Comfy Closets

19|| Confrontations and Interrogations

Nothing could make your heart drop faster than a bullet but dread. The all-consuming virus eats away at your nerves like a buffet feast laid out in the open. It pecks and pecks until your body starts squirming, then pecks some more.

Apprehension was one word that comes close to summing up my mood. My jittery hands always had to be occupied by something; if not, I would routinely feel like there was something wrong, but I would never be able to identify the cause. My body needed to react, it needed an outlet, and most often it was my frayed jumper sleeves that took the beating of my constant fiddling.

The events of yesterday had left an unbearably itchy stamp on me. Even as I walked up the front steps to school, the thought stuck to me as if superglue was involved. I didn’t want to tell Leah how much Riley possibly knowing bothered me. What would be the point of saying it if Riley already knew?

Taking in a deep breath that did nothing to calm my heart rate, I walked to my locker to gather my things and continued walking down the corridor until I saw any of my friends.

Gia was the first one that came into view, animated and all. Then I saw Zach's spiky, sandy hair that stuck out, briefly wondering how those two were doing after what had happened. But that thought was quickly swept away by the presence that stood next to Ash, openly cuddling into his side.

My steps stuttered with hesitation, the cause of my apprehension now only a few metres away. What the heck do I do now?

Before I could retreat the way I came like a spineless coward, Ashton was able to spot my rigid form and happily greeted me from afar. “Yo, Aly!”

I joined them with reluctance, choosing to stand between Gia and Zach as a strained smile was all I could manage. “Hey, guys...”

“Al, we have a question for you,” Ash stated. “Do you, or do you not like-,” he raised his hands for dramatic effect, “my baking because my cookies are bomb-tastic, if I do say so myself.”

The tension in my chest deflated with relief as soon as I realised this wasn’t about Leah. With Riley right there, my paranoia was working overtime to provide me with mini heart attacks, like insistent grocery workers giving out free samples.

“Oh! Um- yeah, I guess. It’s alright,” I said, trying to calm myself by avoiding eye contact with her.

Ashton gasped in offence. “You would say that about my cookies, Al? ‘Alright'? The betrayal.”

Zach patted his shoulder in sympathy. “It's okay. I like your cookies, man.”

“Am I the only one who’s going to point out that he just said ‘bomb-tastic’?” Gia remarked.

Her comment went ignored as the boys continued talking about their baking skills, getting rowdier and more competitive as they went. Apparently, a bake-off was now due to happen soon.

As I was being entertained by the battling of their male egos, I felt the prickly feeling of someone’s gaze on the side of my face. My attention drifted to the one person I was trying to avoid, the dread from before doubling in its intensity.

The ebony-haired girl did nothing but stare intently at me. Her eyes were unwavering, calculating, but also unreadable at the same time. The thing that scared me the most was the uncertainty of what she would do with this knowledge if she already had it. I didn’t know her well. She would probably tell the whole school for all I know.

“You alright there, Alyssa? You seem rather pale.”

Surprisingly, it was Riley herself who asked, a curious expression with a quirked brow in place. I wonder if it was fake though, considering the look she was just giving me...