silence » c.h.

3

After a two hour trip around the city we finally went to the small diner. It was decorated in an American style, and it made me miss home a little bit, but when Ashton demonstrated his talent (laughing in many different ways; my favorite was the school girl), I felt more at home in Sydney than I had ever felt back in LA.

We were just listening to one of Michael's stories, when the small glass door opened, and Luke and his girlfriend walked in. Hayley's hair was red, but it was an ugly red. Behind them was another person, a blonde girl, who was smiling brightly at Nova. Nova stood up and greeted her with a hug. As soon as Luke's eyes met mine he smiled, probably remembering the small accident from a couple hours ago.

"Ivy," Nova started and I tore my eyes from Luke's pretty blue eyes. I still felt his eyes on me after I turned away.

"This is Hayley and this-"

"I'm Luke's girlfriend, by the way," Hayley cut Nova off and smiled sweetly at me. Nova rolled her eyes and sighed deeply, while Luke sat down on a stool next to Michael. Hayley sat on the other side of our table, ("she placed her tiny ass petitely on the seats", as Nova later told me), and the blonde girl let herself fall next to me, holding her hand out.

"I'm Cassie," she winked at me. I smiled back and my glance trailed off to Michael, who was looking at Cassie with such an intense stare. Him and Luke were sat in the bar stools about three feet away from us, while the rest of us was sat around the checkered table. I smirked, Cassie was quite pretty. Short blonde hair, very curvy and strong body and she wore red jeans and a black jumper. I could see Michael shaking his head as he stood up from the stool, and walked away, probably to the bathroom.

"Okay, what do you wanna order? It's on me", Ashton offered kindly and smiled brightly at me. I smiled back and picked up the menu. He was sat right in front of me, and Hayley sat on the same small bank. Cassie and Nova sat on my side. Everyone was busy with their own conversations, which I thankfully accepted as I needed some alone time to take all of this in.

"So we gathered here to welcome some kind of stranger?" Hayley said in the same moment Michael returned. I could feel the blood rush into my cheeks and I opened mouth to say something, but I closed it as soon as someone else spoke up.

"Hayley, she's not a stranger," said Luke and got up from the stool. "She's gonna go to the same school next year and she's Nova's..." he tried to explain, but his obviously bitchy girlfriend cut him off.

"I don't really care, why are you even defending her? We should just go to Amanda's and join her party, I'm sure Eva is gonna feel at home soon anyway," Hayley shrugged and smiled innocently at me. I could hear Cassie exhale loudly, and Nova looked like she was going to throw herself at Hayley and tear her throat open. Some strangers, who were also at the diner, curiously turned their heads to see the drama.

"Her name's Ivy," Ashton to pointed out snippily and gave her an unapproving look, obviously just as annoyed with the red-haired girl as everyone else in this room.

"Whatever", Hayley waved him off and got up from the seat, walking over to Luke and leaning her head against his shoulder, like she was trying to prove a point. Michael just raised an eyebrow at her from behind and Ashton shot Nova an apologetic look.

"Now, are we gonna call up Amanda or what? Is nobody up for a party? I'm sure Eva would like a welcome party. Don't you?" she looked at me softly.

My eyes widened when I felt everyone look at me. My eyes quickly trailed over to Nova, intensely shaking her head no.

"Actually, I, uh, I don't really think-"

"Perfect. I'm calling Amanda and then Eva will know the real beauty of Sydney." She spat the last sentence and smiled at all of us. Was she really that ignorant and stupid?