The child didn't answer.
"You're just going to ignore me? They already know, don't think your being quiet is going to protect you or something." The girl's expression was scornful, her voice threatening.
The child didn't answer.
"Leave her alone," said one of the others lazily, as much for quiet as anything.
"Come on, it's annoying. What should I say, hey annoying kid?" The girl looked back to the speaker, the irritation in her movements blurring into boredom. "It's annoying."
"You're annoying," said a third, sounding harmless. She didn't look up.
But the second girl's attention had been attracted. "Hm," she said, hopping off the upper bed she'd been lounging on and sauntering over. "We can nickname her then!" She was watching the child for a reaction. The child did not give one. She wasn't sure what they wanted, even if she could see one was expected.
"You can't give her a nickname because she doesn't have a name," the first girl said, irritation bleeding back into her voice.
"Sure you can," the girl said. Her voice was cheerful, welcoming a distraction. "Like a pokemon. She can be our group's pet!" The child was not actually that much younger, but they didn't understand that. "She's tiny enough." The girls were talking between themselves, not paying attention to her.
"Okay, fine. What's her name then, Spot?"
"Hm," the second girl said, leaning back with her forefinger on her chin in a exaggerated thinking posture, assumed somewhat unconsciously. "Ice," she decided.
"For the ignoring us, or that vacant expression? Nicer than I'd be." The first girl reached out and poked the child on the shoulder. The child looked at her finger.
"Well – yeah. But it's not exactly vacant." She stared at the child's face unselfconsciously. The child stared back. "I had a pet meowth, you know. Back when I was a kid?" The girl was perhaps fourteen. "It looked like that. He'd stare at you like you weren't there. But you know, he'd bolt if a stranger showed up." She turned away, looking to her friend casually.
The other girl leaned forward to stare at the child's face. "So you're saying, Ice?"
"Well, my meowth was Snow."