Oh, Heather

Chapter Twenty-two

Heather slumped down into her chair, staring at the door, hoping that Miley would talk to her again. When Leo and Miley walked in, Miley wouldn’t even look at her. Heather would let her be for now, but she wasn’t going to lose the only two friends she had because one refused to listen to her. Jada walked in not long after. She sat down, not looking at her either. Miley was shooting death glares through Jada’s skull, the look seeming to intensify each time Jada looked at Miley. As class came to an end, Miley wasted no time to make sure she could leave as soon as possible. Miley and Leo walked off, leaving Jada and Heather together.

“Hey Jada can we-” Heather said.
“No.” Jada interrupted, slinging her bag over her shoulder.

Heather sucked her teeth, heading off to her next class. She sat down, an awkward silence drifted across their table. She tried to start conversation, at least to ease the uncomfortable tension that bubbled each minute, but nothing she tried worked. Miley wouldn’t reply. She wouldn’t even look at her. She knew Miley was mad, but this felt childish. The class was delayed and they were forced to stay an extra 10 minutes. The last minutes of class couldn’t have gone by slower. Once the teacher ended class, the large crowd of students blocked the doorway in their attempt to rush out. Even with the delay, Heather made it to her next class before the teacher. She slumped down in her chair, resting her head on her arms. She heard a bag hit the ground beside her and a pleasant smell wafted through the air. She turned around to see Taylen dressed in a knee length, tight fit, black dress with lace around the edges. She hadn’t noticed her in this class before, but she was seated around her.

“What’re you dressed up for?” Heather asked.
“I have to go do this thing with my mom right after school.”
“Really? You look really pretty, but why is the dress so expensive looking?”
“It was around like 700 dollars.” She said, smiling.
“Huh?!” She coughed. “I- I didn’t think it would be that expensive.” 
“My dad bought it for me a few months ago for my birthday.” She explained, watching Heather’s mouth drop.
“That’s really great.” Heather replied, bringing her focus back to the teacher.

As class moved on, she noticed Jada hadn’t shown up to class, and she doubted she had any intention of showing up. She considered talking to Taylen about what happened by making it into a hypothetical scenario, but she felt that she would ask too many questions. Heather would just talk to Leo about it when she got home. When she made it to lunch, she realized she didn’t have anywhere else to sit. Sitting alone would be awkward, she knew Miley wouldn’t let her sit with them, and it wasn’t like she had any other friends. She decided that hiding in the bathroom was her best bet. As she started walking towards the bathrooms, she heard something.

“Heather!” 

She turned around to see Leo jogging toward her.

“Yes Leo?” She asked, laughing as he bent over to grab his side.
“You aren’t gonna sit with us?”
“I don’t exactly think Miley wants me to sit with you guys.” She said, peering over to their table. “Wait, is Vance not sitting with you?” She asked.
“He wanted to sit with his other friends today. Which is fine. He can do that.” He replied, “Please don’t make a big deal about it like Miley did.”
“I won’t but I just think-” She said, “Nevermind.”

He sucked his teeth, a sad look washing over his face for a brief second.

“But you can come sit with us. Miley said she wasn’t happy with you but she doesn’t want you to be alone.” He replied, “Just don’t talk about the whole Jada thing.”
“Okay. I won’t.” 

She awkwardly walked over to their table, sitting where she usually sat. Lunch seemed to go by slower that day, but it wasn’t as awkward as Heather assumed it would’ve been. She barely talked, especially to Miley, but the other two still engaged in conversation.

“I just think it’s kind of weird that Vance didn’t sit over here. You guys got outed a little bit ago, so I think that-” 
“Miley. Stop. He doesn’t care about us getting outed. Just stop talking about it.” He interrupted, biting the inside of his cheek. 
“Okay then.”

Another break of silence shifted over the table, one that lasted until the end of lunch. As Heather made her way to chemistry, she remembered her unfortunate seating situation. She knew Jada wouldn’t show up to class, but that didn’t make it any less weird for her. Mia walked in, panting as if she had been running through the halls.

“I’m not late?” She breathed, looking around at the empty desks.
“Class doesn't start for another 10 minutes.” A girl replied in a harsh voice.

Heather lifted her head up to the door, watching Jada lean against the door frame, staring down at Mia. She didn’t remember Jada being that tall, or maybe Mia was just short. Mia walked off to her seat, not paying any attention to the girl standing beside her. She pulled a notebook from her bag, scribbling what seemed like random words onto a blank sheet. She kept moving page to page, talking up at least 10 pages of what looked like nonsense to Heather. Jada walked in after the booming voices from the crowd of a few cheerleaders walked towards the classroom. The teacher walked in just as the other students did with tons of books in hand.

“Alright class,” She said, “Today, I’m gonna put a copy of this book on each table and you are to have it studied by the end of the week.” 

She took a few of the large hardcover books and tossed one onto each table as she talked about the importance of chemistry. Once she had sat back down, almost every student made an audible groan as they flipped through the pages of the textbook.
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A bit more drama.