Chapter Six: What the Reunion!

Skylar and Danielle meet up at Starbucks, and discuss everything that has happened.

Chapter Six

         Sitting at Starbucks alone was one of Danielle’s favorite hobbies. It always smelled like a mixture of a latte’, and a cappuccino. She took a sip of her tall coffee, almost spitting it out. She had accidently put too much cream in it, and it was disgusting how sweet it was. That day was a slow day at Starbucks, which was nice. Danielle didn’t like having to wait in line, and she really didn’t like having to find a seat next to a fat, bald man with a dog who looked extremely similar to Beethoven.

         Danielle looked around at the few customers at Starbucks. There was a slender businessman holding a brief case sitting over by the window, and a group of teenage girls sitting on some couches in the corner. Other than that, it was just Danielle. The Starbucks wasn’t too far from her house in Rich Jackson, and she was surprised at how slow business was.

         All of a sudden, the door to Starbucks swung open, and everybody turned their heads to see was entering. Skylar Simmons entered, holding a pink hobo bag in one hand, and her phone in the other.

         Danielle put her head down on the round, wooden, table at which she was sitting. She did not want Skylar to see her sitting alone at Starbucks.

         After ordering her coffee, Skylar sat down at a table right next to Danielle’s, making Danielle shiver.

         This was too cliché’: A girl sitting by herself in an empty coffee shop, when her old friend walks in, orders, and sits right next to her.

         Things were quiet for a few minutes, though to Danielle, it seems like hours had passed her. Suddenly, Skylar jolted upright, almost knocking her chair down. With a scared smile on her face, Skylar darted over to Danielle’s table, and slowed down as she reached the chair on the other side of it.

         Danielle almost spit out her coffee. “Uh, hi Skylar.” She said, taking another small sip. “What are you doing here?”

Skylar’s face turned red. Panting, she rested her elbows against the table, as if she had just gone out for a run. “Evelyn.” She said, looking up at Danielle. How could she put this? She couldn’t just come out and say, Evelyn, Willow, or Zack wants me to die. She was also planning on telling Danielle about Valerie’s call to Skylar. Skylar was meaning to ask Valerie about that, but she hadn’t gotten around to it. Skylar’s face turned red. Panting, she rested her elbows against the table. She felt as if she had just gotten out of P.E. during track and field unit. Her throat felt clogged, as if a cylinder of led had clogged it up. It was hard for her to breathe, for breathing seemed to take up to much energy. “I’ll try to be brief.” Skylar said, feeling the familiar need to scratch her nose. How could she out this? She couldn’t just come out and say: Evelyn, Willow, or Zack wants to kill me. She was also planning on telling Danielle about Valerie’s call, but decided to save it for Valerie herself.

The door to Starbucks opened, letting a little winter breeze hit their faces. A man, also carrying a brief case stomped in, and sat next to the man Danielle had eyed before Skylar entered.

“Come out with it.” Danielle shrieked, taking another sip of her coffee. She had been tired ever since she woke up. It felt good to finally get some caffeine into her body, though she did have a diet Dr. Pepper a few hours before. “I don’t have all day. I have a soccer game at three.”

Nodding, Skylar decided to just put it out there. What harm could it do? Danielle didn’t have a posse to which she told everything. She wouldn’t be the one to tell Evelyn that Skylar thinks she’s a killer, especially if she had any respect for the friendship they once had. “Well, I think that Evelyn…”

“You too?” Danielle said, standing up. Seeing Skylar’s confused face, Danielle continued. “Everyone had been talking about her. Don’t you guys realize that she’s just a girl?”

Skylar made a face telling Danielle to sit back down, and with a c**k of her head, Danielle obeyed. Skylar could tell that both of the men with briefcases were staring at them. She had that feeling that someone was staring at her, just like she had with Evelyn.

“That’s just it.” Skylar said, sitting up straight, and flipping her short blonde hair behind her. “I don’t think she is ‘Just a girl.’”

It didn’t make sense for Evelyn to be “Just a girl.” Everything about her was unique, and not normal in any way. Who chews huge wads of gum 24/7? Who practically threatens to kill someone they just met? Who writes poetry about death?

“What makes you think that?” Danielle said. Her face was stern, and it kind of reminded Skylar of her third grade teacher, Mrs. Dregar.

