Sabrine + Dylan

Our Words Unspoken

"You have a little sister!" Perdita exclaimed, running to Margot's side.

"Oh, hi, Perdita! This is Margot. She's a freshman here," Sabrine explained, locking the car behind her. The girls had asked her to meet them early, so she was in no rush to get to class.

Margot didn't smile, the sleep still blurring her eyes. She eyed Perdita then Circe then Vienna. "Right. I need to go. See you later, Sabrine."

Perdita pinched her lips together, her cheeks reddening. "Was it something I said?"

Sabrine shook her head. "Margot doesn't like anyone right now."

Vienna, who appeared to be in a better mood today than Sabrine had ever seen her, nodded. "My brother is the same. I think it's just their age."

Sabrine nodded back and continued walking toward the school. Vienna was one to talk. She'd never had a real conversation with Sabrine and she had already called her fake. What about Sabrine was fake?

"How was karaoke?" Perdita asked, as they made their way into a wing of the school that Sabrine hadn't been in yet. Her tour guide had made it clear that only some students were allowed in; Perdita had to scan Romola's stolen key card just to open the doors.

"Karaoke was fun. Circe and I sang a song, it was too bad that you couldn't come. But, uh, Perdita, isn't someone going to realize that your sister isn't here today, and her key card is still being used?" Sabrine asked, eyes darting around the empty hall.

Circe laughed, moving the brown cardboard box she was carrying under one arm to the other. "Don't worry, Sabrina, we do this all the time."

Sabrine furrowed her brows. Had Circe called her the wrong name again?

Then Perdita swung the door open. Sabrine expected some dark laboratory or a secret basement, the way the tour guide had talked about it. Instead, it was a short, well-lit hallway with three doors on each wall. Perdita led them to the furthermost door and pushed it open. The door creaked open, and Sabrine was met with the most pleasant smell. The roof was clearly glass, and the entire room- which was about the size of an average classroom- was filled with rows upon shelves of pots with green, luscious plants. In the center were a few desks like those in a science class, and there were small pots on those, as well. In front of the collective desks was a white board that had been wiped clean.

"We have a greenhouse?' Sabrine exclaimed, and her voice echoed. She laughed, moving over to a hanging plant that was sprouting tiny, red and orange flowers. Winter was coming, and this plant was sprouting flowers.

Perdita gave her a smile, a smile that made Sabrine stop cold. She recognized it as the smile Jade would give her before setting off fireworks during a football game, or letting a snake loose during homecoming.

"Perdita?" she asked cautiously. "What are we doing here?"

Circe stepped in then, setting the box on the floor in front of Sabrine.

"Perdita," she started, "would you do the honors?"

Perdita crossed her arms. "This was Vienna's idea. I just wanted some roses."

Vienna rolled her eyes and pulled a pair of scissors out of her backpack. "Since you guys are too chicken..."

She stabbed the scissors in the box and tore it straight down the middle.

Sabrine jumped back, falling on her bottom as she tried to scramble away.

Dozens of frogs leaped from their confinement, hopping to the plants for safety.

After a second, Sabrine calmed down and looked back at her friends and Vienna, who were all laughing.

"We did it! Okay, now let's run before-"

Circe never got to finish her sentence, because someone swung open the door. "What are you ladies doing in here?" the woman asked.

Perdita cleared her throat and pulled out Romola's key card. "I'm in Miss Glovatsky's Botany class and I was just- uh, showing my friends around."

Now, Romola and Perdita were identical in all ways except two: their personalities, which wasn't an issue at the moment, and their hair, which was. Romola's ID picture had been taken one month prior and no one was going to believe that her hair had grown this much in that amount of time.

The woman narrowed her eyes and took in the other girls. She chewed on her lips, and the disbelief was evident in her gaze. Still, she clicked her tongue and open the door a little wider. "Run, before someone who gets paid enough finds you."

The girls all thanked her, glad she hadn't seen the fleeing frogs.

*

During science class, Mr. Jorden had everyone meet him in the science lab. Sabrine suppressed a laugh as he opened an empty cardboard box and twirled in a circle, as if the frogs would appear in midair. 

"What are you laughing at?" Dylan asked her from his seat behind her. Sabrine raised a surprised brow. He hadn't spoken to her all day, and he was choosing now to break his silence?

Before she could answer, he seemed to remember he was supposed to be angry and turned to the girl next to him. "So did you have fun at karaoke?" he asked, probably louder than he had intended.

Sabrine turned to Perdita, who had claimed the spot next to her and they both shrugged.

Mr. Jorden was still looking around, peeking under his table and even out the door. Finally, he stopped spinning and redirected his attention to his students. "Well, class," he started, scratching at a bald spot in his thin gray hair. "I, uh, seem to have lost the frogs... Everyone sit here quietly while I go take this up with the storage committee.."

Mr. Jorden should have known that the second he walked out of class, the room would erupt in noise.

