Follow The Rain

Two

"Kayla!"

The second time I turned around. My good friend, Chloe Parker, faced me with a huge smile, her perfect teeth bright against her dark skin. Her braids were squeezed into two plaits, reaching just below her shoulders. I readjusted my school bag.

Then her smile disappeared and she engulfed me in a tight hug without a second glance, causing the books in my bag to dig into my back.

"Kayla, I've missed you! I heard about Camryn..."

She let go a minute later and we started walking.

"How was Mauritius?" We headed towards the locker room. It was the first day of our last year of high school and I couldn't deny that the excitement I had felt two weeks ago was completely replaced by dread.

"It was incredible!" she gushed. "And we swam with dolphins!"

"Sounds amazing," I said as we ascended the stairs and approached our lockers near the far end of the corridor.

"It was." I gathered my books and tried to tidy up the inside of the locker before slamming it shut and walking with Chloe to register class. I said nothing as we sat in our usual seats and waited for our register teacher.

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked quietly. "Actually, no, of course you're not, sorry."

I smiled and replied, "I'm fine. It's been a tough week." She nodded. Our teacher entered the room and started handing out our timetables for the year.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be at the funeral," Chloe whispered, tucking a braid behind her ear. I glanced at her and nodded. Chloe tended to talk a lot and sometimes it irritated me but right now I needed it. I was reluctant to go to class and leave her company since we didn't have any classes together this year. I knew we needed to catch up with each other, so we spoke about our holidays and Chloe told me about Mauritius before it was time to go to class.

"Good luck with this year," our teacher tried before dismissing us.

"Well that's encouraging," grumbled Chloe as we went our separate ways.

"What do you think, Kayla?" I glanced up to see Jordan pointing his piece of pizza at me expectantly. To be truthful, I hadn't been listening to the conversation at all.

"Uh, I don't know?" I said, biting my apple. Jordan stopped chewing mid-mouthful.

"What? But you always have something to say!"

"Um, what are we talking about?" I shifted my gaze from Jordan to Chloe to Matthew and back to Jordan.

Jordan looked at me and took another bite. "You've got to be kidding me," he said and I shrugged. He sighed loudly.

"We were just discussing whether we should move our 'spot' this year. We were thinking nearer the cafeteria," said Chloe, sipping her water.

"Because of the food," added Jordan, grinning.

"Are you serious?" I said. "Moving is change and, personally, I don't think you'd be able to handle that," I pointed my gaze towards Jordan.

"There she is," said Jordan, stretching out his arms dramatically. "Always being honest, even if it hurts." He held his chest with his hands, feigning heartbreak.

I smiled, even though his statement caused a sudden thought to crawl into my mind. What if I was too honest? What if I'd hurt someone and never noticed? I shrugged off the thought and focused on the conversation, finishing my apple before break ended.