My first instinct was to hide. Instead, I sat right back down and ducked my head like I was focused on the computer. It hide my face, and they would pay me no heed. I didn’t dare glance up to see where they were. They looked like they had just been leaving, a book in each of their arms. Ava was as pristine as always, and Everett had a more casual look than I’d expected.

I stared at the computer screen, watching the time tick upwards at an agonizingly slow pace. I kept my hands folded in my lap, resisting the temptation to poke at the USB in my pocket. After eight minutes, I couldn’t do it any longer and I looked back up.

They were gone. My shoulders slumped in relief. There was still time to make it to the bus stop and get home. I stood, stretching out my back and heard it pop. With another scan to ensure no one else was here, I headed towards the exit. My eyes glanced down the book rows, finding no one.

By the time I stepped outside, I was exhausted from the surge of anxiety.

Of course, it was never that easy, “…Cinder?”

The voice was soft, so soft I barely heard it. I froze, static buzzing around in my head and feeling my nerves fry. When I turned, I saw them. Ava was sitting on a bench with Everett standing at an angle to her. She smiled, and it occurred to me this had to have been the first time she acknowledged me herself. All her attention was always on Abigail.

“H-hey?” I raised a hand in greeting, rolling back on my heels, ready to leave, but she stood. After a long pause, I slowly made my way towards the two.

“What a coincidence, meeting you here. Is Abigail with you?”

“No, just me.” I waited for disappointment that didn’t come. She only gave a nod, and I tried not to nervously rub at my arms.

“I see—This is Everett, by the way. I don’t think you two were introduced during the meeting. Everett, this is Cinder.”

“I remember seeing you.” He reached out a hand, and I carefully shook it. It was cold and double the size of mine.

I retracted my hand as soon as possible, “…Nice to meet you.”

“Abigail talks a lot about you. I apologize if I’ve seemed distant the past few times we met. I’m not the best at talking with new people.” So she’d been aware of it. I’d felt like some kind of dirty accessory next to Abigail with the way she’d looked at me. It was almost easy to forget, with how soft she’d molded her features.

“W-well, it’s fine. I’m not great with talking to new people either.”

“Is that why you never came back?” I blinked, startled by the forwardness. Ava lightly shoved at Everett, who only brushed her hand aside. “It was a simple observation. She didn’t.”

I swallowed, “I um…I didn’t feel like I belonged there.”

“Nonsense. If you want to come back, you’re free to.” Her smile was dainty, like porcelain and lace. The more I looked at her, the more I felt like she was a doll. I hoped my smile was a smile and not a grimace back.

“…I’ll think about it. Maeve is in my class and she um, invited me back too.”

Everett raised both his eyebrows, “That’s weird of her. She never takes interests in others. Did you do something?”

“I don’t think so…?” The more the conversation went on, the stranger I felt. I shifted, trying not to fully back away. “But anyways, I kinda need to catch the bus and I don’t want to be late. I’ll talk to you both later, maybe?”

“I drive if you need a lift.”

“T-that’s…” I tried to think of a million reasons to reject his offer, but my head became filled with nothing but noise. I didn’t want them to know where I lived, let alone see my neighborhood. I probably lived in a shed compared to whatever their houses looked like.

Ava swatted at him again, “Everett! She doesn’t even know you, obviously she isn’t going to be comfortable with that.”

“T-thanks for the offer, though.” I took a step back, ready to bolt at any second.

Ava waved, her eyes too empty to be kind, “Be safe. I’ll see you later.”

I hoped not as I spun on my heel and headed towards the bus stop. I tried to ignore the way I felt eyes on my back until I hit the sidewalk. I didn’t want to know which one was watching me, if not both of them. I didn’t want to know what had possessed them to invite me back to their club. First Maeve, and now Ava. I couldn’t help but be on high alert.

At the very least, the day was finally over.

//

“They want you back at the club.” Abigail sat at my dining table, plate half eaten and mouth placed in certain straight line that indicted she was annoyed and trying not to show it.

I paused around a bite of honeyed toast, “…What?”

“The Literature Club. Apparently you have class with them or whatever. You caught their attention.” Her fingers drummed against the table, and I let my toast settle back on my plate, forgotten.

This was not how I wanted to start my morning, “In history, Maeve and Cyrus were a part of my group. Maeve invited me but…I really don’t want to go.”