The girl that had been barely composing herself earlier was now clinging to Dylan's arm, looking up at him as if he had discovered the cure for cancer. "I had so much fun, thank you for inviting me," she was saying. "Did you have fun? You sang great, too. Oh, I knew you were a singer-"

"Sabrina!" Circe called from the back of class.

Perdita made a face. "What did she call you? I thought it was Sabrine."

Sabrine just waved her hand dismissively. "She gets confused. C'mon, I think she wants to talk to us."

As they passed Dylan's seat, she caught his eye and gave him a small smile. Dylan just smiled down at the girl as if he had been listening to her the entire time.

"What's going on there?" Perdita whispered, but Sabrine shook her head.

"I wish I knew. He's been ignoring me all day."

"Who's been ignoring you?" Circe asked with a pout, as they grabbed spare chairs and joined her and Vienna at their desk.

"Oh, no one. So what's up?" Sabrine surprised herself with that answer. Circe was her friend, so why was she so hesitant to tell her the truth about what was going on with Dylan?

Thankfully, Perdita caught on and gave Sabrine's hand a squeeze under the desk

"Well," Circe started happily, but Sabrine tuned her out. She caught something about plans for the weekend, but Sabrine was focused on Dylan, who was focused on Sabrine.

Sabrine nodded once, and he got the message: What's wrong?

Dylan raised a brow and Sabrine understood: What do you mean?

Sabrine motioned to him: Why are you angry?

Dylan rolled his eyes: I'm childish and insufferable and there's no reason for me to be angry.

Sabrine sighed and turned her attention back to Circe, who was staring at her with furrowed brows. "What's all that about?"

"Who?" Sabrine dreaded having to lie to a new friend... especially since she was such a bad liar.

"You and Dylan. You guys seem a little familiar with each other, is all."

The girls were staring at Sabrine in silence, though Circe was staring at her in what Sabrine could only describe as stillness. Practiced and measured.

"Oh, yeah. Just, you know, we're friends. Like, remember karaoke?"

Circe's jaw twitched. "Yeah, he did invite you, didn't he?"

"Um, yeah, but I mostly went because Tobias-," Sabrine stopped when Perdita squeezed her hand again.

"Oh yeah, Tobias! Did you get him his jacket back?" Perdita interjected.

Finally, after what felt like forever, Circe smiled. "Yeah. I did you your favor Vienna."

She turned back to Vienna, and the two continued talking about the weekend plans. Sabrine shot Perdita a grateful look, but the latter refused to meet the former's eyes.

*

The final bell of the day rung, and Sabrine ran out of her seat. She knew Dylan would try to avoid her, but she wanted to make amends. Or, at least, find out why he was so angry. As Dylan reached the school's exit, he turned to her, eyes crinkled up in greeting, until he froze in place and turned away. He didn't even walk away, just turned his back on Sabrine.

"Okay, that's enough of that," Sabrine said, grabbing his elbow and spinning him to face her. "You're going to cut it out, Dylan. We aren't in first grade, okay? Tell me why you're suddenly so angry at me, and then maybe we can talk it out."

Sabrine knew it was a longshot, and still, she couldn't help but be disappointed when Dylan answered, "Mm, no," before turning his back on her again.

"You're so immature, you know that?"

"Whatever you say."

"Fine!" she shouted at his back before storming in the opposite direction.

"Fine!" he shouted back.

Sabrine was so furious that she didn't even realize she was going in the wrong direction until it was too late to turn back. She ended up going the long way around, to avoid running into him. Her little detour led her past a group of girls that were muttering something about Dylan, though they shut up as Sabrine approached.

When she passed them, she heard a whisper that made her stop dead in her tracks.

"That's her."

Sabrine's cheeks flared up and her stomach coiled. Daley was looking less and less appealing by the second. This group of girls, none of which seemed familiar, were talking about her behind her back.

She rushed away from the girls, wishing she hadn't made it so obvious she was listening.

Her phone rang then, and Sabrine answered it hastily when she realized it was Margot.

"Hi, sorry, I'll be right there, okay?"

"No, I was calling you to tell you that I'm staying with a friend," Margot answered, the voices of young girls filling the background.

"Again?" Sabrine asked, feeling a little betrayed. It must have come out a little louder than what Sabrine wanted, because Margot got defensive.

"Oh, sorry I don't want to hear Mom and Dad yell at each other all day."

"I-" Sabrine would have said something mean if Margot hadn't hung up.

She managed to hold herself together long enough to round the corner. Once out of the girls' sights, she pressed herself against the wall and slumped to the floor, resting her head in her hands.

Everything is going to go downhill from here, isn't it? she thought to herself.

"Sabrine? Are you okay?"

Oh no.

When Sabrine looked up, Tobias was standing above her with furrowed brows, his head c****d to one side.

"Yeah,' she answered, standing hastily. "I'm fine. I was just..." Her voice cracked. It was all too much. Sabrine was overwhelmed. Tired.

She didn't care about the promise she had made to Dylan; nothing in Daley was worth all this optimism.

