I scribble furiously in my notebook as my teacher drones on and on about whatever, trying to figure out why the sky bled that night. A night advertised as a showstopper. A showstopper was right. The night sky wanted a curtain call and closed the play before it was a minute in. Scowling I inked the whole entire page in black, marking out anything else that I may have written.
"Laila?" My teacher's voice brought me out of my angry thoughts.
"Yes?" I ask, looking up.
She looked at my desk and frowned. "Were you notes that horrendous to tear your notebook?"
I looked down and saw the ink had bled through a few pages and a couple of them had tear marks. I blush in embarrassment.
"Um, yes. Sorry." I lied and crumpled the ruined pages into a ball to throw away later.
She shook her head and continued with class.
Get your head in the game Laila, I mentally scold myself as I start writing real notes. Don't wanna get in trouble, right? The rest of the time I spent trying to focus on the lesson at hand. But how can I focus on a lesson in the classroom when another demands my attention?
Class finally ended and lunch started. My classmates scampered out eagerly as I absentmindedly start packing my bag. I felt a hand on my shoulder and whirled around to see my teacher.
"Laila, are you okay?" she asked, concern in her voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a little, sidetracked." I mumble.
"Well, just to be sure, I'm taking you to the counselor's." She took my hand and led me down the halls. Students were bustling about, talking, chatting, giggling like nothing ever happened a few nights ago. Everything was peachy keen. Everything was perfect.
Everything was not, and that's what scares me. Sometimes I wish I was that naive, believing everything was perfect when it wasn't. It was the same for…
"Ah, Laila Moonstone," the guidance counselor, Ms. Grimeskeep, clapped. Her curly red hair piled onto her head that made it look like a nest with sharp facial features and a pair of purple cats eye glasses that sat on the tip of her nose, her voice sounding like that of Minnie Mouse. I found it kind of ironic how she is supposed to keep our spirits up and "guide" us onto the right path into adulthood when her name has "grim" in it.
"Come, come, have a seat." She gestured toward the two plastic chairs in front of her desk. I took a seat as my teacher whispered to Ms. Grimeskeep. My teacher soon left, leaving me alone with the guidance counselor. "So I've heard you've been a little sidetracked recently." She says as she takes a sip of coffee.
I sheepishly shrug and rub the back of my head.
"Care to tell me about it?" She leaned forward, propping her head up with her hands.
"Well," I fiddle with the end of my shirt. "The strangest thing happened a couple of nights ago. I don't think anybody else saw it but they should have! The night sky started bleeding and debris started falling from the sky and the moon! It looked like it was angry at me! It was supposed to be a new moon too then it suddenly appeared. If I know anything about astronomy, I know that can't happen."
Ms. Grimeskeep nodded at the appropriate times and her brows furrowed in...confusion? Concern? I'm not entirely certain. She coughed and straightened up. "Well, that's an interesting...story."
"Story?" I sputter. "It's not a story! It's real. It happened. I even have evidence. An alibi!"
She held a hand up. "There is nothing I can do but tell you to try to put it out of your mind and try to get through the school day. I will call your parents and tell them what's going on. Maybe they can help you more than I can."
I sit there in disbelief as Ms. Grimeskeep dials my parents. She talks to my parents and then puts the phone down and motions that I can go. I get up numbly and head to the cafeteria where I pick out some random foods and pay for them. I'm soon snapped out of my stupor when Vinny comes up to me.
"Hey, where've you been?" he asks.
"In the counselor's office." I sigh.
"Why?"
"Because I've been daydreaming in class and tearing up pages of my notes with a pen."
"Is it about Friday?"
"You know me too well."
He sighs. "We need to talk." He takes my arm and guides me through the crowds of students in the cafeteria. We sit down at an empty table where a plate of untouched food lays. I assume it's his and we sit across from each other. "Was it about the red sky?" He asks as he picks up a plastic fork and stabs some lettuce with it.
"Yes. The moon. The stars. Everything about last night." I cringe as I remember glass shattering. "Ooh, the mess."
"I've been thinking about that too."
"What about it?"
"Maybe it's a sign."
"About what?"
"That something bad's gonna happen and it involves…" He mumbles something inaudible, pushing his salad around his tray,
"What? I didn't hear the last part."
"That something bad's gonna happen and it involves...us." He turns his face away and stuffs his mouth with lettuce.
I lean back and stare blankly at him. "Is that good or...bad?"
Vinny runs a hand through his hair and furrows his brows. He takes his time chewing and swallowing and I fear his answer.
"Is it bad?" I press.
"I…" He's interrupted by a high pitched voice.
"Vinny!" A girl with curly blonde hair bounces to his side and squashes him in her boob implants.
I groan loudly and Vinny looks down at his hands, trying to ignore the bitch.
"What are you doing all the way over here?" She says in an annoying voice as her bitches follow close behind. The girl whom I hate is Aria. She has blonde hair, sun-kissed skin, bright blue eyes, bright blue eyeshadow, red lipstick the color of blood, long nails painted bright blue, bright blue tight low-cut crop top, pencil mini skirt with 10-inch platform high heels. Her bitches are Octavia and Melody who look like they could be her sisters but they're just friends. Octavia has cropped blonde hair, brown eyes with streaks of pink in it, wears hot pink eyeshadow, bright pink lipstick, bright pink nail polish, bright pink crop top shirt and mini pencil skirt with the same color 5-inch platform high heels. Melody is the same except her color is pastel green and her eyes are green. "How are you? It's been forever!"
"Um, Aria?" I say. "You're suffocating him."
"What?" she asked in a loud, annoying voice. "He's enjoying the view. Aren't you?"
I get up and pry the bitch off of Vinny, who gives me a pained look, which confuses me. Aria jerks out of my hold and runs a hand down Vinny's chest. "Don't get in the way of my boyfriend."
"I'm not your boyfriend Aria." Aria purses her lips in what resembles a pout.
"And don't you have your other toys to play with?" I put my hands on my hips.
She snarls at me and kisses Vinny's cheek, leaving a red lipstick stain there. "See you later cutie." They leave and harshly bump their shoulders against me. I look at Vinny's cheeks tint pink as he rubs at the mark.
Stupid bitches, I think to myself as I grab some napkins, giving them to Vinny. Thinking they can get anything they want if they flaunt their breasts. I will admit though, I sometimes wish my body could impress people with an hourglass figure and gorgeous face but...I guess I'm not attractive enough.
"Now, what were you saying before we were so rudely interrupted?"
Vinny looks down in shame and twiddles his thumbs. This can't be good.
"Well, I thought. Maybe we shouldn't be...friends...anymore."
Everything around me did not exist. It was only me and Vinny and my seat slipped from under me and I'm falling, falling, falling, falling. My heart ripping, like a knife stabbed it and is slowly slicing through me. I open my mouth and try to utter a word but they seem to be stuck in my throat. Vinny looks down in shame and says, "I should probably be going."
I don't know what came over me but my fingers curled into fists and I roughly grab onto his hand.
"Is this what you wanted?" I growl. "Was our time together all an act? Were you pretending to be my friend this entire time? Was it because of Aria? Because I'm not hot and sexy? I mean, what the hell man? Why would you do this? What did I do?"
He gently pries my fingers off him and leaves without a word. First the blood sky, now this? My best friend since we were in diapers, gone? The bell rings but I don't even notice, staring at Vinny's retreating figure. My heart has shattered into a million pieces and I don't know how to piece this together. I'm good at fixing broken things, but can I fix this?
With tears in my eyes, I automatically gather my belongings and head to my next class.