Not Helping

Viviane

Okay, be warned this chapter is kinda long, but it's worth it so try to bear with me here. It's also one of my favorites, so I'm really excited to find out how it comes off to readers. Enjoy!

R&R

"Vi," Jazelle slaps the table, snapping me out of my daydreaming. "Team Gabrielle or Team Orion?" I roll my eyes so hard they almost stick back in my head.

"That's a joke right," I return. "I mean, you can't really be obsessing over an alleged divine entity when the actual fire hasn't even been cleaned up yet, right?" How are people still on this? It's like UFO sightings, or the Loch Ness Monster. There is literally no more reason to believe in the 'Summit St. Savior' as they're calling it, than in either of those.

"Okay, it was not that big a deal," she laughs.

"You know people almost died, right?" I can't be the only one who hears how bad that sounds.

"Well--yeah, I guess, but come on," she frowns. "Aren't there fires, like, all the time?"

"I mean there have to be or the fire department wouldn't be a thing anymore," Clarisse points out. The worst part about her flippant reasoning, is that it seems reason enough for the rest of them. I just shake my head.

"Yeah, they totally had it under control." 

Except they didn't. There were at least two different fire stations on site and they were spread thin enough to make rice paper weight-conscious.

"Just pick one, it's fun."

Oh, it's fun. How narrow minded of me. I've been thinking so hard about those two little boys losing their home that I'm missing the fun side of things.

"No thanks," I all but spit. "I don't take pleasure in others' misfortune." Crippling fascination is one thing, I guess, but the rose-tinted, pop culture filter they're looking at everything through? That needs to stop. I mean, teams? What did they think this was, Twilight?

It's all thanks to that spotty clip they wouldn't take off the news. One video, so much hype. It felt like the weekend had dragged on just to give everyone excess time to dissect and re-dissect every stinking frame. Marlin, Erika, the cheer team, the diving team, my lab group—and I still had to listen to it through lunch? Come on people! Do you guys hear that? It's life, still happening around you, care to step back in.

"It's a...I don't—God, do you always have to be so self-righteous," she pouts.

"How is this on me?!" I gape at her, dropping my tray in disdain.

"Okay, cool it," Donna jumps in, over-settling the situation. "Yes, interest is a little misguided, but you have to admit, the whole thing is blown kinda out of proportion. Seriously, the fire couldn't have been that bad and still not killed anyone.

"No no," I qualify. "The fire was the real deal."

"How would you know?" Erika challenges.

I open my mouth, but Monica jumps ahead of me. "She was at the party, remember? It was around the corner." Is that what I said? I barely remember anything from before "Hell's Fury"—that's what they were calling the fire—commandeered all intelligent conversation.

"Oh yeah, how was that?" Clarisse asks.

"Um, I dunno." The first non-angel related topic that's been brought up in days and I won't even be able to carry it. "It kind of petered out. I think people bailed to watch the fire."