Terrestrial Alien ✔

Chapter 41: Nothing Adds Up

Maggie

"Are you... Are you sure it's alright, doll? Because they're uh, they're glarin' up a storm over there, and it's givin' me the 'jeebies."

Connor's southern twang has me looking up from picking at my lunch, and I find him looking over my shoulder, across the cafeteria. When he drags his gaze back, he looks to Ying rather than me, and I realise he'd been addressing her.

Ying's face goes a little warm at Connor's attention, and she immediately drops her gaze to her cafeteria meal. At my request, she's sitting next to me, though she looks about ready to shrink in on herself at any moment.

I just... I had to invite her.

Monday I'd come to school and I'd realised I was alone. Both my closest friends are gone. The table had felt so empty in this huge, noisy cafeteria, and if it hadn't been for Connor and Ying joining me, I don't know what I would have done with myself all lunch.

Ying turns to glance between us, her head practically ducked between her shoulders, and she looks for whomever Connor is talking about. When she spots them, her eyes go wide, and she immediately turns back to face the table.

"Them?" She repeats awkwardly. "Th-they're alright... Don't... Don't worry about it." She keeps her eyes trained on her desert, and prods her fork around in the bland apple crumble. "They're... They're more upset with me than they are you, in any case."

Connor looks startled. "What? Why?"

"Why indeed?" I agree, setting my sandwich down to give her my full attention. My question is confused and indignant, it seems to embarrass Ying.

She only becomes more flustered as I turn to look behind us, and she tries to stop me, but I spot the table Connor had been eyeing nervously. Two other girls of similar nationality to Ying are seated, eatting their lunch and glaring over at us with clear disdain.

I remember them as the same girls who had chased Joshua off when he'd tried to approach Ying, when she'd been mysteriously upset with him.

Ying yanks on my shirt sleeve and I turn back, looking down at her with concern.

"Don't be mad at them for me..." Ying implores quietly, her gaze darting from me to Connor. "It's my fault they're mad. I didn't tell them I was going to sit with you guys this week..."

"No, it's not your fault." I tell her firmly, meeting her dark gaze. "Sure, they might be frustrated, but if they have a problem with this, they can come talk to us about it, rather than glaring across the room. Alright?"

I know this probably helps nothing, but I can't help but sit up straighter, turning to shoot her other friends a scowl. It's funny to see the two girls' expressions simultaneously grow shocked and affronted, and I turn back to my meal with a smile of satisfaction.

Ying doesn't seem to know what else to say, but she'd watched the exchange with a flush, and when she turns back to her own food, she has a bit of a smile of her own.

I don't know what it is about Ying that makes me like her so much, but the friendship was almost immediate. She's just so quiet and small and perpetually nervous—combined with my natural urge to constantly be bold and to forge my own path, I can't help but want to nudge her along as well. Draw her out of her shell, maybe.

And I'd say I'm doing remarkably well, actually.

I like talking to her, because it's sweet to see her slowly have more and more to say as she grows more and more comfortable with me. It was painful, at first, trying to talk to her, but I've learned that the trick is to just be there and to be ready to listen, when she finally is ready to say what's on her mind.