The War With Fate

Lea 4: A Broken Shell is a New Form

I could hear the whispers immediately.

"Oh, look! The goody goody is with the Queen!"

"What happened to the queen?"

"What did that bitch do to be friends with her?"

My bag weighed down on my shoulders and I was already regretting not walking in with Zander or waiting for Phoenix or Alex to arrive.

I shook my head to clear my thoughts and shot a glare to the girls talking.

Cassidy sashayed to the other side of Athena. "What happened, Bee? Is the Queen falling?"  Cassidy had that smirk. That one that said "I'm going to act like I care, but I'm just waiting to take your spot at the top."

Athena looked to her so I couldn't see her face, but I heard her for sure. "Queens only fall when someone tries to take her throne. So back the fuck off, princess." She said it calmly like she was happy, but I knew it was fake.

Eventually, of course, the bell rang and school started. All of Athena's friends shared at least one class with her, so they walked and carried her stuff from classroom to classroom.

Lunch time rolled around and I let out a sigh of relief as I left Social Studies, my least favorite class.

I got to my locker to find Zander standing there. "Let me drop my stuff off, Zandy and I'll pull out a suprise." He immediately stepped away from my locker and started babbling.

"Halloween's coming up," he said.

"I can read a calendar, last time I checked," I retorted.

"You're a real different person when you're just talking to me," zander commented.

"That's because I've known you for forever and vice versa. No use hiding things."

"...fair," zander replied, "back to Halloween. What're you doing this year?"

I pulled the container of cookies from my bag and looked at him, "what do we do every year?"

Zander grinned, "skip school, watch glee all day, take your brother trick or treating them head to my house to watch the nightmare before Christmas?"

I booped his nose, "exactly. Now let's head to lunch." He laughed and followed after me.

The lunchroom was crowded, but I immediately spotted Athena's table. All of them were laughing at something Levi had said and I walked over while opening the container.

"Cookies, anybody?" I asked, "I baked them this morning."

They all practically jumped on me, except for Athena and Cassidy.

"Whoa whoa!" I said, holding the cookies over my head, "sit down or none of you get any."

The one I recognized as Marcus was the first to sit back down and he just looked at the container of cookies in wonder. I passed him a cookie and he took a smile bite before a big smile came across his face. A click of a camera immediately ended the smile.

"You got him to smile," levi, his brother, gaped.

I handed Levi a cookie and he took a bite before springing out of his seat and wrapping me in a hug. A death squeeze hug, of course.

"Holy shit! These are the best things I've ever tasted! Why couldn't you be my friend sooner?"

I laughed politely, but my gaze locked in on Zander sitting a few tables down with our friends. Was that betrayal on his face. I gave them the rest of their dozen cookies before excusing myself. I had to get to my table, I didn't belong with the populars.