Paper Thin

• 10: Puzzle •

Melody

I stood at the table and smiled at Alani's friends. Emma gave me a wide grin as she pulled her fiery red hair up into a high bun. The other two people sitting at the table smiled at me politely.

"Friends! This is Melody! Melody, this is Cora and Noah," Alani introduced, pointing to her friends. "And I assume you know Emma, because she's in your art class."

I waved shyly and flashed a bright smile. Cora had the high cheekbones and black hair that made my heart hurt. She was beautiful and her jeans a white t-shirt told me how effortless it was. The boy with the black hair with blue tips was Noah.

As Alani and I sat down, Cora continued a conversation with Emma and Noah that I hadn't been a part of. The smell of their food teased me, as Noah's cheese pizza mingled with Cora's French fries and Emma's spaghetti, and together they wafted towards me. I looked down at my notebook and continued doodling to distract myself.

"... and then everyone turned into dinosaurs as we walked through the cave. But it was made out of blankets in a bunk bed," Cora finished.

"Cora that's the weirdest thing I've ever heard you say!" Noah laughed. I kept my eyes down at my paper and forced myself not to smile. It was a group of friends talking, and I was here as a pity addition. Now I'd "owe her one" like she did before.

"It's not her fault her dream took her the plush toy route!" Alani defended her friend. She scooped a mouthful of rice up and swallowed before she continued talking. "I one time had a dream my whole family turned into teddy bears and it was so weird!"

"What about you Melody? Ever have any weird dreams?" Emma asked suddenly. I met her gaze with a wide-eyed look.

Okay. So, the thing about me is that I don't make friends very easily. I haven't since grade one. I could make witty remarks or talk to someone one on one, but trying to be interesting when I wasn't, would be a difficult task. Modelling was different because I didn't really need to speak, and when I did, I was able to put on a persona of fake confidence for a short period of time. But right now, I was talking about myself and my dreams, not what I thought about a client's clothes.

"I–I once, um, I dreamt I was, um, a mermaid. It – it was kind of cool, but mostly just weird," I felt myself blushing. Even with my English group, I didn't speak unless I had to. My heart beat uncomfortably and I got shy. The only reason I stood up to Rose was because she was picking on someone, and I hated when people did that.

"Mermaids are cool!" Emma encouraged, but I didn't miss the look Cora gave Alani and Noah. I looked down at my paper and began drawing again. I really hoped Ms. Foster would be back tomorrow because this was torture.

***

There's always something about a substitute teacher that makes students lose all common sense and sanity – especially in a class where there's not much to do. Ms. Lang was a tiny and quiet lady and the moment everyone saw her, they checked out for the period. Once she announced Ms. Foster wouldn't be back tomorrow either, it sealed the deal.

I was the only one doing my homework, as everyone else was talking and sitting on the tables. There were three guys playing catch around the classroom and poor Ms. Lang could do nothing about it.

"Ooh, can I play?" I heard a trill voice ask. Jennette was batting her fake eyelashes at the guys. I rolled my eyes but stayed focus on drawing a few parts of my English collage that didn't get finished. My group had decided to meet up at Carson's house tonight, as we still had to finish the collage and the written component Mr. Garcia had added.