Astoria: Part One

Violet: Chapter Sixteen

Violet had been texting her sister, Judith, all day. She was excited to see her, and to get out of the house in a couple of days.

Violet hadn't made her weekly visit to the bathroom to cry.
She was in good spirits.

Violet hadn't had to wear makeup today, the red tear streaks had gone away.

She was sitting in the back of her geography class, just counting the minutes until she could go home from school.

"Now, find a partner," Mr. Jones said.

Words Violet always dreaded to hear together. She was always last picked for everything, in sports, games, and when the class had to choose partners. Violet liked when she was the odd one out, either she got to be alone, or partner with the teacher.
There wasn't exactly a 'most likely to bum everyone one out' award.

Soon, everyone had picked their best friends, and Violet was alone.

Except she wasn't.
There was one girl left, whom she had never seen.

The red-head made her way over, shyly.

'Great,' Violet thought, 'she wasn't even a outgoing person with bad luck. This was going to be painful.'

"Hi..." the girl said quietly.
"Hi," Violet responded.
"I'm Maisie," the freckled girl said.
"Violet," she said in turn.
"I guess we're partners..." she said.

"Okay, everyone," Mr. Jones started saying, "this project is going to last the rest of the week and through this weekend, if you need it."

Some groaned at that.

Violet was unsure how this would effect her plans. Most of the time, Violet would finish a project early and rest easy until the dead-line.
But this week she was going to spend time with her sister on Thurday and Friday.
She imagined she would finish this weekend.

After Mr. Jones finished giving instructions, class was almost over.

"Now start planning between yourselves for the rest of the period and we'll start working tomorrow."

"I have plans on Thursday and Friday," Violet said quietly, "but we can work together this weekend if you want."
"That sounds good," Maisie said.

Others chatted confidently, but there were long pauses of silence between Violet and Maisie's conversation.

"What happened to your eye..." Maisie finally asked, "and your arm?"
"I fell down a flight of stairs," Violet said, telling a half-truth.
"Really?" Maisie said, curiously, "strange."
"What's strange about falling?" Violet asked, not understanding, "I'm clumsy."
"Well," Maisie hesitated, "your eye's equally black all the way around, and it has a long split from the top of your eye to the bottom."
"So?"
"So if you fell down some stairs, it would be more random, it looks like you tried to headbutt a bowling ball," she continued, "or...someone hit you."
"I hit the round part, at the bottom of the hand-rail."
"Well," Maisie backed off, "I guess that explains what happened to your arm too."

There was an uneasy tension.

"So," Violet said, "you must be new."
"Yeah," Maisie replied, "it's my second day."
"What do you think so far?"
"Well, there have been no bomb threats," Maisie chuckled, "so it's new to me."
"Where are you from?" Violet asked.
"New York."
"I guess that makes sense."

Another pause.

Violet heard another girl talking about her.

"That fucking emo preacher's daughter-"

"Are...are they talking about you..?" Maisie asked, hesitantly.
"Uh, yeah."
"You're not gonna say anything?"
"No..." Violet said quietly, feeling very alone.