The Missing Piece [Discontinued]

Chapter Four

You could hear Juliana’s heels clacking on the floor before you could see Juliana herself. She was the most popular girl in the school, with the money, personality, and looks to match her role.

            “Ugh,” Skittles commented as Juliana walked by her during homeroom break. Hearing this, Juliana stopped short in front of Skittles.

            “Um, excuse me?” Juliana said, hands on her hips. “Did you say something?” Skittles clenched her jaw. She hated girls like Juliana—there was at least one at every school.

            “Yeah, um, I did!” Skittles said, imitating Juliana, placing her hands on her own hips and pretending to twirl her hair with her finger. Juliana glared at Skittles. Juliana lowered her voice, and said menacingly,

            “You may think you’re so clever, Skittles, but you are barking up the wrong tree.”

            “I can knock you out of your little tree any day, and you know it,” Skittles retorted, baring her teeth like a dog.

            “You may resort to physical threats, but trust me… you’ll be begging for mercy by the time I’m done with you!” Juliana smirked sarcastically.

            “Why wait to hear your cry? I’ll take you right now!” Juliana laughed at the threat.

            “Stupid girl, you have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.” Juliana continued to laugh as she walked off, leaving Skittles steaming.

            “Who does she think she is?” she muttered, walking off to her own homeroom.

*****

            “Joy? Do you want to work together?” Joy was jerked out of her thoughts as she heard the question.

            “Sorry, what?” Joy asked, blushing. Ever since Skittles told Joy her real name, Joy was having a hard time concentrating. She was surprised that the speaker was Juliana. Juliana smiled patiently.

            “I was just wondering if you wanted to work together. Mr. Harrison is giving out a worksheet we have to do by the end of class, and we can work in pairs,” Juliana explained, giggling slightly.

            “Yeah, sure,” Joy replied, and the two shared a smile as Juliana sat down next to Joy, the worksheet in hand. Joy quickly looked it over.

            “Well, I think number one would be the Persian Gulf, do you agree?” Joy asked, not quite knowing how to act around Juliana. Juliana nodded swiftly and wrote down the answer.

            “Then, number two would be Southwest Asia, since that’s where a lot of the oil deposits are. Of course, you’d have to weigh in the fact that there are many places with oil deposits. But then again…” Juliana continued explaining, writing her answer down quickly as she spoke. Joy was surprised: Juliana wasn’t exactly known for being this nice, or this smart. She was known for being a cruel heartbreaker. Maybe she’s changed, thought Joy, she sure seems different.

            “…do you think that’s right?” Juliana asked, looking expectantly at Joy with her large, lavender eyes. That was another thing about Juliana: she had soft lavender eyes, which were rumored to be fake, even though the color was completely natural.

            “Yeah, yeah. Definitely,” Joy replied, really having no clue what Juliana was talking about. The two continued to work on the worksheets until they finished.

            “Hey, we’re the first ones done!” Joy noticed, looking around at the hard-working students. Juliana smiled.

            “Yeah, we make a good team.”

            “We do make a good team,” Joy agreed.

***

Juliana wasn’t quite sure why, but Joy seemed concerned about Skittles.

            “Poor girl,” Joy said as she and Juliana sat together at lunch “I doubt I’ve ever seen her have a friend. Maybe we can be friends with her? Maybe then she wouldn’t be so snappy.”

            “Gosh, that sounds so cheesy,” Juliana said, giggling, “but you can try. Personally, I don’t think you should waste your time. She’s just a rude person.” Joy was quiet for a second.

            “I’ll take a shot. I bet she’ll come around eventually.”

            “Hey, Faith!” Joy shouted, running down the hall at the end of the school day, “Wait up!” When Skittles heard Joy’s cheerful voice shouting the forbidden name, she froze up. Skittles wanted to turn around and yell at Joy—give her a good whupping for saying her real name in front of so many people—but she knew she couldn’t Instead, Skittles kept on walking, pretending she had no clue who this ‘Faith’ person was.

            “Faith! Come back!” Skittles cringed: could Joy say it any louder? Skittles quickened her pace, trying to get away before Joy caught up to her. No such luck.

            “Hey, guess you didn’t hear me calling you,” Joy said, smiling wide at Skittles as she caught up to her.

            “What do you want, Joy?” Skittles snapped, furious.

            “Whoa, just wanted to talk to you. No need to bite at me,” Joy commented, seeming extra-brave. No one usually would talk to Skittles like that.

            “What the heck, Joy?” Skittles exclaimed, her voice rising as she couldn’t hold in her anger anymore.  “Seriously! I really hate you right now!” Joy looked taken aback by Skittles’ bluntness.

            “Why so mad all of a sudden?” she asked, looking concerned. Skittles’ face had begun to turn a shade of red as her anger rose.

            “Why so mad? You want to know why I’m mad? Well, guess what—I’m mad because you just go around yelling my real name for everyone to hear! That’s why I’m so mad. People can’t know my real name, you idiot! ” Skittles shouted. Joy’s hand quickly covered her mouth.

            “Oh dear. That’s right. Sorry, I forgot that I wasn’t supposed to call you that. The name just came so naturally! It’s actually a really pretty name!” Joy blurted quickly. She had not meant to make Skittles so mad.

            “I don’t wanna hear it. Get away from me,” Skittles growled, pushing ahead and losing herself in the crowd of students. Joy stopped, and Juliana joined her at her side.

            “Well, this may be harder than we thought,” Joy sighed.

            “Yeah, but you can do it, I bet. Don’t worry. You’re a nice person. Skittles will eventually come around,” Juliana chirped enthusiastically.

            “I hope so,” Joy said, not too convinced, and the two girls walked off, chatting as they made their way out of the school.