Stay...Calm

Chapter 17

Pauline pumped out a fast song of the piano. It went up and down quicker than even she could comprehend. Her fingers moved so fast that they were just a blur to the naked eye. Timothy and Yolanda were standing side by side by the piano. Timothy was watching in pure, wide-eyed disbelief. Yolanda just looked smug. Once Pauline finished up her song with a ping, she just turned to them with a cute smile. Timothy handed Yolanda a ten dollar bill.

"How can a song with the word 'bumblebee' in it be so fast?" he gasped.

"How can it be so easy to bank on all you kids' stupidity?" she responded. Pauline raised her hand.

"Why are you hanging out with kids half your age?" Pauline asked. Yolanda rolled her eyes, pocketed the money, and rubbed her wrinkling forehead.

"Really gotta remind me?" she groaned. "If you haven't noticed, it's been getting even harder to hang out with my own best friend."

"No, I haven't noticed," Pauline admitted, retaining the smile.

"C'mon you guys." Yolanda let her arm fall to her sides. "Most of you are in middle school, right? You know how it feels."

"I didn't have any friends," Victorine pointed out. Yolanda stared at her, kind of disappointed but kind of expecting it. Opal entered the area, flashing a smile, with Gina following behind her. The air in the room became just a bit more uncomfortable.

"Wow, there's really a lot of people here," Opal announced.

"No kidding," Yolanda responded, sarcastically.

"We just want to be polite," Opal defended, still smiling but with hints of guilt.

"I just wanna be not lon-" Gina muttered.

"I know, kid," Yolanda said. Gina bit her lip and uttered something under her breath. She couldn't even finish that thought before she had her toe stepped on as Opal tried to walk forward. At least she noticed it enough to apologize.

"We're just trying to get friendly with the people we have to live with for a while," Opal told everyone.

"I never tried anything like that," Yolanda admitted. "Within a day, I hated half the people here. But hey, doesn't hurt to have some allies."

She winked at Victorine, who was mid-split on the floor. Opal pointed at her.

"I used t' be able to do one of those!" she exclaimed, nudging her friend. "Remember all the people I impressed at camp!"

Victorine rolled her eyes as she rolled out of it, and slipped back onto her feet. As Opal rambled on about some old childhood memories, while Victorine slipped right to Yolanda. The women grabbed her arm. Surprised, Victorine looked right in her worried eyes.

"This'll sound weird," Yolanda whispered. "But do you think you could...watch Jacey a little? Like, not stalk her or anything. Just...check on her?"

Victorine gave her a sideways glare. Yolanda sighed. "I know, I know. But I haven't been able to do too much with her lately, and you know it. I won't be that hard. Just let me know that girl's okay."

Victorine nodded approvingly, and Yolanda let go of her arm. Without making a noise, she slipped away. She went straight to the barrier overlooking the living room and climbed on top of it. Her eyes scanned the room: nothing...nothing...there!

They were on the couch with Buckley sitting on the sofa next to them. He was rambling on, making it hard to even decipher what he was saying. It was like one long run-on sentence coming out of his mouth.

Parker and Jacey were looking in different ways, the tension still in the air, but slowly slipping away like a snake that just finished its meal. Jacey was rubbing her fingers together. Parker's arm was draped over the couch, close to falling down and wrapping around her. And during those few moments where they blinked, stuttered, and locked eyes, it lasted. Once Victorine had spent enough time staring at the body language, she tried listening in.