Between Two Girls

Chapter 2

"Have you checked your face recently?" one girl calls from another table. "'Cause last time I checked, Halloween isn't until next week." Laughter follows after the insult.

    With no comeback in hand, Paige just sighs and continues eating her lunch.

    The same girl doesn’t like the fact that she is being ignored. “Hey fatso! I asked you a question! You gonna answer me or what?”

    “Just ignore her, Paige,” a voice in Paige’s head pipes up. It’s a gruff male voice Paige has heard since she was little. He’s the sage one of the two voices, although he sounds to be around her age. He almost always offer safe suggestions for Paige in situations she doesn’t know how to react to.

   “You think i don’t know that, Emery?” she asks in annoyance. “She get any louder, the only creatures that can hear her are going to be dogs.”

    Emery chuckles at Paige’s snarkiness. “You do have a way with words.”

   “This is boring!” the other voice announces, the pitch reminding Paige of Harley Quinn in the Batman: Arkham video games. She’s the exact opposite of Emery. With childish antics and traits of a party animal, the voice is often known as Julianna Peach III, or as Paige dubs, just Juli. “Why don’t we ever do something fun for once?”

    “Do you remember the last time you said that?” questions Emery. “We got Paige in trouble for it.”

    “How was I supposed to know the liquor cabinet was locked and secured?” Juli whines.

    “You still didn’t have to have Paige break the glass doors,” the wise guy replies.

    “I got thirsty!”

    “There was water.”

    “But it’s more fun getting loopy and dizzy and--”

    “Guys,” Paige says not so quietly. A few people turn toward her, but turns back when they see no one else besides the redhead. “Can we discuss this later?” she asks, sounding a little softer now. “I’d like to eat in peace.”

   “Oh, okay. Got it,” Juli responds. A few moments later, she then asks, “So, what’s up with the blonde chick from last period?”

    “Juli!” Emery warns.

    “What? I’m curious.”

    Paige can’t help but laugh to herself. “It’s nothing. It’s only an infatuation. It’ll pass. Just like with Caitlin, and Maddy, and Lily, and . . . “ She trails off in thought.

    The party animal tsks in disapproval. “Girls, you need some romance in your life. Spice it up and all that.”

    “My life is already ‘spiced up’, thank you very much,” Paige grumbles. She reaches into her lunch bag and pulls out a sugar cookie. She unwraps it and breaks it in half.

    “Stories don’t count.”

    “They do if they make me see things differently.”

    Juli sighs. “You can’t tell me you’re happy with just us and books for company,” she says. Paige can imagine Juli, looking like a stick figure, putting her hands on her hips.

    “Actually, I can, because I am.” Paige gets up and throws the leftovers away. She goes back to the table she sitting at, and retrieves her backpack. She walks to the front doors of the high school.

    “Hey, where are you taking us, Paige?” Juli asks. “I’m not done talking sternly to you.”

    “I’m going to find a few books to take for the rest of today,” the redhead mumbles. “You can bug me at the library.”

    “Awesome!”