Chapter 3: Friendship
Like the morning of the previous day, the sky over Ashland was shrouded by a pall of drab grey clouds.
"So, are you gonna tell me what happened with you yesterday?" Wybie said to Coraline as they walked his motorbike through the school grounds to the bike-racks.
"What do you mean?" she said, frowning. Her nightmare, coupled with the prospect of four more days until the weekend, had left her in a rather sour mood.
"Well, I mean, you didn't say a word the entire trip home…"
"Sorry, I just had a lousy day yesterday." She headed off toward her first class for the day. "I'll see you at lunch, okay?"
Later on, when Coraline arrived at English class, she looked across the room and caught sight of the last person in the world that she wanted to see – the nasty girl from the hallway yesterday. The blonde looked over in her direction and sneered. She scowled back and sat down in the nearest vacant desk while the teacher commenced the day's lesson.
"I see you've already made friends with Holly then?"
The blue-haired girl looked back to where the voice had come from to see another student sitting at the desk behind her, with piercing blue eyes and long brown hair. Most of it was pulled back in a ponytail, but several unkempt bangs fell over the girl's petite face.
"Sorry, who?"
The brunette girl gestured across the classroom. "Holly Bower. The girl you're trying to glare to death."
"Oh, I'm so glad to know she has a name," Coraline replied sarcastically, causing the other girl to smirk.
At that moment, the teacher rapped a ruler on his desk. "Eyes to the front, Caroline."
"Actually, it's Coraline," she automatically corrected, causing several students to snigger.
"My apologies," the teacher replied, not sounding apologetic at all. "Now pay attention."
As he resumed talking, Coraline glanced across the room again to see Holly smirking at her. She scowled once more before turning her attention back to the front.
When class ended, Coraline was packing her gear into her bag when the brunette girl who had sat behind approached her.
"Hey, sorry about getting you in trouble before," she said. "Especially with you being new and all."
"Oh, that's okay," Coraline replied. "Don't worry about it."
"I'm Miranda," the pretty girl said. "Miranda Fletcher."
"Coraline Jones," she replied, flashing a quick smile.
"That's a pretty name," Miranda said brightly. "Hey, where do you usually sit at lunch?"
"Oh, I've been sitting… outside in the courtyard." Coraline was not sure why, but she did not feel like mentioning Wybie to the brunette.
"Would you like to meet my friends for lunch?" she pressed.
Coraline grinned. "Sure! Sounds great!"
With that, the two girls practically waltzed to the cafeteria. The school was serving pasta today, and so they decided to splash out and buy some, before heading outside, where Miranda led Coraline across the crowded courtyard.
The blue-haired girl glanced over at Wybie's spot and caught his eye. 'I'll catch up with you later,' she mouthed to him.
Wybie was not sure what she was trying to say to him, but immediately understood what was going on when he saw her being led by a pretty brunette girl over to a picnic table crowded with other girls. He shrugged and turned back to his very small group of friends. He knew that Coraline would meet new people and stop hanging out with him as much eventually. He just… had not been expecting it to start happening so quickly.
When school concluded, Coraline was in a much better mood than she had been the previous day. She met Wybie at his motorbike, and the two amiably chatted about doing some more exploring in the hills once they got home.
"Are you going to find us more banana slugs to take pointless photos with, Why-Were-You-Born?"
"Oh yeah? Well are you gonna find more wells for us to fall down, Michigan Water Witch?"
"Us? I believe it was you who nearly fell down the Old Well last time."
"Yeah, because of that creepy little metal hand!"
He regretted the words as soon as soon as he said them, and looked over guiltily at Coraline. Her mouth had fallen open in shock at the mention of the 'incident' – her torment at the hands of the Beldam. She felt tears spring to her eyes, but blinked them away. An uncomfortable silence fell between them, and the ride home seemed to take twice as long as usual.
Wybie was eager to put the situation behind him as he pulled into his driveway. "So, uh, what do you want to do?"
"I just remembered I have something that needs doing at home," Coraline said quietly. "See you later, Wybie."
As she walked away toward her house, he opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it. Now I've gone and done it…
When Coraline arrived home, she briskly changed out of her school uniform and into a pair of jeans and her orange and red striped sweater. Looking outside the window, she saw that the sky was mostly covered by grey and white clouds, some with an orange tinge. However, patches of pale blue sky showed, and she decided not to bother with her raincoat.
