Rift

Chapter 2

While Luca and Artie were in AP Physics 3rd period, Sophie and I had girls time that usually just involved us sitting in a secluded corner of the courtyard, trying to stay away from the barbies and kens. Sophie would sit there reading some new young adult book about vampires or bios of boy bands that she was obsessed with while I sat, listened to music, and drew out my dreams. While the dream never changed, with each new interpretation of it came a different drawing, or rather, different versions of the same drawing with small details that changed each time. I was glad Sophie didn't like to talk while she read; it was just part of her ever-wonderful weirdness and why we were such good friends.

"This book gets more intense by the minute," Sophie said, folding down the corner of the page and leaning her head back against the tree.

"Another vampire book?" I laughed.

"Surprisingly no. For once I'm reading a smart book; it's called Anna Karenina."

"Wow, real literature?"

"Don't sound so shocked, Sawyer. I do know how to read."

"I don't know if your usual fare counts as real reading," I teased; she tossed her book at my head and started laughing.

"You listening to your weird hipster music again?"

"I wouldn't call Iron and Wine hipster music but ok."

"I don't even know what that is."

"Probably cause not many people have heard of them." Sophie just laughed; my musical taste was extremely eclectic and ranged from death metal to classical depending on my mood. I guess that was true for everyone though, though not many people I knew could handle anything that wasn't Justin Bieber or One Direction. You'd think the rich kids at this school would be both wealthy and cultured, but that wasn't the case.

"Who would have iron with their wine? That sounds disgusting," When I looked up, a few of the barbies were standing in front of us; the tall brunette one and apparent leader, Cassandra Lake, had been a bitch to us since elementary school and somehow, even with all of these new people to torment, she always found us to be the most desirable victims.

"You're an idiot, Cassandra. Don't you have some other people to pick on?" Sophie asked.

"I'd prefer to pick on you, little girl lost. Why don't you come join the big leagues and leave the losers behind? It's where you belong," she said, smirking at me. I hated this bitch with a passion that I really just could not describe.

"If you only had a brain, Cassandra, maybe she would. Not all people want to hang around with dumb bimbos like you," I said, standing up.

"Nobody asked you, Jackson," snarled Cassandra.

"Go suck a fat one, Lake. Oh wait you do, on a regular basis. Tell me, have the rates gone up since last year or are hookers still being paid the same?" I got real close to her face as I spoke, so close that I could almost feel the fire I was sure would shoot out of her mouth and nose as I spoke.

"What did you just say to me?" she asked angrily.

"Are they paying hookers enough these days? Cause, you know, with the economy being the way it is, even hookers are bound to take a pay cut."

"Sawyer..." Sophie said, tapping my arm, "Can we go? I don't want to get involved in this."

"You can go, Sophie, but I'm sick of this bitch acting like she's better than everyone else. And if she won't learn in school, maybe I'm just the teacher she needs to get on track, not that she ever was in the first place; she'd need a brain to do that," I felt a hard shove, and suddenly I was on the ground. Cassandra Lake's waif-like hands were hitting my face with an alarming lack of force. I started to laugh before kicking her off of me and flipping her onto her back. I could hear Sophie gasp, but I wasn't even focused on that anymore. Cassandra Lake was finally going to learn, and I'd be the one to teach her.

"Get off of me, you crazy cow!" she shouted, but she couldn't move. I had her arms pinned to the ground.

"You are going to STOP terrorizing me and my friends or next time I'm going to be a lot less cool about this. Understand?" I said, getting off of her and standing up; I brushed the dirt off my jeans before turning away. Sophie offered Cassandra her hand to help her up, but Cassandra looked Sophie up and down before spitting on her hand.

"Let it go, Sawyer," Sophie said as I turned, slowly, back to Cassandra. I knelt down on the ground next to her, and as she recoiled, I moved just a bit closer.

"What did I just tell you?" I asked in a near whisper. My head began to swim; I could hear the man's voice from my dream, repeating there is no point in resisting over and over again until I felt like I was going mad, and my anger grew. I could feel my fists tense and ready for a fight.

"I don't think you know how it works around here, Jackson. You don't get to make the rules," she said as she tried to get up, but I pushed her back down.

"Wrong answer," I said as my fist made contact with her perfect nose; all of her friends started sniggering as their leader started to bleed. I laughed, "You learn yet? As much as I'd love to do that again, I'd rather not get blood on my shirt."

"You're going to pay for this, skank," Cassandra said as she got up, her army of followers all pulling various tissues and hankies out of their pockets and dabbing at her nose, but she swatted them away. I laughed as I wiped my hand on my jeans; I seriously hoped the blood wouldn't stain them, or I'd have a lot of explain to do with Mom. Sophie just glared at me before we collected our things and went inside; 4th period would start soon, and we always met Luca and Artie for lunch. We walked in silence until we reached the cafeteria, and even then, the only words we said were telling the lunch ladies what we wanted to eat, even though it was purely an illusion; we'd got out for more food later when we were supposed to be in Calculus.

"Are we going to talk about what just happened out there?" Sophie asked.

"What's there to talk about?" I shoved the bread into my mouth, but immediately spat it out. I loved the lunch ladies here dearly, but they never did seem to get bread just right; it was always just a bit too dry for my liking.

"Oh, I dunno, the fact that you just punched someone in the face?"

"She deserved it."

"Sawyer, you're like the most chill person ever. I've never seen you hurt a bug let alone a person."

"Just let it go, ok? I don't know why I felt so angry, I just did. I'm sick of taking shit from people, y'know?"

"It was that dream again wasn't it?"

"Yeah...I just...the man's voice in my head. I heard it while we were out there; it's never happened while I've been awake. I honestly just don't know..." Sophie patted my shoulder and kinda half-smiled. We picked away at our food until Luca and Artie arrived and sat next to us at the table. Luca wrapped his arms around me and kissed my forehead, and soon the fight was wiped from my mind.

"Did you guys have fun in Physics?" I asked.

"Oh God no. Don't get me wrong, I love physics, but I feel like I know all of this already. It's kindergarten stuff," Artie said, pulling out a textbook.

"Artie, you're too smart for your own good. Don't worry, someday when the robots take over you'll be amongst people who can think like you," Luca teased.

"Ha ha, you're hilarious," Artie said, trying to stifle laughter.

"So where are we going to go eat today? I love the caf ladies, but I can't eat this sludge. It tastes like one of my mom's culinary experiments and smells like a swamp," Luca asked, getting up.

"We could try that new Thai place on Yonge; it's supposed to be fantastic," Sophie said.

"I'm down for that," Artie and I said as we got up from our seats and started walking. Thai was Sophie's favorite food, even if she did cringe at the spice whenever we ate it.

As we walked, I started to hear the voice in my head again, repeating the same thing as it had when I had punched Cassandra; I felt my anger beginning to rise, and I felt myself getting short of breath as I tried to calm myself down. There is no point in resisting, but what?