Perpetual Tuesday

Preface

I have always hated Tuesdays. Especially Tuesdays in the winter, when it's cold. I hate the cold. Mondays, at least, have a new week feel to them and Wednesdays start the excitement for the approaching weekend. Tuesdays seem to drag, they're gray and they're boring. They make me feel heavy like I've got anchors tied to my limbs. By the end of the day, I'm worn out and not feeling like doing much of anything. Having a few good friends is the only thing to salvage the awful feeling of a Tuesday.

My locker squeaks as I pull it open and stare blankly for a moment at my books. Too tired to think about what I need to get for my first classes. I continue to stare, my index finger absent mindedly brushing over the spine of The Great Gatsby. Today is January 28th, exactly five months until graduation. It's unbelievable how time moves so quickly, sand between your fingers.
"Hey Cella!" Diara squeals slightly as she makes her way to my side.
"Hey," I mutter in return. I have never understood her morning cheer.
"Emilia's parents actually let her stay over last night," she whispers excitedly into my ear.
Robotically I close my locker, slack jawed.
"You're kidding," I reply, my eyes as wide as hers.
"Nope! And on a school night no less!" She says, her happiness basically leaking out of her pours.
Diara, Emilia and I have been best friends since we were young. When we turned 15, Diara came out to us that she liked girls. It only took about two weeks for Emilia to admit to the same and around the time we turned 18, they became a couple. Emilia and Diara seem to work better than any relationship I've ever been in, but Emilia's parents are sort of weary about it all, so them letting her stay at Diara's house is a huge step that I didn't expect.
"I can't wait to tell Terra," Diara muses.
Leaning against the row of faint yellow lockers, I smirk,
"Here's your chance."
When Emilia and Diara first got together they liked to be alone, navigating uncharted waters and such. That's when Terra and I became closer friends. Eventually she became friends with the others, too. It's hard to not be friends with Terra Sykes. She's the type of person that can make friends with anyone. Stoner, popular, theatre kid, math whiz, she was friends with them all.
"Hey ladies," Terra says, with a large smile, her curly strawberry red hair bouncing. She puts her left arm around my shoulders. "So, what's the latest gossip?"
I laugh, and jut my chin out toward Diara. "Oh, she'll tell you." I say.
Terra's green eyes hone in on Diara's face. She laughs that hearty laugh that makes everyone wish they could look that good while laughing that uncontrollably.
"You and Emilia totally hooked up! Didn't you?!" she says too loudly and people turn to look at us.
"Oh, grow up!" Terra yells at the onlookers. "Now tell me all about it!" she says.
Emilia then struts up, wearing a floral print dress and flats.
"You look happy today." I comment, smug.
She puts on her cheesiest of smiles and says; "That would be because I am, ma'am!"
Laughter spills out of me, I lean forward clutching my stomach as it cramps up. My leather jacket is suddenly too tight and I pull it off, lying it on the ground beside my Doc Martin clad feet.
"Hey Terra," a deep voice calls out from behind us, she removes her arm from my neck as we turn around.
Five people stand before us and I stare at them as if I've been watching the same TV show for hours and I'm bored of the same one dimensional characters.
"Hey guys, what up?!" Terra smiles.
"There's a party Friday at Kent's place, you should come." Hadley George says, sneering at me, I smile obnoxiously at her and cross my arms. My good mood vanished. Gone as quickly as time or the sand through my fingers.
"Oh yeah, if my friends can come, I'll definitely be there." She's good. They all look at each other, weighing the positives of having Terra there versus the negatives of having the three of us there, too.
Hadley and her lap dog, Claire Doyle, stand with their hands on their hips, contemplating.
"Well, what do you guys think?" they ask, turning to the guys that stand behind them, Kent Holden, Gabriel St. Clair and Terra's brother, Grayson Sykes.
"Whatever." Kent mummbles, walking away.
"Oh, I say the more the merrier!" Gabriel says, snaking his arm around my waist, I twist away from him instantly.
"See you there, then." Terra says cheerily, but her eyes are deadly, locked on Hadley's. They're friends, pretty good friends at that, but Hadley doesn't approve of Terra's choice to hang out with us, particularly me, though I don't know why. Maybe because she knows I have a thing for her boyfriend, Kent. But even I know that's not something that would happen.
Kent has always been in the "popular" crowd but to me he's always seemed like he doesn't belong with them. He always seemed to be the exact opposite of his best friend Gabriel, who's always talking about random hookups and his best plays in football. I understand how Gabe and Grayson get along, they both stick to what they know; football, parties, meaningless sex and each other. Kent just seems like he thinks more than they do, like maybe he is more than they are.