Through Her Eyes | Book #1

chapter 3.

           

"You could have sent us a message letting us know what happened. We were worried sick!"

Zoey hadn't stopped lecturing Kathy ever since she had arrived at school the next day with her spare pair of eyeglasses and an excuse as to why she had skipped classes without sparing them a single text message. In her defense, she had been half the afternoon at her mother's kitchen, watching her make a sleep potion, and the other half in her father's study, watching him make sigils and learning how he was able to create them out of nothing more than his imagination.

In her defense, she had just discovered she was a witch.

"Zoey, I texted you both before bed saying I was sorry. I listened to you lecturing me all morning and I apologized about fifty more times after that. Can we please drop this?" Kathy had barely slept that night and a deep sigh left her lips as she allowed her head to rest on her hand and close her eyes for a second. If it hadn't been for the chattering of the rest of the class as they formed groups around the room, she would have fallen asleep with her arms on the table and her head on her hands. "I'm really sorry, Zoey."

Zoey stared at her friend with a worried look on her eyes. She hadn't meant to come out as too harsh. At the beginning she had been genuinely worried but, for a while now, it had just become fun to pick on her as a small revenge for not having replied to their messages all day. Normally, if Kathy would get sick (which barely ever happened), she'd be in bed and spamming both Zoey and Ana with text messages all day, reaching a point where it became maddening, to a lack of better sense. If Zoey had to be honest though, she secretly loved the attention she'd get from Kathy those days. She was a sappy one, after all.

Blue irises moving from Kathy to Ana, she exchanged a glance with the brown-haired girl that had been with her eyes on the new book she had bought all morning. She looked at the other as if questioning what was wrong with Kathy. All she received as a reply was a shrug and Ana returning her gaze to the book open on top of the table. Zoey couldn't help but roll her eyes in exasperation.

"Fine. I'll stop worrying about you then," with a pout on her lips, she sat down dramatically on her seat, but never turning her back to Kathy. In fact, she stole glances at her every few seconds as if waiting for her friend to say something or make fun of her for the childish action. It wouldn't be Kathy if she wouldn't play along.

"You wouldn't be able to."

"Kathy's got a point," Ana finally spoke, never lifting her eyes from the book. "You're literally always clinging to her. It's gross."

"I am not!" Zoey gasped, earning laughter from Kathy that was sudden amused at the interactions between her two best friends. It got her mind off of everything that had happened the day before. She wasn't able to verbalize just how thankful she was to the two girls for always being there for her and cheering her up even without knowing exactly what had happened. "She's the one always clinging to me!"

"Denial is the first symptom of an obsession. Just thought you should know."

Laughter left Kathy's lips yet again as Ana and Zoey bickered with each other. Normally, Ana was a quiet girl, not really giving much away about herself even to her best friends. Besides Kathy and Zoey, a book always kept her company and she seemed to hold each one to her chest everywhere she went, whether she accompanied her friends or if she was alone, walking to school. And yet, Kathy couldn't help but realize just how far her friend has gotten. It took her a long time to open up to her and Zoey but now, after years of knowing each other, they could suddenly hear her joke around with them or find out something new about her that they hadn't know until that moment. Every day felt like a journey and almost as if they were one step closer to finding out the person Ana hid beneath all the layers, beyond the surfaces and walls she put up.