The Things We See

Chapter Four

AN:
I'd like to start by apologising. I'm so sorry about the long wait for this chapter, school work and lack of inspiration are barricades that have been holding me back for the past few weeks, however I've now broken past them, and this chapter is extra long as a thank-you for being so patient. My new schedule for updates might be a little slower after this (i.e there won't be a new one every week) but I'll still get them out. Thank you for sticking with this story!

(Dedicated to Caity0285 , the last dedication.)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading this!

- Kaitlin
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Some time over the weekend, Cody had been sent a copy of her timetable, and was cooly delighted to report that she and Valerie would be spending a majority of their classes together. So it had been no surprise when Cody had strolled into first period five minutes late, thrown her books down on the desk next to Valerie's, and hurriedly began to copy her maths homework.

"So you aren't going to do anything by yourself?" Valerie asked, trying to conceal a playful smile. "Not even one of the easy questions?"

"Do I look like I have time for that?" Cody glanced up at her with raised eyebrows and gestured to the teacher, who was wandering around the room to check people had completed their work, before writing down Valerie's answer to question fourteen. "Even if I did," she continued detachedly, closing both of their books, "I'm absolutely shit at maths. I have no passion for it and can I assure you that I will never need to use trigonometry or geometry in my life after school. Unfortunately, it is still a requirement that I learn it, so to make sure I only put in the most minimal amount of effort, this will probably happen every class in the foreseeable future."

Valerie shrugged, "you can do whatever you want so long as you change a few answers. Ms McLean will kill us if it looks like you copied."

"Neat." Cody sank down in her chair and pulled her phone out of the side pocket in her blazer, unlocking it to reveal flappy bird already open on the screen. Valerie's eyebrows jumped up as the shorter girl proceeded to lose atrociously, tapping furiously and still only managing to pass through one checkpoint.

"That," Valerie said, "was painful to watch."

Cody scoffed in reply and handed her phone to Valerie. "Sue me. Anyway, I'd like to see you do any better."

* * * * * * * *

As the saying: "time flies when you're having fun" goes, the rest of the double lesson passed mercifully quickly. Valerie nudged Cody and pointed to the clock just before the teacher let them out.
"Groovy," the other girl mouthed, crookedly smirking when Valerie grimaced.

"That word is outdated..." she muttered, picking up her books and leading the way out of the room.

"I do what I want," replied Cody with a grin, turning left to get to her locker while Valerie swerved right. A crowd of students bustled around behind her, their chatter all melding together in a way that made it impossible to distinguish a single voice- almost like the cicadas that chirped deafeningly outside her window at night. Dozens of regulation shoe-clad feet squeaked on the smooth, tiled floor. Valerie sighed and put her folders away neatly, flipping a strand of dark hair behind her shoulder when it fell into her face.

She had a free period next. Perhaps she could grab Cody and study for their french test in the canteen. Valerie still needed to buy her a hot chocolate anyway. She pulled her phone out of her pocket when it buzzed, and found that Cody seemed to have beat her to any invitation she could send.

Cody:
canteen ASAP. be there or be square, shithead.

Valerie snorted and replied with a quick "got it, asshole," before hefting her books and walking down the hall. Fresh, clean air hit her nose when she made it outside and she breathed it in happily, almost unaware that the main school building had smelled of sweat and what ever three week old lunch Mandy "Out Of Date" McAlister probably still had her locker. Valerie felt a sort of sympathy for her over the nickname and the gossip, but the rumours had been too fun to listen to, and if they were true then she felt worse for whichever unfortunate teacher that had stumbled across the mouldy sandwich in Mandy's bag last term than Mandy herself.

The sudden nudge of a bony elbow to her ribs pulled her out of her train of thought. "You have a spare now, right?" Jaime asked her.

"Yep," Valerie replied, bumping their shoulders together "I'm studying with the new girl, her name's Cody."

"The one you spilled a drink on last week?" Jaime raised a teasing eyebrow. "That new girl?"

Valerie's face reddened. "Shut up," she muttered. "That was a simple misunderstanding. I like to think it never happened."

"Got it," Jaime patted her her arm. "It never happened."

"Your secrecy is appreciated, although I'm pretty sure everyone in the school already heard about it..." Valerie said. "Moving on, how are things with you and Ryan?" She regretted asking the question when her friend's eyes became downcast.

"I don't know..." he murmured. "And I wish I didn't care either, but I can't stop myself from wondering what I did to deserve any of this. He... He threw some shit at me after I turned him down. Called me a slut among other things, because I wouldn't take him back. How bull is that..?" Valerie looked back, unsure what to say as he stopped walking for a minute and shook his head miserably. Instead of offering advice she didn't have though, she pulled her best friend into a hug full of silent comforts and unspoken sympathy, their arms wrapped tightly around each other's shoulders.

"I have no idea what to tell you." She rubbed his back softly. "I just- I'm always here with you, and for the record, Ryan and Max are shitheads who deserve each other's unpleasant company. You're so much better than those assholes in so many ways. Never forget that."

"Yeah... Okay." Jaime pulled away and offered Valerie a pathetic smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Thanks. Anyway, we've reached your destination." He gestured to the double doors of the cafeteria ahead of them before continuing. "I have double english now, have a fun staring at the new girl instead of studying for your test!"

"Hey! Fuck you!" Valerie called after him in mock-anger, but if he had heard her, she didn't see the smile that would have been on his face.

And if she didn't exactly deny what had accused her of, then no one but them needed to know.