I didn't speak to anyone of them for the next couple of days. It didn't seem as if they noticed as everyone was just busy with Celine.
Everyone except Ruth.
Well, Ruth is now Charlotte. She completely changed her identity.
She even cut her long red hair till shoulder length and dyed them black. She stopped using lenses and bought glasses instead.
"Ruth Whites is now Charlotte Vincent." She cheered when we asked for her new name.
Soon after, she was going to our school and it was so good to have a female friend around.
Just like me, She immediately became popular because of the boys.
Heh.
"Hey guys, I am making breakfast for everyone today." Celine chirped.
Damien gave her a fond smile with a lovesick look on his face and I almost gagged.
Celine was staying in Damien's room as we were occupying hers.
I completely stopped sitting around with everyone and always keep myself busy with homework and studies.
I only spend time with them when we are eating food but even then, I would just sit there quietly, not participating in their conversations and eat my food.
Damien and Celine were always together, as if they were glued to each other. The only time they were separated was during school, since Celine went to a different school.
"No, thanks. Jennifer and I want to make our own breakfast." Ruth, I mean, Charlotte scowled at Celine, who frowned.
"Um, well, we can make it together then." Celine suggested but Charlotte rudely declined.
Damien stared at Charlotte with an unimpressed look.
"I don't wanna enter the kitchen while you're there." Charlotte rolled her brown eyes.
Celine suddenly started wiping her eyes with a frown.
Fake tears.
Charlotte has been very rude with Celine since she came. She would always shut down any conversation Celine would try to make with us.
Damien observed Celine's 'sadness' and frowned at Charlotte. "You don't always have to be so rude, you know." He said but Charlotte didn't even look at him while she passed by him to go to our room.
I got up and followed after her. Damien called out my name but I continued walking, pretending as if I didn't hear him.
"Ruth?"
She didn't look at me as she just continued staring out of the window with a cold look.
"Ruth!" I called her again.
No response.
"There's no Ruth here. Ruth doesn't exist anymore. I am Charlotte." She said after a few seconds of silence, still staring out of the window.
I walked up to her. "Yes, sorry.. Charlotte... What was that outside?"
She turned around to look at me. "I don't have to pretend to like someone I don't like." She said and stared out of the window again.
"But, why do you hate her?"
"Don't you see, Jen? She doesn't look like she was kidnapped at all. No scars, no bruises. She is acting as if she just came back from a vacation. Something is wrong here."
"What?"
"She was kidnapped by a fucking mafia! She doesn't look tortured at all. According to the boys, the mafia was threatening to harm Celine if they didn't give them the money. Don't you think they should have at least left some bruises on her.... To show it to threaten the boys maybe?"
I thought about it. Charlotte is right. Celine didn't look like as if she was ever kidnapped.
"This girl is something. She is just acting to be sweet to us."
"But-"
"I don't want to talk about her, Jen. She's none of my business. Let's make breakfast and leave for school."
"Okay." I sighed.
***
Charlotte and I were talking about this new horror movie she planned for us to watch together while standing near her locker when Hailey approached us.
I rolled my eyes at her but she ignored it.
"Hey losers." She smirked at us.
"Hey bitch face." Charlotte scowled at her.
"What did you just call me?"
"What you heard."
Hailey looked insulted. She shouldn't mess with Charlotte because Charlotte can burn her alive with her words alone.
"Just because those boys hang out with you doesn't mean you two are some queens. I don't even know what the boys see in you both." Hailey rolled her eyes.
"Someone wants to have a disfigured face because if she doesn't leave in 5 seconds, she would be kissing my sandal." Charlotte hissed at Hailey.
"Yeah, I don't want to see your faces either."
With that Hailey finally left, muttering insults under her breath.
"You're awesome, Char." I proudly smiled at her.
"Oh trust me, I know that, Jen." She winked at me and the both of us laughed.
Charlotte went for her class while I walked to mine. It was English.
With Max.
"I see that you're not talking to us for the last couple of days. What's wrong, Jen?" He asked sounding genuinely concerned.
I chose to ignore him but he kept nagging me.
"Jennifer, I'm talking to you."
"Excuse me, Mrs. Jameson. Can I please change my seat, Max is not letting me concentrate." I asked the teacher.
Everyone, including the teacher and Max, stared at me in shock.
Even I was shocked with myself.
"Uh.. Sure, Jennifer. You can sit beside Leo."
"Thank you, Mrs. Jameson."
For the entire period, I could feel Max staring at the back of my head. I don't know why I was ignoring him. It wasn't his fault in anything. It wasn't anybody's fault but mine.
My fault that I started having feelings for someone I can never have.
As soon as the bell rang, I got up to leave the class but Max grabbed my arm, turning me around to face him.
I saw how sad he looked. He looked so hurt and I couldn't maintain eye contact with him.
Max didn't say anything to me until the class was empty and it was only the two of us left.
"What happened, Jen? Did I do something wrong? Listen, I am really sorry if I did or said something you didn't like. You can scold or shout at me, but please, don't ignore me, sis."
His voice expressed the hurt he was feeling and I felt so bad for treating him like that.
"No, Max. It's not your fault. You didn't do anything. It's just.. "
"It's just?"
"It's.. Nothing. You wouldn't understand."
"I will understand if you just tell me, Jen."
"But I don't want to tell you, Max."
I yanked my arm from his grip and left the class, leaving him standing there alone.
It was history now and I would have to deal with Zack.
