"Ugh, I'm stuffed!" Jenna announces, plopping onto her stomach and grabbing yet another slice of pizza from the box.
"Then why don't you stop eating?" Laura asks.
"It's just too good!"
I chew on my own pizza slice silently. I don't really participate in the conversation, but I don't feel totally awkward either. It was as if by contributing to the History assignment, I had crossed some sort of finish line. I did my part by being social for a certain amount of time and it was enough to classify me as "not fully awkward".
Perhaps I'm a "wereawkward" at this point.
I like to call that... Heather's logic for social situations.
Massa gets up when a car beeps outside. "That's probably my mom,"
"What? But it's still early, we just finished the project, we barely had enough time to have fun!" Scarlet says.
"I know, I'm sorry, but I have an extra horseback riding lesson today. The tournament's coming up soon."
"Oooh, an extra lesson, huh?" Jenna wriggles her eyebrows teasingly. "As in quality time with the hot guy Fadi? I'm already starting to ship you two."
"Oh shut up Jenna," Massa growls.
"I have a good ship name!" Laura pipes in. "How about 'hashtag Madi'?"
"Or 'hashtag Fassa'," Jenna adds, and the two burst out laughing.
Massa opens her mouth to say something, probably realizes it's hopeless, and pinches the bridge of her nose instead. Scarlet rolls her eyes and chuckles. The car outside beeps again and Scarlet offers to go with Massa outside. When the two are gone, Jenna sighs and throws her pizza crust into the box.
"Now I'm really stuffed!"
"Uh, Jenna.." Laura begins, her eyes averting to the door.
"So it's you again," Jenna snarls, getting up to her feet.
The devil herself, Ruby, is standing at the entrance of the room, now clad in what seemed to be a cowgirl outfit. She aims a toy gun at Laura, who skitters like a frightened bunny behind Jenna for protection. The girls begin to circle each other slowly, giving off menacing vibes. Jenna is fully focused, glaring daggers at Ruby's murderous eyes, like a cat wary of its enemy, and Laura is shuffling along behind her, sneaking a quick glance every now and then over the taller girl's shoulder to eye the weapon targeting them.
Pew!
A pebble explodes against the ground right in front of Jenna and Laura, sending both of them screaming out of the bedroom. Ruby runs after them, waving her gun in the air and whooping what sounded like a Red Indian war cry.
When Scarlet enters the room a few moments later, her mouth forms a surprised 'o' and she asks, "Where'd everyone else go?"
I realize there's no one around but me to answer that question.
"Uh, your sister invited them to a game of chase, I guess."
Scarlet sighs and mutters something about them being such children, but I'm not listening because I'm too busy eyeing the book on her bed. The book I've been craving for ages. The book I've been hunting down. The book I drove the librarian crazy asking about.
The book that turned out to be in Scarlet's custody all along.
I didn't get the chance to bring it up earlier. But now, with only Scarlet present and no project on our hands, I have my chance. My conscience wouldn't allow me to leave without setting things right.
YOU ARE READING
Only Differently Designed // ODD
Teen Fiction"Heather Chance is not willing to give her classmates or, for that matter, any form of social interaction a chance." How does that sound? Am I doing this blurb thing correctly? You'd think after years of spending every single school recess at the l...
