Monday mornings...
The thing about Mondays, for Eisa, was that they were usually her favourite day of the week. She'd wake up, shower, do her hair and make up, make and eat breakfast, and for a small, tiny portion of her life, she'd feel like a normal teenager. Then, Noel would pick her up for school and they'd arrive together. Except, for the first time in what felt like forever, Eisa was starting the week on her back leg.
Sure, she had all her assignments finished and already handed in, her cheer squad was in excellent shape and their routine was near absolute perfection. And yet, everytime she turned a corner, a crowd of useless freshman would be whispering something moronic about her dumping Noel Kahn, who apparently became the hottest guy in school overnight. Or at least it felt that way to Eisa, who could have sworn that Sean was considered hotter by the general public up till the moment she dumped him like a 'cold-hearted bitch'. That's the story going around school at least.
So here she is, parking her red Chevy Impala in the parking lot for the first time in a year, and yet again she feels the ghost of her old regular passenger, Alison. Turning to where she should be sitting, Eisa can feel the coldness of her spirit passing through her, caressing her, reminding her that dumping Noel, even at the behest of some faceless creep, was for the best, and long overdue. With that, she puts on her game face and walks out of her car, carrying two coffees with her, one of which she immediately hands to Spencer the first moment she sees her. The two chat amiably till they happen upon their other friends, sans Emily, whereupon the conversation slides in to being about Melissa being taken to New York to mend her poor broken heart.
"If you ever get freaked out sleeping in that house alone, just call me, my place or yours, I'm always down to have a friend around. I remember how creepy it was when I first kicked out all the housekeepers."
"Yeah, I remember Alison sneaking through my yard to stay at your place every night for like months," Spencer snickered at the memory of the early days of their friendship, when they were all still 12 and 13.
"I seriously don't even get how you had that power. You were, what, 12? And you had the power to fire anyone working in your house?" Hanna's tone of awe, while genuine and sweet, to Eisa, clearly demonstrates her lack of understanding, of how trapped she is by her parents, their money, their expectations.
"Yeah, well, I was the woman of the house, there was no one there to tell me I couldn't."
"So, Spence, why didn't your parents take you to New York with your sister? You deserve retail therapy too."
"For what? She made out with a dude, I'd say she's got all the happy thoughts she needs. Besides, New York is an utter drag and they deserve to be in that kind of hell," Eisa's offhand comment is largely ignored, aside from a halfhearted chuckle from Spencer.
"Not as much as she does," the focus shifts as Emily finally joins the group. "Ooh, hot scarf Em."
"Thanks."
"Is it new?"
Emily tenses minutely before answering. "No."
The lie makes Eisa inwardly raise an eyebrow, she literally just saw Maya give it to her, but given that's not her business, she lets it go without a word. Besides, she couldn't have mentioned anything anyway, as all attention was immediately directed to the ringing of Hanna's phone. After a tense moment, Aria prods her in to answering it.
"Well go on... We know who it can't be."
"It's my dad," Hanna's smile makes Eisa immediately happy for her friend, she knows how much a call from her dad means to her.
The group watch Hanna as she walks away, talking animatedly on the phone as she does, Emily the first to break the awkward silence, even in the din of the cafeteria.
"Has she... even talked to her dad since he walked out on them?"
"Nope. He promised to call when he could but every scheduled call has been mysteriously 'rain-checked'," Eisa, the only one with this knowledge, gives it up freely and easily, still staring at her friend who has yet to display a single negative emotion during the call.
"Yeah, and Hanna and her dad is one of those 'don't ask, don't tell' situations."
Aria gently tugged on Eisa's sleeve to get her going while she said, "We shouldn't stare at her... Come on."
The group traveled as a pack, chatting about something Aria's baby brother posted on Facebook, when Eisa was slightly knocked to the side before being caught by the same thing, or rather person, that nearly knocked her flat on her ass. Toby.
"What the hell! Would you watch where you're going? And next time, keep your dirty paws to yourself Cavanaugh!" The well acted fake beratement covered the little part of Eisa that leaned in to the comforting, familiar touch. Toby's smile smirk as he replied even made her heart clench a little.
