Chatoyant College Book 8: From the Earth

Chapter 18: Gossip

"So I told her," said Genesis, "if that's how you use a hammer when you're building sets, I feel sorry for your boyfriend!" The rest of the room exploded with laugher. Edie smiled tentatively, unable to muster even a forced smile in the mood she was in, and took a sip of her soda to cover her lack of mirth.

She was hanging out in the sound booth with Leila's friends—Genesis, Chris, Zoila, and Donna. She'd done the same many times before, drinking a soda while they drank beer and wine, gossiping and trading anecdotes, mostly about their fellow theater majors, a few of whom Edie knew from her introduction to theater class. This was, however, the first time Leila had not been there with them. Edie was certain she'd said she'd be there, and had told Edie to meet her there instead of waiting for her somewhere else, but it had been over an hour and she hadn't turned up. Chris had also said that Leila was supposed to be there, but no one else seemed as surprised as Edie was that Leila hadn't turned up yet.

The others had spent most of the day working on their production of A Midsummer Night's Dream—Chris on costumes, Genesis and Donna on sets, and Zoila in rehearsals (she was playing one of the faeries, something Edie was careful not to show too much curiosity about, since it was just a play, after all). Today's conversation topics had all come from that, and Edie was just staying silent. She'd laughed and contributed brief commentary at first, but as the evening wore on and Leila didn't show she got more and more unhappy, and it was hard to have a conversation with people who didn't seem to care very much whether or not she was there.

As Genesis, Donna, and Zoila started trading insult suggestions for the girl Genesis was working on the sets with—evidently they disliked her for reasons beyond her inability to do basic carpentry—Edie leaned forward, closer to Chris, who was not only the nicest to her out of the group but also wasn't talking much; she didn't seem to have any experience with that girl. "Are you sure Leila said she would be here?"

"Hmm? Oh—yeah, I'm pretty sure." Chris turned her head quickly and smiled up at Edie. Edie was perched on a milk crate, and Chris was sitting on the floor next to her, her back against the wall. "She told you she would, didn't she? I'm sure she wouldn't lie to you."

"Oh, I didn't think she would do that," said Edie quickly, hoping Chris didn't think she was angry with Leila. She just missed her. "I just wasn't sure. She might have meant another day. Was she there with you today? Working on costumes, I mean. Donna and Zoila said she was supposed to be."

Chris nodded. "Yeah, she was there. She's the best seamstress we have. Did the same amount of work that the rest of us did in half the time. She did say she would be here. Maybe she forgot."

Edie frowned and glanced out through the window that looked over the theater—the main reason she'd chosen a seat on a milk carton, so she would be able to see if Leila was coming in. It was dark, though, and there was no movement. "Maybe I should go look for her. If she forgot we were supposed to meet here she might be looking for me at my dorm or something."

"Oh, no, don't worry about her." Chris patted Edie's knee, then, oddly, left her hand there. "Leila can take care of herself. She just gets a little self-absorbed sometimes, you know that."

"Um, right." Edie shifted away, but couldn't get Chris' hand off her knee. "But I should remind her, if she forgot. She'd like that."

Chris shook her head and took her hand off Edie's knee. Edie was relieved for a moment—but then she got up and sat down next to Edie, taking advantage of the space she'd made on the milk crate when she tried to shift away. "She won't care. She's off in her own little world. Like always. You deserve better."

Edie looked at Chris nervously. She didn't know what the others were talking about now and she really didn't care. She also didn't want to think about where Chris was going with this. "Are you drunk already?" They usually didn't get drunk on weekdays, but they had brought a lot of beer...

"Of course not." Chris held up her beer bottle, barely half empty. "I just want to get to know you a little better. You need somebody to take good care of you, Edith. I think you know Leila's not much good at that." She leaned closer, her eyes wide.

Edie jumped up, her breath coming in short, nervous gasps. "I'm going to go look for her." Without another glance at anyone else in the sound booth, she ran out.