Hell On Earth

nine | good bonding exercises

The first thing I hear when I walk into Cabrini hall on Monday is a very loud "YOU WHAT?!" in Lee's voice.
Luke drove me to school instead of Ash, because A) I'm pretty sure Ash is still mad at me, and B) it's more convenient for all three of us. Following Lee's loud exclamation, I hear a tiny murmur in Nevah's voice, which I can distinguish even from my place by the door.
I nod to Luke to leave me to this, and he waves to me before leaving me to round the corner.
Lee has her hands on her hips, an angry expression hidden from me. No one else is here yet, except for her and Nevah. Speaking of her, Nevah looks mildly terrified, despite the fact that Lee is shorter than her.
I drop my bag unnecessarily loudly on the floor, getting their attention. "What's going on here?"
"Nevah has a boyfriend!" Lee exclaimed, pointing a finger at the girl in question.

I'm pretty sure my jaw hits the floor. "Is that why you haven't been around all the time?"
Nevah seems to shrink under our questions, and my protective instinct kicks in at the sight of an innocent getting scared.
Well, and she's my friend.
"Okay, never mind. Just, uh, how long has this been going on?" I ask, adopting a gentler tone and sitting down, Lee and Nevah following my example.
Nevah shrugs. "I met him soon after you went into your coma. He came up to me one day, and said that he knew I was a close friend of yours, that he was also a friend of yours, that he was sorry to hear about you, and if there was anything I needed, I could count on him."
I raised an eyebrow. It could be one of the guys I'd shut down in the past, and that could explain why he knew me. Apart from Luke and a few others, I didn't hang out with a lot of guys, mostly because my dad was majorly overprotective.
Now my dad was out of the picture- kind of. I'm sure he'd find a way back in. "What's this guy's name?"
"Jackson Cooper."
I perked up. "I know him. He's one of the guys who was actually respectful of the fact that I didn't want to date him. Blond hair, about five eight, little bit of acne, kinda cute, right?"
"Don't let Luke hear you say that," Lee muttered. I rolled my eyes at her before looking back at Nevah.
"Yeah." Nevah conformed my description of Jackson.
"When did you start dating?" Lee asked.
"Uh, a month or so?"
Lee nodded slowly. "And you didn't think to tell us this earlier?"
Nevah flinched, though Lee was using a less sharp tone and was far less threatening when sitting down. "I know that I should've said something, but I wanted to do it on my own time, not when you wanted to."
I nod. "I can respect that. The others might never let you hear the end of it though."

Just then, two people came through the door.

One was a girl I'd seen around campus, but never gotten to know her name. She had dark hair with blond highlights, side bangs, and black thick rimmed glasses. She wore a black hoodie over her uniform shirt, her mandatory khaki skirt neatly going down to just above her knees. High socks. Gold high top Converse.

The other girl was Ashton.

I froze.
Ashton grinned at us, tensing at the sight of me, but I think I was the only one who caught it. "Hey, you guys. This is Misha Medici. I had her in Chem and English with me in junior year. She's going to hang with us now, is that cool?"
Ignoring Ashton, I smiled at Misha and stood up. "I'm Colina. Good taste in uniform alterations, I see."
Misha offered me a slightly awkward smile. "I try."
Lee and Nevah went to go say hello.

I turned to my best friend and took a deep breath, preparing the words I'd practiced in the mirror. "I deserve the bitch slap I know you were plotting since the moment I said those words. Go ahead. I haven't been myself. I know you've noticed, and I took my weird anger out on you. So... I'm sorry."
Ashton raised her hand. "Well, you were right about the bitch slap."
Then she seemed to have an internal argument, and some side won, because she lowered her hand. "I can't though. I can't bring myself to hurt my best friend."
I laugh, and pull her into a tight hug. She squeezed me tightly, bending down slightly because of my shortness.
"I missed you." I muttered.
"Liar. You were with Luke." She said, but her annoyance was fading and halfhearted.
"Very funny."
"You were alone with a hot guy in an apartment for two days, and you're telling me nothing happened?"
I finally pull away, nodding. "Yep! That's exactly what I'm saying."
"Excuse me, what is going on here?" Lee butted in. "What happened between you two?"
Ashton and I exchanged a glance that was both serious and totally humorous.