"Whatever, Two-Face."
As Eisa dusted herself off, Spencer and Aria got in to a brief argument about whether or not Toby was A, a possibility Eisa sincerely doubted. As they agreed not to think about it, and to avoid him and his step sister, Eisa found a note in her pocket.
Meet me under the bleachers, I need to talk to you. I miss you. - T Bird
She sighed. Wondering what he wants, she glides through the school halls to catch up with her friends to beg off, claiming to go to the toilet, and instead finding herself under the bleachers, waiting for her fellow miscreant. It doesn't take long before he finally shows.
"Toby? Is everything ok? The way your message was written it seemed like-" Eisa's genuine worry was cut off by Toby's lips pressed firmly against hers, and for a moment, rather than resist, she indulges. Then her senses return to her, making her push away from him. "What are you doing?"
"You dumped Noel."
"Yes, and?"
"I missed you," with Toby's hands on her waist, his thumbs caressing the bare skin underneath her top that he's sneaked his way to, she can't think properly. Especially as he kisses her neck tenderly. "I thought, maybe, at least under the bleachers, we can be what we were."
His mouth trailed itself distractingly up her neck back to her mouth, and just as Eisa finally lost herself in the rhythm of their make out, she heard a familiar voice.
"What in the actual fuck?"
Turning to the voice, her hands automatically reaching to cover her likely smudged lipstick, she finds her ex-boyfriend, Noel.
"Noel, this... It isn't what it looks like."
"Really? So you weren't just making out with a juvenile delinquent who blinded his sister. Well I'm glad. Maybe you could just enlighten me though, as to why it does appear that you dumped me for JD 'freakazoid' Sawyer?" Even as hurt as he was, Noel's sharp quipping nature remained as he lost his cool.
"It was just... It's complicated. We... hung out over summer, while we were still broken up. He's a friend, and that was just... a mistake. A mistake made while high. It means nothing," then, like a hammer hitting her in the gut, she realises she doesn't have to justify shit to him, A having made her finally have the initiative to free herself from him. "And besides, it shouldn't matter to you anyways. We're not together, and the rumour mill clearly states you slept in Delia Kars on the weekend. I mean, there's a rebound, and then there's scraping the bottom of the barrel Noel."
Even as Eisa brushes him off, pulling a compact mirror out of her bag to fix her lipstick with, she worries her calm facade might be shaking at its foundation. Yet Noel clearly has not noticed any sort of problem, the hurt in his eyes blinding him from the truth.
"You're a soulless two faced bitch Janusson, and one day, that'll get you all the karma you deserve."
"Promises, promises. Now shoo, I have private conversations to have, and oddly enough, my pitiful ex-boyfriend lurking nearby isn't at all helpful," Noel leaves them behind with a scowl on his face, and once he's finally out of sight, Eisa turns back to Toby who has a smudge of her red lipstick on his mouth, which she goes about cleaning in a clinical manner. "That can't happen again Toby."
"Why? You're clearly already over him. You clearly enjoyed it. Us."
"Try this one. My friends clearly hate you. They think you want revenge."
"They don't have to know."
"Toby, as fun as the summer was, I'm genuinely not interested in you as anything other than a friend. Why isn't that enough for you?" Eisa, now finished cleaning his face, sits on the seat beside him.
"You never even considered I blinded Jenna. Never mentioned it, never flinched from me. I guess it was just nice to have someone around who wasn't afraid of me."
"You're a giant teddy bear, of course I'm not afraid of you. And you can have me around. Just no more of... that. We're better as friends."
"Yeah, friends who pretend to hate each other in public, passing secret notes, acting like we've never spent more that 2 minutes in the same space."
Eisa sighs heavily. "Look, I gotta go, the girls will be wondering where I am. I'll see you round T-Bird," she kisses him on the cheek and goes to leave, held back by his hand gripping her own.
