Abigail

Chapter Three

     "Hi," Kendra said. "Is anybody sitting here?" she asked, motioning towards the rusty swing beside the girl.

     "Not unless you count my imaginary friend. You can sit there if you want," the girl said. Her voice was strange. It sounded soft but dangerous at the same time. It reminded Kendra of a cat purr.

     Kendra sat down. "My name is Kendra, by the way. Kendra Blair."

     "Abigail Johnson," the girl purred. Kendra noticed that Abigail's eyes looked peculiar with her dark black hair. They were almond shaped and a very light shade of blue. She had never seen eyes that light before.

     "So your friends ditched you, huh?" Abigail asked, staring intently with her light blue eyes.

     "No," Kendra said immediately, but realized that technically, they did, but not intentionally. "I mean, kind of. Wait, how did you know that?"

     Abigail laughed, in her cat-like way, and leaned back on her swing so her black hair almost touched the ground. "I can tell a lot about different people by just watching them from here."

     Kendra's thoughts must have shown on her face, because in a few seconds, Abigail added: "Don't worry. I'm not a stalker. I just pick up on a few things by standing off on the sidelines. It's quite interesting, if you ask me. More interesting than talking to people. But I don't mind your company."

     "I feel like I know you from somewhere," Kendra said. "But I can't remember where."

     "I've always been here."

     Abigail's remark should have answered Kendra's question, but her tone of voice suggested otherwise. Kendra felt a shiver down her spine. She seemed very mysterious in an intriguing way. Kendra wasn't afraid of her like she was the Goths. In fact, Abigail seemed like a person she could really connect to.

     "So what's your story?" Abigail asked.

     "What do you mean?"

     "With your friends," she clarified. "Why were you sitting there all alone?"

     Kendra bit her lip, not really wanting to talk about her friendship problems, but for some reason, she knew she could trust this new girl, even though they've only been talking a few minutes. "Well, my best friend is Millie Anderson. We've been friends for a really long time and suddenly, out of nowhere, she befriended Michelle Green and sat with her at lunch without even consulting me first." She purposely left out the part about having a crush on Josh. She wasn't going to be that open with someone she just met.

     "And you are jealous of their friendship?" guessed Abigail.

     Kendra did a half-nod half-shrug type thing. "I don't know. I mean, I know it sounds silly, but it seems kind of strange that Michelle invited Millie to her birthday party and not me. We go everywhere together, and usually if one of us can't go, then the other one doesn't go either."

     "But Millie is going anyway?"

     "I don't know. When she told me about it, she was talking really fast and barely mentioned the birthday party, like she wanted me to miss that part." Kendra immediately stopped talking as her own words sunk into her mind. She hadn't even thought about that until Abigail pointed it out. It almost seemed like Abigail was trying to make Kendra feel jealous towards Millie. Which of course was not true. They've only been talking for a few minutes.

     Kendra cleared her throat. "I probably shouldn't say that though. Even if it is true. Millie's my best friend."

     Abigail's eyes turned back down to the leather book in her hand. "Fine," she snapped.

     "Is something wrong?"

     Abigail looked up at Kendra, all evidence of madness vanished from her face. "Everything's fine, or at least will be fine in the end," she purred.

     Kendra wasn't sure how to respond to that statement, so she let Abigail's words hang in the air for a while.

     "Wanna see something cool?" Abigail asked, her mouth turning into a grin, showing off her super-white incisors.

     Here was the part where Kendra would normally say no. She never took risks or broke rules in her life. Even though Abigail didn't say exactly what her plan was, she knew there was a hint of danger to it.

     But yet, for some odd reason, Abigail made her feel braver and more trustworthy than she would usually be. So Kendra surprised herself and said: "Sure."

     Abigail jumped off her swing. "Follow me."