Charlie knew lunch was going to be difficult when she sat down and Allison was sitting there and hadn't touched her lunch yet, while the other cheerleaders were already partway through their lunches, each at varying degrees.
She tried to start on her lunch but stopped when Allison spoke to her. "Are you friends with Beth?"
Charlie blinked. Out of all the things she thought Allison might say, this was not one of them. It took her a moment to find her voice. When she did, she found she couldn't speak louder than a soft voice, shocking herself. "I can't really say," she said.
Allison glared at Charlie. "What did you say?"
Charlie wasn't sure if Allison hadn't heard her or was merely being rhetorical, but her glare certainly was making Charlie want to be done with her lunch just so she could escape that gaze. "I can't really say?" Charlie repeated, her tone making it more of a question, but on the other hand, it was louder, which Allison clearly could hear.
"Why not?"
"I- I- I-" Charlie tried saying, but couldn't get anything else out. She couldn't understand why she was suddenly having a hard time speaking.
It was Alice who saved Charlie. "Maybe she doesn't know herself," Alice suggested, pausing from her lunch to chime in.
Allison's glare never left Charlie. "Is that it?"
Charlie started to feel like she was a mouse in front of a hungry cat, and the cat intent on eating her was Allison. She felt her mouth move but couldn't make any sound.
Amber gave a loud sigh. "Would you let her be, Allison?" Amber told Allison. "We all know that Charlie doesn't have friends, so if she made one, do you think she'd be able to know herself after just one weekend?"
Allison finally turned her glare away from Charlie. "It's possible," she told Amber.
Alice snorted. "Yeah, and it's possible that you're making Charlie want to stop sitting at this table, which would open it up to who knows what kind of weirdo would take that seat."
"What would you suggest then?" Allison crossed her arms in front of her.
Charlie glanced at Alex Samuels briefly, noting that she seemed even more uncomfortable with the situation than Charlie did. What's that about? Charlie asked herself.
"Maybe talking to her instead of trying to scare her off?" Alice replied, her eyes catching Allison's as she turned to face her.
Charlie slowly started to pick up her chicken sandwich and started to eat it, keeping a close eye on the conversation in case she got pulled back in, and for the first time that school year, she started to contemplate leaving the table once she was done and maybe hide in the bathrooms for lunch to be over. She just wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle the sudden change with the cheerleaders' interest in her. Especially with her emotions all in a swirl at the moment. Another fact was that she was losing the bubble she had that had allowed her to keep apart from everyone else and just try to get through high school without problems. Now it seemed to be one problem after another.
While she could blame it on Petals, since it only started after Petals started talking to her, she couldn't find it in herself to blame the unicorn. After all, it wasn't her fault that all of this started to occur at the same time she showed up. It could be a coincidence, but Charlie suspected that Petals showing up was merely the catalyst that caused this chain of events to fall into place. As if she hadn't been going to see Petals after school last Thursday, she likely wouldn't have had to endure Beth accompanying her to the meeting location. Then she wouldn't have been at the location that seemed to be the entrance to Petals' forest Saturday, which is when her emotional maelstrom started. While some of the other events still might have happened, Charlie couldn't be sure about it, so she had to assume that they probably would have occurred anyway. Such as Beth deciding that Charlie was her project.
"…Charlie, right?" Amber asked, startling Charlie out of her thoughts. Charlie wasn't even sure when she'd lost the thread of the conversation.
"Um," she began, "what was the topic again?"
Charlie was surprised to hear Alex laughing softly in response. Allison glared at Alex for a moment before turning back to Charlie. "We were talking about if Beth is your friend."
Back to that topic, huh? Charlie thought. "What concern is it of yours if I'm friends with anyone?" Charlie found herself challenging Allison.
"You don't need to know what my concerns about it are. I have my reasons for asking. I just need to know."
Charlie examined Allison closely, while Amber chimed in. "I was saying that it isn't any of our business to know whom Charlie considers friends and Alice said that there isn't a real reason for you to tell us."
Not able to determine any motives about Allison, she finally decided to give an honest answer. She also somehow felt inside her that she wasn't going to stammer like she did earlier. "I don't know," was all she could think to say.
"What don't you know?" Allison shot back, not seeming to realize what Charlie was getting at.
"What I don't know is if I would say I'm friends with Beth," she answered, her eyes challenging Allison, not giving an inch this time.