"Don't bother me Janusson. I can't be bothered with half a friend. Lose my number until you're ready to be a whole friend again."
"Toby..."
"Bye," Toby walks past her quickly, leaving her to watch him walk away, her heart clenching, but she knows it truly couldn't have gone any differently.
With a heavy sigh and a rough tug of her fingers through her hair, Eisa walks out from under the bleachers, walking with false confidence through the school, her heels announcing her presence to the entire student body, who are still whispering about her.
Just as she sees her friends down the hallway, Eisa's saunter to catch up with them is stopped by her history teacher, Mr Sheldrake.
"Miss Janusson, exactly who I was looking for. Your essay was superb, and as per usual, I'll be submitting it to this round of essay competitions, one of which is The Golden Orchid. I was supremely surprised on your take of Tsarism and the negligence of the Tsar. To call him a superstitious fool was certainly a strong take, and with multitudinous evidence to back you up, I'm sure it will play well with the judges."
"Thank you sir. What about..." Eisa pauses, wondering if she should, before deciding that her friends academic well being is more important than her pride, and reputation as a heartless bitch. "How did Spencer do?"
"Incredible. I hope you don't mind me saying, but I think her essay is easily on par with yours. I took the liberty of also submitting it to the Golden Orchid competition."
"Of course I don't, I'm glad to have real competition, and it being Spencer is thousands of times better," Eisa smiles widely at the news, she knew her friend was struggling with writing the essay, and pulling something that good together at the last minute is just so very Spencer-like that Eisa doesn't even feel the smallest moment of jealousy. "She's just over there, if you wanted to tell her."
"I just did. I'll let you go now," the bell rings just on time for Eisa to see her friends go their separate ways. "Academia waits for no great women Miss Janusson."
At that, Eisa leaves for her advanced mathematics class, ready to find solace in her favourite time of the day, but is stopped by her furious looking ex-boyfriend. Before she can verbally eviscerate him, or anything at all, he grabs her roughly by the forearm, and even as she protests, he drags her all the way to his car. Once he gets her situated in the passenger seat, even going so far as to buckle her seat belt, he rounds to the driver side, getting in and locking the doors before she can escape.
"What the fuck Noel? We have school. Where the fuck are you taking me?"
"Back to your house, so just shut up for ten minutes. We have to talk," when she looks, really looks, he looks less mad at her, and more mad at the world. And, weirdly, a little bit scared. So Eisa shuts her mouth like he demanded, and lets him drive them back to her place. Once they're inside, she makes a cup of coffee for them both, hers black, his with milk and sugar, the way she instinctively remembers he likes it.
"Here, take a deep breath, okay? What's going on? 'Cause this is way more than 'you dumped me and then I caught you with a guy under the bleachers' angry?" She hands the coffee to him, and even though he's still mad, her humour, as always, lightens his load. He hands her his phone, already open to his text messages, to one in particular.
Hey Noel, I've got something to tell you, as a friend.
Eisa's lying about a whole lot, and if you want to know what, show her this text.
For Eisa:
Hey Bitch
I'm not that easy to get rid of
I was going to give you a much better reward
But since you decided to ignore me
This is as nice as I'll be
Consider it a warning
If you unblock me right now
And tell him everything
Your punishment won't get worse
But remember, your six months were up
So the only reunion happening today
Is you and me baby.
- A
"Oh god."
And with that, Eisa slammed her mug to the coffee table and ran from the room to vomit in to her deep sink.
~~~~~
Hey guys. Sorry for the long wait, had the bad brain time and I went to Europe for my brothers wedding so I was incapable of the writing thing.
Also, surprise! Eisa is about to tell Noel about A, about everything. Why? Because my brain decided that that was the way to deal with it. What's it going to do to the plotline, I have no clue, yet.
So what do y'all think of where it's going? Also, comments give me life, give me more of them, and I love the amount of votes this is getting. It's honestly my first good fic, and the fact that some of y'all like it is really really great. Next chapter will arrive soonly, as I am now back, so stay tuned for that. Much love to you all.
Blue, out.