Here it is, guys! Chapter 2! Voila! I hope you enjoy! :)
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
The screeching of Gail's alarm clock caused her to shoot up in bed. "Fuck.." she grumbled, leaning over to slap her palm over the snooze button. She flopped back onto her bed and pulled the covers up over her head.
As promised, five minutes later, her alarm sounded again. She reached over to her nightstand and shut it off as she propped herself up into a sitting position, making sure that she didn't fall asleep again. She stretched and yawned, rubbing the sleep from her eyes.
"GOOD MORNIIIIING!" a figure shouted as it busted into her room and launched itself onto her bed.
"Ugh.. STEVE!" she giggled in spite of her annoyance, using her feet to push him off the foot of her bed and onto the floor.
"Aaaah... ahhh!" he yelled as he waved his arms around frantically, trying unsuccessfully to stop himself from toppling to the floor. "Jerkface," he said, as he stood up and brushed himself off, "I was just coming in to tell you that breakfast is ready and you assault me?! Real nice, Gail, real nice." He puffed out his chest and stuck his nose up in the air with mock indignation and strode out of her room.
She shook her head, chuckling as she got out of bed. Her brother could be such a goofball. Ever since he came home from college, he was always giddy. She suspected that it had something to do with a girl, but he'd never say so.
She forced her feet to travel the short distance to her dresser and pulled on a pair of black shorts and a simple light blue v-neck tee that she knew brought out her eyes. She brushed her hair hastily into a messy ponytail, grabbed her backpack, and stopped in the bathroom to brush her teeth before she made her way downstairs.
"Oh, good morning, dear," her mother said, kissing the top of her head as she passed. "I'm going to be late if I don't leave now. Have a nice day, you two." With that, she was gone. Gail was used to her mother not being around very much, but she'd be lying if she said that it didn't bother her. Her father was barely home at all either for that matter, always staying late to finish up whatever it was that people on the force did. The difference was, he was always gone before Gail woke up, and usually came home just as Gail was settling down to go to sleep. She was used to having virtually no relationship with either of them, save for the usual prodding and prompting and comments about getting her ready to go to the academy and be yet another honorable and decorated Peck.
She sighed as she looked down at her pancakes, suddenly not very hungry at all.
"Whatsa matter, kiddo?" Steve asked, concern etched in his face.
"Huh?" She dragged herself out of her destructive thought pattern and looked up at her brother, not sure what he had said.
"I asked what was wrong. You look bummed out. It's kind of bringing me down. I'm trying to stay as happy as I can on a Monday morning." He ripped off a piece of his own pancake and threw it at her.
She laughed a humorless laugh, throwing the piece of food back at him, hitting him square in the face. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me. Just dreading the day of school ahead of me," she lied. "I'm not hungry though, so I'm just gonna head out." She grabbed her backpack off the counter and slung it over one shoulder, waving behind her as she trudged down the hallway and out the door.
DING! DING! DING! DING!
The overhead bell went off, signaling that the students had five minutes to get to their first class. Gail quickened her pace, needing to get all the way across the school to make it to history on time.
"Gail!" a voice said. Half a second later, a hand closed around her forearm, effectively stopping her in her tracks. She looked at the hand and then up into the face of the person it belonged to.
"Oh. It's you," Gail said, starting to turn around and keep walking.
"Hey, wait- I, uh. I'm new here, like I said. I don't really know anybody. I just saw you walking and I thought that maybe we could eat lunch together.. or something." Holly shifted uncomfortably when Gail didn't say anything for several moments.
You know what? Polly, was it?" Gail began, knowing full well that that wasn't her name, "I'm going to accept your offer mostly cause I feel bad for you, but also because when I see people eating alone, they look pitiful and it makes me very uncomfortable."
Holly didn't say anything, but instead looked at her with amusement, one corner of her mouth curving up into a half-smile. She let out a quiet laugh as she looked down at the ground and nodded. "Okay. I'll see you at 12:15 then." She waved and headed in the opposite direction. Gail chanced a glance up at the clock.
"Shit!" she whispered to herself before securing her backpack over her shoulder and bolting toward the stairs.
