Melody
My school works off an A day and B day schedule, which means we switch classes every other day. Which also means it’s Wednesday and I haven’t seen Rue since Monday. I’m not sure if that’s a blessing or a curse.
I’m sitting at my window contemplating if I want to face my problems today when I see a car pull into my driveway. I fly down the stairs and out the house yelling an “I love you bye!” to my mom and sister. Liza drives me to and from school everyday because I’m on her way and I am way too scared to get my license. My mom pays her gas money so it’s not like I’m scamming her.
I hop in the car. “Where are you going in such a hurry?” Liza asks.
“I’m hoping to outrun my problems.” I say, then something catches my attention. Hanging from Liza’s rear-view mirror is a neon green monkey plushie. “Liza, what the fuck is that?”
“That’s Smurffy.” Liza says with her manic grin, “I saw him yesterday when I was thrifting and couldn’t resist, he’s cute huh?”
Cute isn’t the word I’d use. The toy’s eyes look dead inside like a constant cry for help. “I don’t like him, he's creepy.”
Liza huffs as she peels out of my driveway, “Well he doesn’t like you either.”
When we arrive at school we meet up with the rest of our friends. They all sit under a tree that has a sprinkle of orange at the top hinting at the start of fall.
Joan and Amy are a couple and are the definition of PDA. If they ever go randomly missing it’s probably because they’re going to go fuck in the bathroom. They’re like twin souls and just understand each other perfectly. No one understands how they do it. They are raging lesbians stomping on the haters in their matching platform Doc Martens.
Pansexual and nonbinary, Fig is the baby of the group, they transferred here in the middle of last year. They are super shy and don’t talk to anyone but us. Joan and Amy practically adopted them even though they’re only a year younger.
James is similar to Liza in which they both give off chaotic bi skater energy and really don’t give a fuck what other people think of them. Both seem like they should be high all the time but Joan, Amy and I have made it very clear to them we’ll break their knee caps and sell them on the black market if they do that. Liza used to smoke back when things were really bad with her mom, but since they’ve gotten better and the aforementioned knee cap snapping threat, she’s stopped.
Lastly, there’s Henry. He’s extremely fucking gay and loves art like me. He’s a complete fashionista and will not hesitate to tell you if your outfit doesn’t match.
As Liza and I walk over to the group and sit down to see Joan and Amy aggressively smothering Fig with love.
“Guys! I’m sick!” They whine
“We don’t care.” Amy says squishing their cheeks. She looks up and smiles at me and Liza “Hey guys, please do me a favor and tell Fig they’re adorable.”
I raise an eyebrow at her, “I think they know.”
“I'm not cute! Please leave me alone!” Fig tries to wrestle away from their grasp but there is no escape from Joan and Amy.
James, who’s sitting on his skateboard, looks up from the book he’s reading, “So, Melody…” He wiggles his eyebrows at me, “You look good today, does it perhaps have something to do with having class with Ms. Rue Weaver?”
I almost choke, “I was doing really good not thinking about that thank you very much.” I hadn’t even changed my usual appearance that much, I had just made sure my eyeliner was spot on, did my hair so it framed my face well and wore cuter clothes.
“Wait, what about Rue Weaver?” Fig asks. They were really sick yesterday and couldn’t come to school so they didn’t get to hear the story. Because of my school having different lunches me and Liza managed to have the same lunch while everyone else got the other lunch. I’d told them the story yesterday morning and they’d been teasing me nonstop about it.
I told Fig the story for what felt like the millionth time of me telling it because I’d also told my mom and sister when I’d gotten home in Monday.
Fig grinned mischievously, “Ooooooh Mel’s gotta crush!”
I flicked their forehead playfully. Joan slapped her hands on Figs forehead to protect from further abuse, “Hey don’t hurt my baby.”
“I’m literally a year younger than you.” Fig complains.
“Exactly, a child.” Amy comments.
“I am not—“ Amy slaps her hands over their mouth and they roll their eyes.
“I like Rue’s sense of style.” Henry comments, putting us back on topic.
Her style is pretty good, it’s messy and comfortable and mainly consists of black and white, not emo or goth or anything like that though. Probably closer to skater vibes like Liza and James but just not as extreme. From what I can tell it really suits her personality—
“Oh no we lost Mel to La-La-Land.” James comments making a kissy face and obnoxious noises.
My face goes red, “I was not in—“ I get cut off by the school warning bell ringing telling us to get the fuck to class.
“Saved by the bell.” Liza teases, throwing her arm around James’ shoulders, steering him in the direction of their shared first period.
I trudge towards my English class, accepting that it’ll be a long day.
—-
“Alright class, today we’re going to start analyzing the play of Julius Caesar.” Ms. Bridgers announces.
I love Ms. Bridgers but I couldn’t give two flying fucks about Julius Caesar right now or his damn death. I felt paralyzed in my chair, absolutely frozen with the thought of Rue sitting barely a foot away from me.
Ms. Bridgers says something about taking notes on the first scene of the play but I’m not paying attention. I’m surprised my intestines aren’t all scrambled by how many butterflies are in my stomach.
“Melody?” A voice to my right asks.
I nearly jump from my seat, I look at Rue and feel my face heat up. “Yes?”
“I wanted to thank you for your help yesterday.” She has this habit of holding direct eye contact with whoever she’s talking to which did not help my little butterfly problem.
“Yeah, of course! If you ever need anything I’ll help you out.” I give her a smile that I hope is an inviting and confident one.
She smiles back, “Thanks Sunshine.”
I simply just melt into my chair and become suddenly very interested in the play of Julius Caesar Ms. Bridgers turned on. Wow, old Roman men, fascinating.
The word “Sunshine” keeps replaying in my mind over and over. Oh I’m so fucked.