Terralux

Chapter 4: Split Screen Sadness

The day had been going well.

I had only a reasonable amount of makeup work to do, and only two tests to take at school. No one had any parties that I missed over the weekend, and soon, I'd have a huge load taken out of my backpack.

I'd abandoned my hopes of handing Max's camera back to him, and done it easily. How I'd thank him for saving my life, I had no idea, but I'd figure something out in due time. All that mattered now was waiting at my locker for Quinn so that she could take the camera off my hands.

I was happy that things were returning to their previous state more rapidly than I'd expected they would. If things continued at this rate, Austin and I would be married by age twenty-two. Or at least, my giddiness had advanced to a stage that allowed me to believe that.

So I stared into the dispersing crowd until Quinn came into view. Platinum blonde hair pulled out of her heart-shaped face with a jewel-studded pin, she mad her way over to where I stood.

Quinn and Max looked almost nothing alike. Of course, there was the age difference, but besides that and some other things, Quinn's hair was almost white, and Max's hair color was closer to mine. When we were younger and Max was about our age, he used to call me his "real sister" and Quinn would cry until their parents came and Max got in trouble.

Not to mention Quinn's crystal blue eyes that currently sparkled at me through long, curled eyelashes. Max had eyes that seemed to shift between differing shades of green, depending on what mood he was in. But I loved both of them like family.

I reached down into my backpack, and it wasn't a far stretch before my fingers grasped onto the thick strap of Max's camera. Fishing it out, I smiled as I handed it to Quinn. She took it and tucked it into her own floral printed backpack, zipped it up, and gave me a sad smile. Then we just sort of looked at each other because neither of us was saying anything. For the first time today, I was actually hoping to hear the question of "where have you been?", because if there's anyone who I feel comfortable venting to, it's Quinn.

"So why didn't you call me last week?" Quietly, I tried to start conversation.

"Sorry." She replied. "I've been busy. Thanks for Max's camera." Her eyes met mine briefly, then dropped down towards her backpack. Her hand went to push hair back out of her face, but there was no hair to push back because it was all being held by the pin.

"No problem." I replied awkwardly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm just kind of tired."

"Oh. Well, that's okay." I ran a hand through my own hair. "I have so much to tell you about last weekend. We still have about fifteen minutes before lunch is over." I beamed at her.

"Not right now." Abruptly, Quinn denied my offer. "I'm kind of hungry today." She lifted her backpack from the floor.

Rejection probably left telltale signs all over my face. The strangest thing wasn't that Quinn refused to listen to my story, but it was that she would've rather gone to eat in the cafeteria, which she hated to do.

"Okay then," I started. "I can call you tonight and tell you--"

"Lily, I'm really not in the mood to talk right now, or later on. I've got things I need to think about, and I want to think about them alone. I need some time to worry about my life without having to worry about yours." She let out a long breath and her face seemed flushed, her porcelain cheeks turned red.

I recoiled as a weight seemed to drop into my clenched stomach. "Okay. Look, I don't know what you're going through, and I'm sorry if you feel that way, but I don't see how this has anything to do with me. Quinn, if you need to talk, I'll listen."