Beverly Lights

34

Nine days. Nine days left of first semester. Nine days left and then half the school year would be gone. Nine days that couldn't come and go fast enough.

Juliet sat alone at lunch with her Spanish book out. As she did she thought about the group that once gathered. JJ and whichever cheerleader he was sleeping with that week. Asher and Layla when they were presumed happy and together. And lastly her and Jordan. Then after awhile Spencer came along and joined them, and eventually Olivia again. But there she was that day, all alone.

Olivia spent most of her lunch breaks talking on the phone with Chris as she sat in her car. JJ was now busy basking in the attention he got from all the girls since he was a state champion. Asher didn't feel accepted anymore thanks to Jordan's cold shoulder. Spencer and Layla did their own thing, Spencer still didn't pay much attention to her. As for Jordan? Once again, Juliet had no idea where her boyfriend was. Even though they were having more sex than ever, she could feel that he was absent minded. And not much compares to feeling close in body to the guy you love but not close in mind.

"Where are all of your friends?" Asher asked Juliet as he sat next to her at the table. "I uh- I don't know." She replied.

"You don't know? Well, where is Jordan?"

"Not here."

"Yeah, I see that? Where is he?"

Juliet was growing tired of Asher's obsession with getting his friendship back with Jordan. Mostly because she was just tired period. She rolled her eyes and said, "Look, Ash. I get that you want to fix things with him. But if you're only talking to me because you want an update, I don't have one for you."

"I'm not! I promise." He quickly responded. "I saw you sitting alone, that's all. This isn't about Jordan. I actually found out whats going on with Olivia and Layla."

"What? Already?"

"Yeah. Liv had no problem with opening up."

"Well, what is it?"

"After the championship, Layla headed back home. According to Olivia she had a breakdown and she destroyed her house. Made it look like someone broke in again."

"Why would she do that?"

"Probably to get her dad's attention. Don't get me wrong, if you're Layla's boyfriend her dad not being around is pretty cool. But, she's alone, a lot."

"Yeah, I guess I never thought about it that way.." Juliet felt like a terrible friend. She didn't pick up on when someone she was suppose to be close with felt like she was drowning. She closed her Spanish book and slid it into her book bag. She looked back to Asher and said, "Alright, you held up you're part of the deal. Now it's time I hold up mine."

As she went to stand up, Asher grabbed her wrist which pulled her back down. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine?"

"Jules. You and I have hung out in the same group of friends for years. We may not have ever been the best of friends, and I know I gave you more shit than I should have, but I know you better than you think. What's up?"

Juliet let out a deep breath. She had a lot on her plate, though it wasn't anything she couldn't handle, it was still nice that someone saw her. It was nice that someone saw her treading water before she drowned herself.

"I don't know. It's like everything was going great, it was going perfect. But when the affair Mr. Baker had surfaced, it's like everything changed in the blink of an eye."

"How?"

"My best friend is angry with me, he hasn't spoken to me since the morning after the game. And Jordan.. he uhm- he told me that he loves me but now he'll hardly looks at me unless we're in a bed with our clothes off. I know I'm being paranoid, and I hate it. But yesterday morning he hardly had a conversation with me, then as I was walking to class I saw him talking to some girl only for him to lie about it to me two seconds later."