Mrs. Dregar was feared by most students at Jackson Elementary. Her classroom smelled of old spinach, and many students referred to it as “Popeye’s Lair.” Mrs. Dregar was around fifty years old, and had a cleft on her lip the size of a grape. She had short grey hair that would be suitable for a man her age, for there were quite a few bald spots. She wore no makeup, except for dark red lipstick that contrasted against her pale skin very well.

For Skylar, having Mrs. Dregar as a teacher was one more problem to deal with in her third grade life. She and Valerie had just become friends, and they were having friendship problems. Valerie claimed that she would rather be friends with Avery and Kira’s posse, whom of which were rivals with Valerie’s, than have Skylar part of hers. Third grade had been tough for Skylar, and having Mrs. Dregar as a teacher made it all worse. Mrs. Dregar’s daughter, Frances, was also an aspiring actress. When Skylar got the lead in the school play, and Frances got the part in the chorus, Mrs. Dregar was anything but pleased with Skylar.

Avery and Kira started almost every rumor in Jackson. They would often start ridiculous ones about Valerie and her friends, and soon people began to believe them. They had started rumors about Valerie kissing Nick Hudson, a really dorky kid who would look better in suspenders than in the clothes he normally wore to school. The worst rumor they ever started, in Skylar’s mind, was that Skylar had kissed Frances Dregar. When Mrs. Dregar finally heard about the rumor, she was even angrier with Skylar. She said things like, you are bringing an inappropriate vibe to the school, and: Frances would not appreciate you approaching her like that. Skylar was not by any means lesbian. Her family was Christian! It was against her religion! Strangely enough, when Valerie quit soccer in eighth grade, Danielle had started to hang out with Avery and Kira, and now, Danielle ruled that group even more so than Valerie had ruled Jackson Elementary.

Skylar blinked, bringing herself back into reality. “Well, she showed me a note saying that I was dead b***h.”

Danielle did not look convinced. She rolled her eyes, sighing. “Seriously, Skylar?” She took yet another sip of her coffee, shaking her head quickly.

“Seriously! In history! Willow and Zack were passing notes while Evelyn was staring at the back of my head for like, ten minutes.” Skylar’s big, blue eyes widened. Skylar was known for her eyes. She had been voted Best Eyes in eighth, ninth, and tenth grade. “Evelyn took the note that Willow and Zack had been writing and showed it to me.”

Danielle squinted her eyes. “Well, what makes you think that Willow and Zack don’t want to kill you? They were the ones who wrote the note!”

Skylar had thought about that possibility, but Zack and Willow just didn’t seem like the type who would kill. Evelyn on the other hand, seemed capable of anything.

Resting her head on her hand, Skylar looked at Danielle insightfully. Danielle’s long, wavy brown hair had been straightened, probably with Danielle’s pink Chi. Her Burberry scarf wrapped her neck twice, leaving inches of scarf resting on Danielle’s chest. 

“I don’t know.” She said, taking her eyes off of Danielle. “Doesn’t Evelyn just seem…weirder?”

Again, Danielle rolled her eyes. “Let me get this straight.” She said, taking another sip of her coffee, making a face showing that her coffee wasn’t properly made, and wiped some of it off of her pink lips.

Skylar gulped.

“You expect me to believe that Evelyn is a killer because she is…weird?” Danielle set her strong coffee down on the round table, making a tap noise. She looked at Skylar, who was looking down at her coffee cup, chewing on a small red straw meant for stirring your coffee.

Skylar looked up, spitting out the little red straw. “Well, yeah. I am not trying to say that she is a killer, I am just getting the point across that she isn’t’ normal.” Skylar looked at Danielle again, whose face had eased up.

“Well,” Danielle said. “I know what you mean. I haven’t met Evelyn personally, but it is kind of creepy how she was writing about death while she was text you. And I mean, it was kind of weird how she showed you the note Willow and Zack were writing. And, it is kind of gross how loudly she chews that gum of hers.”

Skylar forced a giggle. “Thanks for looking at it form my point of view. I just…”

“Lately I have been wondering what really happened that afternoon.” Danielle interrupted, looking up at the tiled ceiling.

“What?” Skylar asked.

