Eden and Bea (LGBT+)

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The bus ride to school the next day was off to a comfortable start. 

I say it was off to a comfortable start, but that only lasted up until the bus approached Eden's bus stop. Joy. 

The worst thing about it? She got onboard the bus to find that there were absolutely no other seats free, aside from the one next to me. Her eyes blinked and her long eyelashes fluttered, as they settled on an arguably cute boy sat on the aisle opposite me. 

He shook his head. He wasn't going to let her sit down any time soon, but then again, why should he? After all, he had no evidence that Eden was in desperate need of that seat. For one thing, he could perceive that she could walk perfectly fine, and for another, she wasn't pregnant or old, so she had no real choice as to where she was going to sit now. 

Eden rolled her eyes, seemingly discontented by the fact that the man hadn't allowed her to sit down in his seat. You could practically smell her entitlement from a mile away, but the closer you got, the more apparent it was. Eden Ida Thorne (the third) came to sit down on the seat beside me and moved as far to the edge of it, as was possible. I wasn't sure whether she did that because she could sense I didn't want to sit beside her, or due to the fact that she really didn't want to sit beside me. I settled on the fact that it was probably a mix of both. 

"Hey Edie," I called her the nickname that had only been used for her in first year, and one I was well-aware that she hated entirely. "Edie...it's your birthday soon, right? Sixth of October, if I remember correctly. Maybe you should have told him that, then he might have let you sit down in his place." I felt the corner of my mouth twitch up slightly, but Eden was completely ignoring me. No real surprise there. We were eighteen now but the tension between the two of us was still there. A bad tension. One that you couldn't even really cut with a chainsaw, which was utterly unfortunate. I liked to get along with most people, but as far as Eden was concerned, I never really got that opportunity. 

Releasing a sigh, Eden looked past me and out towards the blur of colourful flowers in the grasslands that the bus whizzed by. There were plenty of flowers in our little village, but not nearly enough shops. Then again, I supposed I had always preferred living in a rural area. I wasn't quite so sure that Eden could say the same. Judging by her expensive tastes in jewellery and designer handbags, I could tell that if there was one thing that she absolutely loved, then it was shopping. Her eyes glanced towards me for a second, as she could hardly ignore me forever, and I was reminded of the fact that it was times like these that I really wished I could read her mind- what was she thinking about? What did she think about me? 

On second thought, I wasn't actually too sure that I really wanted to know. I got the sense that the mind of Eden Thorne was a dark, complicated and scary place. Who knew what she was thinking about? She had a few friends, but everyone had always said that, for the most part, Eden remained perfectly quiet about her life. Perhaps her wealthy parents put her up to it. Maybe they didn't want anything to get out about them and their seemingly perfect life that they had constructed. Unfortunately, I couldn't truly understand Eden because, not only would she hardly ever speak to me, aside from the occasional remark, I couldn't read her mind. Perhaps that was a good thing. Her eyes soon motioned towards the window again and she leant back in her seat a little hastily, as the bus began to go up the hilly road towards the academy. 

"I'm surprised you actually remembered my birthday," was all Eden said to me, once the bus pulled up outside. 

Sooner than I could reply to that statement, she swiftly stood up from her seat and hopped off the bus. 

I felt the corner of my lips twitch up a little, as I got off the bus. Sure, I hadn't received much of a response from Eden, but it was something, at least. Not that it mattered. I continued to walk on and through the main entrance of the school, seemingly without a care in the world. 

Eventually, I reached Axel's locker and greeted him with a friendly smile. I suspected that he knew something was up because his eyes flickered in the way that they usually did, whenever he was anticipating news. "Hey, do you want to tell me what's going on now or after school? I have practice today," he said, "And we're going to beat the away team, I swear it." 

Axel then chugged a protein shake, utterly pumped. He was ready for the game and I knew that I didn't want to distract him from it, so I supposed that my little chat with Eden could wait. We would have plenty of time to talk soon enough because we left for the trip... 

I felt my eyes widen then. 

"You all good, Bea?" Axel asked me. 

Before I could answer his question, I took a step back in horror. D-day was tomorrow- D-day meaning the first day of the camping trip. How had I not remember that? I had spent the whole of yesterday afternoon packing, but I supposed I had been too wrapped up in my worries surrounding Eden to even remember that my forced time with her was going to start tomorrow!

"Yeah...just ate something weird for breakfast," I said. 

He needed to focus on the game. I wasn't going to be the one to distract him. 

I forced a smile onto my face, quickly, before he could grow too concerned about me. 

"Good luck today, Axel. I know you can do this," I told him kindly.