YOULKAY

six; a maple syrup drinker

Jay Lee O'Connor, my ex-boyfriend, wouldn't dare to look me in the eyes anymore.

I could feel him sending me glances, sometimes, but he would always look away.

Nicole had made him swear he wouldn't utter a word about my... secret, to anyone.
I think she was blackmailing him.
I wouldn't be surprised.

That was while we still had school.

All schools were closed because of a current pandemic.
Humans call it coronavirus.

What is it? I wasn't sure.

It turned humans into hermits in dire need of toilet paper... for some reason.

Since most people stayed locked up in their homes, for fear of breathing too much outside air and catching the Covid-19, the streets were empty.

Carol, as much of a sheep as other people, kept a closet full of toilet paper.

"We never know!" She would say.

Did she thought it was an apocalypse?

Anyway, my foster sister and I weren't allowed out of our room for two weeks, unless it was to use the bathroom.
Patrick would bring us food upstair.

And Nicole was about to burst.

"We can't live like that any longer! We don't even have any symptoms, for God's sake! Or Vranajri, as you say."

She was pacing around in our room.

After a good ten minutes complaining, she let herself fall on her bed.

"It's so boring here, Vell!" She sighed.

I looked up from my book, starting at her.

"Calm down, Nicci. It will pass."
"I'm a free spirit, Vell! I can't just calm down when I'm being unfairly imprisoned!"

Few days later, I had convinced Patrick and Carol to let us out of our room.
Anyway, they were packing.

They said they wouldn't cancel their trip to Mexico because of a dumb cold.

If you ask me, I found that logic pretty stupid, but I didn't argue.
Nor did Nicole, who was simply delighted.

"It's wonderful, sis', we're getting them off our backs!"

Next thing I knew, all of Nicole's friends were constantly hanging out in our foster parents' house.

So I couldn't talk with Nicole as much as during quarantine. More like listen to Nicole talking, but still. I had miss it.
Those few days locked up together were the days where she was the nicest to me.
She would talk to me without being especially rude. Rude to me.

Which was nice, if I may say so.

Now, all of their happy little friend group were gawking at Sonny Owens' hair. He had dyed them in a bright cobalt blue.

I knew it was because of Jeremiah Merritt had told him he was handsome in blue.
Not that I intentionally listened in their conversation, more that I happened to hear it anyway, since I had nobody to talk to in art class.
I just automatically heard all the conversations around me.

Nothing creepy about it at all.

And that day, I had forgotten my earphones.

I felt utterly terrible. So I continued to lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

Was I really creepy? Maybe that was why they all hated me.

Then, there was a knock on the door and, without waiting for an answer, the person on the other side opened it and walked in.