Red November

four.

School was the next stop on my agenda. A tricky situation to say the least. It had been three weeks since I had attended, and not one to prolong the self pitying, I decided it was time to return.

As similar creatures of habit, Rosie had also decided to return to grade twelve, what with exams steadily arriving, and so we began the school morning routine with a silent breakfast.

Not long after I was gathering my books and rushing out the door to walk the short distance with Rosie. Luckily Nicole, my best friend, was in almost all of my classes, and had brought around copies of all the work we'd gotten, as well as written pages for me to simply glue in, even of homework. Bless that girl.

The tall grey gates encircling East Essex Academy made their way into view, and the bleak school buildings beyond barely cut through the thick fog of the cold morning. A thrum of students meandered about near the entrance in matching navy uniforms, a quiet bubble of chatter reaching us for the distance. A few nodded as we walked by, but most remained eyes downcast, with their conversations flickering out into silence.

Word always traveled fast in close communities like ours, and it wasn't enough to think that the popular Landcaster girls would be able to escape its effects.

Entering the school yard was no different. People quietly looked to us, sympathy etched onto their sad smiling faces. A few asked how we were or called out in soft greeting, but from the slight clench of my sisters jaw, I knew it was also unwanted by her, as well as myself.

The morning was an awkward mix of more hugs and "Are you okay?"s than I ever though possible. Though I appreciated kindness, I could help but resent the fragility with which everyone was treating me. It worried me that they thought I was my mom.

By recess, things had settled down somewhat, and by settled down, I counted only one hug every twelve minutes. Approximately of course.

My group of friends, including Nicole obviously, made our way to a quiet courtyard behind one of the English classrooms. I felt my friends eyes on me while I bit my apple.

"Guys." I said a little too loudly, causing my friends to pretend they were watching anything but me.

They smiled as I rolled my eyes, but thankfully assumed the usual chatter and gossip that occurred daily.

"Alright," Meg began, "so in thirty three days, two hours and eleven minutes, is......". She looked around excitedly to see who had caught on.

"Your party!" I answered first, earning a grateful smile.

"Exactly! Thank you Ruby. Now when are we going shopping for this! You guys know how important this is! I can't wait to turn seventeen!"

~ ~ ~

The day continued quickly enough with everyone's over the top sympathy slowly calming down, and returning to what I would deem acceptable for something that had happened almost a month ago. I walked back to Nicole's house as I usually did following school, after calling Rosie to check in with her.

The few minute walk was blanketed by a comfortable silence that acquired after years of friendship, the one to break the silence finally was Nicole.

"Look, I know you'll probably actually strangle me for asking again," she laughed as she began, but her composure suddenly became more serious, "but really Ruby... what's happening with you? How are you, going through all of this?"

I sighed as I looked at the cracks in the pavement.

"And don't bullshit me!" Nicole added laughing.

"It's all just fallen to shit really, hasn't it." I replied, unable to keep the honesty and sadness out of my tone and reply.

"Ohh Ruby." Nicole almost sobbed, gathering me in a hug.

I stood quietly crying with my best friend until our sobs had turned into laughs as we realised what a sorry sight we were. We picked ourselves up and walked the remaining few meters of the pathway to Nicole's oak front door.

Nicole's mom, Vanessa, met us at the door with hot mugs of drinking chocolate and a tight hug.

"How are you both this lovely afternoon?" Vanessa asked, her thick American accent one of my favourite things about her.

"Absolutely, completely and totally average." Nicole replied for both of us, shooting me a smile.

"Well that's good enough for me!" Vanessa laughed as we made our way to Nicole's room.

We kept busy catching up on the British TV show, 'Snog, Marry, Avoid', while she chatted through what I'd missed the last few weeks in school, but soon enough my brother was over on his way home from work to pick me up and we headed home.

After a quick dinner, I was showered and about to drop dead into my bed. My phone lit up from its charger with a new message.

Ethan : ruby i miss you. i need to see you. when can we talk? x

Oh god, that wasn't something I wanted to deal with tonight. So I immaturely turned my phone off, and fell into the blissful arms of sleep.

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Hello hello! I thought I'd add a quick authors note in here just to say I'm very sorry for the late updating! I've been on holiday in America for the past two weeks, but I feel dreadful for being so slack! I promise I'll do everything I can to be more frequent! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and thanks a bunch for reading! Feel free to leave comments, and if you've enjoyed my little book so far, I'd absolutely love for you to vote on it! Thank you and sorry again!                       - mixibelle xx