"Why not?"
"Because I just don't know. I can't be anymore specific. As I understand, everyone knows I didn't have friends, so why would you expect me to suddenly be with friends with one of the gossips of the school?" Again, Charlie was surprised at how much she was talking. Was she just tired? Physically or emotionally, both seemed to be possible at the moment to Charlie.
As Charlie took the last bite of her sandwich, Allison sighed. "If you're not friends with Beth, are you friends with Alex Williams?"
Charlie blinked. "Why would I be friends with him?"
"Well, you were getting rather chummy with him in your home ec class. In addition to that, you were talking with him much more than anyone has ever seen you. Would that indicate that you two are friends…" Allison trailed off, clearly a thought occurring to her before picking up again, "…or more?"
Charlie sighed herself. She really should take refuge in the bathroom. What excuse would the lunch monitor accept? "I'm not friends with Alex Williams. He merely asked my opinion about something. I think he put it 'you're neutral because you don't have an interest one way or another about it.' I gave him an answer, it just took longer to explain than I thought it would. Then, if you're interested in how much I talk, then this conversation would be much the same. With that measure, would this conversation mean that we're friends?"
Allison stared at Charlie as Charlie merely looked at her. "If you're going to take that attitude, why don't you leave?"
Charlie sighed again. "If you want me to, then I'll leave," she said, picking her tray up before starting to stand herself. Allison, Alice, and Amber looked surprised, but Alex looked alarmed. What's that about? Charlie wondered as she moved away from the table.
"You! Sit back down!" Charlie heard, she looked in the direction the statement came from and saw the lunch monitor looking directly at her.
"I'm done with my lunch, but I'm not feeling very good, so I was going to go to the bathroom," Charlie said, trying to put in her voice a bit of discomfort.'
"You're saying you're not being bullied?"
"Yes, I'm not being bullied," Charlie replied, wishing that this wasn't happening to add to the headache she'd already endured at the table she'd sat at almost the entire school year.
The lunch monitor examined Charlie for a moment before moving her gaze to keep a look out for anything else in the lunch room. "Go to the restroom then," was the only response Charlie got. She wasn't going to complain or hesitate about it.
She quickly made her way to the bathroom, not looking back to see if the cheerleaders had the same expressions as when she got up or if they were watching her walk away. She kept her peace and quickly found herself entering a stall. She latched the bolt to keep the door from opening as she sat on the toilet. She didn't really need to go, but on occasion she did find refuge in the bathroom, though usually when she was outraged at a teacher.
She put her head in her hands and took several deep breaths as she mulled over the recent events. Of everything that had happened, her peace in the school seemed to be going away. What she couldn't fully figure out was if that was a good thing or not. There was just so much going on in her mind that she was still struggling to sort out, that she couldn't be sure what the answer to that question should be.
_
Charlie opened her locker to exchange what she needed to at the end of school, her mind still ruminating about her emotional maelstrom and what emotions were swirled together in it. As she closed her locker, she was partly surprised to see Beth standing next to her. She had a feeling Beth would show up but couldn't be sure.
However, what shocked her was that her emotions stopped being so chaotic as soon as she was aware of Beth's presence. As a result of that, it took her a moment to even register that Beth said something to her.
"Hellooooo? Anyone in there?" Beth asked, as Charlie's attention focused again.
"Sorry, my mind left me for a moment," Charlie replied, unsure what else to say. How would she even explain about her emotional maelstrom going away when she became aware of Beth being there? It felt harder to explain to Charlie than explaining about the maelstrom in the first place would be.
Beth nodded, like it was a common ocurrence, and for all Charlie knew, it was common for Beth. "Were you able to come up with any ideas?"
Charlie wasn't sure how she knew what Beth was talking about without even asking, but she somehow was. "No, I've been preoccupied by other things the past couple of days."
"Ready to go find out what Ralph's idea is? If he's ready to present it, that is," Beth asked.
"Not like I have a choice," Charlie replied. "Which makes me wonder, are you going to show up at my locker after school everyday from now on?"
Beth smiled radiantly. "Of course, how else should I treat my project?"
Charlie scowled at Beth. She really wanted to glare at her, but couldn't find the motivation to do more than scowl. "You could just treat me like a person," she suggested.
"Where's the fun in that?" Beth laughed.
