Aftertaste | ✔️

yellsscreamsshouts

        Lea didn't understand why Scarlett's friends were sitting with her.

        It was as confusing as it was daunting. Scarlett's friends were the kind of people Lea liked to steer clear of. Loud. Obnoxious. Daring.

        She felt panic beating inside of her like a second heart.

        It was like watching a person whom everyone else had their back to. They were trapped and screaming for help, but there was a glass wall separating them. Nobody else noticed anything out of the ordinary. Only she could see it.

       Scarlett's friends either didn't seem to notice or didn't care. They chattered quite unabashedly around her, failing to acknowledge the flailing mouse she was trapped around them.

        Their laughter and jokes and yellsscreamsshouts all blended into a jarring, irregular pounding in her ears.

        "Manning, you good?"

        Lea managed to nod weakly at Kieran O'Brien. The long-haired boy gave her a half smile as he turned his attention back to the noisy crowd.

        Lea put her sandwich to her lips to hide her own little smile.

        There was a time when Lea had been obsessed with Kieran O'Brien. His honey brown eyes and his guitar and his half smiles.

        If only Claire knew she had just been on the receiving end of one of those half smiles!

        And just like that, the small second of euphoria vanished. Lea deflated like a party balloon.

       How dare she smile. How dare she be happy when Claire was dead. She was dead. Dead. Dead.

         She repeated the word to herself again and again. Each time felt like a physical blow. A striking realization that curled her shoulders inward and drooped her from the inside.

        Her best friend was dead. She didn't deserve to be here eating lunch with Scarlett's friends and smiling at the guitar player. She deserved to be dead.

        "So, ohmigosh you guys!" exclaimed Annalisa Morgan suddenly. "I've like, literally not shown you my pedicure!"

        Everyone stared at her. Lea found Annalisa's eyes trained directly on her and looked down almost immediately.

        "Um, how random?"

        Lea looked up again, just for a second, and thought she saw Annalissa jerk her chin towards her almost imperceptibly. The whole group tensed as a unit, and then the tension vanished like a puff of breath.

        "Yes, the manicure! Let's see it!" said Jezebel Taylor, with a lot more enthusiasm than she had a second ago. She turned her sunny smile towards Lea, discretely pointing at Annalisa and making an 'I'm sorry about that' face.

       Lea stared at them without really seeing.

       Why were they being so nice to her? Did Analissa notice her change of mood? Were they... trying to make her feel better?

        She was momentarily distracted at the sight of Annalisa stripping off her socks and shoving her whole foot on the lunch table, amid disgusted groans and exclamations.

        "That's gross Lisa! Some of us are trying to eat!"

        Lea felt a small smile twitch at her lips at the sight of their revolted faces.

        Quick as a thought, Kieran threw his feet up on the table too, grinning all over his pale, pointed face. And then everyone was placing their feet on the table, laughing and shouting, not seeming to notice the stares they were attracting.

       "Stop tugging on my foot!"

        "I'm not, she is!"

        "No, ouch! Not that hard!"

        "I think you just pulled out a swatch of my hair, get off!"

        "That's your foot!"

         "Don't tell me where my foot is!"

         "It's Noah's foot!"

        "You're crushing Noah's foot!"

        "Everybody stop!" roared Noah Flynn. "Lisa, you need to get off my leg!"

Annalisa gave him a funny look.

         "Noah, why are your toes painted pink?"

        Noah lowered his gaze, and Lea could feel his blush more than see it.

        "I let my little sister paint them," he mumbled abashedly, looking anywhere but at them as he snatched his foot back.

        There was a small silence.

        The table roared with hysterical laughter, almost crying at his size nine bejeweled, bedazzled feet. His sister had done a number on them; the glitter to toenail ratio was overwhelmingly off. Lisa aww'd at him, pulling his cheeks and making him slap her hands away.

         Lea couldn't help it, she started to laugh too. The expression on his face was hilarious; he looked like he'd been slapped mid sneeze. She laughed like she hadn't in ages, all her pent up anger and fear and frustration bubbling out of her.

        It was like she'd been corked up tight, all her emotions battling to reach the surface, suffocating her. This felt like a blissful release. For the first time in months, she felt like a regular teenager. She needed this.

        As her laughter died down, the once piercing chatter felt like a pleasant buzz in her ears.

        Still smiling, she looked outside the window. And there she was, Scarlett Ryder, eating her lunch alone under the big oak tree.

        Lea stared.

        Why was she eating alone when all her friends were right here? Did she... Could she have sent them here? To make Lea feel better? Did she even care that much?

        As if sensing eyes on her, Scarlett's head snapped up. Lea tried to look away hastily, but their eyes met.

        Her gaze was piercing; it pinned her to the spot. Lea couldn't move if she tried. They looked at each other for what could have been hours.

        Then slowly, Scarlett gave her a little nod.

        Lea nodded back.