Down Memory Lane ✓

7- What's up with Her?

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What's up with Her?

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THE WAY a flag moved when the breeze swathed around it, made it seem like it was dancing along to nature's elements, seeking to gain their approval to show its similarity with them. That it was alive like they were and not a simple piece of material.

A flag of blue with three vertical green stripes that waved in the distance seemed too alive. The pole which the flag hung from rose higher than all the buildings on school grounds and even the ones outside the walls of Glory Bells Prep.

The movement made it seem like it was telling me something, but there was only one thing ringing in my head.

The flag of Glory Bells Prep wasn't blue with green stripes.

My four years here made me associate the school with two colors. Yellow and Black, with the occasional white. That was the color of our uniforms, the basketball team, our cheerleader squad, and our flag.

That was the Glory Bells Prep I knew.

After a long while of deliberating and not coming to any conclusion, I glanced at my watch before I left Perry behind. He had remained perched on the beam, still repeating those words. I had gotten used to it while I was thinking, with his chirpy voice fading into the background. I wasn't like Tony, who Perry always seemed to irritate.

A small smile played on my lips as I remembered my little brother, but the smile soon turned sour.

Would they have realized I was missing? What would they be doing now? Had anything even changed? Maybe they thought I was cooling off somewhere. Or maybe I had passed out in the woods and was stuck in my head until I learned this lesson.

I got to my room to find the door open, and Mariana was inside. As I entered, I noticed she kept staring at me, but didn't say a word.

Then I recalled her change in behavior since she saw me with Kai in the art room. It may be little and inconsequential and even Naomi might not have noticed, but I did.

"Mari, is everything okay?" I asked. She said nothing at first, before she stalked toward me, only stopping some inches from me.

"I should ask you that, no," she said with a sneer on her face.

"What do you mean? You've been having some attitude. If you have something to say to me, then say it. It's just you and me here."

I don't know why it agitated me, but her attitude was getting on my nerves. Nerves that were already worn from the sheer thoughts and questions racing around all day in my head.

"It's the fact that they chose you."

"For what?"

"The play! See, you don't even care. I'm sure you'll act all confused like you weren't the one who signed up for the play. You know Rhys and I wanted to act in the lead roles this year. You and some other guy have always had the lead roles, and it's not fair. But yet again, the most loved gets it all! Whether she deserves it or not!"

She grabbed her bag and stormed out of the room, bumping into Betty, who was entering and leaving me with one conclusion.

She was right. I had forgotten about signing up for the play, and it was the last thing on my mind right now. But I don't know where all that anger came from. I thought back to when I was in this grade. Mariana and I never argued about the play or our roles.