The Fabric of Reality

Chapter Six - Normal

I am surrounded by a mass of bodies, all pushing and shoving in order to make their way down the crowded hall. The only thing I can do is move with the flow of people and try not to get stepped on.

No, this isn't the scene of some claustrophobic nightmare. Just the normal happenings at noon in high school. As soon as the bell rings, signifying the beginning of our lunch break, it's every man for himself. 

Miraculously, I manage to arrive at the cafeteria unscathed. Not having the stomach for cafeteria food, I decide instead to grab a bag of chips from a nearby vending machine and settle for that.

I snatch a seat located in the far corner of the room. Not too long after, Lauren plops down next to me with a strawberry-banana smoothie, wearing her signature green jacket. She takes a huge bite of an apple, then reaches in her coat pocket to reveal yet another apple. She tosses it to me.

"Eat it," she says, wiggling her eyebrows, "It's good for you."

I can't help but laugh as I bite into the apple. It's surprisingly sweet. However, I don't have much time to savor it.

"Have you seen this?" Lauren exclaims, extracting a magazine from her backpack. There on the front cover is a picture of two superheroes, who I know all too well. "Ethereal has a partner now! I thought she was the 'I work alone' type, but then again, you can't always make assumptions."

I take a closer look at the photo. Sure enough, there was Cobalt and I. The photo had been taken in front of the police station. While I was shaking hands with an officer, Cobalt stood awkwardly to the side with two men still slung over his shoulder. I look up at Lauren, who is still looking at the picture with intense fascination. "Mind if I borrow this?"

"Yeah! Sure! Go ahead!" She nods her head excitedly, her mass of dark frizzy curls bobbing uncontrollably.

The light mood is quickly soured with the arrival of none other than Elisabeth. This time, she isn't accompanied by her flock of followers. The only backup she has is her boyfriend, Takeo.

I hope she decides to simply walk by us, but it seems Lauren's remarks yesterday have earned us Elisabeth's presence at our lunch table to day. She sits down delicately across from us with a sickeningly sweet smile. Takeo sits down wordlessly beside her, and unlike Elisabeth, he appears very uncomfortable with the situation.

"Hello, dears." She begins. Her saccharine smile does nothing to disguise the venom in her words. "I hope you have been enjoying your first week back at school?"

Neither of us say a word. Lauren presses her lips tightly together, the excited sparkle in her eyes replaced with nothing but burning hatred. 

Ignoring our silence, Elisabeth decides to continue the conversation alone. "Oh dear, what do we have here?" Her face contorts with exaggerated surprise. To Lauren's horror, she reaches across the table and plucks the magazine right out of my hands. "Aw, a superhero magazine. How cute! Don't you think so, Takeo?"

Takeo glances at the magazine and shifts nervously. "Uh, sure." He mumbles, then averts his gaze and continues to stare at the floor. 

Elisabeth deflates slightly at the less-than-enthusiastic response. However, she quickly recovers. A lightbulb seems to go off in her head, and a malicious gleam forms in her eye. "You know, Lauren, I really shouldn't let other people see you with this. They might get the wrong idea, you see. They might start to think that you're, well, a nerd." All traces of sweetness have vanishes from Elisabeth's face.

"I see where this is going." I decide to finally voice my opinion. "You can't just-"

"No, really, I'm doing you a favor. I can't let your reputation be ruined." With an evil grin, she begins to tear each page of the magazine, one by one. Lauren is sitting completely still, but her hands are curled into fists at her sides. Takeo gets up and leaves without another word.

Elisabeth's evil grin fades as she realizes her boyfriend is no longer by her side. She gets up to leave as well, but not before dumping the shreds of magazine into Lauren's strawberry smoothie. "Don't think this is over!" She hisses, before chasing after Takeo, her skirt swishing behind her. 

"Lauren..." I turn to my friend to comfort her, but it's no use. Wordlessly, she grabs her ruined smoothie and throws it in the trash before silently exiting the cafeteria without even a glance back my way.

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Hey hey hey

So this chapter was only 760 words but once I finish this author's note it should be over 800 so I guess that counts  :/

Anyway I meant to introduce more new characters but only got around to one. I am on a deadline, after all (Even though I created that deadline myself). But Takeo isn't too bad, right...? 

So that means next chapter will mostly be new characters... might not see any more Ethereal or Cobalt for another chapter or two, but that   should    be     okay

Aaaaaand that's it for this week. (And I ended with 860 words)

Until next time,

-B

P.S. I wrote this in like an hour (quickly) so please tell me any spelling mistakes 

P.P.S. 878 Words ;)