Chapter Four : Thoughts inside.
Standing waiting for the shower, Lori looked still very tired, even though she had finally gotten some sleep. She saw the line that had developed before she had came, and wished she had woken up ten minutes earlier than she had. She reminded herself that she was not the last person in the line, which helped her frustrated state.
She waited quietly, still feeling sad about the departure of her girlfriend, yet there was that tendril of optimism that wove it’s way through her emotions. She still was so surprised that Tabby’s little gift and her suggestion had actually worked. She just sighed, as she waited.
As she stood in the line, she could not help overhearing the whispers that were flying around in the line about her and Megan breaking up, although the facts they told one another surrounding it was not even close to be right. Lori sighed and decided to ignore all of this, as gossip was a real standard around Haven, and speculation about their break-up would happen, no matter who knew exactly what had happened, the facts would get all twisted up. It was inevitable.
Tabby came in to the shower room, and took one look at the line that was there. She shook her head, and sighed at the time she knew it was going to take, then saw Lori in line. Smiling, she went over to where the blonde girl was.
" You look a little better for wear than last night.." She said boldly, as Lori looked at her.
" I do.." She smiled, letting a small giggle of embarrassment out. " I feel much better, thank you."
" Took my ‘little’ advice, didn’t you?" Tabby said, smirking very broadly.
" It was... interesting..." Lori blushed even harder, understanding her friends question was more than what she had said. " Yes... I did."
" It helped me out." Tabby grinned, proudly. "I might still be a basket case if I had not." She winked.
" I think I understand now..." Lori said, still blushing quite brightly. " But not totally how it did help."
Tabby grinned largely, as she saw the expression on her shorter friend’s face. She nodded in satisfaction.
"I told you... it don’t fix the problem, but it does set your emotions differently... heck it even makes you pamper you, in that way. Its like an antidepressant, only you don’t have to get it from a doctor."" She looked at the girl, and took a breath. " You know, there is a big chance you will bump into her at some point before school is let out for the summer... Have you thought how your going to handle it?"
Lori looked at her friend, a blank look on her face. Tabby nodded, as she knew that look of indecision.
" You don’t know what you will do or say... right?"
"Guess I have not thought of that yet..." Admitted the young blonde girl. " I think about it, worry over it and then I get sad all over again."
" Your mind never stops... right?" Queried Tabitha.
" It is just that..." Nodded the girl back.
Tabby put her hand on Lori’s shoulder, and looked at her squarely in the face.
" When the time comes, and you two meet... you’ll know just what to do." Tabby said, smiling. " Just be yourself, that’s all."
" Be myself?" Echoed the blond girl, playing with her robe tie as she mulled the suggestion over.
" Easier said than done, I know but if you do... things will always work themselves out in the end." Continued the girl. " That... I know."
" Did you do that?" Lori asked, feeling the girl’s words hit her.
" Wish I would have known all of this in my first break-up... that is why I am telling you." Tabitha said, with an air of seriousness that was different than her normal jovial self. " I suggested it because... I see a bit of me in you... gotta admit."
Lori nodded, as the girl started to walk of to take her place at the end of the long line for the shower stalls.
" I’ll sit with you at breakfast, if that will help." Tabitha suggested suddenly, turning to speak over her shoulder. " Couldn’t hurt to have someone there for you."
" That might be nice." Smiled the blond girl, as Tabby continued to walk off.
She was not looking forward to the moment Megan and herself finally met up, but knew Tabby was right. The time will come when they would meet face to face. Haven was a big campus, but it was a enclosed type, of world, as if it was in it’s own dimension and apart from the world outside of it’s walls, regardless of the numbers of girl’s that went here.
With that little thought still rambling in her brain, Lori returned to waiting for her turn in the showers. Her mind had seemed to slow down for the time, but only a little.
An hour later, Lori and her friend sat in the dining hall, after going through the task of showers. They had taken a seat in a corner table, just off of the main entrance way. The two had steaming cups of coffees in their hands, as a large group of servers raced around bringing the meals to everyone.
Tabby was busy talking to a heavy set girl that sat at the next table, laughing over something they were discussing, but Lori was not involved in the conversation. She was nervously watching around her, her mind seemed to be whirling a mile a minute, her stomach in knots.
Suddenly, there was Megan amongst the arriving girls. The beautiful tall girl had walked in not flanked by anyone, her head sightly tilted forward and her satchel hung rather limply from her hand. The tall girl looked so very exhausted, her eyes seemed to be void of any hint of their usual sparkle, the brown colored was replaced by darkness.
