drug addiction," Ciara responded casually, eyes not straying from the front of the hall. She watched as Sister Michael introduced a new student and paid absolutely no attention to Michelle, who looked particularly concerned about her earlier comment.

"Announcement from Jenny Joyce and the dance committee," Sister Michael continued, setting a think tension that would not falter through the room. "The school social event of the year is fast approaching, but before you don your glad rags and boogie on down-- I'm sorry, I simply cannot read this...." Sister Michael walked off the stage, shaking her head as Jenny Joyce took over the announcement and told them all about the planned fifties prom.

-

"Why do we even have to talk to her?" Michelle asked as they all approached the new girl. Clare seemed just a little too excited to meet the new girl and Chip could instantly see why.

"Because she's new Michelle," Clare argued determinedly, gaze not removing itself from the new girl who stood at her locker.

"I hate people I don't know," Ciara commented with a deep sigh, her pounding head starting to cause the most distant dizziness in the back of her mind.

"Fine but can we agree it's on a strict one in, one out basis? If she joins the group, James has to leave," Michelle responded and innately all the girls - barring Chip - agreed and walked over to the new girl. Chip instead laughed and hung back with James, the sound of her own voice hurting her head a significant amount.

His eyes were wide, mouth hanging open just slightly, "Excuse me?"

"Aye, you really think this new lass is going to want to hang out with them lot? You'll be grand James," she reassured, wanting nothing more than to sink onto the bench at the end of the corridor and just take a nap. She planned to sleep in the library later while the others were in history, probably hidden in her usual corner with the fraying bean bag chair.

James stammered, glancing between Chip and the group of girls, "It's the premise!"

"Doesn't Chelle threaten to kick you out every couple days?"

He paused his response, opening and closing his mouth for a moment before he simply just frowned. "Still!"

-

"There isn't even going to be a dj. Apparently, Jenny's hired this fuckin' pensioner band," Michelle complained as they hiked up the hill to the shopping centre. Going out after school for dinner had been Clare's idea and the others had absolutely jumped on the opportunity. Chip however, knew that she would not be able to eat in the cafe as her Mammy would not believe her word and she would have to eat her scheduled meal anyhow. So she went purely to spend time with her friends, with the excuse that she had been forced to 'take the pain meds that made her feel sick because of her knees'. An insanely old excuse that she hadn't used for months.

"Christ, really?"

"I don't feel so bad about missing it now. It clashes with my thing," James announced with a grin, clearly beyond excited for the event he was supposed to be going to.

"The creep convention? Seriously?"

"It's not a creep convention," he responded, not attempting to make any sort of argument as he knew it was pretty much pointless. Chip frowned as a sudden wave of dizziness swan through her mind. She didn't understand why she had been suddenly struck with the wave, given that she had eaten that morning, had lunch and had eaten dinner the day before. Usually she tied her dizzy spells to lack of sustenance but this, this could simply not be that. Due to the hill she had become rather breathless, unlike the others who didn't seem particularly bothered. She thought that perhaps that was the cause for her dizziness, the lack of oxygen.

Michelle scoffed, "Well, I think a load of perverts getting together to wank over some fella who fights with Hoovers and rides aliens in a telephone box, is the very fucking definition of a creep convention."

James sighed deeply, "It's a Doctor Who night!"

"Oh so that's what you needed the scarf for," Ciara suddenly announced, earning a few peculiar glares from the other girls. She had been thinking about the reason he had needed that scarf ever since the walk to the yarn store. She gathered it was just some decoration for his room, perhaps a piece of memorabilia that was too expensive for him to buy properly. He had been incredibly pleased with her rendition of the scarf.

"You're not going to the prom then, James?" Clare asked suddenly, her question followed by silence that turned into his answer. "Well, I was going to ask you to be my date."

"I'm sorry Clare," James quickly apologised, feeling awful upon seeing the look on Clare's face.

"You're a lesbian, Clare. Not desperate...You still not going, Chip?"

"Nah. I'm not bothered about it really. Not really my thing," she shrugged, telling a small lie that didn't really add up to anything in the grand scheme of things. She didn't want to have to wear a dress, with no places to hide, and go to something like that on her own. She needed to hide in the dark, baggy clothes and needed to be around people that she knew to actually feel somewhat comfortable in herself. The idea of wearing a dress and exposing her arms made her shudder internally. Ciara really did not feel ready for something like that, especially without someone who understood her anxiousness around it being there.