Ethereal

19

Hira

 I stared down at my phone confused as I sat in class. 

Claire: Gia skipped class, I think I pissed her off

Me: What happened?

*BZZ*

Claire: told her to knock off teasing you n Luca and she got defensive, maybe I was too harsh?

Me: She'll get over it probably, she'll prob show up at lunch so just apologize to her then

~~

When lunch rolled around, Gia didn't show up. Claire seemed agitated as we sat with the rest of our cheerleading team.

She chewed on her nail, looking over at the cafeteria door, waiting to see if Gia will come.

I softly touched her arm.

"Wanna go look for her? You seem very nervous" I said.

She nodded and we got up, quickly leaving.

"Explain what happened, this time in detail" I said, as we quickly walked through the halls.

Claire filled me in on what happened and I furrowed my eyebrows. 

"Maybe she's upset about something else and took it out on you?" I asked.

Claire didn't say anything.

"She may be out on the bleachers smoking or something, let's check there" I said.

She softly nodded and we quickly went out to the field.

Claire and Gia had never really fought before, even when they did it was in a joking manner where they laughed it off in the end. It was weird seeing the usually calm and collective Claire, frazzled and upset.

We walked towards the bleachers and sure enough Gia was there, staring up at the sky with a cigarette in her hand. 

"Those are so bad for you" I said, as I walked over.

"Shut it Dhillon" she grumbled, taking another puff.

"Hi Gia" Claire said.

Gia looked over at Claire, flashing a tight-lipped smile at her.

"Sorry about earlier" Gia said. 

"It's okay" Claire said. 

We sat down beside her, falling into a tense silence where none of us knew what to say.

"I need to tell you guys something" Gia said, looking up at the sky still.

"What's up?" I asked.

She took a deep breath. "I...the reason why I blew up at Claire earlier and why I wasn't really talking much today was because I just...last night I think I ruined my crush's relationship with her girlfriend and destroyed any chance of friendship between us " Gia said, looking at us with a sad smile.

~~

 Gia

(The night before)

 "Gia hey, thanks for meeting up with me".

I awkwardly smiled as I walked towards her in the restaurant.

"You haven't changed much since we last met" I said, warily smiling as I sat down across from her.

"Neither have you" she replied, half smiling. 

Vivienne Pierre, the girl who I spent all of junior and sophomore year crushing on until she graduated. Neither Claire or Hira knew about this attraction to her, and frankly I'm glad I never told them. Not because I was scared of them being homophobic but because Viv and I had a complicated relationship when she was in high school still, one that we ended the day she graduated. The only one who did know was a mutual friend of Vivienne and I's named Jamar.