"Hey, did you see Nikki's latest post? That new haircut is cool." - the ever-popular Liora. She gossips really loudly, and I could hear her and her friend Sylvia from 10 feet away.
"You think that's cool, you should have seen Beryl's this summer - the green highlights looks so good with her blonde." - Sylvia replied
"Ugh, no, that blonde is so fake..."
"Girl, shut up right now. Check out that blue in her hair!"
"I know, right?" Sylvia flipped her hair. "That crop hoodie is so cute, I want one!!"
"Who is she?"
They were talking about me. I knew it. I walked quietly, silently listening. They were too obnoxious to actually be aware of the fact I could hear it all.
"She's new, I think..."
I walked past them, leaving them to whatever else they had to say. School felt the same otherwise, plus a few passing glances. It was probably the hair, but I don't know.
A group of boys this time. I knew them too. The very same jocks those two girls simp over constantly.
"Yo, you watched last night's match?"
"I know, man... It was insane. Did you see the way Boron just shot it right into the goal?"
"Number 5 for the win, bro. The absolute GOAT."
The boys shared a fist bump and walked off, as I walked away myself.
The hallway was full of teenage chatter, a familiar yet alien soundscape under this new guise. Snippets of conversations drifted around me like pollen in the air.
"Did you finish the chemistry homework? I swear, those equilibrium problems are designed to make us cry." - A stressed voice, clutching a textbook.
"OMG, did you hear about Mr. Radon and Ms. Katrina? Apparently..." - A conspiratorial whisper, quickly fading into the general hum.
"My mom is totally freaking out about finals already. It's only September!" - An exasperated sigh. "School opened two months ago!"
I kept my head down, trying to absorb the rhythm of this new environment, the subtle social cues that Lexi would supposedly be picking up on. It was a strange out-of-body experience, observing my old world through a new lens.
Then, I heard Carly's voice. It was sharper than the general murmur, tinged with an edge I knew all too well. She was talking to Archie, just a few lockers down. I slowed my pace, pretending to fiddle with the strap of my backpack, trying to catch their words without being obvious.
"…so what even happened while I was gone?" Carly asked, her tone flat. "Everyone's acting weird, and there's this… thing."
"What thing?" Archie replied, his voice casual. I could picture him leaning against the lockers, probably scrolling through his phone, brushing a stray red hair off his face.
"This… structure. By the oak tree. It wasn't there before." There was a pause, and I could almost feel Carly's gaze sweeping across the hallway. "And everyone keeps… looking at me funny."
"Oh, that," Archie said, a slight shift in his tone. "That's… they put up a memorial. For Aura."
The word hung in the air, a heavy, invisible weight. My breath hitched. A memorial. For me. For the me that was supposed to be dead.
Carly was silent for a long moment. Then, her voice, when it came, was low and tight. "A memorial? For Aura? Why?"
Archie's reply was muffled, something about the workshop, the accident, the school wanting to… "honor her memory."
Carly scoffed, a harsh, humorless sound. "Honor her memory? Half the people in this school probably couldn't even recognize her in a classroom."
There was another pause, thick with unspoken grief and confusion. Then, Carly's voice again, quieter now, but laced with a new note of something… sadness?
"I know her mom explained everything, the sickness and all but still... I can't believe she died at like 16! That's too young... there's no way..."
Archie didn't know what to say... except a poorly timed "Hey, check out that girl's blue hair. That's new."
"Must be one of those 'popular' kids... I bet she put that on her story as soon as she did it." Carly scoffed.
It's true. I took a first day selfie the minute I arrived.
To be continued
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