“That afternoon.”

“What afternoon?” Skylar knew what Danielle was going to say, but she asked anyway.

“The afternoon Valerie lost her arm.”

Skylar gulped again, blinking hard. She had an awful feeling that blinking so hard would mess up her eye makeup, but she didn’t mind. Though Danielle was intimidating when it came to makeup, fashion, and gossip, she was her old best friend. Skylar felt…comfortable, thought the fact that Danielle had even mentioned that afternoon startled her. “Oh.” She finally said, in a puny voice. A pitiful squeak of fear came from Skylar a few seconds later.

“I don’t know why, it’s just that everywhere I go I hear something that reminds me of Valerie’s accident. Like, in Seventeen I read this article about this girl with a weird arm disease that turns it purple! She may have to have surgery done and have her arm removed.” Danielle shuddered.

“I read that same article!” Skylar said, widening her bright blue eyes again. Everything seemed to b e happening so fast. It had only been a few days, and yet here she was, sitting in Starbucks with Danielle talking about the day Valerie Reynolds lost her arm. This was a touchy subject for all three of them, but hey, they all knew it was coming.

Danielle’s eyes widened too, as if she had just seen Henry Hill holding a Wal Mart shopping bag filled with clothes to the top. “Really?” She asked, grasping Skylar’s pale hands, squeezing them firmly. “It totally reminded me of Valerie. It was absolutely insane, actually.” She seemed to be a lot happier and enthusiastic about discussing Valerie’s accident than before. 

Nodding, Skylar reached into her Coach bag (it was her only one!) and pulled out her phone. “Look!” She said, frantically getting to her missed calls. “I haven’t told anyone this yet, but…”

“But?” Danielle asked, eagerly moving her neck into a position so that she could see the screen of Skylar’s phone.

“Valerie called me!” Skylar said quickly, closing her eyes.

“What?” Danielle shrieked.

All of a sudden, the door to Starbucks swung open. Avery and Kyra walked in, and gasped when they saw Danielle sitting with Skylar. Avery looked amused, while Kira wore a face that forced Skylar to believe she no longer belonged sitting next to Danielle.

“Oh my god!” Avery yelled, running frenetically toward Danielle and Skylar’s table, Kira right behind. Avery wore a stunning Louis Vuitton dress, with a pair of black pumps whose label Skylar didn’t recognize. Her bleach blonde hair was done in some kind of messy bun, her side bangs shading one eye. Kira, on the other hand, wore plaid Marc Jacobs blouse, a pair of white Guess skinny jeans, and enormous Gucci sunglasses. Together, they looked like the fashion gods!

Danielle stood up quickly, giving each of them a prissy girl hug. “Hey girls. What are you doing here?” She grinned broadly, showing off her perfectly white smile.

“Oh.” Kira said, grinning, too. “We came here on a secret mission.” She winked, and started to giggle hysterically.

Avery shoved her elbow into Kira’s hip. Kira whimpered. “No, we are here to see you. We have absolutely horrible news about Tommy.”

Tommy. Tommy was the hottest guy in Jackson by far. He was the kind of guy you wouldn’t expect to ever, ever meet. If you saw him in the mall, or downtown holding an Abercrombie bag, he would look better than the male model on the bag. Luckily, Danielle was going out with Tommy.

“Sounds like a secret mission to me!” Danielle said, clapping her hands recklessly. “What’s the news?” She bit her lip, tasting blood.

“Well…” Kira said, raising an eyebrow and looking at Avery.

“Spit it out!” Danielle yelled.

Skylar stood up, and left Starbucks. She had a feeling that she was no longer welcome at all.

Kira, who had spotted Skylar leaving, murmured to herself, “TTYN.”

Avery nodded. “Well, Kira and I spotted Tommy…” She stopped, took a deep breath, and continued. “We spotted him with Elsie.” She gulped.

Danielle shook her head, confused. “So?”

“So? He was sucking her face!” Kira blurted. “It was a major face rape!”

Avery glanced at Kira, and raised her eyebrows. She nudged Kira again, this time Kira didn’t whimper, but s**t her eyes fiercely. “I am so sorry, Danielle. I really am.”

Everything was quiet. Danielle’s heart fell, and it didn’t seem like it was coming back up.