The house was empty – her parents must not be home from work yet. She hurriedly pulled on her yellow rain-boots and slipped out of the house before they could appear and refuse her permission to go out. As Coraline wandered up the hill above the Pink Palace, her thoughts were a jumbled mess – happiness from meeting some nice people at school, fear of being reminded of the incident at the well, anger at Wybie's bumbling mouth.
If only he could take a leaf from the Other Wybie's book and not talk so much –
Ugh, now she was letting her mind be poisoned by the Other Mother! She looked around to clear her thoughts and realised that she had been walking along the path to the Old Well without realising it. Regardless, she kept her pace and marched through the apple orchard. Upon reaching the clearing on the other side, she cast a wary eye to the tall grass surrounding her. Nothing was moving. She looked up toward the withered trees on the ridge above her. No monsters.
The wooden cover over the well was still intact. Coraline checked the dirt around it, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. There was nothing to suggest that it was anything other than a perfectly normal patch of earth. She sighed and sat down on the old tree stump next to the well, staring off into space. She and her parents were safe. The Beldam was finished. Right?
It took her a moment to realise she had burst into tears.
"I-I thought I'd find you here."
Coraline looked up to see Wybie entering the clearing. "W-What do you w-want, W-Wybie?" she asked, wiping the tears from her cheeks and glaring at him.
"…Are you okay?" he asked dumbly after standing there awkwardly for a moment.
"Oh yeah, I'm j-just peachy!"
"Okay, okay. Geez, no need to get mad…"
"I'm not m-mad – "
The boy interrupted her in a nervous stupor. "I-I mean, I h-hear some people cope with stuff by getting angry, but – "
"Wyborne!" She furiously grabbed a handful of bark from tree stump and threw it at him, which he ducked.
Another awkward silence fell between them as they stared at each other. Wybie knelt down next to the well cover and knocked on it, as though he was testing its structural integrity. Seemingly satisfied, he sat down on the tree stump next to his friend, saying nothing.
"You don't have to live in the same house as her, Wybie!" Coraline suddenly snapped. "You don't have only a thin wooden door standing between you and a monster, which might or might not be dead – who knows? You don't have nightmares like I do!"
There was a short silence before he spoke up. "I do."
She looked back at him. "What?"
"I-I do have nightmares sometimes," he said, suddenly looking very self-conscious. "Of being poked in the eyes by those needle fingers of the hand. Or falling down the Old Well into the dark forever and ever."
"…Oh, Wybie, I'm so sorry. I… I didn't realise."
He shrugged. "Hey, don't worry about it. And don't worry about the Other Mother." He pointed at the cover on the well. "The key is gone. She's trapped forever. She can't hurt us anymore." He jumped when Coraline punched him lightly on the arm and giggled.
"I'm glad to have you around, Wybie."
The gloomy spell broken, the two children took to exploring the hills like they had originally planned, putting off when they would have to come home and get started on their homework. Coraline ran ecstatically through the trees – after being cooped up in a classroom all day, it was like the Shangri-La of Oregon – while Wybie trailed behind her, struggling to keep up. They taunted each other, scooped up dead leaves and twigs to throw at each other, and Wybie even had the audacity to throw a banana slug at her! Gross!
"I'm going to get you for that! You're gonna wish you were never born, Why-Were-You-Born!"
After half an hour of whirling greys, browns and greens, they both sank to the base of a tall oak tree and nestled in among its roots. They sat in silence for a few minutes as they waited for their hearts to stop racing.
Finally, Coraline turned to her friend. "You know, I'm glad I have someone like you around to talk to. Otherwise I'd probably end up as… eccentric as Ms Spink, or Ms Forcible, or Mr B."
"But I thought you said I'm crazy too," Wybie said with a small smile.
"In a good way." Without warning, she turned and slugged him on the arm. "And don't forget that you called me crazy once!"
"C-Could you blame me at the time?" he grumbled, rubbing his arm. "You told me this bonkers story about the Other World. And when I looked at you weird, what did you say?"
She chuckled, and then played along. "Don't believe me? You can ask the cat!"
They both burst into laughter that echoed through the trees, not that either of them cared. There was no one around to hear them. After a while, their laughter faded away, and Wybie looked at his friend thoughtfully.
"You know, considering how weird we are, our lives have been pretty normal lately. School, new friends," he gestured at Coraline with those words. "In fact, I don't think anything evil will ever happen here again."
The figure walked through the empty white space just beyond the borders of its master's domain. It came to a stop and waited patiently.
Soon, a corridor began to form before it, enclosing it in a dark tunnel that stretched away into the distance. The only way to go now was forward. The orders from its master were very concise.
Find the key. Unlock the door.
Bring both of the children to her.
