Where It Leads Us

Chapter Thirty

My eyes wander around the cafeteria, examining the sea of students crowding over the food area. My eyes instantly landed on Savannah, seeing her holding a tray in her hand and conversing with Janice and Julia a few meters away from where I was seated.

When I plastered a small smile on my face, she quickly turned her head in the opposite direction, pretending as if she didn't notice me.

It's been about three weeks since I last spoke with her. It's also been about three weeks since we had that conversation where she got upset and told me to cut Aaren out of my life.

People are so unpredictably unpredictable. They say and believe one thing, then say and believe the absolute opposite of what they preach the next. To be fair, I was partially at fault. When she needed me, I wasn't there for her. When I needed someone, she was the only one (besides Clarissa and Zania) there for me.

I am a bad friend.

Julia and Janice both turn their heads in my way and gaze at me for a few seconds. I couldn't tell if they were staring at me with pity or hatred or if they were simply expressionless. It's probably their way of acknowledging my presence. Either way, I feel so small with how they look at me.

"December is almost two weeks away, you know? I'm hoping you still have the drive to start on that project for Ms. Romeo's class," I hear Aaren's voice coming from behind me. I see him carrying his lunch in his hand when I turn around. Before sitting down, he swings his bag in front of him and sets it on the table.

He snickers at me, "Why are you staring at me as if you've seen a ghost?" Aaren grabs a banana and starts peeling its skin before taking a bite of it.

I shake my head to clear my mind of such thoughts and to make room for new ones that are ready to enter my mind, "Maybe we can discuss that by the end of this week?" I look down at my lunch tray, separating the croutons from the rest of the vegetables on my salad.

Aaren grabs the croutons from my bowl and shoves them straight into his mouth. I just sit there silently, watching him devour them as if I were watching a kid stealing sweets from another kid.

"Any clues about where we can find the next painting?" Aaren asks.

I shake my head, unable to think straight. I shoved a piece of lettuce into my mouth but chewing it only made me want to vomit.

"I see you're not taking any advice from the people who care about you," says a familiar voice I haven't heard in years, and it almost seems foreign to me after hearing it.

I glance up from my lunch to see Janice standing before me, carrying her lunch tray, with Savannah and Julia standing behind her. My eyes are drawn to Savannah's, but she tilts her head down, as she did previously, still avoiding eye contact.

Janice's focus has shifted to Aaren, and I get a glimpse of Aaren glancing at me out of the corner of my eye.

"I've never truly understood you, Sanders. Even after all these years, I never realized you liked being the center of attention," Janice continues to pour nasty words off her mouth, and I do my best to ignore them.

Savannah placed her hand on Janice's shoulder, but all Janice did was shake it off, "You like hanging out with people who—"

"—Janice, stop it. Let's just go," Savannah intervenes, still ignoring my gaze.

Janice smiles at me and walks away from our table after slamming her palm on the table and saying, "Best wishes." Because of the tension that Janice brought with her, which made me and Aaren uncomfortable, I could feel my shoulders loosen and didn't realize that I was holding my breath at that moment.

I watch Savannah's lips move as she says something to Janice while simultaneously supporting her back with her hand. Savannah turned her head around, and I averted my gaze, this time avoiding eye contact.

Aaren was gazing at me, and I was staring down at my food tray, unable to speak a single word. I wanted to ask him whether he knew Savannah or anything about my sister, but I feel so defeated now.

"What was that about?" Aaren wonders aloud, causing me to raise my head and stare at him. "Did I just witness you getting bullied... and your friend simply stood by and did nothing?"

"They're my friends," I told him. "Well, used to be," I shrugged it off and corrected my previous statement.

"Didn't you used to hang out a lot with that—what's her name?" Aaren looks up at the ceiling as if that would help him restore his memory from the information that was lost, "Sarah? Scarlett? Sophia? Oh, I know... Summer!"

I shook my head, "Winter?" Aaren continues to guess.

"Her name's Savannah. And yes, we did hang out a lot," I told him, "A lot of things just happened. I guess that's just how life goes."

Aaren furrows his eyebrows, "You sound so defeated."

"It's because I am defeated."

"By what? By them?"

"Doesn't matter."

To avoid any more talk that would lead to additional questions about what had transpired before, I pushed a forkful of lettuce into my mouth. I forcibly chewed the lettuce, and it all sounded crunchy to me as Aaren sat there silently, watching me eat for a few seconds before speaking again.

"Can I have that apple?" He points at the apple on my food tray.

I rolled my eyes at him and nodded my head anyway.

***