Paper Cuts (COMPLETED)

Chapter Twelve: The Girl in the Park

Sunday shone with golden sunlight, beaming through my window in the early hours of the morning. I instantly remembered the events from the night before, and let my head thump back onto my pillow as I suppressed a shameful whimper.

My head pounded, and I moaned softly against clenched teeth. I rolled out of bed and stumbled downstairs. The house was empty, and I checked the time. It was half eleven.

I made myself a smoothie, and gulped it down my parched throat. My eyes were gooey from sleeping so long, and the bright sun forced me to squint even more. I sat in the gravel courtyard out the back of our house, and the sun was warm on my skin despite the frisk November air.

My phone buzzed on the iron table, and I picked it up. It was Shiloh.

"Hello?"

"Hi!"

"What do you need, sister?" I said in a sardonic drawl.

"Come to Hyde Park with me."

I paused to sip some more of my smoothie, "Ah, when?"

"Is half twelve good for you?"

I looked down at my pyjamas, "Um. Sure. Why not."

--

We walked down a dirt path strewn with gold and brown leaves. I savoured the warmth of the latte between my hands, and occasionally took a timid sip of the scalding drink. Shiloh wore a long black coat over wide-leg pants and a button-up blouse, with a cream leather satchel hanging over her shoulder. She was the vision of everything but a teenage girl.

"He's definitely very green," Shiloh said of Matt, "especially in the way of girls. I wonder if he's ever touched one before."

"I don't think so," I mused, and we both laughed. I hadn't been one to miss the sexual tension between the two - sexual tension is not a phrase I like to use, for the record, but I can't phrase it any more colloquially than flirting, which would imply some effort.

We came to a bench and sat down. I crossed my legs and folded my arms against the cold.

"Yeah, well, he's really sweet," she said, and I nodded. An awkward silence drifted, and I sipped the warm coffee in my hands.

"So, what's the drama between you and that Clara girl?"

I kept my mouth on the coffee cup and hesitated, but Shiloh went on anyway.

"I heard she committed suicide," she said, trailing off to make it a question. I nodded stiffly, the memory of last night when I'd cried my eyes out in front of Will rising up my spine in shivers.

"Was she your friend?" she said, and then turned to face me with a searching look, "Were those other girls your friends too?"

"Yep," I said into the coffee with a confessional inhale.

Shiloh slumped and pursed her lips, "What happened?" I hesitated, and she shook her head, waving it off, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No," I said, sitting up straighter, "It's ok. I'll tell you."

"Ok," said Shiloh.

"Well, basically, last summer I was -"

"Hey! Shiloh!"

I looked up, mouth still open with the rest of my sentence drifting silently into the cold air. Shiloh followed my gaze to where Thea jogged over to us. What is she doing?

"H-hi...?" Shiloh said, giving me a raised brow to the side. I watched on in horror.

"Hey, I forgot to introduce myself. I always introduce myself to new people," Thea said, and reached her hand out for Shiloh to take. Shiloh reached out tentatively and shook it. "I'm Thea."

I was staring holes into the side of her head in shock, but she made a point of ignoring me, as though I wasn't there. I couldn't believe what I was witnessing.

"I'm having a dinner at my house tonight," Thea continued with a shiny smile, "you're welcome to come if you want."

Shiloh looked at me uncomfortably as she stammered a reply, "Uh... I-I think I'll get back to you later..."

"Great!" Thea said, and waved goodbye as she jogged off again. 

Not once did she look at me.

"What was that?!" Shiloh gasped, but I was frozen to the seat. My heart was pounding in my head, my eyes tearing up from not blinking.

"Bitch."