Letting Reality Begin

Chapter Five - That Thin Line Between Everything

“Aren’t you going to drink that, hon?” Chantelle asked her best friend, Leo Reed. He was staring glumly into his paper cup of skinny latte – which was still full to the brim, despite having been bought over ten minutes ago – as if it were more interesting than any of his other surroundings, including Chantelle.

Leo looked up from his cup slowly and blinked blankly at Chantelle. His olive green eyes were still bleary from sleep and he looked short of a zombie – definitely not a look that Chantelle approved of. His light brown hair was mussed beyond the look of cool and his eyes had bags the size of Britain. Again, Chantelle wondered why she was still friends with him. He made her act like a total idiot most of the time. But then again, she couldn’t really imagine life without Leo, either. So she would have to put up with him. For now.

“I need sugar. Now,” he demanded. “This stuff is absolutely crap.” He chucked the skinny latte cup – still containing all the skinny latte – into a nearby bin, the contents very nearly missing a Year Seven As the cup landed a metre away from the bin and the contents splashed out, drenching the Year Seven’s leg in cold coffee. She glared angrily at Leo before stomping off in a huff. If Chantelle had been bothered, then that Year Seven would’ve had it in for it. No one glared at her best friend like that – even if he was sort of a sullen prick most of the time.

“Jesus Christ, Leo,” snapped Chantelle, rolling her eyes. If it had been anyone else – except for Lily, of course – then Chantelle might have had to spread another rumour about Misty Blake just to entertain and calm herself down, but this was Leo. He went through more sugar in an hour than an obese toddler in a day. She was surprised that Leo wasn’t severely obese with the amount of calories he took in – but no, he stayed skinny no matter how determined he seemed to give himself diabetes. Chantelle hated to admit it, but sometimes she was jealous of that.

She dug around in her Marc Jacobs bag and then threw him a Coke, which she had secretly taken from the car fridge this morning – not that they would miss it or anything. She had suspected something like this would happen. “I know it’s slightly warm, but it’s still sugar and caffeine. Satisfied?” asked Chantelle, scornfully. She hadn’t wanted to give him the Coke, but it was better than having Leo in an even worse mood than he already was. And hell could Leo throw a mood.

Leo ignored her as he quickly opened the can and started take large gulps from it as if he had been deprived of any drink for the past two days, which – for all Chantelle knew – could be true. Leo really didn’t know how to look after himself. Chantelle was almost surprised every single year when they came back from their summer holidays to find that Leo hadn’t just shrivelled up and died without her.

When he finally came up for air – approximately ten seconds later, having finished the entire can of Coke – he said, “You carry Coke around, Chance? Am I missing something here?”

“No, not really,” she said, shrugging slightly, a perfectly mastered look of nonchalance on her face. “I knew you were going to do something like this.” She quickly inspected Leo. Thank God. He definitely looked better after his morning dose of sugar – at least, good enough for her to be able to walk into form with him without being completely humiliated. “Anyway, we better get to form before we go from being fashionably late to slacking.”

“As if you care,” said Leo, rolling his eyes, as he put the Coke can into the bin – actually getting it in this time.

Chantelle narrowed her eyes at him. “For you information, I do actually, so move your butt and start getting to form,” she told him, drily. Leo scoffed, but quickened his pace to keep up with her long, but flawlessly poised strides. “Did I forget to tell you about the new kid in our form?” she asked him, as they walked down the cool hallways of the main sixth form building.