Sunsets

˗ˏˋ Chapter Two 'ˎ˗

Days passed slowly for Elaine, but she had reached the end of the week. She still felt alone, and hadn't made any friends. It was typical, but she was okay with the silence, it felt peaceful, it was all she had ever known anyway. There was one spot where she felt comfort, it was the cafe around the corner. It was small and cozy, she could always unwind there. The pale pink walls and the floral decorations reminded her of her childhood room in a way.

She had a long lunch break one day and went to eat and tidy up her notes in the cafe. The sun was shining brightly as she walked to the cafe, her backpack on her back and her hair messily tied up. She stepped into the cafe and found Camille sitting there. A feeling of annoyance washed over her. It was her spot. Not this rich, smart girl with many friends. The only sounds in the cafe were the coffee machine and Camillle quietly chatting with her friend. Elaine ordered a coffee, black, as usual, and a piece of cheesecake. Elaine cleaned up and organized her notes in peace. She suddenly felt a smell of smoke enter her nose, she looked around and noticed Camille smoking at the other table. Elaine sighed and kept on studying, not that it was any of her business, but it was still annoying.

After lunch, Elaine had French class. Everyone got their graded tests from last week, which Elaine had taken with ease. She even got the best score in the whole class! She looked through the test and felt a pair of eyes burning into the back of her head. She turned around and saw Camille staring at her test. Elaine had gotten literally just one point more. There was a weird sense of victory creeping over Elaine. A motivation to be better. The rest of the class went by smoothly, as expected. Yet, Elaine felt the uneasiness of the feeling of being stared at. The sensation of someone's eyes burning into her back. She tried not to turn around, she knew it was Camille. She just knew.

As Elaine was walking to her gym class, she had music blaring in her earbuds. The music was calm, but it was so loud the whole world around seemed to get isolated. She found a source of comfort in music, lyrics easing her and calm melodies soothing her. Elaine had never liked P.E., unless it was running, she did appreciate a good run. She got changed into her workout clothes in the changing rooms and went out to the track. It was huge. She looked around at the people and spotted that familiar blonde hair. Camille was in her gym class too. Elaine silently sighed, could she ever get away from her? The gym class passed pretty slowly, until it was Elaine's turn to run the 400 meters. She stood on the start line and noticed she was running against Camille. She noticed the look of determination on Camille's face. Elaine heard the whistle blowing and took off running. She noticed Camille being just slightly quicker than her and Elaine started to run quicker, giving it her all. Camille was catching up to her about halfway and Elaine started feeling the taste of blood in her mouth, yet kept running her quickest. She would do anything to beat Camille. Elaine was running faster but her legs were starting to feel numb. She felt Camille's presence getting closer and closer. Elaine was so close to the finish line. She felt like she was going to collapse but kept trying to finish the lap. Camille was now right next to her with only about 40 meters away from the finish line. Elaine did all in her power and got there first. Camille was just half a second behind. Elaine sat down, her legs tired and her heart beating wildly. Her breath was running quickly. In and out. She grabbed her water bottle and drank from it, pouring the cold fresh water down her throat. She looked over at Camille, who was coughing. The blonde looked up from the water she just picked up to drink and looked at Elaine with a bitter look. When she realized that Elaine was looking back she seemed to force a smile. Elaine knew it definitely wasn't genuine. Elaine's palms were sweaty, honestly, her whole body was. The positive of the situation was that she had beaten Camille, and set a new record for herself.

This sort of competition carried on every day. Elaine would get a better grade and Camille would get annoyed and then Camille would get a better grade and it would frustrate Elaine. It wasn't until they got assigned for an art project together when they actually said something to each other.

"So, we're working together, then?" Elaine said, settling down in the seat.

"Yes," Camille answered, her tone was cold and her accent sounded so fancy, very upper class.

"Do you have any artists we could write about? Maybe someone not super well-known so that we don't pick the same one as everyone else?" Elaine was trying her best to be nice, it didn't seem as if Camille really put any effort into being nice.

"Art is stupid," Camille stated, nonchalantly.

"Right, okay. Maybe like Henri Matisse? He had a pretty unique style and technique."

"Sure, whatever, just get us a good grade,"Camille shrugged.

"Are you not going to do any work?"

"Obviously I will," Camille rolled her eyes, she was really getting under Elaine's skin.

They were working until class ended, finding information in books and online, writing everything down to prepare for presenting their work. Elaine was really annoyed, she didn't like Camille's attitude at all. She hated the way she spoke, the way she acted, the way she was better than her at so much. It was just so incredibly frustrating.

Elaine went on a long walk to clear her head as all her classes for the day were done. She walked along the beach and got back just in time to watch the sunset from her balcony, while doing her homework and tidying up her notes. She was in comfortable clothes, cleaned up and ready for bed, she just had to finish this. Elaine finished earlier than anticipated and went to watch a Netflix series. Suddenly, her phone received a notification, it was from her mom, asking how she was doing. Elaine texted back that she was doing fine and that she had made friends, which she hadn't actually done, but she knew better than making her mom worry. After a while of texting and watching Netflix, Elaine decided to go to sleep, tired after the long day. Her legs were still aching from the gym class and the long walk. She fell into a deep sleep almost immediately after her head hit the soft pillow.

The next morning she woke up and got ready for school again. She woke up very early, earlier than usual so she had a lot of time to get ready. This meant she had time to sit and drink her coffee at the cafe and not have to order it as takeaway. It was early and no one else was in the cafe, until the familiar smell of expensive perfume and cigarettes appeared. It was Camille, to Elaine's annoyance. Elaine listened in on the blonde's order, it was a Latte Macchiato, quite the opposite of Elaine's usual order, which was a cup of espresso. The two girls made eye contact for a brief second before Camille rolled her eyes and walked out, leaving Elaine alone in the cafe again.