Sparkly

Rock

Deep under the ground, deeper than anyone cared to burrow, there was a colorless, airless hollow in the rock. A red haired girl sat weightlessly on a ragged shard of unformed boulder.

Leilah hadn't known a place like this existed. Fractured and broken, wild shapes showed up in the consciously bright glow of Diamond's gem shards.

It felt like no human, no living creature, was meant to see this place.

Leilah was kind of impressed and kind of freaked out. She'd just wondered what kinds of things were deep under the ground, and she'd appeared here.

She took one more look at the senseless, sharp forms of rock around her that seemed freakier in the still, dead air.

Leilah shuddered and teleported back into the open dawn air somewhere near her city, taking a moment to breathe it in and watch the sun slowly lighting up the sky.

Then she turned invisible just in case and just like that she was in bed again, ready to get a bit more sleep before she started the day.

___

"Sorry I got mad at you yesterday and didn't accept your apology. I've been thinking about it." Milana said on the schoolbus.

"It's okay." Leilah said.

She really shouldn't have said anything about how she felt. How had she expected Milana to react?

"I shouldn't have dismissed your feelings like that and I'll try to pay more attention to how I treat you from now on." Milana promised seriously.

Leilah wasn't sure how to react.

"No, I mean it's my fault for accusing you of something you didn't do." she said awkwardly.

"I'm trying to apologize here." Milana said, annoyed.

"I know?" Leilah said.

Was she supposed to have just said 'okay' or something? She'd thought she was giving the right kind of answer.

Milana huffed.

"You're annoying." she said, but not overly seriously.

"Well I think you are too." Leilah shot back.

At lunch Milana asked her to hang out with her friends again, and Leilah refused.

"Why not?" Milana yelled as she got her food.

"I don't like them!" Leilah blurted.

She flushed red as she realized one of Milana's friends was right behind her. He frowned at her.

"Anyway I'm going to the roof now! Don't follow me!" Leilah said.

Milana followed her.

"You should apologize to Derek." she said as they headed to the roof.

"I don't want to." Leilah said, trying to climb the stairs fast enough to leave her behind.

"You're being mean." Milana said.

Leilah sat down against the wall next to the door onto the roof, turned away from Milana. She knew she was being mean.

The pressure built as she tried to eat lunch, pushing her food around more than she swallowed it.

"Fine, I'll apologize." she said.

She supposed she should give Milana's friends another chance. She tugged at her hair, carrying her plate of mostly uneaten food back to the cafeteria with Milana trotting behind her.

Milana's friends all looked at Leilah when she approached their table. She felt the words stick in her throat as she looked at them- all perfectly put together, confident kids staring at her with varying levels of hostility.

"Sorry I said I didn't like you." Leilah managed, the words quiet and slow like a parade of snails.

There was a moment of silence, and their eyes burned holes in Leilah's skin.

"Well I guess I'll be going now." she said.

"No, eat lunch with us." one of the kids said.

Derek frowned, but didn't say anything. The other girl's expression was neutral, but Leilah thought it looked slightly hostile.

Before Leilah could think of an excuse to leave, Milana pulled her a chair and practically shoved her into it.

"I'm Jaziah." the kid who'd invited her to sit with them said.