Enemy Affairs - Judd Birch

f o u r

"welcome, my dear friend, to my personal heaven." leah birch grinned as she swung open the doors to the schools theatre. the sight itself did little to ignite such joy inside bella as it did for leah, but she reciprocated the excitement of her best friend anyhow. the seats looks withered and few were stained with what isabella hoped was beverages and not bodily fluids. the stage wasn't huge but it was big enough for the group of roughly ten teens dressed similarly to the eccentric blonde beside to comfortably reside. at that exact moment, a boy with floppy brown hair and a purple beanie was stood front and centre reading from a script. behind him was a few other teens setting up props or painting the background. one of those teens was leah and bella's close friend, tallulah levine. bella tried to make a beeline for her, though leah was quick to grab ahold of her elbow and steer her over to the obnoxious looking boy.

"and this, is daniel. daniel, this is—"

"isabella maye, as i live and breathe." daniel dramatically sighed, taking ahold of bella's small hand and placing a short kiss to her knuckles. the dramatic action made leah swoon yet bella internally cringed. "you're bradley's better half, aren't you?" he questioned though obviously already knew the answer. bella awkwardly pulled her hand back to her side and cleared her throat.

"uh— yes? i'm bradley's girlfriend if that's what you mean." she diverted her eyes onto tallulah, hardening her stare with any attempt to communicate telepathically for a saviour. somehow understanding the message, the girl with the purple pixie cut hair jumped forward.

"bella! could you come help me with this please?" the short girl flashed an innocent smile to the couple beside bella who were eye fucking each other before grabbing her friends arm and pulling her to the back of the stage.

"i owe you." tallulah rolled her hazel eyes and chuckled at her friends loud sigh of relief. it amazed her that her friend outwardly hated being in drama class considering how flamboyant she could be.

"yeah yeah, you can help me paint this but i swear to god if you ruin it—" tallulah's voice was overpowered by the loud crash of the door hitting the wall up ahead. in swaggered bradley, a wide smile on his freckled face as he did. his small posse followed after him. both tallulah and leah rolled their eyes in sync at the pompous display whilst bella rushed forward towards the man.

"thank god! you haven't answered my calls, what did the doctors say?" bella put her hand on his chin and forced his head to the side so she could inspect the couple of butterfly stitches across his pale cheekbone as well as the already purple and blue bruise he was sporting beside his eye.

"sorry issy, you know how crappy the signal is in the hospital. and i wasn't home until late so i didn't want to bother you." bella shook her head, ready to rebuttal his excuses with statements about how rarely she slept anyways when something caught her eye. what looked like a small gold star shone under the lights of the theatre, it glowed like a beacon begging to be stared at. she furrowed her brows as she plucked the metal from his shirt. it clearly was an earring of sorts, but bella only wore silver jewellery.

"what is this?" she inquired, holding it out to him to see. his face paled slightly as he stared at it, though wasted no time in giving an answer.

"looks like an earring? it must have got caught to me as i hugged my mom bye this morning." he shrugged, pinching the jewellery from her outstretched palm and shoving it into his pocket. her icy eyes glared into his own which creased at the edges with a smile. he was trying to charm her. make her shut up with a stare. but she was long immune to his boyish looks.

"your mom wears silver like me." he rolled his eyes at her, scoffing and twisting his smile into a scowl.

"maybe she's trying something new? i don't know issy, get off my back." his tone made her skin crawl with rage. isabella wasn't one to let others talk to her so poorly, she was the type to jump to her own defence immediately and ferociously.