While Charlie was able to suppress a chuckle, she couldn't help but find Beth's response funny. "Hope you didn't have anything else planned after school, then," Charlie said, taking her backpack and walking towards the doors, letting Beth decide to keep up or not, and she wasn't surprised when Beth decided to keep up.
"By the way, I heard about the conversation you had with Alex Williams today," Beth commented.
"I'm sure you didn't hear what the topic was," Charlie replied, her senses on alert for anyone who might take interest in this conversation in their immediate surroundings.
"I would be shocked if any of the topics that the rumors were suggesting were true," Beth answered, walking next to Charlie. Charlie was happy that Beth wasn't confiscating any part of her body this time.
"What were some of the topics?" Charlie inquired.
"One was that you two were about to start going out, another was that you wanted to keep your relationship secret, but my favorite was that you were offering yourself to be a part of his harem if he'd let you."
Charlie groaned involuntarily. Where do these ideas come from for some people, she wondered. "Were those the only ones?"
Beth shook her head. "No, a few were that you were doing his homework, and a few were that you were trying to get him to do something for you. There were others, but it's hard to keep track of all of them, given how many there are."
Charlie wondered if this would be worse than with Beth. She didn't know how bad it was, but she knew it could be worse, especially given how many were after Alex Williams and would do whatever they could to block any perceived competition. These thoughts must have been written on Charlie's face as they started leaving the school building, as Beth spoke. "Don't worry. Most of the rumors don't involve any romantic element. I don't think most people are aware of who you are, and those that are, can't tell if he'd be your type."
Charlie rolled her eyes. "So long as they continue to leave me alone, I'll be fine."
"We'll see how many feel the same way. It only takes one who thinks that you are after him to give them motivation to do something about it."
"Are you trying to cheer me up about that or make me dread what happens from it?" Charlie was confused. Beth's statements were a little scattered to Charlie.
"Of course I'm trying to cheer you up," Beth assured Charlie. "But that doesn't mean I shouldn't be honest about possibilities."
"I see," Charlie replied. "Cheer me up so you can make me dread coming to school tomorrow."
Beth laughed. "I like the way you think. Perfectly grounded and quick to sum things up."
Charlie shook her head, not sure if she should be insisting on walking separate paths to where they were all meeting up outside of Petals' forest, but she was surprised at how comfortable she was with Beth's presence already, with how she felt towards Beth just the previous Friday. As well as how talkative she always seems to be, Charlie thought to herself.
By the time they came in sight of the bushes that kept others from seeing Petals, Charlie had realized that, at least in part, of her emotional maelstrom, in addition to her emotional turmoil the previous Friday, had been fear, if not terror, at letting someone in. How she realized that, she wasn't sure, it just clicked in her mind while she chatted with Beth. It was almost like being around Beth gave her clarity with her thoughts. It didn't make sense to her, but that's at least how it felt. She also wasn't sure if feeling uncomfortable with talking so much with Beth would pass or not, but she was mostly sure that it was because she wasn't accustomed to talking with others in a relaxed manner, nor was she sure if she really wanted to become comfortable with it.
Beth paused before they reached the bushes. "I guess we'll find out what Ralph had in mind, if he's figured out what he was thinking about Saturday," she commented softly, so as not to be overheard by anyone already in the bushes.
Charlie merely nodded. She wasn't sure what else there was to say. So, they entered the bushes and found they were the last to arrive. Charlie was a little surprised, but mostly because she couldn't be sure what their schedules were, nor how quickly they walked. So, she didn't have anything to compare it to.
"Ready to tell us what you had in mind Saturday, Ralph?" Beth asked, before anyone could say anything.
Ralph chuckled. "I guess that means I don't have much of a choice, huh?" he said, leaning against Petals' shoulder.
"What did you have in mind?" Tim asked, closing his history book, clearing up the papers he had spread around him, clearly having started working on some homework while he waited.
"Give me a second," Ralph requested. "I want to see if what I was going to try would work or not."
Charlie wasn't impressed. She hadn't seen anything about Ralph that had improved her low opinion of him since their teaming up to help Petals.
Ralph walked over to where the entrance to Petals' forest was, closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, then started to walk forward. Charlie didn't expect anything to happen, so she was shocked when she saw Ralph disappear in front of her eyes. It wasn't that he was simply gone all of a sudden, but rather like he passed behind a curtain. Whatever he had in mind to enter the forest had worked.