Megan suddenly stopped in her tracks, her eyes suddenly caught the sight of Lori. She just stood there, staring, her eyes seemingly tired too.
The blonde girl made a stern face, as the anger she had been feeling suddenly overtook her all at once. She turned her head with a snap, averting her eyes from the girl, as she felt the anger inside of her seethe... fueled with the deepness of the hurt. All she could think on, was the girl was purposely leaving Haven, without even telling her about it beforehand.
Megan saw the girl had turned from her, and her heart dropped in dejection. She lowered her head again, and simply walked on, disappearing into the throng of girls that were jamming in to the hall to get their breakfast. Not a single time more, did she take a look back.
Tabby saw what had happened, and leaned over the table to hold Lori’s hand.
" It hurts what you had to do for yourself.." She said, looking right at the girl. " It will get better..."
Lori nodded, but wondered if this pain and anger would ever go away. She took a deep breath, and sipped on her coffee. Tabby smiled.
" Let’s get your mind off of this stuff for awhile..." She said. " Tell me...um... where are you going for summer vacation?"
" No where..." She replied, her voice now flat. " My mom and dad are still filming their movie in far eastern Europe, and they had payed for me to just be able to stay here at Haven for those months."
" Your going to be alone for the entire summer?" Echoed Tabby, shocked to here the news. " That really bites!"
Tabitha felt sad for the girl. not only would her friend be alone for the two months, but would have to deal with losing Megan too. She thought hard of something good to say, something that might help her small friend. She was drawing almost a blank with that.
" There are a handful of other girl’s summering here in Haven..." She finally said, really trying to help out Lori. " You won’t be alone."
Lori looked up and stared right into her friend’s eyes.
" I feel like that now... I am alone" She said, pushing her coffee cup away, along with the half eaten plate of food. She was beginning to have tears run down her cheeks. " Excuse me, please."
Lori stood up and raced from the table, as the tears began to fall harder as her heart literally hurt. She frantically looked for Megan one more time, then when not seeing the girl anywhere in the crowd, left the dinning hall quicky, shielding her face from others. She did not want to share her hurt with anyone right then.
Tabby just sighed, and went back to her conversation with the heavier set girl, knowing just to let the girl go off alone. In the back of her mind, she worried about Lori.
" C’mon Tabby..." She coaxed herself. " Think of what you might be able to do here! Think, Dammit!"
Tabby’s face suddenly lit up as if she had a spotlight hit her. She rose up from the table suddenly, and began to walk off with a speed step.
Her friend looked at her with a strange stare.
" Where are you going, Tabs?" The heavy set girl asked.
" I have to run..." She said, darting into the crowd of people. " I’ll catch up with you later..."
The girl shook her head, as she ignored the rush that Tabitha had gone off with. She sighed and returned to her meal in front of her.
" Typical of her..." Mumbled the girl.
Megan was sitting at the far end of the hall, out on the patio that led to their community flower garden that made the view from the Dining Hall so pleasing to everyone. The short haired girl seemed to be in heavy thought, her hands clasped around a mug of coffee. She seemed so sullen, her eyes drooping partially from the fact she had gotten no sleep, and mainly from her heart sinking.
A motion caught her eye, and she looked over. The thin form that was there was Tabitha, a girl from the tenth grade. She knew this girl from the athletics board, and from being Lori’s friend on the same dormitory floor
" May I help you?" She asked, putting on her Presidential face.
" We have to talk..." Said the girl rather bluntly.
" The year end meeting about athletics is later this week..." Began the girl, her now business like face not hiding the sadness the girl held in. " The pre-meeting is scheduled for tomorrow..."
Tabitha shook her head, making the Haven president stop in mid-sentence
" It’s not about Athletics... or anything else..." Said the girl, almost sternly. " Its about Lori."
" Lori?" Said the girl, a look of worry came over her.
" Let’s walk and talk, Miss President." Said the girl. " I have a few things to ask, and other things to discuss with you."
" Is Lori all right?"
" I will fill you in on Lori... and what you have done to her..." Started the girl, adding. " Promise you’ll listen, and tell me everything?"
Megan nodded, agreeing to the conditions that the girl had set out for this impromptu meeting. She stood and followed the girl.
Tabby nodded, happy that went better than what she had thought it would, as she watched the girl join her.
The school student leader moved to stand beside Tabitha, and nodded that she was ready to walk. Tabitha took a deep breath, as the words would be hard to bring out, to let this girl understand everything.
The two walked off together, Tabitha talking and the taller young lady listening intently.