What Remains of White Sands

Chapter Two

"I failed that final," Hetal moaned.

"No, you didn't," I insisted.

"It was so easy." Karida rolled her eyes.

"I forgot it was today," Zahina admitted. "Oh well. I'm glad it was science."

"Zahina!" Temira giggled. "I didn't study very much either."

"What!" Hetal cried, scandalized. "Well, tomorrow's the last day, and we don't have any more finals, thank goodness. And then I don't have to stress. And I can sleep!"

"How much sleep did you get last night, Hetal?" Irena asked, eyebrows raised.

"Um ... well ..." she said, looking sheepish.

"Here we go," I grinned.

"About ... three and a half hours."

"Hetal! That's so unhealthy!" Karida spoke up.

"I know. But I had to study!"

"And knowing you, you won't actually get more sleep once summer comes. You'll make excuses and stay up late anyway," Temira reasoned, rolling her eyes. We all knew she was right.

I sighed, rocking back and forth in a violet dress, and grinned. My friends and I stood outside our school; it was the second to last day and finals were finally over. We were being rewarded with half an hour outside before they made us go back to classes. We wouldn't actually do anything there, just return our books and talk until class ended. We still needed to clean out our lockers, and I was the only one looking forward to it. Most of my friends' lockers were pigsties, no matter how Karida goaded them into keeping them neat. Hetal, Zahina, Tadita, and Temira just didn't see the point. All the students in school were outside; eighth grade and up had finished their tests while seventh and under got to come out just because they were lucky and didn't have to take finals.

"Where's Nari?" I asked suddenly. "I want to see her."

Lately, I'd been spending as much time with her as I could; at the end of the summer, she was moving away from Naturalleies, to her friends' distress. I was particularly upset; she and Tadi had been my first friends when I moved here.

"I don't know," said Karida. "She could be ... yeah. I have no idea."

"Okay," I mused. "I'm going to go find her."

My friends murmured their assent, for none of them were particularly close to Nari; Tadi and I were her best friends. So I went off to find her on my own.

I wove through the dense maze of my schoolmates, searching for one olive-skinned, dirty blond-haired girl. If she was near me, she would be able to tell that I was looking for her ...

Realizing that this would be easier, I stopped and thought her name. After moments, she, Tadi, and Penelope appeared in front of me.

"Ide!" Nari cried, smiling. I couldn't help but think that her smile did not appear genuine. I couldn't imagine why and chose to ignore it.

"Nari! Tadi! Penny," I smiled at my friends and felt an ache in my heart, knowing that soon Nari would be gone. I didn't want her to leave. I wanted to cry and hug her but I didn't want to sob in school and something—maybe her recent indifference—told me that she'd tense up if I did and that would just make it awkward.

"How was your Science final?" Tadi asked.

"Fine. Easy," I said. "Yours?"

We discussed the test and its more difficult questions. Science was Nari's favorite subject but one of Tadi's most disliked and sat in the middle of Penelope's spectrum. Soon, however, our half hour was up and we were forced back inside.