fractures

abbey knows something

Layne

Abbey and I decide to put Marlene aside for a while to try and get to know each other better, since we think it's better to work on the investigation without being complete strangers. After a week of hanging out with Abbey, I've started to find out how awfully similar she is to Marlene.

And it's not just in their brown eyes are their straight brown hair. It's also in the determined set of their shoulders whenever they're firm in doing something or their tendency to look anywhere but the speaker when they're nervous or the way they always come up with witty comebacks to insults.

Can two strangers really be that alike?

It makes me wonder about Abbey's real motives behind helping me. Perhaps they knew each other. But if so, Marlene never said a thing.

"Earth to Layne," Abbey says loudly, derailing my train of thought. "I've been calling your name for the past few minutes."

"Sorry, I was thinking."

"You think a lot. How do you think so much? It's a bad habit, did you know?" Abbey comments, quirking one eyebrow up in a way I'd only ever seen Marlene do.

And for just one fraction of a second, it's Marlene I see in front of me, with her straight brown hair and laughing brown eyes, one eyebrow raised at her best friend's bad tendencies. Then she snaps her fingers right in front of my face and reality comes crashing back down.

"Thinking again? Seriously, Layne, it's not healthy," Abbey says in a scolding manner. "It'll drive you to insanity."

"Sometimes I think it's the only leash on my sanity," I murmur.

Abbey just sighs exasperatedly and turns back to her lunch. I turn back to mine as well, finishing off the last bits. We eat in silence, until Abbey realises she's late for her next class and rushes off with a hurried 'see you later'. 

And I'm left to once again reminiscence about the past. 

-

Chemistry was terrible, since Mark Daniels was in there. He made it a point to beat me in answering every single question the teacher asked. Not that I was actually competing with him, he just answered the questions and then shot me smug looks which I didn't even bother reacting to. 

His pals laugh with him as they exit the classroom, mocking my stupidity at losing to Mark Daniels. I want to laugh at their stupidity. Some people just can't tell between those who try their best and those who just don't even care. 

I meet up with Abbey outside school, and we take the bus back together, me alighting a few stops before her. 

When I get off the bus and Abbey says goodbye to me, there's something in her eyes that catches my attention. Something not quite fitting in her usual happy go lucky self. Sadness. And something else I can't quite name. 

Then the doors close and the bus rolls away. 

The look in Abbey's eyes remain etched into my mind. 

And I can almost definitely confirm. 

Abbey knows something.