Not Helping

Karin

"Hey girl!" That was Jazelle's voice coming up on my left. Instinctively my eyes dart to the right where I expect to see Clarisse approaching. They'd always been inseparable. There was actually a squad joke about it--something to do with Siamese twins.

True to form, Clarisse is already in my peripheral. Close. Her hair licks my jawline. I fold my arms, conserving space as they flank me.

"Hold still a sec," Jazelle says, latching onto my shoulder, tugging at a lock of my bangs. I shrug her off immediately, combing them back with my fingers. "Why are you always covered in feathers?"

I've been so quiet for the day, my voice sticks a little in my throat. "My mom's house is practically made of them," I mumble, still making absolutely certain I've coaxed my swept-over haircut back into place. My fingers run into hers as she tries to strain another bit of down through the ombre strands. She draws back at the same time that I bat her away. Seriously, boundaries.

"Still, did you, like, not shower this morning or something?" she asked rhetorically, "And you've been out for hours--"

"They get in my stuff, okay?"

"Maybe they're hers," Jazelle snickers.

"Yeah, Karin could be the angel." You'd think they'd at least try to mask the sarcasm.

"Look, can we cut to the chase here?

"What?"

"What do you want?!" I snap, picking up my pace down the corridor. Helpful tip: if you have to dig that deep for conversation starters, you're probably better off just skipping straight to what you want. Business style. I don't do small talk—that's for people with time. I also don't "share"—that's for people who have friends. They weren't my friends, and weren't interested in becoming my friends either. No one from the squad hung around me for my company. I shot a look Clarisse's way. She's usually the needier one.

"Do me a solid, I just need a pass for tonight."

I wait for a full five seconds before realizing that's all she has to say.

"That's it?"

"Yeah," she grins sharing an excited look with Jazelle. "Leaving school now would mean beating the holiday rush at the airport."

Right, Labor Day, long weekend. Some people take trips on those.

"Just you or both of you?" I had to ask. They treated themselves like one person sometimes, used "we" in singular situations and crap like that. It was disturbing, but also made me wonder what it could be like to think you know someone that well, that the know you, to like it that way?

Clarisse points to herself, smiling brightly as I nod my understanding.

"No."

She blinks at me a couple times as though she'd expected to hear something different. "But Rin it's not like I've ever missed a practice before!"

"No one misses practice. No one ever misses practice." Was she for real? Attendance isn't a badge of honor. It's the minimum requirement. I dropped three girls last season for not making practices. We don't even have a full week schedule. It should not be that hard to set aside an hour and a half every other day for the extracurricular of their choice. It's not like anyone got drafted to join cheer. What were they planning to do when their spoiled butts had nine to five jobs every day? Not to mention families. You can't call in sick on kids.

"It's one day," she whines, grabbing at my arm and making me stumble into Jazelle. "Come on, for old time's sake?"

"You know I don't play that."