Exploiting Realities

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE - BEGIN AGAIN

"Ready?" Lorelai asked me. I nodded and we began walking on our usual route.

"If anyone gives you any trouble come and find me," Alec told me when we arrived at the school moments later. Great, I thought, even Alec thinks I'm gonna get shit about this. He rested his hand on my back, subtly keeping me from turning around and running home, and the three of us walked up to the front of the school where everyone was standing, waiting to be allowed in when the bell rang.

Miranda ran up to me the second she saw me. "Hey gorgeous!" she exclaimed giddily. "Welcome back!" She looked at Alec. "We've got her from here Alec," she said bitterly. "Go play with your little sophomore friends."

Alec raised an eyebrow, taken aback by her tone. "Oh, um, okay." He glanced at me. "You're good?"

I nodded. "I'm fine," I dismissed him, although I didn't really want him to leave. He left me with Miranda and Lorelai and went to find his friends.

That was odd, Miranda hadn't ever been bitter towards Alec. I supposed that Lorelai had told them all about the kiss, and I guessed it sort of made sense that they would be a little cold to him after that...wouldn't they?

Miranda, Lorelai and I walked over to the spot that we had stood at for the last three years. I felt everyone's eyes on me as we entered the swarm of juniors, the majority of which I hadn't spoken to since I started chemo. I avoided eye contact and prepared myself for the worst.

"Aria!" I heard as I was swallowed in an embrace. "You're back!"

"Hey Dean!" I replied, slightly stunned at the warm welcome I was recieving from a guy that I hardly knew.

"Abernathy's class will be so much more tolerable now!" he said chipperly. I laughed.  Dean Fuller was one of the most popular guys in our grade, and he was also super nice. The only time that I ever talked to him, however, was in the mornings and in Miss. Abernathy's English class. We'd never had too much of an impact on each other's lives so I was surprised when he approached me.

"Yeah and don't even worry about the hair," another guy that I hardly knew, Jacob, commented. "It's so overrated. You're unique this way."

"And if anyone picks on you," a third guy, AJ, said, "just let me know and I'll take care of them."

"Uh, thanks guys," I said, a little confused. The school bell rang and we all started filing into the school.

"What was that about?" I asked Lorelai and Miranda on our way to history.

Miranda giggled. "They like you, silly!" 

"Um, excuse me?"

She grinned. "Dean especially! He's thought you were hot since freshmen year!" I looked at her in disbelief.

"You have to remember Ar," Lorelai chimed in, "this is the first time you've been to school after the end of your two-year-long relationship with Dill."

I raised my eyebrows. I hadn't even thought about that! "It's also my first time back to school without hair," I reminded her.

She shrugged. "Who cares? Your eyelashes and your eyebrows never fell out so your face is just as pretty. Everyone in the entire school knows that you have cancer so it's not like they're judging you for wearing that bandana on your head. Good morning, Mr. Kellingsworth," she greeted our history teacher as we reached the classroom.

"Good morning Mr. Kellingsworth," Miranda and I repeated.

"Good morning girls," he replied. "Welcome back, Miss. Richter," he said, smiling at me.