Making my way to lunch was a tedious affair. As if navigating the hallways hadn't been hard enough before, some evil deity decided to have a field day by sending the girl on crutches to wander the halls amongst crowds of fellow students. It wasn't easy to shove through my peers when I had no hands to shove with. Clearly, they were all assholes, because no one bothered to move out of my way and clear a path. Zero respect for the crippled.
And despite what she'd told Jace, Cady made no effort to help me out. She merely smirked and enjoyed watching me bounce around like the white ball in pool.
"Thanks, Cades," I said, as Daria's mountain-of-douche-and-muscles boyfriend Nate Lever knocked me in the lockers. He didn't apologise. "I love the help and support here."
"Any time," she said. She was looking at her phone, and I think I saw that she was texting Daria about Nate being a dick, so I doubt she even heard what I was saying.
After being knocked over twice and battered to within an inch of my life, I finally found a respite outdoors. My friends had claimed a table beneath a large oak tree Daria had fondly named 'Woody Boy', back in our very first year. Of course, Jonah thought this was hilarious, mostly because Daria was genuinely confused as to why it was funny. Yet, both the name and table stuck; at least that hadn't changed while I was away.
"Lena!" Chance jumped up from his seat at the sight of me, his arms flapping at his sides. Chance was in a constant state of panic. At all times, at least some part of him was shaking, like a leaf in the wind. "Are you okay?"
"Fine," I said cheerfully, as my leg throbbed in pain. "I'm brilliant, really."
Chance seemed to brighten at my words; the sarcasm lost on him. He was one of those people who trusted everything he heard; he'd probably lose all his money to pyramid schemes as soon as he had money to lose. Lies were beyond his capacity of understanding. It was something I loved about him; he was so genuinely honest and guileless. The opposite of his younger brother, Alex, who would tell you that the sun rose in the west, just because he could. And because Alex could make you believe it, too.
Alex was sitting to Chance's left and he offered me a small wave and a mischievous grin. I smiled in return. On the other side of the bench, Jonah twitched his fingers in acknowledgment.
I hobbled over. Chance instantly scooted closer to Alex, patting the space he'd previously occupied. "Here, sit down."
With a tired sigh, I collapsed into the seat he offered me. "I hate Jace Hartley."
"Nice to see you too, sunshine," Jonah said wryly, not bothering to sit up to greet me. He liked to lie across the bench with his hand draped over his eyes and only drift awake to make unwanted sarcastic remarks. Jonah was apathetic at best. "Welcome back. How've you been?"
Cady rounded the table and sat on Jonah's legs; he was unwilling to give up his lunchtime nap to help accommodate everyone, so this was the compromise we figured out.
I leaned over Chance to ruffle Jonah's shock of dark hair. "I missed you, Jonah the Stoner." My friendship with Jonathan Aristone dated back to the days of being crawling toddlers. Even then, he'd had laziness down to an art form.
Chance waved his fork. "What'd Jace do?"
I glared down at my food as if the lettuce had offended me. Maybe it was secretly an evil minion of Hartley's, worming its way into my life with its unassuming tastelessness. "Hartley was nice to me! Like, actually nice. He hugged me and said nice things about me."
Alex dropped the muffin he was holding. "He was what?"
"I know! He's carrying my books from class to class."
"Clearly, you've never hated him more than you do right now, then?" Jonah droned. He batted a fly away from his face as he spoke; it was the most energy I'd seen him exert in a while. "What a dick. Do you need me to fight him for you? I can't simply stand by and let him commit these atrocities against your person."
"Sarcastic isn't a good look on you," I told him.
"Shit, someone should've told me," he said. "I've been wearing it for sixteen years."
"Funny," Cady said, bored.
"I thought so," said Jonah.
"You can think?"
Jonah and Cady were easily distracted. They were the kind of people who would pull apart a joke, beat it until it was dead and then poke it constantly as if they could bring it back to life. We all just left them to it; together, they could pretend they were funny.
Still, I smiled. It was so good to be back. I'd missed my friends so much it hurt, all of their weird sayings and strange habits. They were all just so strange; Chance was overprotective and sweet to a fault, Alex was a mischievous liar, Jonah was unfailingly lazy, Cady so antisocial she could melt false hair extensions with the acid in her glare. Such an odd collection of people that I loved so desperately. Being away from this, from them, just reminded me of how much I valued their friendship.
As the two morons continued their back-and forth, Alex returned to the subject at hand. "So, back to your enemy turned best friend for life."
I groaned. "Please don't remind me."
"I think it's cute," Cady interjected. "You guys have always had this weird, hot chemistry dynamic. Like, yeah, you hate him, but you would totally go there if given the opportunity, you know? Angry sparks. But now it's cooled into this casual, teasing bantering love fest."
I choked on the piece of bread I'd just shoved unceremoniously into my mouth. Chance thumped me on the back.
Eyes watering, I turned to Cady. "I'm sorry, what?"
She shrugged. "You know what I'm talking about."
