Chapter 7

"When writing a free response essay, remember cup. Current events. US history. And Personal experiences." Mr. Smith tell the class.

"Any questions?"

No one raise their hands.

"Okay then. Read the prompt that I gave you guys and use the outline to write a free response essay. It'll be due next class." He tells the class and went to sit down in his seat.

The class began to get louder and some people get up from their seats to sit next to their friends. I look around and everyone is with their friends except Naomi.

"Are you ready for the AP test?" I ask Naomi. Instead of replying, she glares at me then focus back on her paper.

"Taylor, Stephanie, and I are going to this yogurt place at the mall after school. You want to come?" I ask.

Naomi continue reading the prompt and didn't even look my way.

I sigh in defeat and decide to read the prompt.

-

I'm so fucking hungry.

I scan my card and went on to grab a tray with a burrito then some sauce. I was about to walk out of the cafeteria to go to the bench where the girls were when I see Naomi eating by herself in an empty table. I can't help but feel like I have to talk to her. I mean, she is alone. No one should have to eat alone and be by their self all the time. They should be with their friends and having fun. I've been through this and I know how it feels.

My feet move on it's on before I can stop it. I walk to Naomi and set down my tray on the table in front of her. She looks up, clearly annoyed to see me by the look on her face. I ignore it and smile.

"Taylor, Stephanie, and I are eating by the bench in the fields. Do you want to come join us?" She stays silent.

"We don't bite." I joke.

Still silent.

"You know, you can hang out-"

I guess I snapped something in her because she suddenly cut me off, "Take a fucking hint, Avani. I don't want to hang out with you. I want you to stop talking to me. Stop acting like you're my fucking friend."

My eyebrows furrow in confusion and shock.

"What the hell is your problem?" I ask her, a little too loud. All I've done is be nice to her, be her friend.

Naomi stands up angrily and yell to my face, "You and your family! I hate your fucking family. I hate the things your fucking dad does. I especially hate how people like you get to walk around freely when everyone knows that you and your family are cold blooded murderers-"

"Enough!" Aiden yell across the room. Realizing that Naomi was yelling too loud that the whole cafeteria heard it, I look around the room. Everyone was looking at me and Naomi in shock and confusion. It is silent. The whole cafeteria is silent. I lock eyes with Brent. He looks... concern? I break away from our eye contact and turn back to Naomi.

She looks at me with hatred in her eyes for a second then walk past me and to the doors. I turn to watch her and see Taylor and Stephanie standing by the door. How long have they been standing there? Did they hear everything too?

Naomi walks past them too and exit out the door. Taylor suddenly follow Naomi out, confusing me. Curiosity comes over me, so I follow them and walk out the cafeteria.

"Avani-" Stephanie calls out to me. I ignore her and walk out the doors. She follows me too.

"You can't keep doing this!" I hear Taylor's voice in the hallway. I turn around the corner and see Taylor standing in front of Naomi. Stephanie stands next to me.

"Stop being so angry at yourself and at other people. It's not your fault or theirs. What happened that night wasn't your fault! So just stop being so damn angry at the world all the fucking time." Taylor yells at her.

It was quiet before she speaks in a low tone, "I can't." She runs away, leaving Taylor in the hall.

All these questions began to form in my head. What happened between them? What happened 'that night'?

Taylor turns around to face us. We lock eyes for a second before she walks away from Stephanie and me.

"What the hell just happened?" Stephanie asks.

I look at her. "I have no idea."

-

"This is really good. Like really really good." Stephanie exaggerate while stuffing her mouth with yogurt.

"Yeah. Why didn't we come to this place before?" I agree with her. She shrugs and continue eating. I did the same.

"Look, Avani. Today at lunch. I'm sorry-"

Taylor began but I stop her, "It's fine, really."

She looks guilty.

"No, it's not. It's not fine for Naomi to yell at you like that. It's not fine for her to say those things about your family. Naomi is not fine." Taylor explains.

