Lost & Insecure

Sixteen - The Silence

Dana was working all weekend long so no one, especially Katie, had a chance to speak to her until Monday morning rolled around and school proudly interfered with life. From the moment Dana pulled her car into the school parking lot on Monday morning, people fought for her attention and time. Even Eddie had to fight people off in order to ask his cousin a simple question. People acted as if in forty-eight hours the world in their small town had fallen apart and Dana was the only salvation.

Several students required tutoring for math before the big unit test at the end of the week. Ashley needed to speak to her friend about anything and everything. Eddie struggled to pull his own weight in keeping Dana's attention long enough to receive more than one word responses from her. Marissa fought for at least one conversation alone with Dana. The yearbook all of the sudden groveled for Dana to become a photographer for them, and begged to steal her time away from photo club. And among all other things, Katie was failing to take Marissa's advice and fight for Dana.

Dana didn't understand the flood of attention she received on Monday, but she also didn't mind it too much. The busyness caused Dana's Monday to fly by so, to her, that was a plus. The only downside was that by the end of the day, Dana wanted a break from all of the craziness.

Katie had given up on her attempts before the day was even half over. She decided she'd wait until some other time to speak to Dana even though Katie knew that when that time eventually came all that she'd be able to say might be a half-hearted "hello." Katie sighed to herself thinking about it.

Katie walked out of the school after the final bell rang and headed towards the student parking lot. She walked to the same two spaces that Jesse parked in every day. The way Jesse saw it, taking up two spaces was a "safety investment." He couldn't afford an ignorant teenager to damage his baby in any way, shape, or form. If anything, he was doing the world a favor by parking like this.

Katie followed her daily routine of rolling her eyes at the sight of the jeep backed into two spaces, sent a fake smile towards her oh-so-loving-and-perfect boyfriend whom was somewhat patiently waiting in the car already, and climbed into the passenger seat. Katie and Jesse sat in silence waiting for Marissa to find her way to the car. Jesse huffed out a large breath in aggravation of the world not being on his schedule, and directed his attention towards his phone in order to occupy his time.

Katie glanced at her phone for no more than two seconds after seeing there were no notifications or messages, and then went on to stare out of the window watching the world around her. She instantaneously straightened in her seat at the sight of Marissa, being eager to get home. Katie's excited posture faded after noticing the person Marissa was walking with.

Marissa's expression, at first, wasn't at her usual bright smile. She was upset for once, and it clearly showed. That's when Dana immediately began her attempt to make Marissa feel better and started going on and on about a completely random topic while attempting to keep a straight face. Dana nonsense seemed to pull a small smile out of the corner of Marissa's mouth. Katie could see that Dana had asked Marissa a question, but she couldn't make out what the question was. Marissa then pulled her phone to her ear then directed her attention to Jesse's jeep.

Jesse answered his buzzing phone with a grumpy, "yeah?" Katie waiting in anticipation of what Marissa could be saying to him, but she couldn't manage to hear anything from his end. "That's fine. Bye." Jesse hung up the phone and tossed it into his cup holder before starting his car. He pulled out of the parking lot, leaving Katie in a stunned silence. Katie glanced out the window as they pulled away and watched as Marissa climbed into Dana's car with her.

Katie didn't remember the car ride home or anything Jesse might have said to her. She was too preoccupied wondering where Dana and Marissa were headed off to. Katie's thoughts managed to slow down a little once Dana's car pulled up to her house. Katie wasn't happy to see Marissa entering Dana's house with her, but she was happy to know that Dana didn't take Marissa to their spot. Katie shook her thoughts out of her head. She didn't understand why she would think of the mountain as their spot. Katie told herself she had no right to lay any claim to any part of Dana – especially the mountain that she would run away to. Despite knowing that she had no right to lay any claim, it still reassured her to think that they could have a spot – a secret place that only they knew about.