Mostly Normal
905 Words
By the time Malia reached school, she’d almost convinced herself the morning weirdness was just birthday nerves.
Almost.
The parking lot was already buzzing engines idling, lockers slamming in the distance, someone blasting music from a half open car window. The air smelled like exhaust, cheap coffee, and early fall leaves just beginning to rot on the pavement. Malia adjusted the strap of her backpack and scanned the crowd automatically.
High school was loud in a way that felt exhausting if you thought about it too hard. Too many voices. To many emotions packed into one place. Malia had always been hyper aware of it, though she never knew why. She just told herself she was sensitive. Observant. Weird.
She spotted her friends near the front steps.
“Birthday b***h!” someone yelled.
Malia smiled despite herself.
Lena came barreling toward her first, blonde ponytail swinging as she wrapped Malia in a hug that nearly knocked the breath out of her. “Eighteen,” she said dramatically. “Legal adult. How does it feel?”
“Like I need a nap,” Malia said, hugging her back. “And maybe a drink.”
“Soon,” Lena grinned. “Very soon.”
Behind her, Jess leaned against the railing, arms crossed, dark eyeliner sharp enough to cut someone. “You look glowy,” she said, narrowing her eyes. “Like suspiciously glowy.”
Malia snorted. “I slept like shit.”
“That tracks,” Jess said. “Existence is pain.”
Theo waved from behind them, coffee in one hand, keys in the other. “You ready for your birthday freedom tour, Shaw?”
Malia raised a brow. “That sounds like a cult.”
“It is,” he said cheerfully. “We’re starting with drive-thru breakfast and emotional support music.”
They headed inside together, merging into the hallway traffic. Lockers slammed. Someone was already crying near the bathrooms. A teacher yelled about hats. Normal.
“So,” Lena said, looping her arm through Malia’s. “What are we doing tonight? Because if you say ‘nothing’ I’m actually calling the police.”
“I didn’t say nothing,” Malia protested. “I just said I don’t want a huge thing.”
Jess scoffed. “You turn eighteen once. You’re getting a thing.”
“A small thing,” Malia corrected.
Theo grinned. “Define small.”
“Pizza,” Malia said. “Music. No random strangers.”
“Counterpoint,” Lena said. “Cute boys.”
Malia groaned. “No.”
“Yes,” Lena insisted. “It’s literally illegal to be eighteen and not flirt with someone.”
“That is not a law.”
“It is in my heart.”
They stopped at Malia’s locker. She spun the combination automatically, though she felt that faint hum again like the air around her was to aware of her presence. She shook it off as the locker popped open.
Jess leaned closer. “Speaking of cute boys did you see the new guy in calculus?”
Theo gagged. “Here we go.”
Malia frowned. “What new guy?”
“Dark hair,” Lena said. “Tall. Broody. Looks like he listens to sad music on purpose.”
Malia snorted. “That’s your type.”
“And yours,” Jess added. “Don’t lie.”
Malia rolled her eyes but felt a strange twist in her chest sharp, unexpected. “I don’t have a type.”
“You absolutely do,” Lena said. “Emotionally unavailable but hot.”
“Rude.”
“Accurate.”
First period passed in a blur of notes and doodles in the margins of her notebook vines curling around names she didn’t remember writing. At one point, her pen snapped clean in half for no reason. She stared at it, heart pounding, before quietly grabbing another.
Calm down, she told herself. You’re fine.
Lunch was louder.
They claimed their usual table near the windows, sunlight spilling across scratched surfaces. Malia picked at her fries while her friends argued about music.
“You’re riding with me tonight,” Theo said between bites. “I call shotgun rules.”
“Wait,” Lena said. “Where are we even going?”
“Pizza place near the old bridge,” Malia said. “The one with the string lights.”
Jess smiled. “That place is cute as hell.”
“Exactly,” Malia said. “Low effort. Low drama.”
“Famous last words,” Theo muttered.
Across the cafeteria, someone laughed a low, unfamiliar sound that sent a shiver down Malia’s spine. She looked up instinctively.
Nothing.
Just students. Noise. Normal.
Still, she felt watched.
The drive after school helped. Theo’s car smelled like air freshener and coffee, music turned up just loud enough to drown out thoughts. Lena leaned out the window at red lights, yelling at no one in particular. Jess kicked the back of Theo’s seat and told him to drive faster.
Malia laughed until her cheeks hurt.
For a while, she forgot about the humming. The glances. The way the world felt too close to her skin.
But as the sun dipped lower, casting the sky in gold and fire, Malia pressed her fingers against her pendant and felt it pulse—warm, alive.
She swallowed.
Something was coming.
She just didn’t know how much longer “normal” would last.
- Writer
