My Soul To Keep

Chapter 9

I heard voices in the common room as I climbed the stairs to my floor, but as soon as I entered the voices stopped and they stared at me. Well, for a minute they stared, and then they pretended to be interested in their homework and ignored me. When I was leaving the room I saw one of them eyeball me.

"Why are they so weird?" I asked Deanna, kicking off my shoes.

"Who?"

"You know who, the Three Musketeers clique of the floor who are always together and whispering." Deanna shrugged and it irritated me.

"Hey, by the way, we had another meeting about the floor decorating," she said instead.

"Oh! I missed it again. How come I never know when this stuff is?"

"You're obviously involved in something else; I wanted to be the one to tell you you're not on it anymore."

My stomach fluttered. "Um, why?" Deanna shrugged again and I knew how to find out. The three girls were still in the common room. Kristen, Katie, and Lindsey were chatting and didn't stop when I walked in.

"Hi," I said casually, approaching their table.  "Just wanted to ask what was going on with Homecoming decorations."

They looked at each other, and that look was all it took. My stomach tightened but I tried to ignore it. Kristen looked at Lindsey, who looked to Katie, who looked back. Their brows rose and they bit their lips.

"Mmmmmmm," Katie said. I just stood there looking from one to another.

"Actually, we kind of already did it."

"Yeah," Lindsey chimed in, "we mostly got everything done."

"Oh," I said lamely.

"Yeah, I mean, there isn't a whole lot to do," Kristen said. "We got most of the stuff from the dollar store and all we have to do is put it up and everything. There really isn't much to do. So I'm sorry, but we don't need you."

"Oh." They all were avoiding eye contact for the most part.

"Sorry," added Lindsey.

"Whatever," I said right away. "It's fine."

Snobs.

***

Back in my room I did my homework and tuned the world out until my mom called.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm good, Mom, how are you?"

"We're doing fine! How's it going with classes and that club you're in?"

"Classes are good, not too hard. This group focuses on spirituality without any forced religion. It is so nice, Mom! These people actually care about you. It's really special. It actually is making me get better."

I glanced over at Deanna at her computer. Her headphones were on and she was not even listening to me.

"What do you do there?" my mom asked.

"We do a lot of things and every day it feels like a better day. We hold group meditations and affirmations, and just do positive things in general to spread a good message. It is good discipline for the soul too, like the other day we had a day where we took a vow of silence."

"That is so good; I'm glad you found something you enjoy that makes you happy. So do they talk to you?"

"Well, yeah."