"She lost her older brother in 8th grade. Her brother was walking home and got beaten up to death by a gang. The police never found out who they were. Some things hit you harder than others because since then, Naomi has been mad at herself and at the world. She distances herself from everyone, including me. We were best friends." Stephanie and I look at her, speechless.

It all makes sense now. That's why Naomi was so mad at me, at my dad, at my family.

"Who wants to go walk around the mall?" Stephanie break the silence.

"Sure." Taylor and I agree.

We got up from our seats with our yogurt cup in hand and walk out of the yogurt place to cross the streets where the mall is. We enter the mall and walk around.

"All these clothes are so pretty but I'm broke." Stephanie whine.

"I need a job." Taylor says.

"I want to make money without needing a job." I say.

"Same." Both of them agree.

"Perverts." A girl in front of us say a little bit too loud for us to hear to two guys checking her out. I look at the guys and my mouth open slightly in surprise.

"No way. Is that-"

"Brent and Zakk." Taylor complete Stephanie's sentence. We stop in our tracks as Brent and Zakk look our way.

"We don't know them. Walk away." I urge the girls to turn around and walk the opposite way. The girl just called them perverts. We do not want to be seem with perverts.

We turn around and began walking the opposite direction when Brent call us, "Hey Avani, Stephanie, Taylor!" We continue walking, hoping they won't come to us. I hear a few footsteps behind me then an arm wraps around my shoulder. I look to the side and see Brent. On the other side is Zakk with his arms around Taylor while Stephanie is in the middle of Taylor and me.

"Were you guys avoiding us?" Zakk asks.

"Avoid? Of course not. Why would you think that?" Taylor lies.

"Because as soon as you guys saw us, you guys turned around and walked the opposite way." Zakk reason. We let out sheepish chuckles.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." We all say in sync then continue walking.

The boys caught up with us.

"Who's hungry?" Brent asks.

-

"Okay. So whichever team finish eating 20 hotdogs wins and gets to order the loser team around. Ready?" Taylor explains.

Stephanie and I nod our head yes.

"You girls are going down." Brent comment.

"Yeah. Going downtown." Zakk says.

We all give him a weird look. "Okay... Ready... Set... Go!" Taylor announces. We all grab a hotdog and eat it in a hurry. One hotdog after the next. Zakk starts to choke and cough next to me while I concentrate on eating.

Why did I even agree to do this in the first place? Oh, right. To wipe that cocky smirk off of Brent's face and to order him around.

"Go Stephanie and Avani!" Taylor cheer us on.

"Hey, what about us?" Zakk protest.

"Go Brent and Zakk." Taylor say in a monotone, causing a smile to form on my face.

Stephanie and I grab our last hot dogs and so do Brent and Zakk. I stuff it in my mouth while chewing vigorously at the same time. I cannot let them win.

Hesitant, I step on Zakk's foot beside me and he let out a loud groan, spitting his food everywhere. Using this to our advantage, Stephanie and I quickly stuff the rest of the hotdog in our mouth, chewing as we go.

"Done!" Stephanie and I exclaim at the same time. The boys look at us in horror with their mouth still stuffed with hot dogs. Brent finish chewing his hotdog while Zakk is still recovering from earlier.

"You cheated!" Zakk call out, standing up angrily.

"Says who?" I retort. He opens his mouth in shock and astonishment.

"Wow Avani. Wow." was all Zakk said before sitting back down.

I smile in triumph.

Hiccup.

My eyes open wide at the sound I just made. Everyone looks at me.

"Karma." Zakk mutter under his breath. I roll my eyes at him.

Hiccup.

"Be careful Zakk. She might just throw up on you and ruin your beautiful white vans." Brent warn his best friend. I sneer at him for mentioning what I did to him when we first met.

"Hey! My belly was full of alcohol okay. It was going to happen sooner or later. And you were in my way." I defend myself. Brent held his hand up in defeat.

"Okay losers. Pay up!" Stephanie say cheerfully with a wide smile.

"Oh crap." Zakk and Brent say in unison.