At lunch, I sat alone. I was doing my best to prevent myself from having to interact with anyone around me. Before, I thought that this was going to be a fun trip, one where I could just interact with other people.
“Lauren, I wanted to introduce you to all of my friends!” Rachel said, approaching me. “This is Tatyana.” Tatyana did a curtsy in front of me inside her turquoise dress.
“How do you do?” she greeted as she flicked her eyes towards me.
“Catherine,” Rachel said. Catherine did a pirouette towards me. I backed up from my seat a little.
“And Cero,” Rachel said. Cero grabbed an empty soda can and smashed it into her head. “Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyy,” she moaned.
“Oh, wow, I don’t know what to say about all of you,” I said. “I guess it really is pretty swell to meet all of you guys.”
“So what do you say? Mind if we sit with you?” Rachel asked.
“Uhhhh…sure,” I said. Rachel and her gang of friends surrounded me at the table. They chatted about their own lives. I couldn’t quite follow. Only Cero was the only one sitting alone.
“Do you really like sitting with them?” I asked.
“Liiiiiiikkkkkeeeee….” Cero said as she stuffed some more fries into her mouth. For some reason, of all of them, Cero was the one that I felt the greatest amount of affiliation towards. She felt like someone apart from the crowd—someone that did not engage with the rest of the rest around them.
“Well, it looks like we better get going guys,” Rachel said. As she and her friends departed, I could not help but wonder about Rachel—at one point, I was the one that absorbed the tears that splattered onto the floor. The next, I find her sitting around several other girls and discover that the fact of the reality was she had many friends. Two faces, I thought to myself.
Cero smashed another plastic bowl of mac and cheese onto her head. Perhaps she needs it too, I thought to myself. Taking out the bell, I rang it inside of her ear. A dumb smile began to form across Cero’s face. She leaned herself closer towards me. Immediately after that I wanted to go; I wanted to leave so badly. However, just before I could do so, Cero leaned in and showed me a photo that she had been keeping inside of her pocket for a long time.
On the photo was a 21-year old girl hugging Cero tightly while she had a smile that looked similar to what she had just done.
“Is this your sister?” I asked. Cero did not say a word to me.
“Alright, well, thanks, I guess I’ll be going now,” I told myself. Getting up, Cero got up as well and started following me. “You want to follow me. Ok, that’s fine.”
It sometimes gets kind of lonely being by yourself.
***
Cero and I walked around in the hallways together. I tried getting to know her for a bit—tried to legitimately understand where she came from.
“Doo daaa rahhh,” she moaned. She jumped up as I made my way down the hallway.”
“Yeah, see ya….I guess,” I said, lifting up my hand in a solemn good-bye. I assumed that she probably was going to head off to class; however, I really didn’t know for sure.
“Feeling kind of…abandoned?” Alexis asked. I sneered.
“What? Are you jealous of the fact that I’m not giving you enough attention?” I asked. Alexis coolly placed both of her fingers together , rubbing her index and middle against her thumb.
“I warned you that those people were not good for you,” she said. “And you didn’t listen. You chose to form relationships with them. Considering the problems they have, they will stack it all on top of you. Soon you will barely be able to hold yourself up under all the emotional weight.” I looked at Alexis as if she had just become an evil mastermind right before my eyes.
“What right do you have to say that? What makes you think that you can judge them for their problems? I believe that if a person needs healing—namely a friend—then I should be able to heal them.” I took out the bell. “And with powers like these—“
“Don’t lecture me on how to use them!” Alexis shouted. “Come to my house today after school! You’ve always wanted to know about the bells? Fine! I’ll show you even more!”
***
Walking out of the house, the roads of downtown Fairfax seemed to have darkened by a lot. I stood still as she went forward into the alleyway.
Going into her room, she showed me the rest of the bells inside of her cabinet. At a careful look, I saw how some of them were smashed or broken down to pieces.
“Then why did you hand one to me?” I asked.
“Because that is the only bell that can be used in the form of a gift, but be careful, for even through the healing power, it can be misused for selfish intent,” she said. Silence darkened the day.
“So, would you like some Oreos?” she asked. I shook my head.
“All this time, you knew that it was going to be a bad influence on me, and you decided to hand it over to me like a gift?”
“Well, I never expected you to learn of its real use.”
“Why did you not tell me? Why would you do that?” I asked. She shriveled up, voice cracking.
“I’m sorry. It was just a gift.”
ns 15.158.61.8da2
