Into the Realm

Chapter Five: The Smile in the Bathroom

The bell rang, dismissing the last class of the day.

Finally.

Tessa gladly gathered her books together and followed the sea of students into the hallway. To say she was happy it was the end of the day would be an understatement. As she once again merged into the traffic of the Tech Hall, she could only think of her plans for the weekend: a Say Yes to the Dress marathon, too much popcorn, and maybe a few of those nasty sugar-free sodas her dad just bought. It sounded perfect to her.

As Tessa crossed the hall and rounded the corner, nearing her locker, her plans for her weekend quickly evaporated when she saw the ever annoying Heather-Jane standing there talking to Aria (Tessa used the term "talking" lightly—it was more like Heather-Jane would say something and then Aria would quickly scribble her answer on her stupid notepad). Right. The plan to work on the project tonight. Goodbye, weekend. Her heart sank when Heather-Jane looked up and motioned her to join them. Tessa plodded over to her locker and lifted a hand as a greeting.

Heather-Jane smiled and immediately jumped into her spiel of whatever it was Heather-Jane usually jabbered about. Tessa spun the dial to her locker and let it click three times before she unlatched the handle and opened the door. Dread settled in the pit of her stomach. She put her computer science textbook back in its place and grabbed the English textbook to shove in her bag. The ruined sweater from the Coffee Incident from that morning was in her hands when she finally tuned into Heather-Jane's one-sided conversation.

"How are those pants holding up?" Heather-Jane gestured to the pair of khaki skinny jeans Tessa was wearing. The ketchup left a terribly awkward stain on Tessa's jeans and Heather-Jane stole a pair of pants from the theatre costume closet for her to wear. Luckily they fit just right (Heather-Jane had a good eye when guessing sizes, because Tessa was so angry about the ketchup she was too busy muttering incoherent phrases like "better than washing subsidized student loans" and "what a load of Huckleberry Finn" and "I'll turn him into a human canoe" to answer when she asked what size pants she wore), and Tessa was admittedly glad she had Heather-Jane around when the wind decided to dump ketchup on her. Who else would have snuck into the off-limits costume closet to steal (pardon, "borrow") a really comfortable pair of pants? Tessa contemplated on keeping them.

Tessa looked down at her beige-clad legs and said somewhat sarcastically, "Oh, these things? They're working alright. At least it no longer looks like I've been cursed with Satan's waterfall."

    She closed her locker and looked at Heather-Jane and Aria. The sight of the two girls—one with wild, curly hair and one with short, cropped hair— standing there, waiting for her to say something, made her feel like some sort of leader. Tessa was no leader; she was just Tessa. But here she was with Frick and Frack staring at her, waiting for her to say something about the project. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and said, "Don't forget to come after dinner, say, seven or so. I've already texted you the address, but if you need directions, please hesitate to call." She adjusted her bookbag on her shoulder. "So, if that was everything you needed..." she trailed off, hoping that Heather-Jane and Aria would catch the hint. She heard a sudden explosion of laughter at the end of the hall and Brown's loud guffaw of a laugh made her visibly cringe.

Heather-Jane nodded so fast it looked like her head would fly off any second. "I think everything is okay. Aria?" she turned to the blonde next to her.

Aria scribbled away on her notepad and showed it to them: I'm alright.

Heather-Jane beamed and said, "Then I guess we're good. I'll see you guys later, can't wait to write together!"

    She ran off in a flurry of curls and brightly colored clothes, leaving Tessa alone with Aria. Her abrupt exit made several heads turn in the hallway. Tessa's cheeks became slightly heated when people turned and stared at where she rushed off from and Tessa could see them put two and two together—that she was actually talking to the school Freak and the Mute. Embarrassed, she turned back to her locker and pretended to look for something.