Taylor

On Monday, during lunch break, Caya inspects my notes at arm’s length. 

“It’s just coffee,” I say nasally and roll my eyes at her.

“You say that, but …” Caya eyes a particular yellow stain, then looks back at me. I did end up catching a cold, and this morning, I woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. Not enough to skip school, though, according to Mom. Over the morning, my state has continuously deteriorated, however, and by now, my body is aching all over and my head is killing me.

“Ignore the stains, look at the content.”

Caya throws me a dirty look, but before she can say anything, someone unexpected appears next to us, throwing her tray next to mine. I straighten up. “Olly! What’s up?”

“Can I sit with you?” Olly looks oddly uncomfortable and I pull back the chair next to me. “Of course.” 

As she sits down, I catch a glimpse of a group of students at a table a few rows to our right, their faces turned our way with obvious sneers and smiles. I frown at them and they hastily avert their gazes. Olly draws her chair closer to mine and I instinctively put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

She shakes her head but doesn’t say a word. I exchange worried glances with Caya, who smiles at Olly. 

“Hi, I don’t think we’ve officially met. I’m Caya.”

“Olly. I’m a freshman.”

“Oh, I know. You are Noah’s sister, right?”

Olly’s face brightens at the mention of her brother and she straightens up. “Yeah. Do you know my brother?”

Caya examines her fingernails and says, “Oh, you know. Taylor constantly talks about him, so …”

Olly’s head whips around. “You do? I thought you didn’t like each other.”

I shoot Caya a death glare that she happily ignores. “It’s not like that. Don’t listen to her. Instead, I would prefer if you told me why there are a bunch of stupid-faced kids gloating at us from that table over there.”

Olly’s expression darkens. She picks up her fork and pokes into her macaroni with force. “They pranked me.” Her cheeks turn a shade of red. “I was invited to a birthday party, but in the end, they only made fun of me.”

Hot anger burns through me. “They did what?”

I glower at the table, and one of the girls wears a challenging smirk. I move to get up, but Olly clings to me. “Don’t. Just ignore them. Please? I just didn’t want to have to eat alone today. My best friend is sick and couldn’t come to school.”

I slump back into my seat and sniff. “If you say so.”

“What exactly did they do?” Caya leans forward, the same anger burning in her eyes. 

It takes a lot of persuasion on Caya's part before Olly tells the whole story, but she finally gives in. 

Apparently, she was invited to a boy’s birthday party by the name of Malik. They had met in the orchestra and gotten along due to their shared interest in skateboarding and met up a few times at the skatepark. Another girl in the orchestra, Alva, has long had a crush on Malik and was not happy about their blossoming friendship. Fast forward a few months and Alva has made Olly’s life hell. Harassing her in the school hall and cafeteria, making harsh comments to her, and spreading lies about her to anyone who cares to listen, which is quite a few people from the orchestra. 

“Well, and yesterday,” Olly continues, “Malik celebrated his birthday and basically invited half the orchestra. I baked a cake, but while I wasn’t looking, someone must have messed with it. It tasted horrible, as if someone had poured a ton of salt and pepper over it. Alva and her friends started to make fun of it and then of me.”

Caya’s hand hits the table with a loud thud. “What? What a bunch of losers.”

Olly nods. “I put so much work into the cake. It was stupid.”

“What happened then?” I ask, because knowing Olly, she wouldn’t let something like this go.

She shrugs. “Alva was particularly mean with her comments, and I’m pretty sure it was she who ruined the cake in the first place. I finally had enough. Since the cake was uneatable, it at least deserved a better ending. So I shoved the whole cake in her face.”

Caya is stunned into silence, while I have a laughing fit that shakes my whole body. Olly grins at me when I give her a thumbs up while I wheeze over my chicken curry. But a second later, the laughter turns into a coughing fit, and Olly pats my back. “Geez, are you okay? You look really sick. Shouldn’t you go home?”

I wave her off, while Caya asks, “What happened then?”

Olly still eyes me with concern, but continues, “Well, Alva had a fit of rage, and the birthday party was ruined. Now, everyone is blaming me for making such a fuss and killing the mood.”

“While I normally don’t condone violent behavior …” Caya holds out her fist and Olly bumps it. “You did great, Olly, fuck ‘em.”

