Mercury

3°C

“Principal Hoggins wants you to what?” Mila nearly screams in the hallway, “How can he be so insensitive? I will go talk to him now. You, my dear, are not going to talk about the death of your lover. Ugh, it’s too painful.”

Mila puts a hand on her forehead dramatically and frowns.

“I’ll be fine, Mila. I’m just gonna go up, talk, and come back down,” I say while dumping the Chemistry-related books into my locker and retrieving the ones that I need.

“A-hem, sorry, but have you forgotten about Kayla’s existence? She’ll run up the stage and eat you alive,” Mila grabs my shoulders to emphasize on her point.

I refuse to look at her in the eye and shrug my shoulders instead.

“Why will I eat her alive?” Kayla’s voice suddenly cuts through the air, and she pops up beside us, along with her underdogs.

“Ha, that’s funny because we should be asking that question. When will you just let it all go?” Mila says while rolling her eyes, and I can feel that she’s getting angrier by the minute, “It’s not even August’s fault.”

I raise a hand towards Mila to ask her to stop. She should know better than to provoke Kayla.

Kayla ignores her and turns to me, her icy blue eyes making my goosebumps stand. “What’s going on?” she demands.

“I was about to find you,” I say, my voice timid.

“Ha-ha, because I didn’t ask that. I asked what’s happening.”

“Um, I’m pretty sure you heard the loudspeaker just now. We have this assembly period later on and Principal Hoggins wants me to talk about Sam.” I’m surprised that the words come out smooth.

Kayla softens a bit and tenses up immediately. “Are you going to do it?”

“Yes, but I had to make sure that you’re okay with this,” I reply.

Kayla stares straight into my eyes. “Tch, good luck and have fun,” she mutters and walks away, but not without throwing another icy glare in my direction.

I stay rooted to the ground for a moment.

“So?” Mila’s voice disrupts my thoughts, “Are you going to do it? Because what Kayla said clearly sounds like a warning instead of a sincere blessing.”

I let out a tired sigh. “I really hate how I have to ‘lower’ myself to talk to Kayla,” I say, not answering the question.

“I hate to see you do that too. You clearly have a strong personality but you had to hide it because of her. Why don’t you just stop it, all at once?” Mila says.

I shoot her a questioning look, not understanding her point.

“Stop purposely finding her and making a fool out of yourself in the end. She doesn’t respect you at all. She hates you, so if you just stop finding her, I think it’ll benefit both sides. What you’re doing now is just hurting yourself, isn’t it?” Mila explains, and I’m a little surprised at her long-windedness.

“I had to make it up to her somehow. For Sam, for myself and for her,” I say softly, because I’m really starting to feel the tire spreading throughout my whole body. I just want to sleep right now and shut out everything else. Mila seems to sense that I do not want any more conversation and she stops talking.

We walk in comfortable silence, and times like this I’m thankful for Mila, because I don’t have to tell her to let her know that I’m tired and I need a rest. After Sam died, I didn’t have the strength nor the willpower to bring myself to meet people, and so I didn’t meet up with Mila, and she understands it too. We texted though, and occasionally she sends things over to make sure I’ll be alright.