Beautiful Bedlam (6 page)

“That’s all you have to say?” Rose asked dubiously and squinted at her.

“Just leave it, Rose.” Noah reproached, but he might as well have not been sitting sandwiched between the pair, they continue to argue over his voice.

“What do you expect me to say? That I’m mad? Okay, I’m mad. What am I going to do about it? Nothing. Emotion is nothing but a fruitless and useless heavy cross all humans have to bear. It’s pointless acting out in anger. Is it so wrong that I’d prefer to not revert back to a primitive age? Excuse me if I don’t want to beat my chest with my fists and lunge around aimlessly expressing my despair and anger at the world. The world would be a better place if we stopped crying about our problems and just got on with the living.” Sienna hissed sharply and breathed hard not realizing that her chest was heaving with the emotion she so vehemently condemned and tried to suppress. Rose didn’t know what to say.

In all her sixteen years, she had never, not once, seen this side of Sienna. Sienna Rivers was the most docile mile-mannered, trample all over me if you wish and I’ll never utter a word against you type of girl. She had suddenly flipped and done a one eighty on her overnight.

“What’s wrong with you today? You’re never like this.” Rose sputtered.

“Like what, Rose? Is my honesty a little too refreshing for you?” Sienna retorted irreverently. She had always wondered what it felt on the other side of dishing and taking game. She never thought she’d enjoy cruelty so much. Perhaps she had more of her mother in her blood than she thought.
“Mean. You’re being so mean.” Rose said quietly.

“This guy is back in town all of two minutes and he already has beautiful girls fighting all over him.” Noah chuckled and shook his head wondering how Logan did it. Sienna felt her heart weigh heavy. Her shoulders slumped. ‘
Great. Apparently, my alternate new edgier bitchy persona has a conscience
’ Sienna thought wryly and sighed. What was she doing? She wasn’t that girl who took her problems out on the world.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude. I’m just really tired. I didn’t get much sleep last night.” Sienna felt as though she had spent her entire life repeating those two words ‘I’m sorry’; she wondered if it were finally losing its gravitas and meaning. Rose shifted in her seat uncomfortably, unsure what to make of her friend.

“Its okay. Its just I’ve-
we’ve
never seen this side of you. You sure you’re alright?” she asked apprehensively.

“Trust me, guys, I’m fine.” She reassured them with a beaming white smile. She ran her fingers through her dark locks. She did this when she was agitated. No matter what she said Noah knew she was still unnerved by Logan’s return.
Logan
frickin’
Jackson
. What could he say about him? Noah knew he didn’t hold a flame against the burning inferno of adoration and love she had for him. They shared a unique bond that left anyone and everyone else in the room feeling like they were the third wheel intruding upon an intimate moment. He knew they had a purely platonic relationship but you’d never have thought it from looking at them, always whispering in each other’s ears, exchanging private glances not speaking a word aloud yet a whole conversation seemed to pass between those eyes.

Noah thought back to elementary school, the way Sienna barely had any girlfriends, choosing only to swing off monkey bars and play football with the boys. Then in middle school when she became this insufferable know-it-all who seemed to use big words, knew random things about the Peloponnesian war and was obsessed with Greek mythology. He had hoped her innate nerdiness would cause a drift between the two but no that only brought the pair closer together. She became the Miss Moneypenny to his James Bond. And this had been before the blossoming phase of Sienna’s adolescence. She had always been pretty but flawed by one aspect or the other but now nature had done its magic on her. She was tall and willowy and graceful yet curvy beyond belief for such a slender girl. She was stunning and she didn’t even know it…not yet. She smiled at him pleasantly and looked out towards the window clearly already lost in her thoughts…probably thinking about him. Noah’s heart flipped and flopped anxiously like a fish out of water gasping for air, or water in its case. She had no idea what a single thing like a smile could do to him. She had no idea the hold she had over him. The sheer beauty she possessed. He didn’t even have the heart to tell her that he didn’t lose more than a hundred pounds of weight for himself, not because of his health, but because he was so vain, so eager to shed his chubby image, so desperate for her to see him for more than what he was to her. A friend. The first time in years he finally had the chance to confess his feelings for her. The timing was almost perfect. Almost being the opportune word.

