What If?

Chapter Three

When we were in high school, we would go to McDonald's almost every day. Though the food wasn't amazing, it's better than cafeteria food and was only a five-minute walk from campus. Juniors and seniors were allowed to leave campus to get lunch as long as they were back ten minutes before the bell rang.

Thea thought it would be fun to go back to the McDonald's we would always eat lunch at. 

"It just isn't the same without Eva," Says Thea, with a mouth full of Big Mac. The two of them were practically inseparable, so it's taken a toll on her when Eva pulled away from our group.

Thea is so distracted, she doesn't realize that she spilled ketchup and mustard on her shirt, which then turned the tips of her brown hair into a soggy orange.

"Thea, I understand you're upset about Eva, but that's no reason to ruin your shirt and hair," Caitlyn says.

"What?" Thea asks, looking down at her white shirt completely ruined by condiments. " Oh, crap!" She yells, "I just bought this!"

"I guess you lost a friend and a shirt," Caitlyn says.

"Yeah, I guess so." 

"It's a good thing I have an extra one," She says and pulls a gray tee shirt out of her purse.

"Thank goodness I have you," She says and runs to the bathroom with her loaner shirt.

"How is she doing with Eva?" I ask Caitlyn.

"Not amazing. She feels as if she did something to make her go off like this."

"She didn't do anything, and none of us could've stopped her."

"I think she knows that deep down, but she worries that she could've done more."

"We're always going to wonder if we could've done something else, but we can't change what's already happened."

I'm not the best at dealing with my own problems, so I put a lot of effort into helping others with theirs. 

When Thea returns, we gather our trash and throw it away.

"Do you want to come back to the house and hang out for a bit?" Thea asks.

"I should probably go home, I have to work and don't want to be out late."

"Okay, we'll take you home, but do you want to get ice cream first?"

"Sure," I say. The truth is I have the day off tomorrow, but something in me wouldn't allow me to go to their house. After I lost my mom it became hard for me to get close to people, and the people I am close to, I'm terrified of losing them. I have a strange reasoning, but when I'm scared of losing someone, I pull away before they can leave me, and I can feel myself doing that with Thea and Caitlyn.