"I'm tired, Tobias," Sabrine admitted, tears welling in the corner of her eyes, as she fell back against the wall.

He sat beside her. "Did you get in a fight with Dylan?"

Sabrine nodded into her hands. "Yeah, and he won't tell me why he's upset. I called him childish. He is so childish."

Tobias gave a light laugh. "Yeah, I guess so. But you've been a good influence on him."

"I'm tired of him, though. I didn't sign up to be his mom," Sabrine said. She felt guilty about it, but it felt good to talk to someone about it. "I didn't sign up to be my mom's mom, or my dad's mom or my sister's mom. I- I-"

She held her breath before she said anything that she couldn't take back.

"It's okay to think that, you know?"

"Thanks," Sabrine answered. "It's not, though. It's not like I'm missing out on anything. I'm just... spoiled."

They sat in silence for a few seconds, Sabrine trying her hardest not to cry in front of him. How embarrassing would that be?

"I think what you need," Tobias said quietly, "is a good distraction. What do you say?"

Sabrine turned to him and thought about it for a few seconds. It would be nice, wouldn't it? To just waste time with Tobias while the rest of the world deteriorated around her?

As she opened her mouth to accept his offer, her phone rang again.

"I should take this," she said, as she read the name on the screen. It was her mother.

"Yeah, totally. Hey, I'll talk to you later then. okay?"

Her mother didn't want anything important. Just, "Tell your father I'm not going to answer his calls if he's just going to yell."

She got up then, and walked the long hallway alone, having no idea where Tobias had gone off to.

*

Sabrine are you awake?

It was late. Through her blurred vision, Sabrine could see that the clock read 4 a.m. For a second, she debated ignoring the text message and going back to sleep, but her phone sounded again.

We need to talk.

Sabrine didn't recognize the number, though she'd just woken up and the grogginess in her brain prevented any red flags from going up.

I'm awake, she answered,, and sat up in bed to avoid going to sleep.

Come outside, came the next message.

With a sigh, Sabrine stood. Although it was September, she pulled on a light jacket, if only to feel shielded while in her pajamas. As she opened her front door, she was startled completely awake, and realized she didn't know who she was meeting.

Dylan? Circe? Tobias, even?

But before fear made her go back inside the house, an all too familiar voice spoke from the shadows.

"I didn't think you'd actually come out," said Vienna. She lounged on a wooden chair on Sabrine's porch, a well-worn book by her side.

"I- I was half asleep," Sabrine answered, attempting to get her hair under control by running her fingers through it. "But then why did you come? If you were so sure I wasn't going to?"

Vienna shrugged, leaning to one side to get a better look at the inside of Sabrine's house.

"So that I could say that I tried. Your house is a lot nicer than mine. I bet you guys have air conditioning and everything."

"You're poor?"

The question didn't come out like Sabrine had wanted it to, but the words had already left her mouth and made Vienna sit straight up in shock.

"Yeah," she answered, clearly taken aback by Sabrine's bluntness.

Well that doesn't make sense at all. "But you go to Daley."

Vienna had gathered herself already, and she was regarding Sabrine with that oh-so-familiar scowl once again. "I'm on a scholarship, obviously."

Sabrine knew Vienna was smart, but that smart?

"That's cool! Is it for a specific skill or-"

"Look, Sabrine," Vienna interrupted, rubbing the spot between her eyes. "I didn't come here to talk about this. I wanted to- I don't know. I wanted to, um..."

Whatever it was, Vienna was having an awfully difficult time saying it. Sabrine panicked for an irrational second.

Is my mom okay?

Of course she is. And if she wasn't, Vienna wouldn't be the one delivering any bad news.

"Is everything okay?"

Vienna made a noise at the back of her throat before sighing. "Yes. Everything is okay. Um... Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Why did you come to Daley?"

"Oh," Sabrine said, completely taken aback. Whatever Sabrine was expecting Vienna to say, it wasn't this. "I came to Daley because my dad moved us here for his new job."

Why was she giving Vienna an explanation?

"He enrolled Margot and I because.. well, you know, it's Daley Academy."

Vienna was quiet, her eyes focused on a potted plant across from where she was seated. "That's it? You didn't... apply, or anything...?"

Sabrine shook her head. What did it matter?

"Hm," Vienna said, returning the book to her lap and flipping through the pages. "Then I think I should apologize for being unpleasant these past couple weeks."

If Sabrine hadn't been confused beyond words, that had done it. Vienna's apology, while welcome, was unexpected.

And maybe, in hindsight, unwarranted.

"You're supposed to say, it's okay."

"Hm? Right! Um, yeah, it's-it's fine. Sorry if I did something wrong."

Vienna shrugged. "You didn't, but someone told me something that, I'm not gonna lie, made me dislike you. A lot. But whatever, that's cleared up, I guess. Sorry again."

She stood to leave, gripping her book under one arm, leaving Sabrine stunned under the porch light. Before she was out of earshot, Sabrine gathered herself.

"Wait, who told you something about me?"

But Vienna didn't slow her pace.