Playing Perfect

06. Déchets

06. Déchets

Rubbish

By Friday, life had gone back to normal. Alice hadn't received any cruel messages or found rotten banana peels and crumpled candy wrappers in her locker or backpack. Life was perfect again.

She was right, it had been a temporary thing. She knew if she ignored it long enough, if she didn't give them the reaction they were looking for, it would go away. Vanish like it had never happened in the first place.

She walked down the hallway with a genuine smile, her blue plaid skirt swishing against her thighs with each step. She'd spent half her lunch helping the Headmaster with some meetings minutes when another prefect bailed, meaning she only had fifteen minutes to get to the dining hall and eat.

It was across the school, close to the dorms that the boarding students stayed in, so she hurried as much as she could without running—a Travers never ran unless absolutely necessary. Her black school shoes clicked against the tiled floor. The hallways were almost empty, save for a few Year Sevens who sat against their lockers, nibbling on sandwiches and gossiping.

When she passed, the whispers quieted, and she sent them polite smiles.

She pushed her way out of the school building and walked quickly across the campus.

It was turning to winter and the air was cold, whipping at her hair and at the bald trees that lined the pathways. She tugged her scarf tighter around her neck, taking two steps at a time until the dining hall came into view.

The dining hall was a large, ancient building filled with wooden benches. It towered high with large, stained glass windows and portraits of past alumni lining the walls. It reminded Alice of the school chapel, except much noisier and generally full of less boredom.

She stepped inside her eyes instantly focusing on Theo sitting at the front of the hall. He sat with his rugby team, guffawing loudly about some joke.

Alice made her way to the table, collecting a plate of roast from the kitchens before sliding onto the bench beside him.

"Alice!" He exclaimed, blinking. He furrowed his brow. "What are you doing here?"

"Eating lunch?" She laughed, gesturing to her plate.

He didn't crack a smile. Instead, he rubbed the back of his neck and stared down at the table. She suddenly realised how quiet they had fallen.

"I mean, what about Emily? And, uh, what's her name? Gloria?"

"Grace," Alice corrected. She shrugged. "I just thought I'd sit with you today."

She didn't understand what the problem was. She'd sat with him plenty of times before. It wasn't uncommon for the rugby team to welcome their girlfriends at their table.

"Right," Theo muttered.

"Theo," a voice called. Alice glanced up to meet eyes with Bennett, a dark-skinned boy with short, cropped hair. She recognised him as number eight on the rugby team. He continued, "You had that thing on, didn't you?"

Theo raised a brow, a blank expression on his face. Then, slowly, his eyes widened, and his mouth formed a perfect circle. He turned back to Alice.

"Damn, I totally forgot," he said.

"What thing?" Alice asked.

"That thing." He blinked. "That I have. Now."

Alice pursed her lips. Theo had always been a bad liar. Not like Alice who had been trained since birth in politesse, a fancy word for kind lies. Acceptable lies. But it was for this very reason that Alice plastered a smile on her face and nodded, as if he'd fooled her.