Under the Facade

Chapter 6

This one's to @farrenlovesyouall

Love you, babe! You're the best.

_____________________

When Becca got home late that night, I told her all about my first ever detention and the talk with Justin.

"I'm so sorry I made you walk in the rain," she apologized for the umpteenth time as I sat in her room at the vanity while she curled my hair.

"It's fine," I dismissed. I couldn't help but think of the fact that I wouldn't have been able to spend time with Justin if she hadn't taken the car. "You can make up for it by helping me paint my room in the weekend."

"Deal," she agreed, putting the last wisps of my hair in a roll so that it would curl overnight. "Remind me to take you to the gym tomorrow to get you a membership."

"Mhmm," I hummed, standing up and giving her a hug. "What would I do without you, Becky?"

"I know right?" She hugged herself. "I love me."

I threw a pillow at her and ran out of the room before it could turn into a pillow fight. "Come back here!" she called. "I need to get my revenge!"

"Go get your beauty sleep, princess!" I called back, opening the door to my own room. "We have school tomorrow."

I heard her door click softly as it closed, and took a dive into the large mass of pillows and cushions on my bed, letting my muscles relax. I turned the lamp off, plunging the room into darkness, and drifted off to sleep, a smile on my face.

If I thought Justin Whittaker was going to treat me any differently after the whole incident in the rain, I was wrong. Well, not completely. Instead of finding stuff to pick arguments with me like he usually did, now he just ignored me altogether. He didn't even give me a glance when he came to sit down with us at lunchtime. I reckoned that it was because maybe he actually didn't have anything to say. But whenever conversation was needed, he'd just grunt or move his head in answer.

I was fast friends with Britney, Johnny and Jake, and so was Becca. Even she agreed that Justin was way too closed off. I decided to wait. Maybe he needed time to become comfortable around new people. But by the last Friday of March, I gave up.

I began to wonder whether he was bipolar. I mean, it was like he was PMSing. I should know. I was in quite a bad mood that day myself.

We were at the lunch table again. Becca and I had concluded that just the half hour that we spent at the cafeteria was worth all the boring classes. Maddie was currently relating her previous day's shopping experience to us. Like we even cared.

"I basically had to run to those shoes before that old hag took it away first. She actually did get her wrinkly old mitts on it, and she scolded me for trying to take them from her. I told her that maybe she was lost, and that she wouldn't get wheelchairs at the mall." Maddie laughed at her own self. "She had the audacity to complain to the manager. He chickened out when I informed him that I could just give ol' Daddy a call to ruin his entire life."
I finished the last of my food, downing it with some water. Cafeteria food sucked. I made both Becca's and my own lunches at home every morning. I was pleasantly surprised when I found that I was quite a decent cook. Our chef back home would be proud of the crème brûlée I made yesterday.

"..and I told that stupid sales girl to get lost, and that she shouldn't be working there if she couldn't get me the right size of shoes!" Maddie said, fanning her face with her hand and looking up at the ceiling in exasperation.