The Rejects Club | Lonely Hearts Club [EDITING]

Episode 7 - The strongest people aren't ever perfect

In all honesty, Tuesday's lunch period was the perfect time to fall out of it. Normally, Cleopatra would be making her way to the cafeteria, but today, she was so out of it that she could barely get herself out of her desk. Sure, Biology wasn't her favorite class, not in the slightest, but she could normally pay the slightest bit of attention to what was being said. Instead, today, she couldn't even remember what had happened two minutes ago, let alone what they had talked about in class. So, instead of going to lunch and sitting with Jasmine, Mark, and Kyra again, she decided to just skip the whole period altogether. She didn't want to risk falling apart on them.

Cleopatra figured that was how she ended up on the bathroom floor. She leaned back against the wall, her head in her hands and her knees pulled up to her chest. During these periods, she knew the bathroom remained forgotten. It had all of last year when she and Bailey would retreat here to be free, so she figured it would be the perfect place to have a breakdown. She let go of her head for a second, wiping a few stray tears from her face, and staring at herself in the full-length mirror. What a stupid, ugly mess, Cleopatra thought to herself bitterly. She fiddled with her frilled dress, smoothing out a picture of a gothic-style skull before sucking in a breath and crossing her legs Indian style, letting her head drop into her hands once more. Biting her tongue, she held back a sob, afraid to cry. Why did this have to happen now?

"Cleopatra, are you okay?" There was shifting as Cleopatra blinked, brought back to reality by someone kneeling in front of her and setting a hand on her shoulder. She had a guess from the voice, but when she looked up, she was greeted by the familiar face of Monet Ivory. Cleopatra gently pulled away from Monet's touch and wiped her eyes again, sitting up straight and fixing her mask, unable to let Monet see her in such a state.

"I'm perfectly fine," Cleopatra replied harshly, her words clipped in a way that she normally only had when talking to Kyra. Monet didn't look convinced, but she didn't look like she had it in her to argue, so she just sighed and nodded her head. Monet shifted back on her heels and let her backpack drop onto the floor by her feet.

"Yeah, I figured," Monet said with a shrug. "But would you..." She paused for a second as if debating whatever it was that she wanted to say. "Would you want to have lunch with me? Isa will probably join me anyway, but we normally just eat alone. You don't have too but I thought I'd offer." Cleopatra was quick to shake her head. The sounds in the cafeteria would just overwhelm her and she didn't even feel like eating. And forget having lunch with the person who just caught her hiding away out here, about to have a panic attack. Cleopatra didn't think she could even leave the bathroom without calming her racing heart.

"I don't feel like going to the cafeteria right now, thank you," Cleopatra said quickly. Her tone was kind enough but her words were anything but that. Monet shrugged her shoulders again and stood up, picking up her backpack again. She seemed so calm by all of this. Why was she so calm?

"Who said we'd be eating in the cafeteria?" Monet asked, turning to the wall behind her and grabbing what appeared to be a guitar case from next to the sink. "Why don't we just have lunch right here. Isa and I have been doing it for a couple of weeks now anyway." Cleopatra made a slightly disgusted face and stood up, leaving her backpack on the floor at her feet.

"That cannot be sanitary," Cleopatra responded, smoothing her dress out again mostly out of habit. Monet smiled a bit and walked over to the last stall, opening the door to the biggest stall in the bathroom.

"It's not like either of us really eats anyway," Monet replied, setting her things down. With a sigh, Cleopatra realized that she would be spending her lunch period here. She knew that if she didn't want to have a bigger panic attack, it would make more sense to stay away from the cafeteria. If she did leave, she'd lose any ground that she was gaining with the club and with Monet. So long as she was tolerating the club, Bailey wouldn't do anything rash. Then maybe things would turn out fine.