Jagged Edges

When Sabrina looked over my schedule she insisted on showing me to my next class, an offer I quickly accepted because if I hadn't I have no doubt that I'd be hopelessly lost. 

She also asked if I'd like to have lunch with her and her friends once she noticed that we had the same lunch shift. I accepted again and long as L'von could come too. Sabrina had simply rolled her eyes and said that of course he could come. 

And that's how me and L'von ended up standing at the cafeteria doors after Chemistry, looking around in search of our lunch buddy. Though, I haven't told him we were sitting with Sabrina yet so I'm not sure how he knows who to look for. 

We receive some curious looks but by now we've learned to ignore them. Kids are always curious about newcomers. Always.

"I guess he's not here yet." L'von shrugs, turning and walking back out through the doors.

I follow him quickly. "He?"

"Yeah, Treason. We're sitting with him today." He gives me a strange look. "Who were you looking for?"

"Sabrina asked if we'd like to sit with her and I said yes." I say, slowly realizing our mix-up.

"Oh, cool. We've been here less than three hours and we've already got to decide who to have lunch with." He laughs.

I give him a glare and shove his shoulder with not enough force. "This isn't funny. Now we have to decide between them." 

My brother simply shrugs once again. "Worse things have happened. Besides," He motions to something behind my shoulder. "Looks like we won't have to choose." 

I turn to see what he's talking about and notice that Sabrina and Treason are walking down the hallway side by side. Sabrina is talking quickly and gesturing wildly with her hands while Treason walks quietly by her side, a small smile fixed to his lips. The height difference is almost as amusing as the contrast between Sabrina's excitement and Treason's placidity. 

When Sabrina sees us she grins and waves frantically. "Hi Gian! Hi L'von!"

Treasons smile stretches wider. "Calm down. Don't scare them away." 

"Don't worry," L'von speaks up. "We don't scare easy."

Sabrina beams and pulls open the door. "Good, you'll be fine. Just a warning, though, Ivy's kinda weird but we love her for it. Isn't that right, Treason?" 

I look back at him and he's got a surprised kind of look on his face as though he wasn't expecting her to be talking to him, which I guess he wasn't considering the speed with which her words came. He recovers quickly and nods. "Yeah, that's right."

They lead is through the cafeteria doors where we receive even more curious glances only this time they're accompanied by whispers. L'von simply brushes them off once again but it's starting to get in my nerves.

Sabrina stops at a table that's occupied by two equally pretty girls. One has her nose buried in a copy of Hamlet and the other is studying the nutrition label on the back of a bag of pretzels. 

"Ivy, you don't need to loose any weight." Sabrina says slightly horrified, sitting down next to her. 

The girl looks up and smiles at me and my brother before turning her attention to Sabrina. "I'm trying to gain weight." She corrects.

Sabrina gives her a strange look before shaking her head. "See guys? I told you she was weird." 

Ivy arranges a look of mock hurt on her face and scoffs. "I'm not weird. I went to the doctor yesterday and she said I looked like a skeleton so I'm gaining weight."

The other girl lowers her book and rolls her eyes. "She may have been referring to your sunken eyes and abnormally long limbs. Try getting more sleep." 

Ivy looks genuinely horrified now. "Sleep? How can I sleep when the soviets are trying to harvest our brains for alien experiments?" 

"Listen to yourself. Why would the soviets harvest American brains for alien experiments? Wouldn't they need aliens?" 

Ivy thinks for a second before smiling and nodding. "You're right, Jade. That makes so much more sense. Wait. Unless you're a soviet spy!"

Jade rolls her eyes once again. "Ivy, I'm Mexican.... From Mexico, which is quite literally on the other side of the world from soviet Russia. I'm not a soviet spy." She explains calmly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got a soliloquy to memorize."

Ivy seems to accept this as an answer, shrugging and popping a few pretzels into her mouth. Sabrina shakes her head and stands. "I'm getting in line before China decides to bomb the moon....again." She says, sending a meaningful look to Ivy. "Gian, would you care to join me?"

"Uh...sure but what about..." I look over to my brother and Treason who are both engaged in what looks like an intense conversation with Jade. I just shrug and stand, following her to the shortest of the lines.

"I'm sorry about Ivy. She can be intense sometimes but she's really fun, I swear. And Jade isn't normally so antisocial. She's trying out for the school play on Friday and she's really nervous. Man, you picked a bad first day." 

I laugh and brush it off. "Don't worry about it. We've met weirder, trust me. Plus, L'von is a theater geek too."

"Oh," She sighs, relieved. "That's good then. One more thing, though. Treason doesn't talk much. He's a really nice guy, though, and there are some pretty nasty things going around about him but those aren't true." Sabrina insists. 

I scrunch my eyebrows together. "What kind of things?" 

She glances around to make sure nobodies eavesdropping and steps closer to me. "Well, he transferred here during his freshmen year and nobody knows why. He never talks to anybody."

"But he talks to you."

She shakes her head. "Not really. He won't start a conversation but he'll listen to whatever you have to say. He won't even say anything to you unless you ask him a question. Or if it's in the morning. He always says good morning." 

Now I'm really confused. I try not to let it show though. "So, what are the rumors?"

"Okay, so, like," She bites her lip and takes one more look around. "I don't know who it was but somebody said that he killed his brother." 

Whatever I expected her to say it most certainly was not that. How could anyone say that about Treason? He seems like such a good guy. 

But that's the thing, isn't it? He seems like a good guy. First impressions can be deceiving. 

"There's a lot more," Sabrina says, breaking through my thoughts. "But they're not true. He doesn't even have a brother...I think." 

I nod slowly and look back at the table where Jade and L'von are still talking. Treason is listening intently but his eyes shift and land on me as if he could hear my thoughts. 

The longer our gaze holds the more intense it becomes and the faster my heart speeds up. Something changes in his gaze and he narrows his eyes suddenly before turning away. 

With the aversion of his dark eyes, I snap out of the trance I didn't realize I was in and a million questions run through my head. 

Who is this guy?

I follow Sabrina through the line and back to the table where there's a freshly empty seat. 

"Where'd Treason go?" Sabrina asks, poking at her macaroni and cheese....or at least I think that's what it is.

Jade glances up and raises her eyebrows. "I didn't notice he'd left." 

Sabrina shrugs and takes a bite of the yellow(-ish) food. "He probably went where he usually goes....wherever that is." 

And with that, the subject is dropped and the topic is forgotten by everyone. Everyone but me.