Sienna looked out the window and stared at the big burnt orange crabapple tree, more particularly at the dove sitting on its branch side by side a large black raven. It was odd. She could only see the back of their feathered little bodies, which barely moved an inch. There they sat in the shade on a sunny autumn day without a care in the world. What surprised and confused Sienna the most was the way the raven had its sheeny shiny black lustrous feathered wing extended slightly almost as if it had its wing shielding or protecting the dove. She didn’t think she’d ever seen something so bizarre yet so beautiful.

“Ukh! Move!” were the words that drew her attention away from her serene thoughts. Bethany Simmons sashayed her way through the cafeteria in her little blue and white cheerleading outfit with a skirt that Sienna was pretty sure broke just about every hemline rule in the high school appropriate school wear rulebook not that anyone cared. Bethany’s parents were filthy rich and made regular contributions to the school and her mother was on the PTA board so she could just about get away with a lot of things most other kids couldn’t. She had her crow black hair tied up in a ponytail, which she used as a weapon to slap the poor kids who dared to come too close to the personal vicinity that was Her Royal Bitchiness’s.

“Hey Rose, fat boy, McKenna.” She addressed the three of them as she came towards their table. She went so far as to bring out a little vile of perfume she had in her purse, sprayed it approximately three times in the air, then put a couple of napkins down on the chair before sitting down next to them as they watched in disbelief and wry amusement.

“Sienna and Noah. We’ve only been in every class together since I don’t know…the dawn of time? And don’t call him fat when you know he clearly isn’t. What do you want, Beth?” Sienna asked cutting to the chase. Bethany grinned and went so far as to pull one of Noah’s cheeks before he could get the chance to pull away.

“Aw, you’ll always be that fat insecure boy following McKenna around like a lost puppy. But hey, I don’t judge! I actually have a couple of friends who are totally in to the whole stretch mark hanging skin type of guys! I can totally hook you up, if you want?” she asked with a wicked smirk on her beautiful face. Sienna was astounded by how cruel Bethany Simmons could be and this was catching her in a good mood.

“If you wanted to hook up with me, you could have just asked.” He replied with a mischievous (
flirty?)
smile of his own. Bethany actually giggled in an unusually high voice clearly loving the attention. Sienna and Rose looked at each other with wide disturbed eyes. “Ew. Stop it. This feels wrong.” Sienna admonished and pulled a disgusted face. Even the idea of Noah and Bethany made her feel sick. She didn’t know why. Oh yeah, perhaps because she had tormented and made fun of his weight her entire life?

“What’s up, Beth?” Rose asked curious to know why the queen bee was slumming it.

“I just, wait, I’ve been meaning to ask all day. What the hell happened to your eye?” Bethany asked and looked at Sienna’s black eyed worriedly.

“I-“

“I don’t care about your eye!
God
, McKenna, keep up.” she cackled and flicked her hair in Sienna’s face.

Sienna’s grip on her plastic fork tightened and involuntarily began slowly sliding across the table. It probably would have made it all the way to her external jugular vein had it not been for Noah sliding her arm back without taking his eyes off the spectacle that was Sienna’s no doubt long time perhaps even arch nemesis if she were to go all comic book on her life.

“I’m here to offer you losers a chance to redeem yourselves.” She said as she twirled her dark locks around her fingers.

“Excuse me?” Sienna sputtered incredulously.

“Four O’clock. Gym room. Cheerleading tryouts. Be there. You’re welcome.”

“Erm, no.” Sienna immediately replied. This response was instantly met with a pointed boot against her shin.

“Ow!” she jumped and rubbed it.

“Of course we will.” Rose said graciously as Bethany rose from her seat and began sauntering away. “Not sure it’s my thing but thanks for the offer. Both of them.” Noah remarked dryly over his shoulder.

“Wait, why are you doing this?” Sienna hissed suspiciously wondering why the evil queen would so kindly offer up a blood red deceptively delicious looking apple.

“Oh my god, I can’t believe this!” Rose squealed and squeezed Sienna’s hand.

“Me neither. Can you imagine me flipping my legs in the air with pompoms flying in every direction and doing spirit fingers?” Sienna shuddered and laughed.

“Oh come on, Sienna. You’d be great at it! You’re the one with the gymnast background. I’m the one that needs to be worried!” Rose cried and began nervously ripping the napkin in her hands to shreds.

