As I headed to the cafeteria Cocoa met up with me, accompanied by Jasmine and Avery, who she was holding hands with. It’d been a while since the 4 of us had sat down together, and it was only 4 because Cocoa was working on projects with Jasmine and Avery. Before it used to be just us and maybe some additional company from time to time, but I could tell more was going on between Avery and her than what she’d let on. I thought for the longest time that neither one of us would end up in a relationship until just a few weeks ago, when I met Cody. But as I glanced around the room, I didn’t see him anywhere. It left an empty feeling in my stomach.

 

“It’s been a while since we all sat together, right?” Jasmine asks as she cuts her lasagna.

 

Today’s lunch was 4 layer extra cheese deluxe lasagna. It was good, but not my personal favorite. Jasmine loves it though and grabbed a piece twice the size of mine, which was no bigger than my hand.

 

“It has been a while. Last of the quarter is always the most annoying,” Avery pipes up.

 

“Yeah,” I murmur. “Extra homework, lots of ending test. So does anyone know what’s supposed to be going on next week?”

 

“Got me,” Jasmine says. “I’m not in charge of anything and neither is Avery. I don’t even know if I’m going.”

 

“Oh, well Cocoa and I are going.”

 

“Well if Cocoa’s going then I just gotta go.” Avery pulled Cocoa around his arm as he said that.

 

“Well I’m manning one of the stalls,” an all too familiar voice calls from behind me. It was Aurora. “So I know some of the stalls that are going to be there, if you ask me nicely,” she winks toward me.

 

When she showed up I just wanted to get up and leave, but that would have looked awkward in front of everyone. I didn’t generally enjoy being anywhere near her, but I bit back the lava starting to erupt in my sea of emotion and watched her take a seat right across from me, in between Cocoa and Jasmine. She was wearing a dark blue tank top and a blood red miniskirt along with pink high heels.

 

During the past few weeks since she’s gotten here, she’s managed to drive me into the bottomless black hole of the garbage blockade. I could never fully concentrate when she’s around and whenever we’re with people she puts on a nice act so everyone likes her and looks at me like I’m crazy if I say anything negative. This was proven most effectively when she was able to partially erase anything said between us from Tipsy’s memory when we worked on our project last, when Cody stepped out of the room.

 

“Hey Aurora, how are you?” Cocoa asks. “Have you met Jasmine and Avery yet?”

 

Jasmine and Avery both waved toward Aurora, but it looked like she wasn’t paying them any attention, her eyes dead set on me.

 

“So what brings you over here?” I ask, although it probably sounded colder than what I wanted it to, but she brushed it off.

 

“I couldn’t help overhear that you were wondering what was going to be taking place next week. I myself will be working at the computer stall. Helping students improve their skills with computers and technology in general. If you want to know the others, just ask me.” She turns toward Cocoa, who practically looks up to her now. “What do you want to know?”

 

Cocoa looked toward me and then back toward Aurora. I couldn’t exactly tell what she was thinking, but I think it was along the lines of, “what do you want to do?”

 

“If you know Aurora, then can you just tell us-“

 

“Was I asking you?” she snaps in my direction.

 

That changed the mood quick as the Flash. Cocoa got out from around Avery’s arm and Jasmine stopped enjoying her lasagna as much, now taking smaller bites. I knew she didn’t like me, but some of the things she did were unnecessary. I didn’t like her and I didn’t ask for her input, but she asked Cocoa again anyway.

 

“Well, I’m good at business, so something along the lines of directing those planning to start or own a business.” She then turned toward me with a look of, “what’s your input?”

 

Taking a deep breath I say, “Anything involving AI.” While we were planning on something together, it appeared Aurora was trying to direct us further apart, even during this.

 

“Well the stalls I do know of will be half the classes here, including Mrs. Natsume. Metalworks won’t be there nor will cooking; those are needed for space and preparation so we have food to eat. AI, business, engineering, history, art, English, and technically cooking if you help prepare and serve the food will be there. The stalls will be held within each classroom. There will also be other ones, but I don’t know much about them. There’s also supposed to be fun based stalls such as a dunk tank, fortune telling, match maker, a haunted house, ring toss, balloon pop, some mystery wheel, as well as sports based ones like basketball.”

 

While I was thankful to know what was going to be there, it still infuriated me that she’d be the one to tell us. Why wasn’t I recommended for AI? I was just as smart as her or anyone else. But after Mrs. Natsume’s class, I wasn’t as sure.

 

“So how did you get picked?” Cocoa asks.

 

“Mr. Bits asked me about it the other day after class, and I decided to do it. I’m one of the best in computers, after all.”

