Everyday Angel : Second Chances

Chapter 1: Caroline

The lunchroom at Westgate School for Girls was like a solar system.
       Except instead of being full of planets and moons, it was full of uniformed girls and tables and noise. the school went from sixth grade to eighth grade, and each grad had their own separate lunchtime. Right now, it was the seventh grade's turn, and all sixty-three girls were orbiting the twelve cafeteria tables.
       Caroline Mason stood clutching her tray and watching the other girls head toward their tables, drawn by the gravitational pull of friends and laughter and routine. She felt like she was drifting in space.
       Everyone had a table. Caroline used to have a table.
       She reached absently for the pendant that used to hang around her neck - a small half circle - before she remembered it wasn't there. She'd shoved it into the bottom of the drawer of the jewelry box on her bathroom counter.
        Caroline knew she couldn't just stand there, so she took a deep breath and made her way to Table 12. Nobody sat at Table 12. Correction: nobody except for Caroline. She tried to keep her eyes on her tray, tried not to let anyone see how alone she felt as she walked.
         But halfway there,Che eyes floated up,crawl automatically to Table 7. to Lily Pierce.
         If Westgate were a solar system, then Lily Pierce would be its sun.
         With her perfect black curls and her perfect smile that seemed to make the whole lunch room lean toward her. And away from Caroline. Because everybody listened to Lily Pierce. Everybody did what she said. Whether or not they wanted to be her friend, they definitely didn't want to be her enemy. And Lily Pierce had told the entire seventh grade to stay away from Caroline Mason.
          Lily and Caroline were at war. Only, Caroline didn't want to fight. She just wanted to go back to the way things were before. Back to before they were enemies.
          Back to when they were best friends.
                                                                                     .                     .                     .
"Pick a hand," said Lily.
It was two years ago - summertime, and they were ten. They sat cross-legged on Caroline's trampoline. Lily had moved to their town of Beachwood, California, the year before - into the house right next door - but it felt like they'd been friends forever. Like they'd always be friends. They were starting sixth grade at Westgate together in the fall. They hadn't met Erica yet. Right now, it was just the two of them.
Caroline squinted at Lily's outstretched hands, skeptical.
Lily liked to play tricks on people.
"Come on," Lily urged, oddity at her closed fists. "Pick one."
Caroline chewed her lip, and chose left. Lily smiled and turned up her hand. In her palm was a necklace with a silver half circle pendant on the end. Lily then turned over her other hand to reveal a matching necklace with a matching half circle.
"See, they fit together like this," said Lily, linking the pieces so they became a whole circle, like a moon. She looked proud of herself. "We have to wear them," she said. "And we can't ever take them off."
"Not ever."
Lily shook her head, curls bobbing. "We can't take them off as long as we're friends, which will be forever, so no, not ever. If we take them off, the spell will break."

              Caroline crinkled her nose. "What spell."
              "This one." Lily held out the necklace, palm up. "Put your hand over it." And Caroline did. "I solemnly swear," started Lily, giving Caroline a look that told her to repeat the words.
              " I solemnly swear," Caroline echoed.
              "That as long as I wear this."
              "That as long as I wear this."
              "I am half of a whole."
              "I am half of a whole."
              Lily beamed. She handed Caroline her silver pendant. "You look out for me," she said, "and I'll look out for you. And we'll stick together no matter what."!
              Caroline smiled, and slipped the necklace over her head.
"No matter what."

Lily laughed, and the sound traveled through the lunchroom, jarring Caroline out of the memory.
Lily was sitting with Erica Kline and Whitney Abel. Every time Lily laughed, Erica echoed. She smiled when Lily smiled, pouted when Lily pouted, and tossed her straight brown hair when Lily tossed her black curls. She was like a clone, but meaner.
When Lily put her arms around Whitney and Erica's shoulders, it drove a spike through Caroline's stomach. In a way, all of this was Whitney's fault. And she didn't even know it. On the first day of school, Whitney had been nothing. Nobody. A girl with two full brown braids who barely spoke. Now she is sitting at Table 7, Lily's newest pet.
Whitney said something, and Lily threw back her head and laughed again (a moment later, Erica laughed, too). Then they both leaned in. They were hunched forward over their table, working on something Caroline couldn't see.
Caroline tried to focus on her food, but she wasn't very hungry. She could feel the eyes of Table 7 flicking her way. She didn't want them to see how miserable she was, so she pretended to read through a notebook while the clock on the wall ticked off the minutes until she could go to class. Finally, when the first of the seventh graders started to leave, she pushed to her feet and went to return her tray to the carts by the door.
And that's when it happened.
As Caroline walked by Table 7, Lily pushed back her chair, blocking Caroline's path and forcing her to stop so fast she nearly spilled her tray. She caught it in time, and backed up, straight into Erica.
Or rather Erica's tray.
              Erica snickered, and Caroline felt something thick and wet run down the back of her uniform. Caroline turned to see Erica holding her tray not in front like a normal person, but up on its side so the whole flat surface was turned toward Caroline. It was covered in a horrible ugly swirl of ketchup and mustard and mayonnaise.
And now, so was Caroline.
The room went quiet as sixty-two pairs of eyes turned toward Caroline and her ruined uniform. Lily smiled. Erica mimicked her, Whitney watch, wide-eyed and silent.
"Ewwwww," said Erica, dropping her tray back on the table. "I got ketchup on my hands."
Lily held out a napkin. "Here you go."
"Thanks," said Erica, wiping her fingers and looking into Caroline's eyes. "Nobody wants to smell like dirty lunch tray all day."
A glob of ketchup dripped onto Caroline's leg. Her eyes began to burn.
Don't cry, she thought desperately. Don't cry. Don't cry.
Lily watched her intently, waiting to see what she would do. Caroline wanted to sob. She wanted to scream. She wanted to punch Erica in the face. Instead she turned, dropping her tray off at the cart, and stormed through the doors, wishing she never had to come back.