The Pretenders (ON HOLD)

chapter 9

The next day, Peter didn't show up at school. At recess, Wendy found herself wandering aimlessly around the school oval. It is a weird feeling, loneliness. A feeling which Wendy started to understand as she meandered through the school grounds. Eyes seemed to follow her, and every now and then she'd catch a group of girls whispering to each other, undoubtedly about her.

After wasting about half of recess walking around the oval with no particular destination in mind, Wendy found herself in a section of the school she wasn't familiar with. She vaguely remembered passing through it quickly when she'd had an orientation tour at the school but the tour guide hadn't said much about it. The area was shaded by several green-leaved maple trees, which had decorated the asphalt with their fallen leaves. A few wooden benches had been placed around but Wendy guessed that not many people used them judging by the emptiness of the place. Only one person other than herself was there, a dark haired girl who was sitting at the trunk of a tree reading a particularly thick book.

Wendy edged closer to the girl, curious as to why she was sitting by herself in such an isolated section of the school. On hearing Wendy approaching, the girl turned to face her, a startled expression on her face. It was obvious that other students didn't come there often.

The girl was quite pretty, with a kind of natural beauty, like a tropical islander. She had a dark tan, slick black hair that had a smooth liquid-like appearance and a slim figure. But what stood out most from her darkly toned features, were her bright hazel eyes. A mix of green, gray and light brown, they emanated confidence and superiority.

"What are you doing here?" the girl asked. She looked to be the same age as Wendy and as she stood, Wendy saw that they were roughly the same height.

"I'm, um, you see, I was just-" Wendy started to say before the girl interrupted.

"Well...?"

"Hello, I'm Wendy." To this, the girl shot Wendy a sarcastic look. Not rude, just sarcastic.

"Yeah, well duh. I know who you are. Everybody knows. You're the girl who traveled halfway across the world to a town with a population of around, like, five people and got the most handsome, talented and desirable boy at the school, who, mind you, never pays attention to any of the girls, to be your best friend in less that half a day. That's you, right?" the girl asked impatiently. After hearing someone say it out loud, Wendy realized that her sudden friendship with Peter may have seemed unfair to some.

"Yes, unfortunately, that is me. The way you said it, well it makes me seem a little annoying, really. And you are?" Wendy asked, making an effort to seem friendly.

"Lillian Tigerson. My family calls me Lily." The girl, Lily, seemed uncertain what to think of Wendy.

"What do your friends call you?" Wendy probed.

Lily rolled her eyes and scoffed, "Wow, you really are new to the school. My friends call me Lily, or at least they would if I had any friends. Oh yeah, and if I actually did have friends then I wouldn't be sitting here in what people call 'L Block', which, by the way, stands for 'Lonely Block'. Which is why it comes as a great surprise to me that you are here. Because, last I heard, you were friends with the most popular boy in the grade." 

Not knowing how to reply to the girl's response to her, Wendy simply complimented Lily on her talent for sarcasm.  Wendy's comment brought a smile to Lily's face.

"Gee, thanks," the girl began with, not surprisingly, a tone of sarcasm, "Maybe, I should put that on my resume. Yeah, I can just see the look on the employer's face. He'll be like, 'Wow! She's got a great sense of sarcasm! That's exactly what I look for in my employees!'"