Chapter Four: Warnings
Cara caught up with me as I headed towards the school gate.
"Hey, Cassie's offering a ride home if you want? I know you didn't sit with us at lunch, and that's okay; my friends don't have to be your friends, but I don't see why you should have to take the train when Cassie is perfectly happy to drive both of us."
"Yeah, sorry about that, you guys are such good friends but –" I paused, looking for the right words, "I guess I just don't know where I fit." However, I changed direction towards the student parking lot.
"I hope you aren't sitting alone again; I'd feel bad as a big sister. Just know that you're, you know, welcome at our table whenever I guess." She said uncertainly, pulling at her short dark hair.
I smiled at her mischievously, "How's that sappy stuff going for you? Given you cavities yet?"
"Pffft," She smirked, relaxing into her rough sarcastic persona again, "Me? Sappy? Which planet do you live on?"
We hopped into the back of Cassie's waiting car, Mike had already taken shotgun and Cassie, of course, was driving.
"Welcome to the Rustic Rover!" Cassie dramatically declared, igniting the engine and pulling out onto the road. "It may not rival even a tortoise for speed, but it gets us to where we need to go and has a brilliant sound system." She suddenly grinned back at us, "And since I am your esteemed driver, I get to choose the cassette!"
"Cassette?" I asked Cara quietly in confusion. I knew Cassie's car was old, but not that old.
"She fixed up this old bomb herself, and a cassette machine was the only thing that would connect with the sound system without major rewiring." Cara responded, getting out her phone and preparing her earbuds, "That's not the problem, her taste in music is."
"Who's ready for some country and western tunes?" Came the bright announcement before a click sounded and the cassette machine began to turn the tape.
Almost heaven,
West Virginia,
Blue Ridge Mountains,
Shenandoah River,
Cara groaned and pressed her earbuds further in, but I smiled. Country and western wasn't too bad as long as it was good country and western.
Cassie began to sing, passably, over Mike and Cara's groans and I joined in quietly from the back.
When the song was over, Mike took the cassette out.
"Right. You've had your fun; you can't torture us the whole time." He said good naturedly returning the cassette to its' plastic case in the glove box.
"Hmph." Cassie grumped, but didn't stop him.
"So, Juliet, right?" Mike said, turning to me, "I hope we didn't scare you off this morning, but just so you know, you're welcome to join us at lunch time if you want."
"You're too late, M, I already did it, so leave off embarrassing yourself and let sleeping dragons lie or whatever the saying is." Cara said, not even looking up from her phone, but the earbuds had been removed.
"It's fine, I found some people to sit with," I quickly interceded, not wanting them to think I was rude or didn't like them.
"Oh really?" Cara asked, interested, "I thought you said your year-" She cut herself off, knowing I probably didn't want the fact that my year level had effectively ostracised me spread around.
"Nah, it was some students from your year, Layla, Oliver, Jinn and Dee." I said, trying to continue the conversation past her slip up.
They all glanced at each other, Mike shuffling uncomfortably on his seat while Cassie readjusted her grip on the steering wheel. Cara's face went absolutely still.
"I hate to gossip but-" Cassie began, but stopped. "Nah, it's none of my business, forget I said anything."
"No, you're right." Cara said shortly. Turning to me, she looked me dead in the eyes, saying seriously, "Layla's a - "
"Two-faced, lying, b-" Mike began to suggest before Cara cut him off angrily.
"Shut it, Mike. You know it's complicated. And just because we had a bad experience doesn't mean Juliet will." Cara took a deep breath and turned back to me. "Look. There's obviously some bad blood between us and her crew, and there's good reason for that. I'm just telling you to be cautious, as a sister, but also as a friend."
The rest of the drive passed in silence with Cara moodily swiping through her phone, Mike taking a soccer ball out of his bag, spinning it on his finger pensively, and Cassie aggressively focussed on driving.
I wasn't sure what to think.
Despite Layla and her friends' apparent niceness, I couldn't easily dismiss Cara's warnings. She was my sister after all, and she knew Layla better than I did apparently.
When we got home, I went straight to my room, closed the door and got out my second-hand guitar. The music on the drive home had got me thinking, and I wanted to play some country. As I played through song after song, my mind kept returning to the conversation in the car.
"I'm just telling you to be cautious, as a sister, but also as a friend."
Is Layla really that bad? Friends falling out happens all the time in high school, maybe it's just that?
No, it seems like more than that, a new voice argued, you saw her face, and Cassie and Mike didn't look much better. It must've been something big.
But do I have any right to judge based on rumours? There have been several about me and they weren't true. I should give Layla a chance. The first voice rationalised.
They're not just rumours, their experiences direct from your sister, doesn't that count for anything?
People can have misunderstandings. People can be wrong, even Cara. Give her a chance. You can take Cara's advice to be cautious without abandoning what might be some new friends.
Author's Note:
Which voice do you think is right? If your sibling warned you off someone, would you take their advice, or reject it? Should rumours stop us from making our own assessment of a person?
Anyway, have a great week you guys, don't forget to review :)
Trix