 

“Know anything about Photoshop then? “ Jasmine asks, curious to see what she knows.

 

“Some things here and there. Why do you ask?”

 

“I’ve been trying some new things and needed input from someone else who has any level of experience at all. Everyone in that class sucks at Photoshop and gets confused when I ask them my questions.” She quickly turns toward Cocoa. “No offense.”

 

She chuckles. “You know more than Avery or I, it’s only natural you lead in that direction. But you sure do know a lot Aurora. Do you just study at home by yourself or have some private tutor?” she asks jokingly.

 

“Not entirely, but I’ve been a star student since the 1st grade. I put a lot of work into what I do and never overlook any detail. If I did, I wouldn’t be here.”

 

After she finished she turned toward me and looked at me like she was better than I was in just about everything. So what if she pushed her way through school, so did I. And she, maybe, had family to go home to. Yet she just continued to glare at me, like I was the most annoying spec on the windshield. If I didn’t know better, I’d say she was jealous of me. But what was there to be jealous of? She had family, friends, was a top notch student, maybe even beyond me… Maybe you’re almost as smart as my little sister, chimes in the back of my mind.

 

“What about you, Random? I’m sure someone like you could have been picked.”

 

“Yeah, Random, you’re really smart,” Jasmine chimes in.

 

“Yeah, you’re the smartest girl I know,” Cocoa adds in.

 

“Well there you have it. But I guess if she was to be picked, she’d have to be as intelligent as me, and I’m sure she’s close.”

 

Aurora let out a soft laugh and so did everyone else. They must have thought it was a joke, but I didn’t like where it was going. I was getting angrier with every ticking second I sat there, feeling like I was being mocked for my own inability to be better. Even Cocoa, who I’ve be friends with for 3 years now, was taking her side. If you can picture a wooden stick being bent to its limit, about to snap, then that was me right then and there. Bend me a little more and I was going to snap, and Aurora kept on bending.

 

“Well, Random, it seems you need to step your game up a little and-“

 

“Would you just shut up?!” The stick just snapped. I slammed my hands against the table so hard as I stood up the cafeteria fell silent. “You think your so damn smart then go and run your stall! I’ll find something else to do, and I DO NOT NEED YOUR help to do it!”

I grabbed my backpack and stormed out of the cafeteria, all the while with everyone watching.

 

That was the most anger I’ve ever felt. She seriously knew how to get me angry. Cocoa followed after me but quickly realized she had to get to her next classes. So she did a 180 and walked the other way.

The rest of my classes I felt sluggish and annoyed; the only thing I wanted to do was head home. The things the teachers were saying made no sense, I couldn’t keep track of notes, I kept fumbling when asked questions. But I sat there and got through them. How though I’ll never know.

 

Before leaving, as I was sorting through my locker, Cody came over. He asked how classes went but I was in no mood to talk. I was happy he cared-and that he didn’t see me go crazy mode in the cafeteria-but at same time I didn’t want to be around anyone right now. I wanted to be alone, on a deserted island where the only sound came from the ocean waves rolling along the shore. So after politely telling him I wanted to be alone, I made way for the doors to the school. I felt sad when I told him to leave me alone, but it quickly vanished when I was stopped by the same girl from Mrs. Natsume’s class.

 

“Random!” she cried after me. “Random, wait, please!”

 

I turned around to notice she was crying. My anger subsided when I looked into her tear filled eyes and I asked her what was wrong. It looked like something serious.

 

“It’s my sister; she’s… she’s…”

 

“Calm down,” I tell her, staring into her eyes. “What’s wrong?”

 

“I know I left this part out when I told you, but my sister isn’t, like, the most sociable person. She finds comfort in her machines. It makes our parents sad but when they saw she was happy they let it go. But it’s, like, been getting worse lately. My parents called me today and she’s become even less, like, human…”

 

The last word slipped from her mouth like coins dropping through honey.

 

“I knew that she was, like, slowly starting to ignore my parents and stop eating. But they said today she won’t even come out of her room!” She let out another sob. “Anyway, you have to come and, like, help. My parents say she’s built these small flying saucers that zap anyone who gets near her. They say they’re harmless, but my parents are worried. She was fine when I, like, left, but now…”

 

Seeing the tears in her eyes made me feel guilty and I gave in. I couldn’t let her be apart from her sister, and I could tell she cared a lot. I may not know much about families, aside from Cocoa and Tipsy, but the look on her face tells me one thing: she wasn’t lying.

I’ll admit her being as intelligent as she sounds made me want to meet her, and it was something to do to get my mind off everything that transpired today. So I grabbed her by the wrist and we raced out of the school, her eventually taking the lead.