I looked at my other friends. They pointedly examined a tree behind my head. "Do I have angry sparks with Jace Hartley?"
Chance coughed awkwardly.
"I always thought you two would have some weird angry love fest at some point, yeah?" Jonah admitted.
"What?" I repeated.
Jonah rubbed the back of his neck. "You're both reasonably attractive people, and for enemies, you do spend a hell of a lot of time together."
"Which is whose fault for inviting him into the group?"
"Yours," said Alex. "You insisted that Daria become a permanent fixture in our lives. Not that we're complaining, she's easily my favourite of all of you."
I gaped at him. "Yeah, I wanted Daria. But I didn't want Hartley!"
Chance scrunched his nose. "They're a package deal, Lena. You knew that."
"I was hoping I could save her from him! I didn't realise he would start hanging out with us!"
I couldn't believe I was seriously having this discussion. Angry love fest? Chemistry? The whole thing was strange.
Cady shrugged and bit into her sandwich. "I reckon you two should just make out and get it over with. I've heard angry hookups are better." I usually valued Cady's blunt nature, but right now it made me want to vaporize her.
I glared around the table. Everyone, Cady excluded, averted their gaze. Chance, the sweet boy he was, had completely turned his entire body to face the other way.
I did not want to hook up with Jace Hartley. He was disgusting, a monster, my worst enemy of all time. He was—
"What's going on here?"
He was right behind me.
I turned to find Jace and Daria standing near the table. Jace was awkwardly eyeing the empty seats next to me. Daria just beamed sunnily. "How awesome is it to have Lena back, guys?"
Jace made a faint noise.
The rest of the table simply looked amused. The combination of Daria's endless enthusiasm, the previous conversation still lingering in the back of our minds and the angry tension between Jace and me seemed to delight all of them.
"Oh, will you stop looking awkward and just sit down?" Cady said.
"Come sit next to me, Dars," I said, patting the bench.
She sunk into the chair, Jace sitting on her other side. If anyone could provide a buffer between me and Hartley, it was her. It was harder to be mean to Jace in front of her—she always looked so, so sad to see us fight—and if there was one thing I had in common with Jace (I hated that we had anything in common), it was a mutual love of Daria. Everyone loved Daria.
"So, what were you guys talking about?" Jace asked.
Cady opened her mouth, most likely to spill to Hartley exactly what we'd been discussing. She was blunt in that way, and she probably figured my reaction to her words would be hilarious.
"Uh, we were talking about the festival in Mordi," I said, effectively cutting her off. She merely shrugged, bemused. "We're thinking of going."
"Oh, fun!" said Daria. No one liked festivals more than her. She loved the little rip-off stand games.
I, personally, was obsessed with the rides. The roller coasters and giant drops, the feeling in your gut before you fell. The bigger and faster, the better. In all aspects of life.
"Sounds good," Hartley said. "When are we going?"
I frowned at him. "You're not invited." Jace didn't seem particularly offended. Daria looked really sad though, and I hurried to placate her. "Uh, look, Jace, I want to apologize that. I actually really like having you around." The words tasted ashy and foul in my mouth.
Jace was unfazed. "No, you don't."
"You're right. I have dreams where I staple your fingers to your face."
Jonah and Alex laughed. Daria grinned. She didn't seem to mind it when I made fun of Jace; she just hated it when I was genuinely rude to him. I didn't blame her. If it was anyone but Jace Hartley, who'd been rude to me for my entire life, I'd be ashamed of myself too.
But, you know, it was Jace, so I didn't exactly lose any sleep at night.
"Let's go on Saturday, Jace included," Alex said. Despite using the festival as a flimsy excuse to prevent Cady from opening up that can of worms, Alex had fully jumped on board with my plan.
And the festival was pretty fun, so why not?
"Let's jump on the train at nine o'clock," Daria said sunnily. "Aim to be there by nine-thirty."
"One o'clock," Cady and Jonah said in unison, both of them staring at Daria with mixed expressions of disgust. "Jinx."
Daria pouted. "That's really late."
Jonah, still lying across the bench with no signs of moving, laughed. "Daria, one o'clock is two hours before I'd usually wake up on a Saturday."
Daria shook her head, looking amused. "I will never understand you."
"You don't want to," Jonah said.
The bell that signaled the end of lunch sounded. My awkward journey to Woody Boy had eaten into most of my lunch time, and I looked mournfully down at the remains of my food.
Jace tapped my shoulder. "Stuff that into your face quick and then I'll help you to class."
I looked for support at the rest of my friends, but Chance and Daria had already left, in a rush to get to class (fucking nerds) and the rest of my friends were assholes. "Cady?" I said, imploringly, "Jonah?"
They looked at me with mixed expressions of apprehension. "Look, Lena, we would. But, uh, Jace offered, you know." And then they walked away. I needed new friends.
So, I jammed my sandwich into my mouth and looked up at Jace. I swallowed and said, "Just for the record, I hate that this is a thing now."
He smiled. "So do I, Elle, so do I."