Metamorphosis

Friends come through

Chapter 42

Friends come through

"What happened to you?" Ava asked in surprise as her blonde friend shyly approached her in the hallway.

Mira jumped and gently touched the bruised side of her face, "W-what?"

Ava tilted her head to the side, causing the two chopsticks holding her bun together to become lopsided.

"The makeup; what's with the colors? I thought you were a pinky type" she said. Mira relax visibly, for a second she was afraid Ava could see her bruises. Or worse, Ashley had told her.

"I just felt like doing something different today," she said simply. "Is it bad?"

Ava shook her head, "No, you look hot. I'm just used to seeing you in pretty pinks and girly colors… why the hell do you keep squinting?"

Mira's body tensed again. She remembered Ashley telling her to keep squinting to hide her almost swollen shut left eye.

"Um, I think this new mascara is irritating my eyes." She said quickly. Ava shrugged.

"So go wash it off."

"I don't want to. If I'm gonna embrace the new look, I'll have to deal with the pain of change." It actually amazed her how easily it was to lie to her friend.

'Christ, has being pregnant really changed me this much?'

Ava apparently did not catch Mira's inner turmoil, as she just reached into her backpack and retrieved a large stack of neon green flyers.

"Here," she said, holding out half the stack to the blonde, "we're having a canned food drive at the community center. My dads need me to hand out the flyers."

Mira took the papers and raised her eyebrows, "just because your dads are on the board of the center, does that really give them the right to make you advertise at school?"

"No, raising me for the last sixteen years gives them the right."

"Will you leave me alone?" Seth asked Brian in exasperation as the two boys made their way through the crowd of people in the hallway.

"I will as soon as you answer my question!" Brian insisted, quickly stepping to the left to avoid plowing through an innocent freshman bystander.

Seth rolled his eyes and stopped in front of the nearest soda machine. "What do you want me to say, dude? I already told you I didn't beat the shit outta Jesse. What more do you want?"

Brian crossed his arms, clearly not convinced, "If it wasn't you, then what happened to the fiddler?"

"Maybe he fell off the roof." Seth answered cheekily. Brian snorted before pressing on.

"Dude, I know you wanted revenge on him for what he supposedly did to Mira, so you can't blame me for being suspicious."

Seth nodded, "I know. And I don't blame you."

"I mean, he did kind of steal your girl-"

"I get it, Brian." Seth interrupted, annoyed.

The other boy smirked and followed his friend down the hall. "So who do you think did beat him up?"

Seth takes a sip of his mountain dew before answering, "I don't know. But whoever it is, I love 'em"

"Canned food drive, take a flyer. Canned food drive, take a flyer." Ava repeated, handing out a single sheet of paper to everyone who passed. She had made hundred of copies and split them up among her friends, then sent them to hand them out in various parts of the school.