Olly sighs. “I don’t know if it was worth it. I’m afraid of the next orchestra practice, because I’ll probably be an outcast.”

“What about Malik?” I ask, still overcome by occasional chuckles and coughs.

Olly tilts her head. “He didn’t really say much. But he was the one who sent everyone home and declared his birthday over. I think he was a bit overwhelmed with the situation.”

“And who can blame him?” Caya grins. “Don’t mind these losers, hun. It’s good you gave that girl a piece of your mind.”

“Or rather a piece of your cake,” I interject and then laugh at my own pun cause I’m lame like that. Olly laughs along with me, though, and just like that, she is now part of the small number of people I would do anything for. I put an arm around her chair. 

“When’s your next orchestra practice?

“Today. I’m dreading it.”

“You know what you should do?”

“What?”

“You should skip and eat pizza with us,” I declare. I shoot a glance at Caya, who nods in approval.

“You can ask Noah to join,” I add, because I can see Olly hesitate. Her facial expressions are so much like Noah’s it’s uncanny. 

When have I become so familiar with them, though?

Olly ultimately agrees and Caya switches topics, discussing favorite pizza toppings, while I still ponder over the question. 

Have I really spent so much time staring at Noah? I feel my face turn warm, but I blame it on the cold.

After lunch, Olly tugs at my arm. “Can you not tell Noah about the cake thing?” She asks with trepidation. “I can do without his reprimand.”

“Your secret is safe with me.” I raise my hand in a vow to reinforce my words. “But I’m not sure Noah would reprimand you for this. You only retaliated when they went too far. If it were me, I would have done much worse much sooner.”

The words don’t lift Olly’s mood, so I add, “If that Alva girl or any of her friends ever bother you again, come to me, alright?”

Olly stares at me with her head tilted and her similarity to Noah strikes me again. There are grey dots in her blue eyes, too. Suddenly, she steps closer and crushes me in a hug. 

“Thank you, Taytay,” she whispers next to my ear. Then she lets go and quickly disappears in the crowd. Disbelief rushes through me. 

“Did she just call you Taytay?” Caya asks next to me, amusement apparent in her voice.

I point a finger at her. “Don’t you dare make fun of that name. When she was little, she couldn’t say my full name and always called me Taytay. It was the cutest thing. I can’t believe she remembers that.”

“You must have left quite an impression on her.” Caya laughs.

I barely react, too caught up in an old memory. A fragmented scene of Olly breaking out into a crying fit in front of her elementary school. Noah staring at her apathetically. And me, who hugged her and dried her tears. I blink, and the memory is gone. 

“You okay?” Caya’s flowery perfume surrounds me as she leans in.

I take a deep breath and smile absentmindedly. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

❖

By the end of the day, I can’t say the same. The last lesson, I basically slept through, dizzy and short of breath. I’m a sad, snotty blob of misery. When I meet Caya and Olly outside of school, they look me up and down.

“Tay,” Caya finally says, “I love you, but please stay away. I really don’t want to catch whatever you did. You should go home.”

“But the pizza …” I say, my voice whiny and raspy.

“Forget about pizza, you need medicine and sleep,” Caya counters and pushes me towards the school gate. “Can you get home on your own, or should we message your mom?”

Olly trails behind us and says, “Since I invited Noah, he is on his way here. I’m sure he won’t mind driving you home.”

I want to protest, but the prospect of reaching my bed as soon as possible makes me nod in defeat. 

Olly and Caya wait with me, but they seem set on going out to eat pizza anyway. Olly is warming up to Caya fast, and Caya seems to be fond of her, too. Olly scores even more points with her when she suggests that Caya should invite her girlfriend. Noah arrives a few minutes later. When our gazes meet, I avert my eyes, still not sure how to navigate this new dynamic between us.

“You look like shit.”

Well, that makes things easy. I throw him a finger. “Fuck you.”

The corners of Noah's mouth twitch, but before we can escalate the situation, Olly chimes in and explains their plan. Noah shoots me another look. There is real concern in his face, along with pity and something I can’t place. He nods his head toward the car. “Get in, I’ll bring you home.”

I trudge to the car after saying goodbye to Olly and Caya. Inside, the heater must have been running, because it’s still warm. I sink into the seat cushions like melted cheese and close my eyes, happy to leave it to others to take care of me.