Seated in the back of her math class, tapping her pencil against the desk and zoning out completely, Karma wondered just how things had gotten so bad. Two weeks. That's all it's taken for Karma's mind to go from its normal state of mild disarray to complete chaos. Two weeks since she landed in jail with her best friend who slept with her (ex) boyfriend. Two weeks since she received a speech from said best friend that was miles more romantic than anything that ever came out of the mouth of the boy she slept with. Two weeks since she dreamed of Amy's lips on her own, her hand wandering to a place she never expected to want to explore. Two weeks. And Karma was a mess.
She had nobody. She had burned all bridges with her peers at school ever since the whole faking it fiasco came to life, and the few people she didn't piss off, well, things were complicated. Amy had distanced herself from Karma without any real explanation. Whenever Karma confronted her on the issue, Amy simply replied "I'm not distancing myself" while making the scrunched up face she always made when she's feeling cornered. Karma didn't have enough energy to confront her further. Or maybe she just felt she didn't have the right. She knew deep down Reagan didn't feel comfortable with Amy spending too much time with the girl she had been in love with for ten years, and who could blame her? It's not like she could talk to Amy about what she was going through anyways. It would just complicate things further. She felt a personal responsibility to suck it up and let Amy be happy for once.
The only person who actually wanted to spend any time with Karma was the one person Karma was trying to avoid. Liam wouldn't take no for an answer, despite the fact that Karma had said no multiple times. He saw it as romantic, she saw it as suffocating. Last Tuesday he managed to find out her new locker combination and place a bouquet of flowers neatly on top of her text books. When she saw the flowers, she looked over at Liam in the courtyard to see his classic "good guy" smirk, as if a cliché gesture could make up with the fact that he slept with her best friend since kindergarten. She resisted the urge to throw the flowers in the nearest trashcan and gave him a weak smile instead, wondering why she still craved the approval of this douchebag. Maybe it was because she didn't have anybody else. Maybe it was because she felt like she deserved to be cheated on. It definitely was because she still didn't feel good enough - in fact, she felt worse than ever.
Karma looked up at the clock and realized she would have to go to lunch soon, which was now her least favorite period. She had been eating lunch by herself for the past two weeks, but it seemed like a decade. Reagan had been taking Amy out to lunch, probably to keep her from Karma, and Liam had a different lunch period (which she was grateful for, she was too exhausted to ward him off for the whole period). Her scheme to become popular had backfired immensely, and she was more alone than ever. A girl in her english class had been glancing over at her almost every day with sadness in her eyes. Pity? Probably not, why would anyone feel bad for a girl who got herself into this situation?
When the bell finally rang, she made her way to the picnic tables in the courtyard. There were less people around outside to notice she was sitting alone. She was actually looking forward to lunch today, she saw her mom making her a PB&J this morning, a rare break from the kale wraps and salads she was accustomed to eating in the Ashcroft household. She smiled as she reached down for her bag, only to open it and find yet another kale wrap. She frowned when she realized her mom wasn't making the sandwich for her, and her chin started to quiver when she noticed that receiving a different lunch just ruined her entire day. It was the last straw. Everything was horrible. She started tearing up, desperately wanting to call Amy. She wanted to tell her she needs her, that she can't do this alone, that she's not sure what she's feeling right now and she just needs a best friend. She was seriously considering it before she saw the girl from her english class, right on cue, staring at her with that same sadness in her eyes. Karma quickly wiped the tears away from her eyes when she noticed the girl was walking toward her table.
"Rough day?" The girl asked, taking her backpack off and sitting across from Karma.
"Rough life," Karma scoffed before quickly correcting her attitude. "I'm sorry. I'm not usually this melodramatic. Okay, well I am, but yeah, rough day."
The girl sitting across from her gave a sympathetic laugh. Karma had never seen her up close before. She was blonde and had piercing blue eyes that were analyzing Karma too much for her liking. "I've been wanting to come sit with you for a while, but I didn't know if I would be intruding on your alone time. I know some people just like to be alone, so if you want me to leave just say the word."
"No!" Karma said too quickly. "I mean, no, I'm just surprised you don't hate me like everyone else."
"Hey, come on," the girl said in a serious tone. "Everyone does stupid things. It's high school. It's not like you were hurting anybody."
Karma frowned and looked down at her hands, remembering just why she messed up so badly. "I hurt the only person in the world who meant anything to me, and now she won't be in the same room as me for more than 5 minutes."
The girl scanned Karma's eyes for a few seconds before coming to a sudden realization. "Wait, did Amy like you? She actually is a lesbian?"
"What?! No!" Karma quickly covered. The last thing she wanted to do was out Amy to a complete stranger before she was ready. "It just made her feel weird is all, you know," she added before blushing furiously.
"Oh," the girl looked down. "That's too bad. She's really cute."
Karma smirked and silently agreed before registering that this girl wanted to hook up with her best friend. "Wait, did you just come and sit with me because you wanted to hook up with my girlfriend?"
"What? No!" The girl sounded flustered. "Besides, you said you guys were faking it," she said quietly, sinking into her seat.
"We were," Karma had a sharp tone to her voice. "I just thought you sat with me because, I don't know, maybe you wanted to get to know me, or something."
"That is why I sat with you," the girl said sincerely. "We just got a little off topic. Start over?"
Karma let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I'm just, well, having a rough day," she laughed a little.
"No need to apologize," the girl chimed, realizing she may have crossed a line, just happy that Karma was giving her another chance. "I'm Luna, by the way."
"Ah, do you have crazy parents too?" Karma smirked.
"Yep, total hippies," she giggled. "Not gonna lie, the reason I wanted to talk to you is about 30% your name, 50% because your parents own a juice truck, and 20% because I feel like we're supposed to be in each other's lives in one way or another."
Karma raised her eyebrow at her last statement. "That's bold."
"Come on," Luna smirked. "With a name like Karma, you have to believe in destiny."
A/N: I'm usually very opposed to reading/writing stories with original characters (with a few exceptions of course, see Out in Arizona). However, I think Karma really needs a (female version of) Shane to guide her through this. I'm going to develop her character and her relationship with Karma and bring Amy and Reagan into the story. Karmy endgame, of course. I just want Karma to be happy in the meantime.