Maraschino 🍒 (gxg)

5

"You're in our spot."

Chelsea looked up, coming eye-to-eye with three girls she didn't know. They were holding trays of their food, waiting for her to relinquish her seat so they could take it.

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know." She didn't feel like arguing at the moment. She felt alien at this new school; it was suddenly weighing on her how much everyone knew everyone else, students and faculty alike. She silently picked up her tray and left.

She didn't know where else to sit since it seemed like every table already had a posse occupying it, and she wasn't in the mood to start throwing food and picking fights. For the first time in a long time, she felt ostracized.

She decided to just dump her food. All of a sudden her lunch didn't sound appetizing and all she wanted to do was to go back to her dorm and take a nap.

On her way out the mess hall and towards her dorm, an arm snatched her and started dragging her further into the building.

"Who the f--"

"Don't be dramatic. I'm not kidnapping you."

It was Stephanie. She stared straight ahead as she hauled Chelsea behind her, not explaining anything like Chelsea should already know.

"Where have you guys been? I've been fending for myself out here. It's terrible."

Stephanie shrugged. "We were busy."

"Busy." That's the answer your parents give when they don't want to explain themselves.

She pushed their way through the building, up a flight of stairs Chelsea didn't know existed, and into an empty janitor's closet. Their faces were almost touching as Stephanie closed the door and pulled the string light on the ceiling.

"What the hell are you doing," said Chelsea, more like a statement than a question.

Stephanie didn't answer. Instead, she reached up again, past the lightbulb, and grabbed another string, this time a thick rope that when tugged pulled a ladder down to the floor. She started climbing and pushed open the door in the ceiling, revealing sunlight and the roof of the building. Chelsea didn't say anything as she waited for Stephanie, then made her own way up the ladder.

They appeared on the roof -- inside the bell tower on top of the mess hall, to be exact. Carlie and Manny were already sitting on the dusty hardwood floor, covered in graffiti and trash over the years. They were sitting around the guardrail, sharing a cigarette and looking down over the sidewalk beneath them. They turned when Stephanie and Chelsea emerged.

"Glad you could make it!" Carlie said, beaming, and immediately passed the cigarette to Chelsea. Upon closer inspection, it wasn't a nicotine cigarette. That explains the perkiness.

Chelsea took a seat next to Carlie, between her and the exit, and took the cigarette. It was already lit and still smoking, so she took a small drag before handing it back. The smoke hit her lungs hard, and she started coughing until Manny handed over a bottle of Coke that was sitting next to her.

"Is this what you guys do in your spare time?" Chelsea coughed out. Stephanie had taken her seat next to Manny, across from Chelsea, and was taking her turn with the cigarette.

"What else would we do, study?" said Stephanie; she passed the joint back to Carlie.

"This is our little hangout spot. Nobody comes up here anymore, not even the janitors." Carlie took a drag. "That's an abandoned closet down there."

Chelsea couldn't complain. She was only halfway through her first day and she already wanted to scream and run away. At least up there in the belltower, when the only entrance was through an empty closet nobody used, there was the illusion of peace and privacy.

The wooden floors were littered with trash, the half-wall the girls were leaning on covered entirely in graffiti and doodles. When Chelsea looked down, she could see the school grounds -- the courtyard, parking lot, admin building, everything. Above them was the out of commission bell; Carlie had told her that it was used back in the 1880s, when using a big bell like that was common. Now it just sits on top of the mess hall, collecting dust and bird nests.

"What are you looking at?" Manny asked, grabbing Chelsea out of her daydream. She didn't even know what they were talking about prior to her interruption.

"Nothing really. We're just super high up here."

"Hell yeah, we are." Carlie giggled, turning to Manny. "She's probably looking for her girlfriend, that weird girl."

Chelsea's heart stopped. She hadn't spoken a single word about herself since she got there, so there was no way that Carlie would know... is there? Did she somehow find out? How? She'd tried so hard to keep it a secret from everyone, especially at an academy for troubled girls. She wouldn't be able to make it through the year if everyone somehow knew. Just look at how they treated mystery girl.

"No, I wasn't looking for anyone in particular." Chelsea looked back out to the courtyard, trying to hide the blush on her face. Anything having to do with mystery girl got her flustered. She didn't know why.

"So you were looking for someone?" Manny raised an eyebrow, challenging her. She regarded Chelsea like an outsider, like someone trying to fit in when they clearly don't -- a threat. Chelsea made a note to pay particular attention to her when repeating anything.

"Don't give her a hard time, Manny," said Carlie. "She's shy talking about her new girlfriend."

"But the weird girl? Really?" Manny crinkled her nose. "You could do better than that."

"But I'm not --"

"Maybe that's her type, you don't know, Manny. You're so quick to judge people."

"Because she's freaking weird! No friends? No hobbies? We don't even remember her name, she's so nonexistent. She's a weirdo, a freak, a --"

Chelsea stood up abruptly, causing all the girls' eyes to snap towards her. Her fists were shaking and she could feel her heart push against her ribcage. "Stop. That's enough. Stop talking like that about someone you don't know."

Manny gave a dry, condescending laugh. "She really is your sweetie, isn't she? Or should I say... he?"

Chelsea stared straight into Manny's eyes, dark brown, probably like her soul. She didn't have an issue with her before, but now that her true colors were showing, even looking at her gave Chelsea a bad taste in her mouth. She didn't have time to deal with bullies that pick on people without knowing them.

"That's not true. Stop saying that." Chelsea's anger was starting to boil. Her face was hot, her head light, and she looked down at Manny, who was still sitting at the floor, with the coldest look she could muster. She was officially on her shit list.

"You would know, wouldn't you?"

"Manny..." Stephanie gave her a warning look, silently telling her to stop before she got in trouble.

"Are you a freak like her, too? Do you hang out with her under the bleachers and do freak shit together?"

"You're not being funny."

"I'm not trying to be funny. It's the truth."

Chelsea reached for the Coke bottle Manny had handed her when she first arrived and chucked it as hard as she could at Manny. The top burst off as it hit the stone guardrail, and it exploded everywhere on the girls, mostly on Manny. There was a sea of aggravated emotions swimming across her face. Her mascara was already starting to run.

"Go to hell."

Chelsea opened the hatch and climbed down, not bothering to apologize to Stephanie or Carlie, who did nothing wrong.

./.

Sorry, it's shorter than the other chapters, but I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far. My current goal, since I work full time and have cats and a boyfriend to tend to, is to update once a month, around the end of the month. I'm still working on The Fates but it's taking a little longer since it isn't as scripted as Maraschino.