Nandoz Lab

Just Ordinary Girls... Not

Chapter 1

The school bell rang, signalling the end of another boring yet exhausting day at Chester High. Students burst out of the door like a dam breaking, pouring students out of the stuffy building as they hopped into their fancy vehicles. Some who lived nearby and haven't gotten their driver's license yet preferred to walk home. A group of schoolgirls were those "some" who speed-walked out of the school and out onto the road, eager to get away from the place that most teens refer to as "hell".

"Ugh, finally," Onyx groaned out loud, throwing her head back as she walked in between Nolee and Dhiv, her midnight black locks flying everywhere. "I was starting to think that we would never get out of there."

"You're just being dramatic again," Nolee rolled her eyes, gripping the strap of her school bag tighter as the seven friends walked in a straight line together.

"Well it's not my fault everyone was trying to squeeze out of the front door like a pack of sardines." the tan skinned girl snapped at her friend. "Anyone who witnessed the scene would've thought that we would never get out of there."

"Yeah, and you're repeating your sentence again." the small hooded girl said, not once looking at her friend in skinny jeans. Onyx clicked her tongue in annoyance at the petite girl's straightforwardness and lack of expression.

"Whateves Lee, whateves."

Dhiv looked over Onyx to look at their youngest friend with ease, seeming that she was the tallest among the seven of them. "How was your day Nolee?" she asked, like how a mother usually would.

"It was fine." Nolee said simply, her gaze focused on the sun-faded pavement, eyes tracing the stark cracks decorating the worn ground they were currently walking on as they continued their way back home.

Concern etched on Dhiv's face, ruining the perfect picture of her lightly powder-brushed face. "Did you talk to any friends?"

Nolee closed her eyes in exasperation and finally turned to her tall friend from Chennai who had just moved to their school earlier this year. "No," she said shamefully, yet looking straight into Dhiv's eyes, determined to get the message across that she didn't want to talk right now.

"Why not?" Dhiv asked, fully knowing that Nolee didn't want to talk about the topic at hand, but pursued on anyway. She needs this, Dhiv reasoned with herself. 

Nolee only sighed. "Dhiv, I told you-"

"You don't like people," Dhiv finished Nolee's sentence for her. "I know, I know, but Lee, you have to. You have to start learning how to make friends from now onwards, or else, how are you going to survive college? And more importantly, how are you going to survive the adult world when you're older?"

"I'll manage." Nolee mumbled quietly.

"Okay!" Liz cut in before the two got any deeper into the topic. The last time they had this conversation, Nolee had stormed off and locked herself up in her room for a week, refusing to come out for anything, even meals. "So, I heard that there's this new ice cream parlor at Manchester Arndale-" she started to say.

"Hey, you owe me a tub of ice cream." Nell pointed accusingly to the platinum blonde, now that the topic has been brought up. "You ate my tub of mint chocolate chip ice cream last week when you were at my house crying because your 'Evan'," she put finger quotes in the air. "was seeing another girl."

"Hey, that 'girl'," Liz mocked the ginger's finger quotes. "was his ex and she was the one who broke up with him because she wasn't getting enough attention, and now she wants him back." she huffed. "What a baby."