The Unfortunate

Persistant

Ripped jeans really weren't all that bad. Most people in Brooklyn wore ripped jeans purposely, so it wasn't as if they stuck out like a sore thumb. Honestly, the ones she had been wearing were cheap knockoffs that she had only gotten because they were on sale. Still, Dawn was sad to throw them out as if the memories within them didn't exist.
"Girl. Chill. They are jeans. You're lucky that I even had spare shorts with me," Estelle sighed. Lise was leaning against the wall, absorbed in some article she was reading on her phone. "Do they fit, Dawn?"
"Yeah, they're just a little, well...short." Came Dawn's reply from inside a bathroom stall. She may have been understating it; these shorts were scandalous. She positively could not be seen in public with these jean shorts on, it would forever ruin her moral score, not to mention her reputation! She was the same height as Estelle, but her hips and thighs were fuller, so the denim squeezed her skin uncomfortably.
Quietly, Dawn pushed open the stall door and stepped out, bracing herself for a negative remark about the size.
Much to her disbelief, Estelle whistled, and Lise raised a curious eyebrow at her expression.
"Damn! You look like a mature woman for once!"
Ouch.
"Um, you mean they don't look... I dunno... scandalous?" Dawn feared the worst from her friends, but neither of them looked incredibly bothered. Lise didn't appear as supporting as Estelle was, but she offered up these words of encouragement:
"It's not something I would chose to wear, but it actually matches you. You'll be cold, but that's the only worst part."
"Yeah, and Jack will totally dig em!" Estelle teased, but thankfully Dawn didn't register her words.
"Thanks guys! I'm so relieved!" Dawn sighed and threw her ripped jeans in the trash can. Suddenly, memories of what had happened earlier barged into her mind. Immediately Dawn's face turned red from mortification.
"Are you thinking about what happened earlier?" Lise questioned, a sympathetic look on her face.
"Oh my god, I'm so..." Dawn could not find the proper words to describe how much she hated her luck. "I can't believe that all happened though, I can't go back there now!"
Maybe we can wait in here until lunch ends...
"I'm sure only a few people saw your face, so it's fine! Plus it was clearly an accident." Estelle patted Dawn's head, which was slumped over apologetically. "Hey, nobody's perfect. You just gotta laugh it off sometimes."
"For once, she has a point." Lise agreed. "Let's go back now."
"Okay..." Dawn still felt terrible, but she trusted their logic.
The three best friends were about to leave when the sound of something metal being knocked over in the corner of the room caught their attention. Apparently, the last stall was occupied, much to their surprise, and whoever was inside had knocked over a trash can.
Estelle pursued her lips in alarm and frantically motioned for them to leave while they still could. If not, the sudden awkwardness would surely engulf the whole room. Estelle and Lise quickly exited, and Dawn was right behind them, but she froze when she heard a light sobbing from inside the stall.
Oh...
"Are you alright...?" Dawn asked in concern, trying to sound gentle. The door swung closed, leaving Dawn and the crying girl alone. There was silence, but no answer. "If you're crying, please don't think you're alone. You can talk to me about it, i-if that helps." The person inside had uneven breaths, but they still chose to stay quiet. "I understand if you wanna be alone right now. Um, my name is Dawn. Dawn Altan. You can come find me anytime on campus if you need a friend..." Dawn's heart physically hurt for this poor girl, but she understood and respected that not everyone wanted a stranger around to see them cry. Dawn reached out and placed a hand on the marble stall door, the wall preventing her from comforting a suffering person. "Okay, I'll be going then. Please cheer up, don't cry anymore..." Without another word, she left the bathroom, feeling helpless and disturbed. Hopefully whoever they were, they would come find her eventually so she could help them however she could.
"Yo, Dawn, what took you so long?" Estelle whined, grabbing Dawn's hand as soon as she was in the hall. "Lunch is gonna end any minute!"
"Right. Sorry," Dawn bit her lip; she didn't want to tell her friends about the mysterious crying girl-there was no point in simply spreading gossip. "I was just looking in the mirror a little more." Her friends bought the excuse easily.
