Rock Chick [On Hold]

Chapter 3

The next days were hell. Actually, the next weeks were hell. But the first day was the worst.

I walked into school with my head down. My face looked even worse than it had the day before. I had tried to hide my rough night with make-up, but there wasn’t enough concealer in the world. Even the eyeliner I had added only accentuated the puffiness still surrounding my eyes. So I had concluded that the best thing to do would be to hide. Preferably forever. But I had to settle for the curtain of my hair to separate from me from the outside world.

Just for the record, as a shield, hair sucks.

I managed to slide through my morning classes avoiding contact with anyone. It wasn’t terribly hard since the two people I had spent 90% of my waking time with for the past two years were gone. But when the lunch bell rang and I followed the crush of my peers into the cafeteria I was forced to face the music.

Most of the time, I sat with Derrick during lunch. But his table was comprised of all football players and their girlfriends, or more accurately, their flavors of the week. Derrick seemed to be the only one on the team who could commit to a girl, and I loved him for that. Among other things.

Blinking tears from my eyes at the turn my thoughts had taken I looked at the table Derrick and I had always sat at. My seat was filled. So was his.

My breath came out in a whoosh. I wasn’t hurt for myself, more for Derrick. I wasn’t friends with them, I had always kind of felt like they tolerated me because I was with Derrick. Derrick himself had made sure to remind me that they were permitting me to sit with them, and I should be careful not to insult anyone. But Derrick had been friends with those guys. Those guys who had apparently had no trouble replacing him with, I took another look, Randall Cook. Randall, who was, coincidentally the back up halfback, and would probably benefit greatly from Derrick’s absence.

So Derrick’s table was out. I blew out a breath and turned to a different table, the one Bec had frequented. She was a social butterfly, flitting from table to table, chatting with this person about the upcoming Calculus test and that person about their new haircut. But when she’d settled at a table, it had most often been the one in the center of everything, usually full of any of the number of people who were drawn to Bec’s bubbly personality. The people around her had constantly shifted, but everyone had known that was Bec’s table. And I had known that I was always welcome to sit there with her. I took advantage of this whenever Derrick was busy during lunch. Usually at last once a week he had a detention or tutoring session. Today Bec’s table was about half full, and those who sat there looked a little forlorn. As if they had been abandoned.

I knew the feeling. And as much as I could have used some kinship, I just could not handle anyone else being pathetic about the Finton’s move. I had enough of that to deal with myself.

So I turned away and surveyed the cafeteria one more time. My eyes caught on a table near the windows and a half smile tugged at my lips. George sat, paging through a book, and the sunlight glinted off his pale blond hair. Sitting next to him were Kassidy and Anne, Kassidy telling Anne some exciting story and gesturing wildly with her hands. Aross from them, Kass’s boyfriend, Victor, was listening with an amused and tolerant expression on his face.

My friends, my old friends. They were my lifelines, before the Fintons had moved in. We’d grown apart since then, and I hadn’t spoken to any of them, besides a quick ‘hi’ in the halls, in months.

Anne laughed at Kass’s story, looking up, and her eyes caught mine across the crowded cafeteria. They widened and she nudged Kass. Breaking off in the middle of her narrative, Kassidy looked up, seeming put out that Anne had interrupted her. But her eyes followed Anne’s and widened when they landed on me, standing awkward and unsure in the middle of the room. Kassidy glanced briefly at George, but he hadn’t noticed the sudden stillness at the table, still turning the pages of his book as if the meaning of life was hidden in the pages. She looked up at me again, met my eyes, and gave a tentative smile.