stigmata;

Peter laughed. That wasn’t a picture he wanted to keep in his head, in fear that those old people would be him one day. “Really?” He had to think about that one. He remembered spending a lot of his time playing with the other boys around town. The whole ‘girls have cooties!’ epidemic was still in play back then. “You’re probably remembering right. I was around Andy, Matt and Chris a lot.”

“Yes! I mean, at least I remember seeing them hang out quite a bit.” She wrinkled her nose at the mention of Matt, but did her best to hide her disdain. “I don’t think I have ever talked with Andy. He seems nice, though. And well, he clearly has a great taste in friends.” Lizzy added as she teasingly raised an eyebrow.

“It’s too fucking hot.” Nora stated bitterly, fanning herself in the library and hoping to distract herself from the beads of sweat rolling down her forehead.

“I feel like you should get used to it.” Lizzy locked her eyes on Nora’s. “Your life choices are setting a path that will take you to a far more scorching hot place”

“Oh yeah?” He teased. “Smart. I try to stay away at this time too, yeah.” The last thing he wanted to do after being crammed in a school building all day with every kid around town, was join them all once again in a small diner. Sometimes he couldn’t help but follow, those milkshakes were too hard to resist. 

“Yeah. It’s that and old people who don’t have teeth anymore, so they have to go with ice-cream instead of burgers.” She continued with a smirk on her lips. “You know what I was thinking the other day? I don’t really remember seeing you around that much when we were kids. I remember Essie, though. But she was close with Nat back then.”

“Sometimes I can be.” He shrugged. They both ordered quickly when the waiter came, sticking to their plans of a banana split and pancakes. “It seems a lot more mellow here.” Which Peter didn’t dislike. Freddies was so often filled with kids his age, hence the rowdiness. 

“Yeah, I guess only the truly cool and chill people come here.” She chuckled softly. “I go to Freddies too, but going there after school is never a good idea. Freddie tends to always be packed, but well, it’s always especially crazy at this time of the day.”

“please,” faith said, her scheming smile playing on her lips. she stood from her desk to sit next to lizzy on the bed, brushing some of lizzy’s red hair off her shoulders. “you just have to make him see that your side– our side– is the right one. he’s already there, really. you just have to solidify it. anything she says will just make her look crazy. we’ll be on our best behavior around him, and he’ll see that we’re good, kind, god-loving people. and his sad, pathetic sister just isn’t.”

eyeing faith as she spoke, lizzy let the corner of her lips lift up into a faint smile. “you’re right. like always, really.” she rested her head on faith’s shoulder. “anyway, i think i’m done talking about essie and the rest of them. how’s your brother doing?”

Rebecca sat on the shore of the lake, the toes of her boots getting muddy, drawing. From here, the lake looked as placid as a kept secret, uniformly grey-blue on account of the rain that had fallen early that morning and still hung heavy in the clouds above. But Rebecca knew there was more to the lake than that glassy surface. She hoisted up her father’s binoculars, huge old lenses encased in black plastic, which her father said had been handed down through the family. Through them she could see the texture of the water, the minute waves that stirred in the gentle breeze. This was frequently the shape of things: flat on the surface, but underneath, churning.

“Oh.” Lizzy didn’t really expect to see anyone at the lake that morning. Especially Rebecca. She was actually somewhat avoiding the girl ever since she came to her with her wild theories, that really weren’t that crazy at all. But no, Lizzy didn’t want to take part on any of that drama, since it reeked of trouble. In fact, she didn’t even know what exactly she could possible do to help Becca. “I’m sorry, do you want to be alone?”

He slowly flipped through the menu and only looked up when Lizzy spoke. “Sounds good.” He nodded and smiled. He wasn’t entirely familiar with everything on the menu, so he tried to take his time to see what he really wanted. “Do you come here a lot?”

Putting her menu down, she returned the smile to Peter and signed to one of the waiters to come pick up their order. “Yeah, it’s usually my go-to hang out spot!” She rested her elbows on the table in front of them. “Are you more of a Freddies kind of guy?”

“Thanks.” He added a nod to go with his words. The atmosphere of Carla’s was always a bit strange to him. He didn’t see many of the people he knew from school there often, they always chose Freddies first. His eyes scanned the place, spotting a few open counter seats and booths. “Where do you want to sit?”

Narrowing her eyes, she spotted an empty booth in the back. “Over there seems nice.” The booth was hidden well enough to give them some privacy, but visible enough to not seem like they were doing anything inappropriate. Sitting down, she reached for one of the menus on the table and scanned through it. “Oh, I really want a peanut butter and chocolate banana split, but it might actually be too big for me. Are you cool with sharing?”

“the harlot,” faith corrected after the fact, letting out a sigh. “how trivial. why can’t she just accept that some people are happy? peter and you are, like, perfect. she’s just mad she doesn’t know what that feels like.”

“i know but…” she sighed. “she is his sister. what if he believes in her vile lies? i think peter likes me, but… well, if he had to pick between me and essie, he’d probably go with her without any hesitation.”

