The Girl With The Glowing Skin

Chapter 5

As weeks passed by, Alex became closer to Idris and her friends. They did almost everything together, in school and out. They became so close that Idris started to wonder how she'd ever lived without Alex. They fit together so naturally that Idris almost felt like they were meant to find each other - almost, though, because Idris didn't believe in any of that, of course. Being with Alex made Idris happy, and she was almost positive Alex felt the same way.

    But Idris' cynical mind whispered warnings into her mind like a looped record: Too good to be true. Too good to be true. Too good to be true. She tried to ignore it, but she found herself more and more often almost waiting for something bad to happen to her and Alex, something, she feared, that would tear them apart.

And sadly, this time, that little voice in her head was right.

The reckoning, as Idris would call it later, actually happened on 2 days, around 5 weeks apart from each other. The first life-altering event occurred on a bleak Tuesday afternoon in the beginning of March. Idris' 17th birthday was coming up, which made her sad but her friends happy. She'd never really explained to them why she didn't like her birthday, and so they insisted on celebrating it. Idris would do anything for her friends, but even so, this year she found herself dreading it more than usual.

"Oh come on!" Talia complained. She tugged on a coil of hair, pulling it all the way down to her waist before letting it bounce back up. "I need a little more enthusiasm here, hun."

Idris groaned and looked to Allie for help, only to be met with the same stubbornness. James and Tyler had already disappeared off somewhere, probably to a video game store where the both shot at each other or at fake animations until they got a load of points that were worthless in reality. Idris didn't understand or like video games, but right now, she would much rather be there than here. Talia, Danielle, and Allie had dragged her off to a dress shop in a busy corner of the mall, insisting that she needed to buy a new dress for her birthday. Idris had managed to extract a promise from them that the party would be just the 7 of them, and this was the compromise they had come to - Idris had to let them dress her. Alex was supposed to come too, to judge the dresses, but Idris had just received a text saying Alex was going to be late.

Danielle's face looked more sympathetic, and so Idris shot her the best puppy eyes she could manage. Danielle looked torn. "Maybe we could skip the dress part," Danielle suggested. "We could just do hair and makeup?"

Talia glared. "Don't encourage her Danielle. She's pouty enough as it is. I swear, I think this is what it feels like to be a mother. I finally get what my mom means when she says 'Children are never grateful!' because you, Idris Samhara, are the most ungrateful child I've ever met." Idris closed her eyes in annoyance while Talia refocused on Danielle. "Besides, you do hair and makeup! If we only did that, you'd be the only one that gets to play!"

"Hello? Actual literal human - NOT a doll here?" Idris said, but it was clear she was speaking to no one, because nobody was listening to her - Danielle and Talia were bickering, while Allie tried to mediate.

"OKAY!" Idris shouted, which got their attention as well as half the store's. She shrunk away from the glares of other shoppers and employees while simultaneously glaring at her friends. "I'll just get the stupid dress."

Talia clapped in excitement and Idris spent the next couple hours being tortured, modeling dress after dress She loved being around her friends, but being reminded constantly of her birthday was putting her in a horrible mood. Therefore, Idris thought it was understandable that she basically jumped into Alex's arms as soon as she caught sight of Alex walking in.

"Okay, I got us all smoothies so don't be mad I was so late - woah."

Idris flung her arms around Alex, who seemed speechless suddenly, and whispered. "Please get me out of here."