“Wait! We’re not actually going!” Sienna retorted incredulously.

“Oh yes
we
are, if
we
want a ride home from school, because
we
ditched our broken little bike, comprende?” Rose screwed her eyes at Sienna daring her to defy her. Surely she didn’t have the guts to stick up for herself twice one day. Sienna looked to Noah in a state of alarm and panic but he just leaned back gesturing his hands up in the air, his body language screaming ‘leave me out of it’.

“Why is cheerleading even so important to you?” Sienna asked curiously.

“Because look at us.” Rose sighed.

“What’s wrong with us?” Noah asked defensively.

“Nothing. Nothing’s wrong with us but nothing’s great either. Don’t you guys want to be great? To look back at your yearbook photos and remember the good old days?” she asked, her big blue eyes imploring them both for the truth. 

“Erm, no because usually the people looking back don’t have much to look forward to. I don’t want to be one of those people driving around in their pick up truck, watching every high school football game trying to relive my glory days. I’m fine where I am.” Noah countered with a small he tried to suppress but failed.

“Same here.” Sienna agreed.

“Look, high school. It’s sort of like Hollywood. You have your Paris Hiltons and you’re your Lindsay Lohans.” Rose said airily and jerked her head to the side towards where a couple of girls in their year group sat; Melissa and Becca sat side-by-side eating their salads with their expensive designer bags by their sides and their thumbs constantly twiddling on their IPhones.

“Full of money, self entitlement and a life full of bad decisions lying ahead of them?” Sienna commented amusingly.

“The partygoers. Say what you want about that Becca but that girl can throw a heck of a party and she can make or break you if she wanted to.” Rose said adamantly causing her friends to smirk furthermore adding to her annoyance that they weren’t taking her seriously.

“Then you have your, you know you’re weird funny guys over there who happen to take a liking to the green leaf if you know what I mean. They’re the Seth Rogen, James Franco, sort of gang.” She added in a low whisper as she pointedly stared at a bunch of kids Sienna only knew vaguely. There was the tiny Goth girl Talia and two twin brothers who were notorious for having hippie new age parents and always being half-baked.

“I love Seth and James. They’re so funny and their movies are awesome.” Sienna interrupted quickly.

“You’re missing the point.” Rose hissed her wolverine claws were probably retracting right now as she ripped a new one in to another innocent napkin.

“Here come the Kobe Bryants and Peyton Mannings of our world.” She said just as the jocks of the school came bundling laughing and hooting about something. She hadn’t seen so many of the guys gathered together in a herd before, laughing jovially as if they had just won the high school national football championship or something.

“Oh come on, you’re going to compare
these
guys to the greats?” Noah retorted sardonically just as one of the varsity jacket cladded boys pushed their way straight to the front of the line for the snack bar.

“So who are we?” Sienna asked suddenly eager to get a unique insight in to Rose’s bizarre train of thought and perspective of them.

“We’re the kids people know vaguely but have the potential to go mega viral. We’re the… Twilight kids!” Rose paused for suspense before making her announcement with glee as if it were the greatest comparison she had ever made.

“I don’t want to be the Twilight kids!” Sienna groaned sullenly. It wasn’t that she didn’t love and loathe those movies with equal measure because she’d be lying if she didn’t cop to the fact that she wasn’t one of those hyperventilating fourteen year olds once upon a time. It’s just that she was hoping that she gave off more of an Emma Stone vibe.

“Can I at least be the dude with the crazy abs?” Noah asked clearly mocking Rose. She gave them her typical ‘why won’t they understand my genius speech?’ look.

“Okay, okay, we’re sorry. Go ahead.” He quickly said, his lips pressed firmly together. Sienna had her hand over her mouth trying to suppress her laughter.

“Okay, I’m confused. If this is Hollywood, where are all the A-listers?” Noah asked exasperatedly. God, he’d never have thought he’d ever ask that question whilst looking around staring at the faces in the cafeteria, most of who had laughed, tormented and mocked him about his weight his entire life. He saw a couple of girls staring at him from time to time and wondered why before realizing that they clearly liked whom they saw. They had no idea it was fat Noah who they all yelled at to build an ark so he could go sink it in the bottom of the Atlantic. Kids could be mean.