Look at Me

“Paige…”
Someone was shouting her name. Someone was running after her. Paige heard their footsteps. The insistent clack of high top Chuck Taylor’s on sidewalk filled her ears.
So, she stopped…
And when she turned around Terry was there. Was that surprising?
No.
Terry was always there.
Paige crossed the distance between them and threw her arms around her. They hugged so tightly it hurt a little…But it was okay, because friend could hurt a little for each other. They could cry, fight, and bitch. Just as long as they could make up later and blame it on PMS.
“I’m sorry,” Paige mumbled against the kinky blond curls that pressed against her face.
“Where do you think your going?” Terry asked, completely ignoring her apology.
“Home?”
“You were going to walk!” she exclaimed releasing Paige from her death grip.
Taking a deep breath, Paige nodded and said, “Yeah… I didn’t want to be on the same bus as Dennis.”
Terry-[Very easily distracted at times] said, “I don’t know why you don’t like him Paige. He is soooo hott and his eyes…I mean if I wasn’t dating his brother…”
She stopped short as she realized she was rambling and quickly added, “But anyway, I guess you already have a man, which you’re going to tell me ALL about as soon as we get to your house.”
Terry linked her arm in Paige’s and turned on a hundred-watt smile, but she wasn’t fooled one bit.
Paige knew her friend was making light of something serious, but it was serious all the same. What Paige felt for Hayden was far too serious and that seemed to scare Terry a little.
Truth be told…it scared Paige a little too.
How could she feel so strongly about someone she hardly knew? For the thousandth time that day, her eyes darted around in a useless search for a too thin boy with shaggy back hair.
Where was he?

Paige walked into the silent living room and turned on the flat screen; white noise if nothing else. Terry let her bag fall to the floor and plopped down on the couch.
“Got anything good to eat?” she asked, even though she probably knew the answer.
“Hmmm….” Paige grumbled and they went to the next room to sort through the cupboards. “Whole grain wheat bread, salmon filets, rice cakes, ginger tea…uh, pickled asparagus or that’s what it looks like…God knows…” she said rolling her eyes dramatically.
Terry made a not so subtle gagging noise and waved her arm frantically like a third grader who totally knew the answer to the question before the teacher even asked.
“What?” Paige asked laughingly.
“I vote for pizza. Pizza, boy talk, and the new episode of America’s Next Top Model. Please tell me you recorded it!”
Paige almost agreed right away, but then she remembered how her Mom had freaked out the night before about how “irresponsible” she was.
Frowning, she said, “My parents are kind of strict about junk food and shit like that…”
She tailed off and Terry picked up a jar of pickled [Whatever the fuck it was] and said, “Yummy…”

Ten minutes later they marched into the living room, plated stocked with food you only found in the organic section and fully prepared to watch anorexic girls pose for the camera. Terry plopped down again and took a way too enthusiastic bite out of a soda cracker. [As in BAKING SODA!] Her eyes absently watched the News Flash that was blaring on the T.V.
Paige wasn’t even paying attention until Terry paused mid-chew and said very quietly, “Paige, what was Hayden’s last name again?”
“Peirce. Why…?”
Looking Paige closer Paige saw what her friend was staring at. The news story. Someone named Ellen Peirce had been murdered and her husband Jack Kindle was nowhere to be found. Her teenage son hadn’t been home at the time of death and was currently in police custody.
“It’s him isn’t it?” Terry said as she rose to her feet.
Paige just nodded. At that moment, she was lost for words.