"i never spread her nudes," kenneth stuttered out, giving away his lies.
everyone stopped prodding him on, knowing that it was way too obvious that he was lying. the boy could never kill, it almost looked like he would pee his pants everytime someone mentioned kill and person in one sentence.
"what we're doing here is pointless!" april huffed and stood up, hugging her arms to herself as the air grew colder. "can we make a bonfire please? let's atleast not die of hypothermia."
"someone's going to see the fire," florence replied, looking up at the girl.
"you should talk more. it seems like you're the only sensible one here," angelie pointed out.
florence didn't respond anymore, only sending a shy smile in angelie's way as she nodded.
"nobody's gonna notice the fire though, if you're gonna ask for my opinion. the trees would cover up the light emanating from the bonfire, and the house is too cramped with loud music and drunk people, it's too unlikely that they'll notice. plus, the house is a lot farther away than you think." josh laid out his thoughts for them.
"you're sensible too, josh." angelie sighed. "c'mon flo, let's get wood. sean and julian, you're coming with."
sean and julian begrudgingly stood up as they followed the two girls walk over to the side of the shed that had a pile of firewood. gasoline was also on a table nearby with a couple of matches from the rusty box.
"sean, i didn't mean t--"
"julian." sean sighed, taking firewood into his arms. "it's fine. we're all stressed and on the edge. i understand."
julian shook his head and said, "no. that was still unca--"
"really, juls, shut up. more drama isn't needed."
that shut julian up. so he only continued to take the firewood his thin arms could hold, and walked back to where the others were.
behind them trailed florence and angelie who finally sparked up a conversation.
"how come you never talk so much?" angelie curiously asked.
florence felt comfortable enough to talk around angelie, seeing as she was the student body president and she was known to be friendly and gentle.
florence tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "i guess i don't really have any reason to talk besides answering teachers' questions."
"you could do a lot of things with your voice." angelie gently smiled. "like voicing out your opinions and feelings, like a human."
"maybe i'm not human, or maybe i just don't feel." she laughed then. "i guess i'm just not too talkative or open about it."
"that's fine. you know you could always talk to me right?"
"yeah, of course. we're both asians after all, and we must stick together to fight against the undying racism and bullying in school." she quietly hummed to herself. "that sucks."
"wow," angelie breathed out, "that was smart."
"yeah, i'm the school nerd for a reason." florence laughed, and angelie followed along with her.
sean and julian dropped the firewood on the ground, and josh and zoë, being the only ones who knew how to make this fire work, got on to making a bonfire.
florence handed over the gasoline she held, and angelie handed over the box of matches.
"hey flor," april appeared beside her, "or should i call you that?"
florence only nodded, unsure of how to act around the more superior student.
"you seem so scared of me," april remarked, "don't be. i don't bite."
florence nodded again.
"i'm sorry for whatever it is that autumn did to you," april solemnly said with her head bowed down. they were both turned to the fire that was almost rising, "you didn't deserve any of that."
"then why didn't you say anything?" florence surprisingly found herself biting back.
april was stunned at the snarky response, her eyes widening as she looked at the school nerd who almost never talked.
"sorry. it's a touchy topic. you must kow that."
"yeah, yeah." april appeared flustered. "sorry about that."
"huh." zoë suddenly smirked as cocked her head to look at florence.
"what?" florence cocked her head to the side too, as she was clueless with the sudden accusing sound.
zoe dropped the lit up match to the firewood drenched in gasoline, and the whole thing lit up in colors of red and orange and hints of yellow.
"you know what they say," the fire illuminated zoë's face as she looked up at florence, "the bullied is always the psycho who breaks away from sanity in the end, like a real cliché story."