“Hmm, if that’s how you feel. Did they make you anxious or something?”

“K-kinda.”

“Yeah, figured.” She poked at her food with a fork, still not taking a bite. “It’ll always just be me and Nia for you, won’t it?”

Before I could respond, she stood up. I jumped as the chair clattered. She grabbed her backpack which was hanging off the back and slung it over her shoulder. I scrambled to my feet as well, “Are you alright?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I mean…”

“If you want to go, then go. If you don’t, then don’t worry about it. I already know how you’d be if you started going anyway.”

“W-what—?”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“You wouldn’t leave my side, like always.”

The conversation stung. I froze, a burning clawing up my throat and blurring my eyes. I could feel my mom look over from where she was in the kitchen, and I grabbed my bag as quickly as I could. Abigail was already heading out the door.

I chased after her. My skin met with a rush of cold air that I hadn’t been expecting this early into September, “What’s wrong, Abigail?”

“Nothing’s wrong.”

“Y-yes there is—”

“Like what?”

She spun towards me and I could feel a wave of things I wanted to say on the tip of my tongue. She folded her arms across her chest, and I tried to sort through them as much as I could in the moment, “I know you’re angry about something.”

Wind ghosted through the space between us. The only sound was cars driving in the distance and the rustling of leaves above. She stared at me, lips puckered, lost in trying to find an excuse to give. I kept my gaze level with hers, chin tilting up so we could be eye to eye. She didn’t feel so much taller than me when I stood my ground.

Her hand reached out, and adjusted the collar of my uniform, “You should never get yourself into danger for my sake.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” I knew quite well what it had to do with everything. She knew the club members far better than I did, and from the little I’d gleaned they weren’t great people. She was the one who was more in danger than me. I just didn’t understand why she was pursuing it if she knew.

She patted my collar down for good measure, before she retracted her hands, “I just thought you should know. As far as the club goes, you’ll hate it there. And it irritates me to no end that those assholes are trying to recruit you.”

“Aren’t they your friends, too?”

“Just Ava, I swear. The rest of them can swallow a mouthful of dirt for all I care.” She huffed. “I can’t believe you have class with Maeve of all people. She must be bored and thinks she found a new toy.”

That was also the feeling I’d gotten when we’d briefly spoken. I kicked at a spare rock on the ground, watching it tumble, tumble, back into the dying grass of a person’s lawn. “They must want something from you, too.”

“Is Justin getting to you?”

“Well…” I hesitated, but decided to tell her anyway. To hide my nerves, I started walking again, like the motion would stop the rest of my body from shaking. “I don’t know why, but we keep running into each other.”

Her eyebrow raised, a sarcastic smirk pulling her pink lips, “Ah yes, quite the coincidence. I doubt he’s, like, keeping tabs on you or something. He’d never be such a creep.”

“Ah, I doubt it…? I can’t…read him well, though.”

“No one can. That’s his whole thing. He’s the Cheshire cat of our school or something. I can’t believe I ever agreed to date him.” Her nose scrunched up, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Even though I knew I was still on shaky ground, I couldn’t help my next question, “Was it mutual? The break up? After it ended you just said you didn’t care and me and Nia left it at that, but…”

“I think we were too different where it mattered and too similar in the worst of ways. We brought out the worst in each other and clashed over everything.” Her gaze went distant. “I don’t want to go through that again.”

I could see it. The hints of similarities between the two, “You’ll find someone who brings out the best in you. I’m sure of it.”

“I have you and Nia for that.” She linked an arm through mine, dragging me forward. “Speaking of, I bet we’ve kept her waiting for who knows how long because of our talk.”

“W-wait a minute.” I stumbled after her, her laughing ringing like bells around us. The air was mild and the day was bright. Our feet danced down the sidewalk, the world blurring in a vibrant haze at the corner of my vision. Just like that, we were back in our own little world.

//

“So you’re not joining the cult right?” Nia was bent over her binder, scribbling away at a worksheet she hadn’t finished for her physics class. The three of us had elected to sit at one of the outside tables instead of the usual tree we’d claimed as ours since Freshman year. Abigail had a pen and was drawing circles all over Nia’s worksheet, not that she had minded. I doubted she’d even noticed.

“Cult?”

