Danielle had her arm around Jackie’s waist, giggling like crazy as Jackie told her about one of her adventures from her old life. Sally and Sofia trailed beside them, listening in and occasionally adding their own input. Jackie had acquired more friends since her English class. She nodded to a few of them as she walked down the halls – thankful for the lunch break they now had. Smiling, she listened to Danielle ask her about a few shoes that she had heard about, and if Jackie had seen them before she left the city. Which, of course, she had – she even owned a pair. Her response had all three girls screaming and asking for her shoe size.

“You totally need to sit with us,” Danielle fanned her face, squeezing Jackie’s waist tight. With a smile, Jackie squeezed her back.

“Babe, I’d love too – but I promised to sit with a friend of mine, do you know a Nia?’ Jackie asked. The three girls visibly tensed, awkward tensions suddenly creeped up their backs. A layer of sweat suddenly tingled along Jackie’s body. “Would you mind if we all sat with her? I know she’s a little younger than us, but I reckon she’d be into this conversation –“

“Course she can sit with us, my little brother is friends with her,” Danielle said, a little harsher than necessary. But Jackie could tell her tone was not directed at her. Sally and Sofia didn’t say anything as they exited the school building. The main courtyard was filling up with students as they raced for their first lunch break of many. Jackie searched the whole school yard briefly, trying to spot Nia’s frizzy hair, or maybe even Oliver. But she didn’t see them. “If she’s hanging out with Oliver, they sit past the trees,” Danielle said.

Looking past the trees, she spotted a collection of wooden benches, each under their own tree, a table between them. Jackie let Danielle lead her towards the tall green trees. Her touch warm, despite the cooling temperatures. Jackie had always been good at making friends, but then there was always the fact that they were not the same people. Just because she could mix, doesn’t mean others were so fortunate.

“Sal and I need to go see Mr Keith about our assignment, see you two lates?” Sofia and Sally waggled their fingers before taking a sharp turn. Jackie was surprised, but Danielle waved them off.

“Whatever,” she rolled her eyes, changing the topic to clothes once again. Jackie engaged feverishly, nerves building up as they approached where she could see Nia and Oliver – the pair of them watching her. Nia smiled shyly whilst Oliver glared, brining up his hood. Danielle took a seat instantly, like she belonged everywhere and anywhere. “I really wish I brought my journal right now,” she groaned, placing her bright pink handbag on the table. Oliver and Nia’s faces were pale, staring right at her. “I had a killer mood board in there that I totes need to show you.”

“Totes?” Oliver scoffed, already making to leave.

“Totes – as in totally,” Danielle snapped sweetly. “I have a lot to say, I don’t want to waste breath on unnecessarily long words,” she rolled her eyes once again. Oliver was taken aback, even looked towards Jackie with complete and utter confusion.

“Hey guys,” Jackie greeted, taking a seat between Nia and Danielle. “You know Danielle, right?”

“Course they know me,” Danielle scoffed, pulling out a compact mirror and fiddling with her lip stick. “Everyone knows me here,” she chuckled, a smirk on her face as she stared down Oliver. “Just like you, Jackie.”

“I didn’t know these were the kind of people your new friend would attract, Nia,” Oliver hissed from across the table, looking around, he ducked his head as more people began to trail past the trees. Jackie noticed Ethan among them.

“Shut up, Oli,” Nia muttered. Danielle happily ignored them, pulling a bag of low carb crackers from her bag. She offered one to Jackie, who took one with a shrug. She smiled warmly, watching as Danielle also offered Nia one. Nia, surprised, took one cautiously out of the packet.

“Aren’t you in my brother’s grade?” She asked, eyeing Nia suspiciously.

Tugging at the bottom of her crop top self-consciously, Nia responded with a nod. Jackie even noticed that Nia bit her lip. The young girl conflicted between smiling and keeping a poker face. “You’re Henry’s sister, right?’ Nia’s voice shook. Danielle made a hum of confirmation, she touched up her eyeshadow.

“Isn’t Mr Keith, like, your guardian?” Danielle popped another dry cracker, thing, into her mouth. Her eyebrow was raised, perfectly cared for – but not filled in.

“Yeah,” Nia said quietly.

