Playing With Life #1

Chapter 25: Challenge Accepted

"Did she have to tag along?" Alma asks as she shuts the locker. I squirm under her firm glare and Luke clears his throat awkwardly. 

"If I were you, I'd watch my mouth, " Lora says and silence drapes over us. If I thought Alma was intimidating, I was so wrong.  Lora is so much more powerful.
I turn back to see Alma scowl but she immediately looks to the left after meeting my gaze. I awkwardly turn to look front. 

"Did you understand all that I taught you yesterday?" Lora asks as she smiles widely at me. Her fruity scent strikes me and take in some of the smell. I open my mouth to respond but my eyes drift toward the trio some good distance from us. 

They look so normal. As though they were never with another person. The mere thought saddens me. My mind immediately clicks to remind me to replace the ringtone of my phone. I hurriedly rummage through my back to find my phone. 

"Eline?" Lora asks and I notice that we have stopped all of a sudden. Her brows furrow in confusion and I avoid her gaze. 

"Sorry, just zoned out, " I say and look at the trio again. Her eyes follow my gaze and lands on the group. I hear her sigh softly. 

"Follow me, " she says as though that wasn't what I was doing all along.  I walk alongside her and my heart hammers loudly as we walk past my old friends. Just as I notice them looking in my direction,  Lora immediately laughs.

"You're hilarious! We totally should go out for shopping!" she says too loud. I widen my eyes and stammer for a while. I notice their gaze latched on us and feel a small nudge from behind. 

I turn behind to notice Luke giving me signs to take a hint. I smile back at Lora and despite the dreading feeling inside to go against my will, I speak back. 

"Sure! Your place or mine first?" I ask in a sweet tone and immediately catch a glimmer in Lora's eyes.

"Totally my place! Plus Grayson would be there... " she trails off and we start walking.  It's hard to miss the shock evident on their faces. 

But I myself am in shock.

"Grayson?" I ask her softly.  She smiles to herself and looks straight ahead.

"Just to see Jayden's face." She winks.  I raise my brow in surprise and shake my head. 

"But there's nothing between us! " I exclaim a bit too loud and Luke coughs again.  Seems to be a regular action of his. 

"At least they got a bit jealous.  Don't ruin that, " he says behind me and I shake my head in response.  I feel bad.  I feel so freaking bad and that familiarity of abandoning someone strikes me hard.  But I keep telling myself that this time,  just this time, it isn't my fault. 

I immediately notice that someone is missing and I realize that Aaron, Astra, Emma and Grayson are missing. My tongue etches to ask where they are but I swallow that question.  Even if I don't trust my old friends anymore, I still do not want to stick with these people or give them the idea that I want to be one of them.

As though hearing my thoughts, the rest of the group comes through the side doors. Aaron walks with a wide grin and pulls down his beanie as the ceiling air conditioner hits his ears. Astra reads her book quietly whereas Emma and Grayson are bickering amongst themselves.

"Oh, hey Eline," Astra says in a soft voice as she doesn't leave her gaze off of me. She assesses me and I squirm under her gaze. She immediately puts out a smile. A part of me still feels guilty for what happened back in the canteen. Does she still hate me for it? After all, she was the one supporting me all along. But I wouldn't blame her though. It was my fault to back bite them just for the sake of fitting in. And as of now, they were only nice to me.

But didn't they hide something too?

My mind shifts to the conversation that happened back then. All of my friends seemed to be hiding something. Something that even these kids knew about.

"Eline is joining us today?" Aaron suddenly asks, interrupting my thoughts. I look at Lora not knowing whether to respond or not.

"Yeah. She deserves better friends," Lora says, looking back and gritting her teeth when knowing that the trio aren't there anymore. Grayson avoids my eyes and for some reason decides to join Luke.

"Yeah..." Aaron's voice trails as his gaze falls at Alma. I feel a pang of hurt. Is it just me or did he feel very uncomfortable saying that? I don't blame him. I was the one who kept on avoiding him even when he chased me while I had a breakdown. But it still feels weird to not have him teasing or making bad jokes as usual.

"What's your first period?" Lora asks. I take out the crumpled time table from my bag and notice the period to be English.

"English."

"Oh... none of us have English for the first period. Can I have your time table for a sec?" she asks. I nod and pass her the paper. She narrows her eyes as she compares both the sheets and her mouth immediately curves up.

"Perfect. You will be having Physics with me, Aaron, Emma and Grayson. That's fifth period and is after break. So I'll meet you in the canteen and then we can head to the class together."

"I exist as well, y'know," Alma says and I immediately remember that she is in my physics class as well.

"Guess you and Astra will be alone then," Lora says to Grayson and looks back at me.

"What do you say?"

I think over and deciding that a change is better, I agree. A hint of surprise flickers in Lora's face but she quickly shuts it out and nods her head. We reach the class doors and as I push the door open, Emma butts in.

"Are you free today night?" she asks. I raise my brows pondering on why she decided to speak to me suddenly. She frowns as she takes my silence as refusal. My gaze falls on Kayla who's approaching the classroom door.

"We are going to a party. The hottest in town. It's fine if you don't want to..." Aaron's grin slowly falters as he looks at Kayla. Kayla catches my gaze and smirks.

"As if." I hear her mutter to herself. Does seem think that I can't have fun? Anger boils in me as I challenge her gaze.

"I am in."