Moonlit

ten

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Returning back to C209 ten minutes later, I possessed 1. Jake's bag cradled in my arms which gave me a 2. aching body from both stashes of equipment yet I was just 3. relieved that I wasn't ambushed by a 4. cheating boyfriend again.

Entering the vanilla fragranced room, several raised voices danced into my ears as I took in the unsettled atmosphere. I believed that the positive vocabulary must've sunk in the students' brains too far, as the noise was much louder than with yesterday's negative vocabulary. 

"Jace! I'm the only one that's allowed to have my feet on the table!" Shouted Mr. Fern over the top of the rest of the pupils. He was at the front of the classroom, tapping his foot on the side of the desk he was sitting on. 

"That's not fair!" Jace replied. His sneakers stayed set atop the table, one ankle crossed over the other. I chortled at his ignorance and was glad as I remembered that I still had him as a friend, alongside Jake. Well, Jake was still a maybe.

Jace averted his sparkling eyes to me and shot me a lively grin. I envied his optimism; how he could bring out the best in every person, every situation. He never acquired any holes in his blanket of content and I longed for the feel of that. I wanted to be happy.

Well, happier than I was at the moment, anyway.

Jace turned back to Mr. Fern as the young teacher carried on telling him to remove his feet.

Between Jace and the European girl he was seated next to, a hand quickly moved across a page behind them. I tensed, knowing that Sophia sat there.

Before I returned to my seat next to her, black shaggy hair replaced what should've been Sophia's blonde locks. I sighed when I recalled that Jake had been assigned the seat next to me and half reluctantly approached him.

I pulled out my chair from under the desk when a finger poked at my spine. I spun around, my eyes widening shortly after.

"Hey, sweetie," Sophia cooed, tucking her chair back in. She showed no signs of recognition, nothing that suggested she was just in a heated argument.

Break her nose off, Tahli! Show her who she just messed with, encouraged the little devil placed on my shoulder.

"Hey," I replied, trying to match the same tone of kindness she had.

I didn't hear a crack. Where's the blood?

"I heard about what happened, darling. How are you feeling?" The care in her voice didn't match her eyes in the slightest bit.

"Uh—"

"You don't believe what Ryan said, do you? You know how boys can be when they're just a tad tipsy." She giggled in a girlish manner, unlike her usual self. Her act was all too easy to spot. Or maybe it was just because I was supposed to be her best friend.

Give her what she deserves!

"Nah, nah, of course I don't." I twiddled my thumbs over my stomach and mentally face palmed myself, swatting the frustrated conscience away too.

I vaguely felt Jake shift his gaze towards me, most likely wondering why I was keeping my cool around Sophia. During the hospital visit, everything that Ryan had told me had tumbled out my mouth and into Jake's patient ears. He remained silent the whole time, yet I knew he had been attentive by the way he moved from watching my eyes to my hands as I explained through gestures. And I was appreciative of that.

A flash of relief crossed over Sophia's face. "Oh, good! You know I wouldn't even go for him anyway." It occurred to me that something more reassuring would've been, 'I would never do that to my best friend,' but she never said it.