Borrowed Time

Chapter Forty Seven

Her year had been weird already, there was no denying that, but Juliette had to say that the weirdest thing she'd experienced in a long time was walking up to her lunch table to find everyone completely silent. Normally when she was late they were already mid conversation, but not today. They were all fucking stoic, which was freaky for people who almost never were.

Had they been frozen in time? No, that didn't make much sense... Everyone else was still moving around... What the fuck?

"Hey." Juliette raised an eyebrow, sliding into her seat next to Esme... They were all transfixed on something, slight frowns on their faces as she squinted... What the fuck was going on right now? "What the hell are you four looking at? It's creepy as to see you do something in tandem, I don't like it." Shelby cleared her throat and glanced over at her for a split second before gesturing to where they were looking.

"Ingrid's talking to Becky. It's making me nervous." Okay... Maybe it was something about practice, she knew that Becky had skipped on Monday and one of them had been planning to talk to her, but Juliette had thought it would be her considering the fact that Ingrid lacked any sort of tact or kindness.

"Same." Esme murmured, and Juliette squeezed her hand, bringing it up to kiss the back of it. She understood why both Esme and Shelby were worried, Ingrid had done nothing to prove she could be trusted and she couldn't... But Becky and Ingrid also overlapped with certain things, it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that it could be a normal conversation... If Ingrid was capable of those.

"I don't know that much about all of it, but it doesn't seem good." Carly added, and Juliette sighed, looking over... From the postures it didn't seem like they were talking about cheerleading... Becky looked nervous.

"What...?" She looked over, squinting her eyes... Ingrid had a smile on her face, but not one that Juliette recognized... Her eyes were hooded and she was leaning over Becky like she was going to swallow her whole... That didn't seem good, but it also wasn't Ingrid doing anything wrong by technicality. "Uh... Well, maybe it's just about cheerleading." It was a flimsy excuse, but Juliette was tired, she wanted one day where she wasn't having to fight a battle, she just wanted to sit here and hold Esme's hand and be a person.

But being a person wasn't in her cards, she had to keep being a support system for people... Unfortunately. Shelby stabbed a piece of her salad and ate it while eyeing them before shaking her head, looking unconvinced by Juliette's suggestion. Damn.

"Dude, Becky looks like she's gonna throw up, I don't think this is just about cheerleading." She reached over the table, placing her hand on Juliette's as she met her eyes intently. She watched as Micheal rubbed his hand across her back, looking confused... Fair, Shelby might not have told him about what Ingrid had on her. "Does she have something on her?" Shelby asked, sounding a bit anxious, and Juliette couldn't blame her... Seeing someone else possibly in a position that she was once in couldn't feel comfortable.

But honestly? Juliette couldn't think of anything that Ingrid would have on her, she hadn't told anyone about seeing Becky with Savannah, Becky's dad had taken her out of her mother's care and was keeping her safe... It was bizarre to think that Ingrid could have nothing to hold over someone, but it was true.

"No... I mean, she knows Becky's gay, but that's not exactly a secret if Becky told it to her on her own, right? Plus, that's kind of common knowledge at this point, so why would it be freaking her out?" She asked, and Shelby sighed and shook her head, finally tearing her eyes away from them as she tucked her head against Micheal's shoulder, picking around at her lunch tray.