Bryan didn’t look convinced.“Let me know if it gets bad.”
“I will,” I lied and he knew it too.
Somehow I managed to make it to first period, even though I was already exhausted.
The classes passed in slow motion.
Every tick of the clock was a drag, every note on the board blurred before my eyes.I copied words without processing them, underlining sentences I didn’t understand, and simply nodded when teachers called my name.
The pain in my back did dull into just a faint echo, but it was still there.Whenever I shifted in my chair, a twinge reminded me that even when everything seemed quiet, something still hurt.
By third period, I stopped trying to keep up.I was just existing, counting the hours until I could leave.
When the lunch bell finally rang, the familiar pull toward the usual table with the guys hit me before I could stop it.I looked across the cafeteria, and there they were.Toby and Justin looked like they were arguing over the tray of fries, Bryan half paying attention.Paxon was there too and while there seemed to be tension there, he was smiling.
I could already see it.I’d approach and his smile would disappear.If I was lucky, he spent lunch with us, but quiet.If I wasn’t, he’d leave again.I couldn’t face that kind of rejection again even as I spotted the seat they’d clearly left for me.
My stomach twisted.I hesitated, watching for too long.
Then I spotted Micah waving from a few tables over, Hazel sitting across from him with her ever-present sketchbook.Her short brown hair was pulled into a messy half-knot.She saw me, her expression warm.She gestured for me to join them.
It wasn’t even a choice, really.My legs just carried me there.
“Hey, stranger,” Hazel said as I dropped into the seat beside her.“Something going on?You usually sit with your guys.”She smirked.“I would too if I were dating them all.”
“Yeah,” I said, picking at the corner of my tray.“Just felt like a change today.”
Micah raised a brow.“Change, huh?That’s code for something’s wrong but don’t ask about it, right?”
I managed a tiny smile.“Looks like Hazel has been training you well.”I glanced at the table.I only really knew Micah and Hazel.“Where’s Lillian?”
Hazel laughed.“In trouble with a teacher about some class assignment she didn’t do.She thought it was a stupid assignment and decided to challenge the teacher instead.I imagine tonight I’ll be helping her write a ten-page apology paper or something.”
Micah chuckled and slid over his little bag of apple slices.“Here.Brain fuel to get you through the afternoon.”
“That bad, huh?”I asked.
“You look like you haven’t eaten since last week,” he said.
I took a slice.“Thanks.”
Hazel tilted her head, watching me draw lazy shapes on my napkin.“You’ve been quiet lately.”
“Yeah,” I said again, because I didn’t have anything else to say.
She didn’t press, thankfully.Hazel had that rare gift of knowing when to speak and when to just sit beside you.She flipped open her sketchbook again and showed me what she was working on.It was a page filled with tiny doodles.A cat tangled in yarn.Two chibi people holding a camera.A faint pencil outline that looked suspiciously like me at a piano.
“You’ve been my muse this week,” she said lightly.“Sorry, you’re just easy to draw.Good posture, kind of sad.Lots of hair.”
“Lots of hair?”I echoed, surprised into a small laugh.
Hazel grinned.“It’s a compliment.”
Micah smiled at that.“She’s right, you know.You’re good inspiration material.”
Their words were simple, teasing, but it was enough to make me breathe a little easier for a few minutes.
“So which asshole do I need to beat up?”Lillian asked, joining us halfway through lunch.
