CHAPTER FOURTEEN
FRIDAY OF THE...NIGHT
"So...... McCall? How did that happen?"
She sat on one of the tables, laid out in the sports hall that the school had to offer. The committee who had planned this had clearly sought to put a minimal effort into the rushed decorations of the room where each table simply had an off white sheet decked over the wooden piece. At least there was a consideration for the single flower placed in the pot.
Moving on, her night hadn't been the most exciting. It was Scott's idea to be early to an event that required people to be considered as fun. So she was seated in the plastic chairs that they had to offer, twisting around the single strands of her hair around the two bare fingertips she had to use. Not to mention that the icy winds that November had to bring in from the east were shaking her from the toes upwards.
Roman is looking at her brother — yes, the boy who had willingly stayed with her throughout the whole ordeal, smashing his thumbs on his screen. He presumes it's the same girl, but she hasn't heard much about her. Whatever it is that they're talking about, she assumes that he's happy. That's the important thing. He deserves to be happy. For everything that he's done. And for everything that he is.
He was rarely ever happy. She remembers when they were younger, Roman was seven so you could guess the others. Roman wasn't always so dismal and sardonically unpleasant. She would wear a wide toothed grin proudly despite her two front teeth going missing in the local swimming pool. Leo was never so bothered about his appearance or so overprotective over his two sisters. He had been the one to watch their parents die and collapse in front of him as he held his two sisters close to him, like he thinks it could protect them.
Katherine didn't change. She's always been nitty and picky and concentrated on her spells, incantations, tarot cards and tea leaves. She was always so focused on the future that she never takes the time to see how the past has affected her corrupted present.
She's sitting at this table, a pale tigerlilly in its rare flowering form. Something was missing from her hair and Katherine insisted for her to wear the damn thing in her hair. She was reluctant but she did put it in, but she took it out again. Flowers belonged to people who were regarded as beautiful, special. She didn't feel like either of those things.
"It never happened. I just felt bad about the Allison ordeal so I agreed to go with him. But obviously, that didn't work out," she replies, a bitter sardonic tone tainting her words.
"What about that Lahey kid? You seem pretty smitten whenever he's around," Leo snickers, quickly cowering in defeat when he feels the harsh kick in his shin. "Okay, I get it. You don't like talking about your feelings with your big brother. Personally I don't like talking about mine with you but Katherine isn't really into all that stuff so you're my only option."
"Wow," Roman scoffs. "Does Leonardo Lance actually have a heart? I'm seriously shocked! Why was I never informed about this before?"
Floods of people wash into the hall, an empty burrow becoming a noisy bee hive. Leo had also disappeared in the waves of adolescence which was fine, she supposes, but she didn't want to be alone in that moment. In fact, she attempted to walk away and out into the field to give herself some breathing space. Her feelings were out of check, her mind unsettled and she was slowly regretting not staying at home with her sister.
Her shift was short so she was probably at home, enjoying the soft static of the old box and hot tea. Probably jasmin, but she preferred chamomile. Something about it made her feel settled. Unfortunately, all she was surrounded by were half empty cups with cranberry juice, possibly spiked with vodka. The stench alone was a tell tale that these waves had somehow managed to infect the drink alone.
