At lunch that day we were outside the redbrick school. We noticed a pretty, blonde haired girl crying on the green grass and walked over to her.
"Karen what's wrong honey?" Lacy asked.
We sat down on the grass next to the girl. It was a nice day, sunny and warm.
"I quit cheerleading," Karen said.
Vannessa hugged her; "oh Karen why?"
"Cuz I hated it. And my eating's terrible. And my depression's coming back."
"Does Liz know?" Jessica asked.
"Yes but she doesn't care."
"Karen," Vanessa said.
Karen looked up; "yes?"
"Have you ever heard of the halo effect?"
"As in, things aren't always what they seem," Kate put in.
"Yes,"
"Maybe it's the same thing with Liz. I mean, she might be a cheerleader but that doesn't mean she doesn't care. She and I are twins. I know these things."
"Ok."
"And we all care about you."
"now lets go eat," Jessica said.
We all laughed, stood up and walked into the school.
"As for your eating, well, we can work on that," I told Karen.
"Yeah we'll be here for you," Lacy pointed out.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"And for your depression well it sux but we know how that is," Kate said.
"Ok."
We walked into the crowded cafeteria.
"By the way I'm Lizzie," I said.
"Hi I'm Karen."
"I'm Kate."
"Nice to meet you," I said.
"You too," Karen said.
When we got to our table there was a girl sitting there. She had dyed black hair and colour changing eyes.
She looked up when we arrived.
"Um hi. I'm sorry is this your table? Cuz I can move it's just that this was the only empty table left and………"
We sat down.
"No its fine," Vanessa said.
"Yeah stay here," Jessica said.
"Ok. I'm Morgan."
We introduced ourselves and started eating.
"Are you new here?" Karen asked.
"Yeah I ran away."
"Oh wow. I can't imagine what id do if Serena ever did that. Well, she's only 3 but in the future. She's my daughter," Lacy explained.
"From what?" Kate asked.
"From my family."
We waited for her to continue.
"I never get any of the attention. My parents are always busy with some thing or another. One of my brothers. So I ran away. But I do have one person, my friend Sierra who's my brother's friend's sister only he doesn't know it."
"Wow," I said.
"I know what it's like to feel lonely," Lila said.
Another girl came to the table. She looked like Morgan.
"Hey Sierra," Morgan said.
The girl sat down; "hey." She noticed us and introduced herself as we all introduced ourselves yet again.
"So Morgan?" Lacy said.
"Yeah."
"Where are you staying?"
"In a hotel."
"With me," Sierra said.
"Oh wow."
"How long have you been living there?"
"Since August."
"Wow."
"We'd stay somewhere else but we don't have anywhere else to stay," Sierra said.
"Well you can stay with us. Any of us," I said.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Pause.
"So yall wanna go to my house?" Vanessa asked.
We all agreed.