Where Two Collide

Chapter Thirty-One - Cat

Chapter Thirty-One

Cat

Mum dropped me and Alice off at school on her way to work that morning, and when she drove off, it wasn't just me hovering in the car park, hesitant to go inside. I glanced at my phone, I'd had several messages from Addie over the last few days and I'd either blown her off with one-word answers or not replied at all. The latest one said four words only; Are you avoiding me?

I shoved my phone deep down inside my pocket. I probably wasn't going to reply to this one, she might finally take the hint that I don't want to be her friend. I want... I don't know what I want. Maybe I just want to pretend I never met her and she doesn't exist.

"I was thinking we should have a big party for our seventeenth, like maybe on the beach, and we can light a big bonfire and we can invite everyone we know," said Alice still hovering at my side. She gripped her bag tightly on her shoulder and stared straight ahead.

I gave her a sidelong glance. I wasn't in the mood for a party, and I certainly didn't want to hang out with all her friends. Fake friendly socialisation wasn't my thing. "Can't we just skip the parties this year?" I asked hopefully.

Alice shook her head. "But it's tradition. We throw a joint party every year."

"Why don't you just do it without me then, just celebrate your birthday with your friends and I'll hang out at home and do my thing," I suggested.

Alice looked horrified, she turned to gape at me. "I can't do it without you, you're my twin."

I shrugged at her. "It's not like we do everything together, we don't have to do this just because we always have in the past. Besides, I don't like group gatherings, it's not fun for me."

"I don't want to do it without you," said Alice, aghast. She put her hands together in a prayer and batted her mascaraed eyelashes at me. "Please please please let have a joint birthday party at the beach, I need you there."

I eyed her suspiciously, something was up with her, but I couldn't put my finger on it.

"You could invite your new friend too, it'll be great," she said, now openly begging.

I rolled my eyes. I was so bad at denying people for my own sake. "Fine, but I'm definitely not helping plan it, I will turn up and that's it." And I definitely wasn't going to be inviting Addie.

Alice smiled wide and clapped her hands. "Yay. Ok you won't have to do anything I promise, I've got this."

I sat down in a seat beside Travis in art club. He's flipping through a large illustrator's book, pausing to study occasional pages before going back to casually flipping through.

"Hey stranger," he said, not looking up from the book.

"Sorry I bailed on you again," I said guiltily. I counted on my fingers; I'd cancelled at least five times in a row now. By Alice's rules, I was basically out as a friend now. I officially should have been cancelled. "I understand if you don't want to be friends anymore."

"That wouldn't be very smart," he said, looking up from a rather interesting drawing of some kind of half-animal half-human beast. "Then neither of us would have any friends. Besides," he waved a hand at me. "If I wanted a boring friend who was sane, and simple, and always did what they said they were going to do, then I wouldn't have bothered keeping you around this long.

I pursed my lips. "Gee thanks."

"Seriously though, it's fine. I like that you're all over the place sometimes, it just makes you more interesting. If you were more sociable, you'd probably try and make me be too, and that would be awful." He shuddered.

He has a point. I laughed. "Then you're going to hate this."

His head snapped up and he stared at me expectantly. "What?"

"Alice wants to throw a big beach party for our seventeenth."

"That doesn't sound like your kind of thing at all."

I nodded in agreement. "Nor yours, but if I have to go, so does my only friend."

He dropped his forehead onto the table. It made an audible thud. "Ugh."

"Yeah I know, just think though," I said grinning, "If you hadn't been so quick to forgive me, you'd have gotten away with not going."

"Ugh," he repeated, muffled slightly by the table.

I slid my arm into my bag and pulled out my portfolio, dropping the heavy book on the table. Travis yelped and sat bolt upright, narrowing his eyes at me. I smiled as I opened it up and pulled out a piece I'd been working on last night. I scrutinised it carefully, then threw it off to the side with a groan. It skidded across the table as though wind had caught under it within our tiny art room.

"What was wrong with that one, it was good," Travis exclaimed.

"It's not good enough to be the main final piece I need for this whole thing to be ready to submit," I said, gesturing at my portfolio. "Nothing I do is good enough; I'm just not inspired."

Travis flicked my portfolio. "Do you think maybe you're overthinking this?"

I point a finger at him accusatorily. "Coming from you? You're the biggest overthinker I know."

"That's not saying a lot, you don't really know anybody else," he said with a shrug.

Again, he made a valid point. "That's not the point," I frowned, closing my portfolio. Whatever inspiration I needed; I wasn't going to find it in my book.

He picked at a stray bit of fluff on his hoodie. "Then what is the point?"

I looked up at the ceiling and groaned. "That I don't know what I'm doing, and I need some sort of guidance, someone to tell me where to look."

"Well now you're just dreaming," said Travis.

"Maybe not," said Mrs Talbot as she came strutting into the room twirling her spectacles in her hand. "I've brought in some assistance today, which I think might be of great help to your particular issue Miss Attwood."

Behind her followed a young woman dressed in a clean white shirt and jeans, braided hair piled on top of her head and a slick of bright red lipstick on her lips. She scanned the room, smiling at the students until finally her eyes fell upon me and her lips parted ever so slightly.

"This is Addie," introduced Mrs Talbot. She settled her gaze on me, and I could tell she very pleased with herself. I wondered if this was some sort of cruel joke, but I knew Mrs Talbot well enough to know that wasn't her style. "She was one of the lucky students who successfully made it onto the program you are all applying for. So she has a good idea about what will get you there, in particular, I'd like her to assist with helping you realize your final piece Cat."

***I love a good SURPRISE moment, were you expecting that? Vote and Comment below!***