Four hours and three unbearably boring classes later, Gail threw her books unceremoniously into her bag and got the hell out of her chemistry classroom as quickly as possible. She was turning the corner to the cafeteria when she heard someone shout her name.
"Gail! Hey, Gail!" She turned to find her friend Kara swerving around people and pushing her way through the lunchtime crowd rush.
Out of breath and unable to speak quite yet, Kara simply shoved Gail and fell into step alongside her. When she finally caught her breath, she spoke again.
"What the hell, why didn't you wait for me today? We've only been meeting for lunch for the past five years..." Kara said, clearly annoyed.
"Oh, shit. Right. I forgot," Gail said bath flatly and unapologetically. She honestly had forgotten, and she really didn't care that Kara had to run to catch up. Even in regards to her friends, Gail really didn't have any sympathy or feel any remorse. She just didn't understand why people couldn't take care of themselves, especially at seventeen years old. She glanced over at Kara, who clearly wasn't satisfied with this explanation.
"Look, I'm not even sitting with you guys today, so I forgot. Simple as that."
"What?! You have other friends? Ha! Who are you sitting with?" Kara inquired, clearly amused at the thought of Gail making a new friend. She had a tough enough time making the friends that she'd had for years, let alone any new ones.
"It's none of your business. That right there is a perfect example of why I don't want to sit with your dumb ass today." Gail turned and walked to the opposite end of the cafeteria when they reached their usual table. Kara looked affronted, but Gail couldn't care less. She was sick of her "friends" acting like they were doing her a favor by being her friend.
She narrowed her eyes and scanned the far left corner of the cafeteria where all the loners sat. She assumed that's where Holly would be, and sure enough, she spotted her, smiling and waving like a maniac.
Oh Jesus, Gail thought, wondering if it wasn't too late to turn around and sit with her usual crowd. She glanced over her shoulder at her table and saw Kara sucking face with her boyfriend Eric. Gross, nevermind. She turned back toward Holly and shuffled over to her table. There were open textbooks spread across it with notes scribbled in the margins.
"Uhh.. I didn't realize that your friends.. Calculus.. Physics.. and French would be joining us this afternoon," Gail said sarcastically, flipping each of the textbooks closed to check the subject titles on the cover. She swiped her arm across the table to move all the textbooks to one side and set her lunch down, throwing her backpack to the ground.
Holly let out a small laugh. "My class is right down the hall, so I figured I could get in a few good minutes of studying before you got here," she stated by way of explanation.
"Ooooooo-kaaaay.." Gail drawled out, not bothering to comment on the absurdity of that statement. It was too easy, and Gail was too tired. "You know, when you assaulted me this morning, I almost didn't realize it was you when I first turned around," Gail said, gesturing to her face.
"Huh?" Holly's eyes knitted together in confusion before a look of comprehension replaced it. "Oh. You mean my glasses," she concluded, grinning widely, as though she has solved some great mystery. Gail nodded. "I wear contacts for track. It became a hassle having to push my glasses back up my nose every ten seconds. Slowed me down." She reached over and grabbed something out of her backpack and placed it on the table.
Gail's eyes bulged out of her head. "A LUNCHBOX?!" she sputtered, grabbing her side, laughing uncontrollably. "You bring your lunch in a literal lunchbox?!" She bent over, trying to regain control, but failing terribly.
"It keeps everything at the proper temperature!" Holly asserted, indignant.
"Oh, man. You are such a nerd." Gail said, still laughing. "The guys must be all over you, what with your lunchbox and textbooks and glasses. I bet you have to beat 'em back with a stick, huh?"
Holly shifted uncomfortably in her seat, and this didn't go unnoticed by Gail. Holly decided not to respond, and instead opted for quickly changing the subject.
"So tell me about yourself, Gail. What's your story?" She nibbled on the corner of her sandwich, which was carefully cut into four little triangles.
"Cute sandwich, lunchbox. Mommy cut it for you?" Gail mocked, ignoring Holly's request for an in-depth discussion of her and her life.
Holly stopped mid-bite and looked directly into Gail's eyes. "My mom is dead."
