Astronomical (girlxgirl)

Chapter Ten

Chapter Ten (Skye's POV)

I trudged my way to school on Monday, tired and lacklustre.

The rest of the weekend had been uneventful; I had gone grocery shopping on Sunday and managed to get by unscathed this time. Jumping every time someone made a sudden gesture, or there was a loud noise, I was grateful when I arrived back home safely behind a double-locked door.

I had always taken for granted the sense of relative safety I felt now in crowds; no longer worrying about the dangers presented by other peoples until that man had pulled me into the alleyway and I had been reminded of how easy it was for people to hurt you.

Although nothing had actually happened, it was still sobering to think of what could have happened.

I had secretly hoped to run into Rose while in town, but luck was not with me.

Bad Skye; stop thinking about the beautiful stranger who knows karate and can take down assailants without breaking a sweat.

Aunt Lauren had worked late again, and because my social life was non-existent, I had spent the rest of Sunday afternoon spring-cleaning the whole house to take my mind off of Saturday's events.

When Monday had rolled around, I really wasn't feeling motivated to sit through classes all day - but I was too worried about Aunt Lauren finding out if I skipped school.

The now-familiar sight of Westwood High did nothing to improve my mood; students milled outside, catching up with friends after a weekend apart with some sitting on benches and copying each other's homework at the last minute.

Having moved around my whole life - with Aunt Lauren chasing promotions and company expansions as a financial adviser - high schools began to blur together in my head.

It's hard to make friends when I never know the right thing to say, and even if I do Aunt Lauren and I move on in a few months or a year anyway. It's easier just to make Aunt Lauren happy by focusing on my studies and not getting too attached to anyone.

There were no stereotypical cliques of nerds, Goths, and cheerleaders - this wasn't a movie.

But most like-minded people seemed to congregate; I pictured Molly Henderson and her friends in the library preparing study notes for their tutoring club, and Nathan Benson practising on the basketball courts with his team before class, and even Sara Whitman and Michael Woods sitting on the bleachers smoking and exchanging sarcastic remarks.

I didn't think of my classmates as wannabes or jocks or rebels; they were just people trying to survive the gruelling social and academic pressures of high school.

I walked around the cafeteria building to find Sara exactly where I thought she would be. I wouldn't go so far to say she was my friend, but we did have AP English together, and she had lent me her copy of To Kill A Mockingbird for the weekend.

Ben had been a bit too excited that I had let him use my paint set last week and went from painting me a picture of what was meant to be a cat, to 'decorating' my English novel like the picture books they used in his day-care. I had tried to wipe away the smears of yellow and blue paint, but they had ruined the thin pages and made the words illegible.

Trying not to wrinkle my nose at the acrid smell of smoke, I said a quiet thank you to the bubblegum pink-haired Sara before backtracking to my locker. I contemplated briefly where Michael was; he and Sara were customarily attached at the hip...

Maybe if I took up smoking - or at least weren't repulsed by the smell of second-hand smoke - I wouldn't have to sit alone in the cafeteria at lunch, I mused and chuckled bitterly at Aunt Lauren's expression if she caught me partaking in such a 'ghastly' habit.