Care for me (L. S.)

21

!Flash forward | Tuesday the 6th of October | Nory

Eleanor sighed in relief when the bell rang announcing that fourth period was over. Now it was lunchtime which meant she had an hour to try and relax before fifth period, when she had to do a presentation about the development of children's brains. It was all very interesting, but also very complicated. Plus, the presentation was half of the exam. So if you got a good grade, you were more likely to pass for that class

She packed up her things and went to the cafeteria on the first floor. She sat down next to Niu and her friend, who were discussing the latest rumours of who supposedly kissed who at which party. Elvira was sitting at the other end of the cafeteria, talking to Wren, her hand intertwined with her girlfriend's, like if they didn't touch each other at all times, something awful would happen... Forcing her eyes away from them, she felt like she got betrayed by the most important person in her life. Well... she kind of did: her and Elvira hadn't properly spoken to each other in weeks, aside from the polite 'hello'. It seemed like her former best friend didn't want to associate with her any more than she had to. So when Elvira started ignoring her, she did the same and that's that on that.

She listened to Niu's story while shoving her salad around in her lunchbox. Apparently Amber kissed her boyfriend's best friend, who also was secretly her friend's ex. Instead of telling her friend about it the next day, she pretended to have forgotten all about it. This supposedly made her friend snap and confess that the reason that boy had kissed her was because she had persuaded him to distract her. This way Amber wouldn't get the chance to pay attention to the new guy she liked. Nory felt like she had lost a few brain cells listening to the overly complicated gossip. Stabbing a carrot, she watched Lynn's eyes become bigger and bigger with every further layer of the story.

It was not very crowded since a lot of people spent their lunch break studying in the library, hanging around in the hallways or playing basketball and such. Some liked to go out with friends and have lunch outside of school, which was allowed if you were sixteen or older.

Nory remembered when she and her friends would go out to buy pizza during the break. One of her friends would always ask someone older to buy beers for all of them. It used to be beer and pizza and laughter. Nothing else.

The idea of eating pizza with her friends now sounded absurd to her. For the fact alone that none of them ate carbs anymore. Not to mention cheese.

"Nory hellooo?" Niu snapped her fingers in front of her face. "Did you hear what I said about Vic and Samuel?" Nory coughed and escaped her thoughts.

"Yes of course! I'm just gonna run to the bathroom. See you later."

And before Niu could react, she jumped up and rushed to the toilets.

She swung the door open and noticed the room was empty; most students used the toilets on the other side of the building where there were automatic hand dryers.

She washed her hands in the sink and dried them with the less fancy paper towels.

She looked in the eyes of a tired girl. Her brown curls were hanging messily around her head and there was a permanent wrinkle on her forehead.

Just relax! She told her own reflection.

But she couldn't help but feel totally paralyzed with fear at the thought of holding a presentation in front of the class.

Where did this doubt come from? She used to be so sure of herself. When was even the last time she felt confident?

Nory realized in shock that she couldn't remember. How was that healthy?