A look of horror overtook Gail's face and what little color was in her cheeks to begin with drained out. "Oh my- oh my god. Holly, I'm so sorry. I had no idea, honestly. I feel like a total ass." Before she knew what she was doing, she very uncharacteristically reached across the table and placed her hand over Holly's own.
Just then, to Gail's complete and utter confusion, Holly's face broke into a huge smile and her entire body began to shake with laughter. She bent over and slammed both her forehead and her fist onto the table an began smashing her fist repeatedly against it.
Not amused in the slightest, Gail's face returned to its normally stoic and steely form. "Your mom isn't really dead, is she?"
Still unable to control the laughter rolling through her, Holly shook her head slowly. She took off her glasses and wiped the tears that had begun to form around the rim of her eyes.
"You're an ass. And now you'll never hear the amazing, edge-of-your-seat, somewhat true thriller that is the twisted tale of my life." Gail popped a grape into her mouth and chewed it dramatically, dismissing Holly with a wave of her hand.
Though she'd never admit it, that utterly tasteless joke was the beginning of the changing of the tides in regards to her opinion of Holly. Any person that could keep up with her quick-witted, crude humor and disrespectful banter was okay in her book.
Holly put on her best look of disbelief and crossed her arms. "What?! Come on! I'll tell you mine!"
Gail's eyes looked her up and down, as though she were sizing her up, deciding whether or not Holly's story was worth hearing. "Hm. Okay. Full name?"
"Holly Stewart."
"Ah, ah, ah! Middle name, too." Gail prompted.
Holly let out an exaggerated sigh. "Bernadine." She narrowed her eyes, as if challenging Gail, daring her to make fun of her. Again, it was too easy, and Gail decided that a simple smirk would suffice.
"Favorite color?"
"Green."
"TV show?"
"Grey's Anatomy. Oh, oh! Orphan Black. No no, maybe Bones. When I was a kid I really liked Boy Meets World. Well, I guess it's not when I was just a kid," Holly began to ramble, "I still watch it when it's on. And I watch Rizzoli and Isles and sometimes reruns of ER. Although when I'm in the mood for some mindless television, I do enjoy watching Keeping Up With the Kardash-"
"-Lunchbox! That's enough. Thanks for not actually answering that question. We'll come back to it another time."
She realized with embarrassment that by saying that, she was automatically assuming that they'd spend more time together, and by extension, was admitting to both Holly and herself that she wanted to spend more time with her. She could feel the heat rising in her cheeks and scrambled to recover. "Onward and upward. Next question. Favorite movie?" She raised an eyebrow.
"Hmm." Holly tapped her chin as if deep in thought. "Pretty Woman."
Gail pushed her bottom lip out and granted Holly a nod of approval. "Not a bad choice. Waiting for some middle-aged man to show up at your window in a white limo, are you Holly?"
Yet again, Holly squirmed a bit at Gail's mention of the male species. Just then, it dawned on Gail. She must have never had a boyfriend before, she thought. Gail thought back to the textbooks and lunchbox from earlier and nodded to herself. That has to be it.
Holly looked at her with one eyebrow raised, as if to ask why Gail was nodding.
"Yeah, I feel you. Men suck." Gail said matter-of-factly. "Having a boyfriend is overrated." Even as the words were leaving her mouth, Gail was already chastising herself for acting like such a lame-ass. She wasn't the type to try to make people feel better, or to even really acknowledge human existence outside of her friends and family.
Was Holly her friend now? Did she want Holly to be her friend? Why did she care?
She didn't. Right?
Frustrated by her foreign desire for a new friend and feelings of sympathy, Gail snatched up her now empty sandwich bags and stuffed them hastily into the paper bag she brought them in. "Whoa, look at the time. I gotta go. I'm gonna be late for my next class." She swung her backpack over her shoulder and rushed out of the cafeteria, aggressively slamming her garbage into the bin on her way out.
Holly sat there, confused at the sudden and unexpected turn of events. She glanced at the clock. 12:40. They still had five minutes left in the lunch period. Gail was definitely not in danger of being late to any class.
Dejected, Holly packed up her books and lunchbox, threw away her garbage, and trudged slowly out of the cafeteria and toward her next class.
So, what's the verdict? Please leave a review with any comments, suggestions, etc!