"Haha, when that girl made a noise I legit almost screamed. I didn't even know she was there!" Estelle admitted, the three girls casually heading back to the cafeteria.
Lise nodded.
"I really didn't notice either. It's the first time I've been caught off guard this week." The blonde shifted her glasses, thinking deeply for a moment. "Hey, I have something I need to ask you both, about the Dreamers."
Dawn halted mid-step due to her heart nearly skipping a beat. Estelle stopped too, curious.
"Um, yeah. What about them?" Dawn crossed her arms across her chest, desperately trying to play off her nerves. Lise noticed her change in attitude but chose not to vocalize it.
"Before, I told you both that I've been researching them. As of late I've made some conclusions that I'd like to share."
"Ooh! Do tell!" Estelle urged her, but Dawn did not share her excitement. Lise was very sharp-frighteningly so-and if she snuffed out the lie that Dawn had been keeping, then all the trust they'd built up would be shattered.
Not to mention the danger Lise would be in if she got too close to the truth...
"All the wall art has been circulating around this city, so it's safe to say that the Dreamer's new headquarters are in Brooklyn."
"What do you mean, 'new?'" Dawn inquired, curious to see what her friend was getting at.
"According to the articles and pictures from the last time the Dreamers were active, the art used to be mainly in New York City. However after the six dormant months, all the activity centered around Brooklyn. Therefore, I believe the Dreamers used to live in New York City but have since moved here, though I'm not sure why. I can guess that it's for shady purposes."
"That's...neat." Dawn agreed, silently relieved that Lise's findings weren't too serious. Although, she couldn't deny that they were interesting, since Dawn herself also still knew very little about the Dreamers past and present activities.
"It's more than neat, Dawn!" Estelle argued, "It's totally epic! I mean, who would've thought they'd move to our city?! So awesome!"
"I agree." Lise nodded, and Dawn wanted to shout in frustration. Why wouldn't they just drop it? Clearly the Dreamers were dangerous; nothing to gossip about! Alas, Lise and Estelle would only ever know that if Dawn told them outright, and that would get them all into trouble! Dawn glared at nothing and no one, keeping her eyes trained on the floor. Even she didn't deserve this burden.
"Lise, did you...learn any other interesting stuff?" Dawn forced out, pretending to at least share their enthusiasm.
Lise eyed her friend carefully with an evaluating gaze.
"I'm completely certain that they're not here just to pull pranks and doodle on people's businesses."
"What do you mean?" Estelle pondered, taking a detour to a nearby vending machine. The two other girls were obliged to follow her as to not break up their comfortable trio formation.
"They want fame and recognition, but I don't believe..." Lise sighed and trailed off, gathering her thoughts and starting her sentence again. "There's just something I feel that's not right. Like there's some other motive." There was an audible clink as Estelle pushed coins into the machine's slot. They tumbled into the darkness and a second later the familiar sound of impact resonated from within.
"Mysterious!" Estelle chirped, selecting a cola.
"You're really a fan of those guys, Estelle." Dawn noted, staring off into the distance. "I just don't see what all the fuss is about...it's not like they're celebrities or anything." Hopefully she could convince her friends to stop involving themselves with the Dreamers. That was for the better. 
Lise raised an eyebrow. She had noticed that Dawn's opinion on the Dreamers has changed drastically from before.
"Well, I suppose they're not celebrities, but they are definitely a cause for concern. The only reason they're a big deal now is because they were a big deal in the past. They made quite a reputation back then, you know." The blonde paused, squinting in thought. "On second thought, I couldn't find solid evidence about any official acts done by the gang, I could only dig up events and wild rumors that were linked to their image, so it's still a possibility that they're completely made up. However...I'm not sure exactly why, but..." Lise looked directly to Dawn. "something about the Dreamers just enthralls me. It's fun for me to solve mysteries, and this is one of the biggest mysteries New York has to offer right now." Lise had a new look in her eyes, but there was something else Dawn just barely noticed in her gaze. It was like the blonde was recalling a vivid memory, something she was keeping herself from saying out loud.
Gripping her sleeve subconsciously, Dawn responded, "That makes sense, I guess. As long as you're having fun..."
