"where have you been, man?" rodrick questioned, walking as fast as he could to keep up with ben's fast pace.
his friend shrugged with no expression readable on his face. "my mom had me running some errands that's all."
rodrick raised his brows at him, feeling that something was off with his answer.
ben had been disappearing for the past few days and he'd hardly been replying to rodrick's texts either. it was out of his character to not be present all the time in band rehearsals as well. rodrick was hoping this wouldn't affect their performance at the talent show.
"well, you should know i've been in contact with bill." he mentioned, as they both approached their respective lockers which were conveniently right next to each other. "i think he might join the band!" rodrick exclaimed, like a little child.
ben nodded his head in response letting out a smile. "that's great man." he said, leaving his friend puzzled once again with his lack of enthusiasm.
"that's great man? it's fucking fantastic!" rodrick elaborated, leaning onto his locker. "i mean, we've been wanting him in the band since forever."
"and now we got him," ben said, "kind of." he added, as he shut his locker.
"it's still close," rodrick shrugged, his face instantly lighting up as a memory resurfaced back into his head. "shit! i forgot to tell you i bumped into gisell--"
the sound of ben's phone ringing interrupted their conversation, rodrick couldn't help but notice ben's face light up at the sound of the ringing as he began to wonder if ben was really running errands for his mom. he never acted this strange before.
"uh, i gotta go man." he said, "my..mom's calling me.." he trailed off, taking his phone from his jacket's pocket and walking off to answer it.
rodrick stood there by the lockers, a little confused at what was happening. ben was always running off somewhere all distracted, it was unlike him. rodrick was starting to be concerned and he needed to find out what was going on.
••••••••••••••••••••••
the three girls sat next to each other listening to their head matron, sister delilah, who read out prayers for their weekly thursday services. quinn was spaced out as usual, focusing her eyes on different items surrounding her while zara fidgeted constantly itching to move and leave, she was never good at staying in one position for too long. giselle had remained focus, listening in and zoning out when she got bored.
"we lift our prayers to the lord," sister delilah called out.
"lord hear our prayers," the girls chorused, quinn's response being a little bit delayed from the rest, earning her a cold glare from sister delilah.
zara snickered at the scene that had occurred, ducking her head to hide her smile.
"it's not funny," quinn whispered.
"kinda is." zara whispered back.
giselle nudged her two friends, trying to avoid the wrath of sister delilah. for someone with such a kind looking face, she was ruthless when it came to students misbehaving during prayer and she scared giselle.
"did you guys hear about the dance this year?" quinn spoke quietly, her face looking straight ahead at the altar.
"what about it?" zara asked.
"our theme is a night with the stars." she replied, "so fuc- freaking cliche."
zara chuckled, shaking her head. "you going to ask someone out?"
"maybe cora, i mean she's been nice to me lately, what about you?"
zara tensed, feeling her cheeks heat up. quinn knew what she was doing, this was her way of finding out if her best friend was hiding something. the two girls have noticed how different zara was acting lately. she was constantly on her phone and when giselle asked to take photos of her and quinn for her latest project, she couldn't make it. it was unusual considering they had bumped into zara's mother who mentioned that zara was supposedly at home. "uh i don't know," she answered, after a short pause.
"hmm interesting ans—"
"—are we seriously going to be talking about this right now?" giselle cut in, nervously watching sister delilah's moves intently. she was carefully making sure they wouldn't get caught, the woman had such cold piercing blue eyes, it sometimes felt like she could see right through them.
"no we aren't," zara chimed in, trying to drop the topic.
"what about you giselle?" quinn asked, "see rodrick lately?" she chuckled.
"okay that's enough now!" giselle whisper yelled, hoping her friend would shut up.
quinn smirked in reply, knowing she already got her answer as her two friends rolled her eyes at her devious-ness.
giselle knew she'd end up going to the dance anyway, her friends loved it and it was fun whenever they were all together. it was the only time st. mary's prep ever allowed boys in. it's not like the chaperones don't watch out for everyone like a hawk, but people still go and bring their potential boyfriends or girlfriends. it was cute and giselle loved seeing everyone be themselves for the night instead of this whole other persona they put on for being in this school.