He’d given her minutes, and was timing it on his watch. One thing he hated was the post-fuck lingering. Since it was midday the latest girl was more receptive in going out first, she kissed him before she left, leaving her phone number in his hand. With her hopeful eyes searing into him Luke pocketed it, and made a vague plan to call her sometime. She attempted to stay in their bubble, to gain something more solid out of the nothing he presented her. Many had tried and none had succeeded, he decided it was time he angled his watch to show that the streets would fill again and church service would be getting out. Halfway through the usual lines, how great she was, how beautiful, her eyes flicked to the intended target. An unsubtle way of saying, she better get on her way if she didn’t want her friends asking questions. It worked and she was out the door in seconds when the realization dawned on her. 

The cafeteria was rather empty at that time of the day. Most people were already done with their meals, and were now just casually chatting with each other as they waited for the sign of the bell to force them to return to classes. Lizzy sat all by herself at the usual table. Mrs. Morison had stopped her for a “quick” chat that had lasted long enough for Lizzy to not only be forced to eat alone, but also to have no other option but to take the stalest pizza slice that the cafeteria offered, so she really wasn't in the best mood.

It was a strange thing when Natalie Carthright was in doubt and Lizzy Carthright was in certainty. It was always Natalie who believed so openly in strange impossible things with funny names like magic and love meanwhile Lizzy scarcely even believed in herself. “Of course” the girl had said. It was the same “of course” she always used, the same “of course” she used when people asked her if she really had G o d running through her veins. Confident, but something else waved behind her irises…something terribly ominous.  “Of c o u r s e,” she had said because it would be a sin not to. Bless her — so was lying.

She could really only smile at Nat’s new question. But not in the fake way that she usually did, where she just wanted to seem amiable and get people to bend to her will. It was a true and honest smile. “I guess it must different once you get married and start having a family.” It was a shot in the dark really, since like most times, Lizzy spoke without actually meaning the words that came out of her mouth. She didn’t really know what to say to her sister. In fact, she wasn’t even sure where her sister got those kind of things into her head. Well, she actually had a big suspicion that it came from all the books and DVD’s that she hid around her room and from Lizzy, but Lizzy didn’t want to have anything to do with it. Which usually didn’t stop her from hiding them herself whenever Nat got sloppy.

“You really don’t have to do that for me, Lizzy. Thankful for offering though,” he responded, perplexed by her sudden interest in him. Granted she didn’t go out of her way to tease him like the others, but something didn’t add up for Will. It didn’t feel like a prank, but Will still felt nervous about being so close to Lizzy. He was an abomination and he feared being exposed every minute of his life. “I suppose you could say that. Math isn’t as time consuming as the other subjects and it helps that there’s a definite right or wrong answer. ”

“I do. I know it probably doesn’t seem like it, but I like you, Bill. You seem nice. And as I said, I don’t think you deserve all the teasing.” She could tell that the boy was nervous. But Lizzy wasn’t really sure on what to do, since well, when was he not nervous? “Not a big math fan, to be honest. And I actually find it to be rather time consuming. But I totally get what you mean.” She finished her sentence, flashing her best smile. “Do you enjoy any other subjects?”

“A sad and bitter one, apparently.” He raised an eyebrow at her. He knew it was a stupid choice of words, but maybe she wouldn’t care. Lizzy didn’t seem to judge him for his every move. He laughed softly along with her, and only stopped when she linked their arms. It took him a bit by surprise. “Thank the heavens for that.”

“Consider today the turning point of your life!” Not being able to read into Peter’s body language to understand if her move had gone too far, she released herself from him and took two large steps to reach the diner’s door. Holding it open for her date, she took a small bow. “After you, please.”

Lydia had to think. She knew she couldn’t tell the truth, that wasn’t an option. She was already in trouble, but Natalie didn’t have to be. It wasn’t Natalie’s fault that Lydia hadn’t had the forethought to look before knocking, or come up with a better excuse than sleepwalking. Even if the whole mess had been completely Natalie’s fault, Lydia wouldn’t sell her out. That would be cruel and selfish, and Natalie didn’t deserve that. Besides, Lydia thought she had a better chance of getting out of trouble than Natalie did. Lydia couldn’t put her finger on why, but she knew that something in her was invincible. She wouldn’t burn.

In a way, it was certainly better for Natalie to hang out with Lydia than with Luke, that was for sure. But the lesser of two evils wasn’t exactly something that made Liz happy.

“But most of the people there are usually at their own camps and vacation houses and things,” she clarified. “I go most days when I get that chance and time, but it’s hard to find time when I have to work on Bible studies and other homework. I’ve only gotten down there a couple of times this month so far.”

“Oh, good.” She hummed, nodding to Anna. “If you ever need help with homework or bible studies, don’t think twice about asking. Neither me or Faith will mind giving you a hand. And its always better us that those other sin…” Lizzy stopped herself from finishing the sentence. “Well, I guess it’s just better us, period.”