"Right, it's actually been awhile since you've talked so much about one thing. I'm glad you're sharing all the good stuff with your homegirls!" Estelle said, a bounce in her step and a cold drink in her palm, but the cafeteria doors were before them before they could continue discussing the matter.
As soon as they returned to their table, the newfound stares reminded Dawn of her outfit. Her face must have been scarlet when Jack regarded her. (The teenager couldn't help but hope that the fact that she'd been postponing shaving for a number of days days now wasn't obvious...)
"You shouldn't be embarrassed, you look cute!" Gray complimented her, and she waved her hand dismissively. Gray was the only guy she would tolerate saying something so suggestive. The other boys at the table each turned to stare at him with either amusement or disbelief. "Uh...I mean, not in a weird way!" Gray panicked. Dawn laughed.
"Don't worry, I get you." Dawn giggled, her cheeks still bursting with color but her attitude a bit more relaxed.
Estelle nudged Lise, smirking knowingly at their exchange. Lise, of course, did not catch the raven's point.
"Thanks, Gray."
"Oh, it's nothing!" He grinned brightly.
After awhile of cheerful banter between the group of seven, lunch ended and everyone dispersed to go to their classes. Dawn nerves were practically trembling. She had English now; it was the only period she had with Jack. Furthermore, she had to present a PowerPoint today, and she was never one for public speaking. After sitting down, she cursed her luck when the teacher called her to present first. Mrs. Bell somehow expected the students to present all of their information from memory, rather than reading directly from their slides. Dawn understood her teacher's point, but there was a lot of information! Nearly shaking, Dawn stood up and tried to tug her shorts down lightly.
The frazzled girl opened her project on the projector screen and began.
"So, Emmet Till was born on....um," Shit. She had forgotten the date. "In 1941. And he was fourteen when he died from...being killed." Dawn was clearly struggling with the whole memorization part of this assignment. She breathed in deeply, trying to steady her shaking voice. "He was killed by the h-husband of a woman. Oh, and the woman was in the same grocery as Emmett before he was kidnapped, and sh-she said he whistled at her, and that's why her husband kidnapped him. He didn't whistle at her, though!" Crap. Crap. Everything she was saying was out of order! "By the way, Emmett was black." Colored. Seriously, Dawn? There were a few muffled chuckles. "Um, he-Emmett was beaten by him and then shot...somewhere," In the head. Emmett was shot in the head.
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Had Dawn ever messed up a presentation so badly before? Probably not. She did not want to know what grade her teacher had just given her. Dawn sat down in defeat, startlingly ready to hurtle herself out the window from shame. She raised her head when the person beside her made a strange noise. It was Jack, and he looked ready to burst with laughter from her trainwreck of a presentation.
"Wh-what's so funny?!" Dawn whispered, ready to defend herself. Her crush chuckled a little bit, and then took a big breath, looking at her through crinkled eyes.
"Nothing. Sometimes you're just..." he smiled lightly. It was one of those rare smiles he gave, where there was real happiness in it. There weren't many things Dawn disliked about the boy, but one of them was his lack of smiles. She wished he smiled more, she never wanted to see him unhappy. Although, like this one: the more rare a smile, the more genuine. And it was just for her.
Dawn's eyes widened at his beautiful grin, and her heart bloomed like a flower during the first few seconds of spring. She shook her head, recalling her previous discontent.
"I'm just...what?" She narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms stubbornly, although on the inside her heart was beating into overdrive.
"Oh, nothing." Jack murmured in response, just before falling into laughter again.
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Finally. Finally the day was over.
Dawn wanted nothing more than to return to the confinement of her dorm room. She was exhausted yet again, because today had been very emotionally draining. She was eyed by a few people on her trip to the Girl Dormitory, though she could not tell if they were silently judging her clothing choices or simply checking out the new legs on display. Dawn wasn't sure which option she would rather.
She did not make it through the courtyard, however, because waiting just around the water fountain were two people Dawn had thought were long gone. She froze where she was, blinking rapidly. Dawn's eyes trailed over Christi and Giuseppe's fake uniforms, until they finally locked with the blonde's. Christi was smirking confidently.

Oh, for the love of God, what did Dawn have to do to get one day of uneventfulness?