Crazy Enough...

Chapter 7

Over the next week I became well acquainted with Vincent and Makenzie, but I still sat with Toby and them at lunch. On Friday that week, however, they all left to go do some secretive investigation, and I sat with Vincent and Makenzie at lunch. I was not invited on the expedition with the rest of the group, and I thought it was due to the fact that I had become somewhat distant around them. I had just met them, but I felt close to them, until I wasn't.

"Why do you sit with them?" Makenzie asked, not in an upfront rude way, but with more innocent curiosity.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, they're all a little gossipy, don't you think?" Makenzie responded.

"What do you mean by 'gossipy'?"

"They're really into all the drama, and they tend to value their opinions on other people's matters above all else. They also feel that they need to know anything and everything about everyone, especially Rianne Johnson," he said Ria's name with such emphasis, like it was cursed or something.

"She is a little into gossip, but I never saw it as a terrible thing," I was defending them, and I don't even know why.

"Well it's not just her, it's all of them," Makenzie's lip curled in a disgusted manner.

"Yeah, they were really judgemental when Makenzie came out," Vincent added after his prolonged silence.

"Came out? You're..." I paused.

"Gay? Oh yeah, totally," he said it so unreluctantly.

"Oh, have you ever had a boyfriend?" I asked.

"No, apparently guys just aren't that into me," Makenzie said with a hit of sorrow in his voice.

"Huh, but same," we all laughed when I said this, and for a moment, I thought I felt real friendship.

The rest of the day was dull as could be, but Makenzie was in my fourth period class, which jazzed thing up a bit. The walk home was lonely, and didn't get better when Toby ran up from behind me.

"Hey Els, where were you at lunch?" Toby asked, huffing a little.

"In the caf, why?" I asked.

"We were waiting for you," he said this as if it were as obvious as the fact that the sun rose every morning.

"Oh, why?" I was even more confused now.

"Because we thought you were coming," he said in a 'well-duh' sort of voice.

"I was never invited though," I reasoned.

"None of us were directly invited, it was just a general meet-up. Why would you think we would specifically invite you?" he asked sounded offended.

"I don't know," I was putting up my walls of defense, for I felt under attack suddenly. I felt like I was being ambushed somehow, and it didn't get better, when Ria caught up with us.

"Hey, El, why didn't you show up? Someone told me you were with Vincent Krasen and Makenzie Nickels," she commented, and at first, I didn't know who she was talking about because I don't know their last names.

"Oh, yeah I was. Why, is it a bad thing?" I was feeling very self-conscious at that point, and wanted to simply run home, and get away from it all.

"Well they're kind of judgemental, that's all. they 're also a little self-centred," she sounded repulsive at the thought of them.

"Oh, they seemed so nice though," I said, deciding not to mention the fact that we had talked about her.

"Yeah, they can do that. You should maybe just stick with us," Ria smiled. At this point, we were walking down the street towards my house.