Stained Glass Souls (Wattys 2014, Collector's Dream Award Winner)

Ariel: Cold Coffee (Part Two)

After that, unease followed her to school every day, until she cornered her childhood friend Katrina in the bathroom. When they first met, Katrina had been nothing more than a child in the sandbox, albeit a violent one. She tossed shovels at Ariel, and then small buckets, and mashed sand in her hair. Ariel had stayed, reluctant to leave, swallowing the tears, because having one friend was better than none at all.

Now, most kids in Haven junior high called Katrina names like tramp and a whore. She loitered with the skinny, hungry-looking boys in the far corners of the parking lot after school. Her beautiful red hair was dyed to dull, mermaid blue, and her voice became rough and raspy.

And they had drifted apart, slowly but surely, because Ariel was a ballerina, and Katrina was a tramp, and they became like a jigsaw puzzle; pieces pushing to fit together, edges sharp, corners not matching up like they used to.

Now, Ariel was standing in front of the mirror, pretending to wash her hands, gaze following the movement of Katrina’s distinctive army boots. One of the stall doors creaked open, and Katrina stepped out, blue hair glowing in the dim. Ignoring Ariel, she clanked over to the sink, the chains dangling from her cut-off shorts jingling. 

“Hey.” Ariel licked her lips nervously.

Katrina thrust her hands underneath the soap dispenser. There were tiny marks in her palms, some of which looked like burns. “What’s up, babe?”

“I was wondering…”

“Yeah?”

“If…if you knew what this was.”  She thrust the bottle towards Katrina.

Katrina’s eyes went wide. Her gaze darted around the room, and then came back to the bottle. “Where did you get that?”

“I found it.”

“Dang, girl.” Katrina took it from Ariel and held it up to the yellow bathroom lights. The fluid seemed yellow in here, like urine, only it seemed to sparkle. “This stuff is legit!” She pulled the metal cap off the top and sniffed it.

“What is it?”

“You really don’t know?” Katrina gave her that look, the one where Ariel wondered how they had even been friends in the first place, if she knew so much less about the world.

“No.”

“Ariel…” She handed the bottle back. “I don’t believe you.”

“What? That I found it?” Angry, Ariel slammed it down onto the sink. “It was in my dad’s desk!”

Katrina’s face turned red. “Was this the only one?”

“No. There were lots of them.”

Shaking her head, Katrina picked up the bottle and disappeared behind the swinging door of a bathroom stall. There was a loud crack, and then a pungent aroma diffused into the air.

“Kat? What are you doing?!” Ariel peeked around the corner of the stall. Little white pieces of glass lay scattered around the base of the stained porcelain toilet. The water inside the bowl was amber.

Katrina reached forward and flushed the substance down the toilet, then turned to face her. “You can’t have that on school grounds, babe. You get caught now, it’s a strike against you later.”

“So? What was it?”

“Nothing. Water, with a little food coloring.”

“Why would he have that in his desk?” Confused, Ariel watched Katrina shimmy a slim white and red pack from the back pocket of her jeans. She didn’t understand any of this – all those little bottles, the liquid inside, Katrina’s face when she knew there was lots of it.