Jackie hadn’t noticed that she had been watching the two interact, the same was Oliver was. Danielle clearly didn’t get involved with any kind of people. But she had made an exception for Jackie. “I was just telling Danielle about the bargain we got with your outfit,” Jackie said, turning between Nia and Danielle. Nia perked up slightly, tugging her sleeves over her hands as Danielle eyed her from head to toe.

“You bought those clothes from around here?” Danielle arched her eyebrow again. “I buy my clothes mostly online – I hardly ever find anything around here,” Danielle gestured to her clothing. The blouse tucked into the flared skirt. “Shipping is a nightmare sometimes.”

“I spent barley a second with Jackie and she found this,” Nia giggled, gesturing at her own outfit. Jackie smiled warmly at the young girl, feeling Oliver’s heated gaze on her, she tried her best to ignore him. Danielle nodded in approval, offering Nia another one of her dry tasting crackers. Nia happily accepted.

A football crashed onto their table, causing them all to flinch back. Danielle screamed in frustration, standing up and dusting a few grass flecks that clung to her. “Ethan you piece of trash,” she growled, as a familiar boy ran up to them, a grin on his face.

“Whoops didn’t see you there,” Ethan cackled, his friends in the distance crowded together laughing. Ethan gave them a wave. He turned back to the four at the table, all of them waiting for Ethan to take his ball and leave. But he didn’t instead he leant against their table with his arms folded. “Hey Raptor, what’s up.”

“Nothing much, my dude,” she smiled, extending a hand for him to shake. He didn’t miss the opportunity, taking her hand and flexing his bicep close to Oliver’s face. Rearing his head back, Oliver glared at Ethan. Ethan took his hand back, keeping eye contact with Jackie.

“Has Danny here told you about the party this weekend?” Ethan arched his well chiselled chin towards Danielle, who simply rolled her eyes, her face growing pink.

“Not yet – “ Danielle cut herself off, eyes flashing to Oliver before smirking. “Actually,” she hummed for a moment, staring Ethan down for a moment. “Do the two of you want to come to a party this weekend? Sal’s cousin’s parents are out of town and so he’s having this big start of school thing,” she turned to Nia, “You can’t come, fourteen-year-olds are a big no-no.”

Nia simply shrugged, picking at her sandwich with a smile. Jackie brought her attention to Oliver, who remained stone faced under his hood. “Oli and I will have to think about it, but I don’t see why not,” Jackie said smiling. Oliver narrowed his eyes at her, but he did not argue.

“Love to see you there,” Ethan smirked, his gaze going from Oliver to Jackie. Squaring her shoulders, Jackie watched as Ethan picked up his ball, trotting back over to his friends. Scoffing again, Danielle sat back down.

“Can’t believe I dated that dweeb,” she muttered. Jackie’s eyebrow raised, turning to watch Danielle stare into her compact mirror again, she looked at Ethan. He was now playing more aggressively with his friends. They tackled each other and passed the ball and harder. She watched as Oliver’s eyes were trained on them like a hawk. They trailed over each one of the boys who tossed their ball at each other, hard enough for some of them to flinch. “Jackie, what are you doing tomorrow after school?”

“No prior plans,” Jackie smiled, her hands gliding over her jean clad thighs. They were her favourite black skinny jeans. She had matched it with a boy’s shirt that had thick vertical white, turquoise, purple and red stripes running down it. She had tucked it into her jeans, pairing it with a matching black jean jacket.

“Awesome,” Danielle squealed, causing Oliver to flinch in annoyance. “We should totally go shopping and get something to eat, we need to work out our outfit plans for the weekend,” she ordered, shoving her mirror back into her bag. Jackie chuckled, leaning back on the bench a little. Nia was gnawing away at the dry cracker with a smile on her face, observing Danielle’s outfit with a shy glance.

“I can definitely do that,” Jackie said, finally responding to Danielle. Smiling, Danielle fluffed her hair before getting off the bench.

“I got to go fill out a few forms before class,” Danielle said, packing her handbag up. Swinging the bright pink leather over her arm. Before she left, she turned to Oliver reluctantly. “I’ll see you there… I guess,” she goodbye Oliver, kissing Jackie on the cheek before waving goodbye to the table. “I’ll see you fourth period babes.”