“The Literature Club. Abigail mentioned.” She jammed her pen towards Abigail before I could question it.

I only shrugged, “You don’t like them either?”

“Nia hasn’t even met with them to pass judgement. She’s just acting a twinge overprotective.” When Nia cut her a glance, Abigail’s voice turned to honey. “It’s the sweetest thing, honestly.”

Nia rolled her eyes and returned back to what she was doing. It finally occurred to me just what she was doing. Nia was never late with assignments. She was the type to sacrifice her sleep to get everything done and get the A. Her grades were immaculate, without a blemish to her name. There had been various days where the three of us got together to study and Nia became the tutor more often than not.

Not caring of the change of subject, I started, “It’s weird for you to be finishing something last minute.”

“Is it?”

“Woah, you’re right. Little Miss Smarty-Pants is starting to lose her touch, I see.” This earned another one of Nia’s signature looks, but Abigail wasn’t even looking at her. Her gaze skipped over the assignment she was working on, appraising the situation now that I’d brought it up.

I couldn’t remember if this had occurred in the previous iteration of time or not, “Is it because of home?”

“I thought I told you everything was fine.”

“Ummm, I think I’m gonna call bullshit on that one babe. What’s got you so stressed?” Abigail finally looked at Nia. The two stared at each other for a long second, and Nia was the first to look away. No one could outlast Abigail’s endless stare unless she wanted them to.

This wasn’t one of those times.

“Things are great. Cross my heart and hope to die.” Nia drew an ‘X’ over her heart to drive her point home. “My siblings were being annoying all day yesterday, so I just didn’t have time to get anything done.”

“Totally.” Abigail said, not believing a word of it.

I pressed my lips together, but didn’t comment further. For the first time, I realized we all had the same flaw. We never wanted to tell each other when something was wrong with us, and if someone tried, we built a stone wall. It seemed like we really were all just the same.

“Totally,” Nia echoed, “Speaking of, when did you want to hang out next?”

“That had nothing to do with the conversation.”

“It so did.”

Abigail and Nia could have gone on for ages if they really wanted to. I cut in as quick as I could, “I’m free whenever.”

“I think it’s your call. You’re the one whose been super busy lately.” Abigail shrugged, and had a sip from the small carton of apple juice she procured for lunch.

Nia thought for a moment, “Tomorrow could work. I have some homework to finish tonight, but…”

“Perfect! It’s a date.” She scribbled three stick figures on Nia’s sheet, each one being a poor representation of us. “No take-backs.”

“I would never.” Abigail laughed as Nia dramatically placed a hand over her heart. With another retort on her lips, it was silenced by the ding of her phone. Her hand fished into her backpack, she flipped it open.

From where I was sitting, I could have glanced over and read it. Instead, I kept my eyes down and waited for the conversation to continue. Instead, she furiously clicked away at the keypad before snapping it shut and hopping to her feet.

Me and Nia shared a look, “Sorry guys, something came up. I gotta go.”

“Yeah, sure.” I raised my hand in a wave that she returned. Swinging her backpack over her shoulder, she started walking away, footsteps quick. Nia watched her go, settling into a still quiet.

Unsure how to break the silence, I waited. When Abigail was gone from sight, her shoulders fell and she snapped back to reality, “She’s been acting weird, lately. Weirder than usual.”

“You’ve been acting weird, too.” A pause. “I think we all have been…”

“You think so?” I wanted to explain, but I couldn’t remember what we had been like before. A pair of three, with Abigail as our glue.

I couldn’t figure out the look Nia wore, so I swallowed, “Even so, I love you guys.”

A laugh, sudden and bright, bringing color back to the strangeness that had settled over us, “Obviously. It’s the three of us forever.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Now come on,” she motioned towards where Abigail had been sitting, “If you really want us to hang out, you’ll help me with my homework.”

“I don’t even take physics.”

“Better crash course it with me then.”

I scrambled into the seat next to her, pouting at her laughs. I didn’t understand a thing she was doing and she didn’t matter. We sat at the table, hunched over, her doing the work and me pretending I was contributing. The both of us waited, half-expectant, for Abigail to come back, but she never did. It didn’t change as much as I thought it would. It did cause curiosity to burn in my stomach.

If I’d looked, I wonder what I would have seen. I wonder if it would have had something to do with the story.