Ladies' Choice (re-uploading SOON)

CHAPTER TEN

When I was a kid, I was only ever obsessed with two things: the weather and if our old tabby cat was the same cat as our neighbors. My mom insisted that I was seeing things or I was just making it up, and our neighbors didn't even own a cat... but Timothy Stripes had a recognizable look of disdain and one cloudy eye from a hard life on the streets in his kitten days. A cat with the same features could be seen lurking behind their curtains. Years later, Timothy Stripes went to the cat barn in the afterlife, and I never saw the cat in that house ever again.

The weather was a different kind of obsession.

Fewer assumptions and crazed theories and more like something I actively worried about. It didn't make sense that the weather could just suddenly take a turn. It was bizarre that a man in a suit on TV could say it was going to be sunny all day and then it would rain. Somehow, they still paid that guy to be wrong. As a kid, I'd ask my parents about the weather and I'd glare at the sky, daring it to change on me. I had a book about cloud variants with hundreds of photos. My favorite were cirrus clouds, like brush strokes through the sky. They were especially beautiful late in the day, soaking up the colors from a sunset.

Now, it was a part of my morning routine. Wake up, brush my teeth, and check the weather forecast. Always checked the radar the way my grandpa taught me. I've never told anybody about this little obsession. Not even Elena or Skipper. I figured they would just mark it up to be another weird thing about Zoey Summers being over prepared. Zoey's being too much again.

Now, there was something else I obsessed over.

If Daniella was going to reply to my embarrassing letter or not.

The moment after I dropped the letter into that locker and ran away, I not only regretted writing it, but that morning when I decided to get out of bed. Honestly, I should be allowed to turn back time sixteen years and try again. Every single word I inscribed onto paper was the most embarrassing thing I've ever said in my life and I didn't even say this stuff out loud. I've got the IQ of the thermostat. It was all embarrassing. All stupid. I didn't deserve to breathe the same air as the well-adjusted regular people around me.

Right after my first class, the locker was empty.

She had my letter.

She had my reply.

She was probably disappointed it wasn't from Mona.

School whirled by in a blur. I didn't even make eye contact with Daniella that day. We avoided each other successfully, even down to being at our lockers. She ghosted me, but every corner existed draw me in, threatening me with a jump scare where she might pop out and surprise me.

 I couldn't help it. I asked Loman, "Have you seen Daniella today?"

"I did," he said, taking out his books and a very large monster energy drink.

"And how did she look?"

"Like normal, I guess." He popped the can and a fleck hit my cheek. No hesitation, Loman started chugging. 

"Which means?"

"Like Daniella." He took a breath. "I don't see how she could look like anyone else."

"But what about her mood?"

"About the same."

"Thank you," I said because I couldn't take it anymore and tried to spend the rest of the school day like a regular human. No practice today meant we didn't have to do the next challenge at the school. Allison elected us to go to the cheapest pizza shop and discuss the logistics of the "favor" task... and also to get cheep greasy pizza.