Brian stepped in closer. My heart beat faster. “Have you been doing OK?” he asked with narrowed eyes.
Before I could reply, Rosie called out toward Brian. Rosie had been my second-closest friend. After Missy, of course. Rosie was the only one who knew about the small crush I had on Brian, too. It was our little secret.
“Brian! What are you doing?” Rosie called out.
He shrugged. “Nothing. I just thought I’d say hi. Did you see Karla’s back?”
Rosie’s eyes fell in line with my own, and she looked me up and down with a look of disgust. That hurt more than it should’ve. I thought I was getting better at not letting people get to me, but after the emotional night, it appeared my heart was still fragile.
“Saw it, don’t care,” Rosie muttered. “Now get away from that thing and walk me to class,” she growled. Ever since Missy’s new senior boyfriend, Colton, made it cool to dislike me, Rosiewas quick to jump on the hate train. Though it always felt as if she was a little jealous of how close Missy and I had been. Now it seemed like Rosie went out of her way to make sure I wasn’t invited back into our friend group. It was like she’d been waiting for the chance to turn against me.
“What do you mean thatthing?!” Ellie snapped, a rage building up inside her that I didn’t think was possible. She looked livid as she took a giant step in the direction of Rosie. For a split second, she seemed to forget that she was the adult in the situation. Maybe Dad didn’t fire her for dropping me off at the wrong place for weeks, but he’d definitely fire her if she beat up a high school student. And I couldn’t have that happen. I needed Ellie to stay around to keep Lorelai seminormal. Even though we didn’t need a nanny.
“Don’t, Ellie,” I said, tugging on her arm.
Ellie glanced over to me with eyes packed with rage. “But—”
“Please,” I whispered. “Don’t.”
Brian frowned. “Well, I guess we’ll catch up later, Karla.”
“Probably not,” I dryly replied before I started walking away.
“Who are they?” Ellie questioned as she followed me.
“Ghosts of Karla’s past,” I murmured as I entered my science class. “See you later.”
Ellie went on her way, and I dragged myself to my seat. My body felt extra tired that morning, but I tried not to overthink the pain shooting through my system. Having pain that people could witness, like my limping, was hard. But it was even harder having chronic pain that flared up constantly and interfered with my daily activities. The internal pain was so much deeper than the external.
As I took my seat, I fell back against my chair, feeling out of breath. I wondered if other kids were breathless after only walking for a short period of time, too.
“Well, well, well,” a voice said from behind me. A pencil tapped against my right shoulder. I turned around to see Ash smirking my way. “It’s about time you showed up to class.”
***
Science class was the longest hour of my life. It felt even longer knowing that Ash was staring at the back of my head. The second the bell rang and class ended, I gathered my books and held them to my chest. I wanted to run away as quickly as possible, but my legs wouldn’t allow it.
Stupid legs. Stupid body.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding me,” Ash said as he followed me out of the classroom.
I grimaced and held my books tighter to my chest. “Why would I avoid you? I don’t even know you.” I glanced quickly in his direction, and for some odd reason, butterflies began to flutter in my stomach.
That was weird.
I looked forward again. “Why are you in my science class if you’re older than me?”
“I got held back a year. Just turned sixteen, though. Why aren’t you in the cemetery? Did you get caught?”
“No. I justdesperatelymissed the high school experience.”
He laughed. “You’re funny.”
“I’m not.” I tried to pick up my speed, and it didn’t work.
Stupid legs. Stupid body.
“What class do you have next?” Ash asked, not picking up on the “leave me alone” cues I was shooting his way.
