Reese breathed a sigh of relief (if Marcia had seen her balled-up fist, she would have too!) and unclenched. She almost thought that she was gonna have to knock someone out on her first day as a normal person. Imagine that, no cheerleader reputation to protect her!
Marcia was further out into the parking lot, having come in just a little after Reese had. Marcia broke into a brisk jog to catch up with her longtime friend, her long legs bouncing against the pavement so she could make the speed. She was a tall girl, even taller than Bailey, and had always been a bit less girly than anyone else in Reese's social circle. She wore shorts as short as Valeville High's dress code would allow and shirts that didn't encumber her wide sweeping motions with a lot of fabric. Marcia long brown ponytail whipped back and forth, an earnest smile that Reese hadn't seen in far too long.
While Reese had been on house arrest, Marcia had been her sole contact to the outside world. She wasn't allowed to come in for the first month, of course, but that hadn't stopped them from texting each other. It was through Marcia that Reese learned that anyone who was everyone was talking about her, and it was through Marcia that she had learned that almost her whole squad had turned against her. They'd been friends since they were in second grade, and it was nice to know that no matter how badly some things fucked up, others would always stay the same.
"Please, please stop calling me that." Reese offered a weak smile as she unclenched her balled fist, "I get enough of it from everyone else. I don't need it from you too..."
"Oh God, calm down, I was just kidding." Marcia puffed as she rolled her eyes, "You're so sensitive."
"You'd be too if you became a pariah overnight." Reese muttered as Marcia took her place beside her, walking towards the entrance, "Everyone thinks you're some kind of alcoholic, your dad won't talk to you, no cheer squad..."
"Hey, I still think you're better off without them." Marcia rolled her eyes, "Those girls had the combined personality of a wet paper bag. This way you get to... you know... be yourself. I don't know."
Reese couldn't help but smile at that. Marcia had always been there for her, even when she hadn't always been there for Marcia. Being on the cheer squad had eaten up a lot of time in her life, but Reese and Marcia had always been cool. She hoped, in light of everything that had happened to her recently, that they always would be.
"Thanks, Beck." Reese said quietly, "I needed that."
"No sweat—now come on, the sooner we get you to your first class as a normal person, the sooner we can start rubbing that cheerleader stink off of you."
Oh shit, classes. Reese couldn't even remember what she had signed up for before Summer started. She couldn't really remember anything little like that before the accident. Oh, this was going to be awkward. What if she had classes with one of her old squadmates? Or Josh? What if she had classes with Josh? That would be so fucking awkward...
Reese stopped to rummage through her purse—surely her schedule was in there somewhere, right?
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Get MORE!
Shop Memberships
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