I groaned as I entered the class. The feeling of just skipping it tempted me.
I sighed as Zack entered the class in all his glory. He smirked as he saw me and sat down beside me.
"Hey, my stuffed sausage." He said while swinging his arm around my shoulder.
"Hey, my panda sized crackhead." I said while shrugging his arm off my shoulder.
"You've been ignoring me."
"So? Oh right, you must not be familiar with girls ignoring you, right?"
"Why are you talking like Ruth?"
"I am not talking like Charlotte."
"Yes, you are."
Just then, Mr. Peterson walked in and for the first time in history I felt glad to see him.
"Tell me, Jennifer. What is wrong with you?" Zack asked me, completely ignoring the teacher's presence.
"The thing is, you guys have been ignoring Ruth and me since Celine came back." I said still looking at the teacher.
"What? No. Listen, she was kidnapped! And she's been with us for so long. Much longer than you and Ruth-"
"So, it's fine if I don't talk to you, right? You got your kidnapped friend back, why would you talk to us now?"
"What has happened to you, Jennifer?" Zack said grabbing my hand.
"That's not what I meant-" He started only to get interrupted.
"Mr. Meyers." Zack reluctantly looked at the teacher with a bored expression.
"What?"
"No talking while I am speaking. If you say anything more, you'll be having a chat with the principal."
Zack let go of my hand and kept quiet for the rest of the class.
***
During lunch time, Charlotte and I sat outside on the bleachers instead of the cafeteria like usual.
"Why the fuck are you ignoring everyone? They've been eating my head, asking me this again and again." Charlotte asked me with a serious expression.
"I don't know, Char. I don't want to but.. " I exhaled out.
"Jennifer?!" I turned around to see Zack coming towards me with a frown on his face.
"We left our conversation incomplete." He sat down beside me before looking at Charlotte.
"What have you been feeding her with?!" Zack glared at Charlotte who glared right back at him with equal ferocity.
"I didn't feed her with anything."
"She's been acting like this since you came so-"
"She didn't feed me with anything, Zack." I cut him off before he could complete.
"It's just that- You guys looked so happy with Celine and I felt as if I was intruding. That's all. That's why I was avoiding you all. I just wanted you all to be spending time with her like before, so that she feels better."
100 points for that lie, Jennifer.
Thank you.
Zack seemed to believe my lie and Charlotte raised an eyebrow at me.
"You guys are a part of us now, I don't want you both to be left out." Zack said and grabbed my arm, making me stand up on my feet.
He took us to our usual table in the cafeteria and sat down. I reluctantly joined him.
Damien was staring at me while Liam just continued munching on his food.
Charlotte just seemed unbothered.
Max was surprisingly very quiet today. Usually he wouldn't stop talking even while eating despite choking on his food many times.
***
I was sitting on my table, doing my math homework when Max entered the room.
He stood there, arms folded in front of his chest and just stared at me.
I stared back at him.
"Come with me." He said after a few minutes of silence.
"Where?" I asked.
"Just come."
"Wh-?"
"Zack told me your stupid reason of not talking to us." He gave me the blankest of the looks and by the look on his face, I could tell that he was pissed.
"Oh." I said while squirming under his gaze.
When I still hadn't got up from my seat, Max grabbed my arm and dragged me outside.
***
"That's not fair!" I whined.
Max had taken me to an arcade where I kept losing every game I played.
There weren't many people in here and I was so glad for that.
"You play so bad, Jen!" Max said in between his laughs but stopped when he saw the annoyed look on my face.
"Aw, come on. Let's go grab some ice cream now." My face lit up at the mention of ice cream and Max chuckled at my expression.
.
.
.
"There's ice cream on your nose, Max."
This weirdo tried licking it off with his tongue but was failing miserably.
Fed up with his idiocy, I wiped it off from his nose with a tissue myself.
"Thanks, sis." He grinned.
"No problem, bro." I rolled my eyes.
He swung his arm around my shoulder and grinned at me. I was confused by his sudden action but before I could think about it any further, Max slapped my hand that was holding the ice cream, and I gasped as the ice cream was smeared on my nose and cheek.
I glared at Max who was laughing like a little kid watching cartoons.
My glare softened at this sight and I joined the laughter with him.
"You know if you ever have any problem or if you ever feel alone, you can always come to me sis. I'll always be there for you." Max said with so much sincerity that I smiled and gave him a side hug. "Sure, brother."
After goofing around the streets for some more time, we finally went back home.
It felt good to spend time with him, even though he kept on talking like a chatter box.
He changed topics so suddenly and so fast that I was so lost throughout.
One second he told me about his encounter with a nerdy girl in one of his classes and the next second he was blabbering about his favourite movies.
Charlotte was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed as she stared in front of her with a bored expression while Liam kept talking.
It was obvious that she was done with his talks but it was so cute to see them together.
Zack had gone for basketball practice while Damien and Celine were on a date.
The four of us spent our time watching movies and eating popcorn.
It felt nice to enjoy myself with these people again. I was a fool to ignore them for a stupid reason.
I still couldn't stop thinking about Damien though. As I was lost in my thoughts about him, Damien and Celine came back, both of them looked as if they were on cloud nine.
It felt good to see him smiling and looking so content. He deserves this happiness.
Damien excused himself and went to his room while Celine smirked at me and Charlotte. She quickly converted it to a smile as Max turned to look at her.
What was that?
I looked over at Charlotte and she had noticed it too.
Charlotte was right about Celine. This girl is something.