Losing Alyssa

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Hey, Bradley." Ruby had visited him again the next day, which Bradley knew shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did.

"Do you always hide here, then?" she gestured at the tall shelves of books that filled the room. Bradley nodded, considering whether to joke about having no friends before deciding against it.

"I'm not hiding, thank you. And not for the entire break, just after I finish eating." He closed the book he was reading to look at her properly. Today she wore her dark hair in two neat plaits, like she did every day. She was wearing a yellow t-shirt and jeans, despite it being a rather cold day.

"So what brings you here, again?"

"Same as yesterday. Just saying hi." Bradley rubbed at his eyes; he had barely slept the night before, but his parents didn't need to know that.

"Oh right! I forgot to ask, but how did the session with that doctor go?"

"Not as bad as I expected. I mostly let her do all the talking."

"I'm glad." Ruby smiled, taking his hand.

"Come on, you should meet our friends." Ruby gestured for him to follow. Bradley blanched, instantly knowing what she meant by 'our friends'; her and Alyssa's. Of course, Bradley knew Alyssa had other friends; he'd just never interacted with them, and Ruby suddenly inviting him to sit with their group made him wonder why Alyssa herself had never bothered to introduce them.

Returning from his thoughts, Bradley looked to see where they were going. Ruby led him to the back of the performing arts building, right beside the wire fence surrounding the school. As they got closer, he could see a small group of teenagers, some leaning against the fence and others against the wall. The girl closest to them, who Bradley recognised as Claire, waved for Ruby to sit down.

"There you are, we've been waiting for you," she eyed Bradley warily, "who's this?"

Bradley sat awkwardly against the wall across from Ruby, avoiding eye contact.

"Claire, this is Bradley, he was a friend of Alyssa's too." Claire looked sceptical for a moment.

"Really? How do you know her?"

"I... we met in first grade. We've been friends ever since." He stammered.

"Huh, okay." She didn't sound entirely convinced to Bradley, though. Three others sat in the corner looked up from their conversation to greet Ruby, making small talk by asking her how her day had been and what class she had next. Bradley, getting the feeling he was being ignored, decided it was safe to zone out for a while. He recognised two of them as Kristine and Carmen, who were in orchestra class with him a year ago. He didn't know much about either girl, but Carmen would occasionally smile at him if they passed each other in the halls so he guessed she was nice enough. The other one was Dylan, one of the only kids in their entire school to ever willingly have a conversation with him. They had almost become friends in the beginning of second grade, before he decided Bradley wasn't worth the effort. As for Claire, she used to sit behind Alyssa in fifth grade and pull her hair. From what he'd overheard of whispered conversations in the classroom, not much had changed. He wondered why Alyssa would ever choose to talk to her, or any of them for that matter.

Dylan, who at some point had sat down next to him, looked over at Bradley thoughtfully before swallowing his food.

"You're James, right?" Bradley tried not to roll his eyes. Did Dylan seriously not remember who he was?

"No!" He answered through gritted teeth, trying not to sound disappointed. "I'm Bradley." The boy shrugged and continued eating his lunch.

"Close enough." A piece of tomato fell from the bottom of his sandwich as Bradley shook his head. Not. Really. Ruby seemed to have finished talking, as Kristine had begun to stare him down.