"Silver sharpies are weak." Jared roared, pulling a golden marker from his pocket, "Check this shit out!"
Logan and Vee watched Carter storm off, shoving the heavy cafeteria doors open and stalk off into the chill pines around the school. "Why was she so mad?" He asked.
Vee shrugged lightly, "She just is sometimes."
A long time ago, Vee had learned not to take the outbursts personally. Carter had always had a short temper, and it was always worse at school. Vee knew how to step around Carter when she was irritable, but not everyone cared to avoid stepping on her toes.
"Think she'll ditch the rest of the day?" Logan asked. Next to him, Tiana hunched over Vee's yearbook, writing what seemed like a cursive essay. Her elegant handwriting matched her striking appearance, Vee had come to learn.
"Probably." Vee said, "Leave some space, Tee. I want everyone I can get to sign that."
"Well, I'm the most important." Tiana joked.
"Does she drink alcohol, Vee?" Logan asked, his hazel eyes curious.
"Er, I don't think so. Why?" Vee asked at the random question. Most parents let their kids try alcohol. But to actively drink it was unheard of amongst the middle schoolers.
Carter always refused drinks when Nadia offered them, but when the topic came up she seemed familiar with beer.
"I just heard she does. I was just wondering." Logan explained, "That, and she smokes."
"She smells like she does." Jessica murmured, using a small mirror to adjust her eyelashes.
Jared leaned across the plastic fold-away lunch table, stealing the yearbook away from Tiana. "My turn." He said.
"I wasn't done!" Tiana protested.
Vee watched the door Carter had left from. She learned a long time ago not to push Carter's buttons when she was in a bad mood, and her peers pressing on her when she was trying to walk away was doing just that. She didn't want to see Carter snap here, not on the last day of school.
Otherwise Vee would have waited till after lunch to pull out her book- as the school let's students wander the halls in the final hour before summer break specifically so students could pass their books around. It didn't seem as fun if everyone's already signed Vee's yearbook.
"You guys are staying at this school for high school, right?" Omar asked.
Vee nodded. There was another smaller school in the back of the town for high schoolers specifically. Cole went to that one- it was further away but the majority of his friends from junior high and elementary school live deeper in the town, and he wanted to stay with them.
"Good." He said, leaning back in his chair and running his fingers through his black hair, "I didn't want to find more people to sit with."
"Hey, can I sign your yearbook next, Vee?" Dylan asked, pulling a black sharpie from his backpack.
"Duh!" Vee grinned.
