The Cycle of STRANGERS

• 7 •

Meira eats away at her muffin, taking tiny, even bites. On the contrary, Venus takes big gulps of her water, so that when she puts it down - half the bottle is empty. I, on the other hand, break off pieces from my own muffin, popping each little bit in my mouth.

Beyond the window, only very few people walk by, due to the school hour and expectancy of most people to actually be IN school. I notice a few group sitting on benches whilst eating pastries or slices of pizza. Of course, none of these people were popular, they'd much rather sit in the cafeteria in 'their' own space. It's almost as if they think people actually care about them being there, cause at this point they only have their popularity due to their constant challenging of teachers. The rest of us 'normals' actually know what the definition of respect is.

"Rosa, do you have anything to share with us?" Meira says, with her chirpy tone.

"No, why?" I mean, I do, but I don't want to come off as overly-obsessed.

"You texted just before lesson. I thought you might have a bit of news for us."

"Not really." I admit.

"What's 'really'? You clearly have something! Tell usss..." Venus whines now, slipping down to the edge of her seat whilst preparing her ears.

"Honestly, I'm sure my work isn't all that interesting to talk about."

The two of them sigh in chorus, as expected. Even I get bored of anything I say about work. Sure, it's a fun job, for me, however the stories are quite dry.

"Unless!" Meira clicks her fingers, raising her head from her muffin, glancing between Venus and I.

"Well go on then." Venus edges on. I can tell from the next look on her face, she didn't mean to come across as eager as she did, but her voice gave it away too soon.

"Unless... if something happened at work?" She says, not completely wrong.

I chuckle at her, clearly unsure of what to say. I don't feel like saying anything about Gio until I feel more comfortable enough with knowing whether or not we're actually friends or if it's just a short-term bit of fun.

"Meira, be serious. Nothing happens in that small little bookshop, no offense." She raises a hand up to excuse her shade upon my job.

"I got asked for my snap, once. Even you did, you just turned them down with your meanness." Meira says, folding her arms, very eager to prove her point.

"That's not much to get excited about."

"That's very true." I nod, agreeing with Venus.

"So, someone asked for your snap recently?" Venus gasps this time. I thought she just said it wasn't much to get excited over. Yet she's the one, pressing her palm into the middle of my thigh.

"Not exactly."

Meira and Venus look at each other cautiously, trying to make sense of what I'm trying to say.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Meira asks, scratching the side of her forehead.

"Someone asked for my number-"

"And you gave it to him?" Venus whisper-screams, turning her whole body around to face me.

"Of course not." I huff.

"And why not?" Meira rolls her eyes, knowing it's very expectant of me to decline almost every male I've ever come across outside of school.

"He gave me his."

The girls burst out with celebration. A combination of giggles and cheers. Even Venus didn't hold back, despite being surrounded by tables of people. I give the two of them a straight face, preparing them for what I'm about to say. I watch Meira's face across from me, fall into a deep look of concern. After a little while, Venus has the exact same expression.