The Moonwalkers

Friendship

Mom had a sad look as we sat down to dinner together.
"What's up, Mom?" Chris asked as he filled his plate with food. "You look upset."
Mom sighed. "The hearing is less than a month away."
"Oh," Charlene nodded, pouring some water into her glass. "Are you... gonna hire a lawyer?"
Mom shook her head. "I'm not. I'm not gonna fight for this divorce. If he wants it, he can have it. I'm not gonna put up a fuss."
The three of us exchanged glances before turning back to her.
"There's no point in fighting, he's not gonna treat us the same way as before, with the same love and care that he had towards us," Mom remarked. "We're better off without him, kids."
"Go, Mom," Chris smirked and nodded. "It's true, he'll just see us as a gang of monsters that would eat him alive or something. How is that relationship even vaguely related to family?"
I nodded. "You're right, Mom. Charles wouldn't see us the same anymore."
I have seen the disgust and fear in his eyes whenever he regarded us. How is there room for acceptance? There isn't.
Chris technically ruined the moment by suddenly letting out a loud burp, making me burst into laughter. Okay, that was actually really funny.
"Sorry about that," Chris snorted.
I snorted as I thought about how he actually planned on dumping the shed hair that he swept up onto Charles's face while he was unconscious. I would've loved to see the outcome, but I stopped him for the sake of Mom.

***

The date of the hearing was rapidly nearing and it couldn't help but send my heart down to my toes. It didn't help that the date was exactly one day after the full moon, which meant that we had to produce ourselves at court with werewolf hangovers. That's the term Mom uses since it's directly after the full moon where a whole night of violent chaos would likely occur. I agree with that statement, seeing how we'd have to deal with a mess of hair piling around us when we transform back into our human selves. There was no way to escape shedding that day unless we include showing up in court as werewolves.
Honestly, that idea does sound fun.
"Is everything alright?" Priscilla concernedly asked as soon as I slumped onto the bench with Barbara beside me. "You look... bothered."
I shook my head. "It's nothing."
I never liked talking about my personal matters with friends, let alone the friends that I barely know. Maybe there are times when I accidentally express my emotions to them, but you never know when someone will try to use them against you.
Charles did that to Mom, I'm not gonna let anyone do it to me.
"Charlotte?" I jolt out of my thoughts when Barbara spoke. I turned to look at her and realised that she was looking intently at me. "Are you... wearing contacts?"
Shoot!
"Uh... yeah, I must've forgotten to take them off," I said, closing my lunchbox as I got up. "I have to go to the bathroom."
Without sparing another detail, I ran off to the nearest bathroom. I must've let my emotions get the better of me, I have to calm down. I'm just glad that my voice wasn't affected.
My eyes should be back to normal now, I'm sure of it since a Waning Gibbous doesn't have the same effect as its Waxing counterpart, where the moon is in the process of losing its power and not gaining it.
I sat down at one of the picnic tables in the garden in front of the bathroom and finished my lunch. I'm so not allowed to eat anywhere besides the canteen during the first recess, now, but it's not like I care. They only allow students to eat wherever they want during the second recess since the canteen would be more crowded then, seeing how every student from the first form till the fifth will be having their recess then.
The garden was actually very peaceful, with shrubs of ixora and hibiscus flowers. There was even this unique breed of hibiscus, one whose petals looked frayed as it curls into a ball. The pistil is the only thing that shows that the flower was indeed a hibiscus, and the leaves of the plant. It was nice how our school has beautiful and well-maintained gardens. It provides a very relaxing environment.
"Why are you eating here?" I looked up to see Luna standing beside me. That caught me off guard, making me jump in shock.
"It's nothing, I just like the atmosphere," I sighed. "I had to remove my contacts and was too lazy to go all the way back to the canteen."
Luna relaxed slightly. "Oh."
"Yeah..." this is totally normal, isn't it? Hopefully, she buys it.
To my surprise, she sat herself beside me and takes her phone out. I peeked slightly to look and saw that she was actually reading a manga.
"Is that a webcomic?" I couldn't help but ask.
"So what if it is?" Luna snapped.
I was taken aback slightly but I just shrugged. "Then let it be." I said.
Luna rolled her eyes and continued scrolling through the pages of the comic. Screw this, why join me if she's gonna snap at me like this?"
I finished my meal and got up. I muttered a farewell, to which she didn't even respond, and made my way towards the staircase to go to the library. Lydia was there again, with Kayla this time since I technically bailed on her.
I decided to just join them since most of the other tables were occupied.
"Who knows where she disappears off to," Kayla complained. "Pris says that she wouldn't be in class too."
"Who?" I said as I sat down beside Lydia.
Kayla turned to me with a slight frown. "Luna. You see, that girl worries me to the maximum level."
"Why?" I couldn't help but ask. Well, yeah. Luna seems fine.
Lydia looked at me with concern written all over her face. "Because she recently lost someone."
Oh gosh... I take it back, poor Luna!
"That must be hard for her, poor girl," I remarked.
Kayla nodded. "Luna has been cranky ever since. She's usually very helpful, despite what people think of her because of her fashion sense, but now she's... she rarely speaks."
I sighed. "I saw her just now. She's at the bench beside the downstairs bathroom. You wanna go talk to her?"
"Whatever is she doing there?" Kayla asked, surprised.
"She's just reading a manga," I assured her. "I tried to ask her about it, since it looked cool, but she ended up snapping at me so I left."
Kayla and Lydia immediately got up and left the table, leaving me behind. I didn't know if I should go with them or just stay here and mind my own business. After all, Luna hasn't been all that kind to me.

I decided to go anyway, just to see what happens. After all, these guys actually made it seem like it was very concerning.
Though I don't see how.
Luna was still reading her manga, her straight black hair gently flying in the wind.
"Luna!" Kayla exclaimed as she ran to her. "Are you okay?"
Luna looked surprised but replied. "Why wouldn't I be okay?"
"You're not hanging out with us like before," Lydia pointed out. "Is something bothering you?"
I quietly slipped away while they bombarded her with concerned questions. They are nice friends, these two, very caring towards Luna. I smiled to myself as I made my way back to class.