Don't Judge a Book by its Cover

Gravity hates you

That's Meggie. <3 ------------>

********************

Hazel POV 

I smiled and waved when I saw Mikelah. "Hi Mik!" I yelled at her, but she barely waved back. She had a weird kind of expression on her face like she wasn't really in school, like she was somewhere else entirely. "Mikelah!!" I shouted and she jumped. Her eyes widened, and she bit on her fingernail. "Where are you Mik?" I asked her. She looked at me kind of funny. 

"I'm in school, Hazel. Where are you?" I rolled my eyes at her. 

"You know what I mean. Where's your mind? It's not here with you." 

Mik didn't reply. Instead, she blushed and pushed her bangs away from her face, looking down to avoid my eyes. I tugged on her braid, which wasn't easy, seeing as her braid was only an inch or two below her neck. "C'mon Hazel." she finally replied. "Could you please just drop it? Just today?" I relented, mostly because I knew I wasn't getting anything else out of her. I figured I could get Meggie to help me figure it out later. 

"What's the time? I have something to do before school starts..." Her voice trailed off absently. I didn't bother to answer, because she was still obviously thinking about whatever it was she was thinking about. I was relieved when Meggie showed up. That meant I wouldn't have to yell at Mikelah until first period.  

"Hey Meggie." I said when she was close enough to hear me. "Where's your friend?" I asked her. She looked blank for a second before she realised. 

"Oh, Mervyn?" she asked. So that was his name. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen him today." She looked around briefly. "He must be running late." Meggie leaned against the wall and somehow, lost her balance while bracing against the wall. She slipped down and fell on her butt.

"You okay?" I asked her. She nodded. 

"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled a little bit. I snorted. Meggie was always falling. You'd think she'd have spine problems with all the falls she's taken. 

"Gravity hates you, Megg." Now it was Meggie's turn to snort. She looked at me like she was going to say something, but then changed her mind. The bell rang for the first class and Mikelah jumped as if she'd been shocked. She dashd off, and I turned to Meggie. 

"Did you notce Mik acting kind of..." 

"Of course I noticed." Meggie replied. She picked up Mikelah's forgotten textbook with a strange sort of smile.  She was in her own little world for a while.

"We'd better get to class, right?"  I said, breaking her trance. She blinked a couple times.

"Uh, yeah."

************************************************ 

Meggie's POV 

"Dad, I'm home!" I shouted. He was usually back from work at this hour. He might have been asleep, I suppose, but these days he made a point of being awake to meet me when I came home from school. I dropped my bag in the hall as he walked out of the kitchen and saw me.

"Hi Mag. How was your day?" He asked, like the typical parent.

"It was fine, dad." I answered. He looked so sad. I walked over and hugged him.

"Thanks, Meggie." he sighed. He kept an arm around my waist when I pulled back, and sighed again, more deeply, staring into my face and running a hand through my long hair. I pulled away, and then kissed him on the cheek before going to my room and locking the door.