The Tumultuous Dana Clarke

chapter 13 • orange and pineapple juice.

Dana fanned herself with her hand, squirming in her seat for the umpteenth time as sweat rolled down her back. It was one o'clock on a particularly hot afternoon in her Geography class and she wondered when her teacher, Mr. James, would finally stop droning about climates and leave. 

Beside her, she heard someone groan. At least she wasn’t alone in her sentiment. Dana snorted. Groans and sighs had been unmissable occurrences in all her classes of the day. The weather was particularly hot today; the hot sun beat down on Gregory High; the warm, humid air doing nothing to cool them down. 

Dana pulled out her phone to look at the time, seeing a message across the screen once she had unlocked it. 

She twirled the end of one of her two braids, frowning at the message. 

Meet me in the parking lot during lunch. 

What did Avi want to do there? 

As the thought entered her mind, the bell rang, blaring through the classroom. 

"Finally," a girl snapped and jumped out of her chair, her bag-pack hitting Dana's arm in the process. 

Dana recoiled and got out of her own seat, stuffing her notebook into her knapsack, after which she headed out to meet Avi. 

He had to be taking her out somewhere. 

Dana laughed lightly to herself at the confidence in her thought. She'd only known him for three weeks, others might argue it was enough to know but she couldn't say for sure what he could or couldn't do. 

Instead of seeing Avi at his car, she was met with the sight of another familiar face. Archie stood, leaning on the back of the Mercedes, his hands were stuffed into his jeans and a white tee covered his lean torso. 

Dana's heart skipped a beat, it's pace then increasing. She contemplated running away before he could see her but just then his eyes met hers. The same mischievous grin was on his face like the last time and it made her throat constrict. 

He wiggled his fingers at her. "Hello, Dana." 

"Hey," she said, managing to return his smile. 

"Pretty hot, isn't it?" 

"Yeah... " 

Dana groaned internally. Why wouldn't more words come from her mouth or even into her mind?

"The weather's pretty bipolar," he said, moving off the car and coming to stand in front of her, reducing the distance between them. Dana felt giddy but she bit back her smile. 

He definitely wouldn't have continued talking to her if he was bored. Spurred on, she finally garnered the courage to continue the conversation, "It wasn't ever this hot in-" 

"Archie, sorry for the wait." 

Dana's smile dimmed as she turned to look at Leila, her eyes drawn to the raven-haired girl's long legs bared in cut off shorts. 

"Are you sure it wasn't intentional?" 

"Maybe a little," Leila winked at him. Dana stepped aside as she walked closer to him. 

"You're still taking me home, right?" 

"Of course," Archie said, before his eyes trailed back to Dana. 

Face blank, Leila's attention fell on Dana. "Did you need something?" 

Dana's shoulders slumped as she took a step back. "Avi said to meet him here."

"Oh, you're coming with us. What's with the pigtail braids though?" Leila chuckled. 

Dana's stomach dropped, her face hot at Leila’s derogatory tone. She moved away from the rear of the car, where the two were, to stand by the passenger door, avoiding Archie's eyes. 

Her hands worked on loosing the braids and as she watched herself through the mirror, the weight on her chest intensified. Cora had helped her style it in the morning. It was the prettiest she'd felt all week but it had all been an illusion perhaps. 

Silly you. 

She ran her hands through her hair once she was done and let it hang down around her shoulders. At least the braids had left her chestnut brown hair wavy. 

"There my babies are!" Lian's high pitched voice called out, causing Dana to look up. She exhaled when she saw Avi behind her, walking with Talia. The two appeared to be in an easy conversation. 

Finally, Dana could eat and then be at least an hour closer to the end of the day. 

"Babe, why didn't you text me? I'd have hurried here." Avi pulled her into a hug as he spoke. His shirt was a crisp clean white, over his jeans and as she'd come to expect, the smell of cigarette smoke filled her nostrils. 

"I thought I'd find you here." Dana said, curt. She didn’t know why she was 

"We're getting lunch off campus," he said as he opened the passenger door for her to enter. 

Dana said nothing in reply as she sat in the car. Hopefully, Leila wouldn't be too upset she was coming with them. 

"Where'd Lian and everyone go?" 

"Gone in Archie's car," Avi replied as he put on his seatbelt. Dana put hers on, watching him as he eased the car out of Gregory High. 

As he coasted down the road, she looked out her window watching the continuous trail of trees appear and then disappear from her vision. A few beats later, a thought occurred to her. She nibbled on her lip before blurting it out, "I was thinking... "

He glanced at her before turning back to the road. "Thinking?"

"We should get to know each other better." 

He chuckled, rubbing at his chin. Dana bit down on her lip. She'd jumped the gun and he probably thought she was silly. 

"That's a good idea,” the smile on his face like he was enabling her. It comes with time though."

"Of course." 

"We could do something Friday night. I'll pick you up." 

Dana gave him a small smile, his agreement making her heart feel lighter. 

A few minutes later, he put the car in park in front of a cafe whose interior was visible from the outside through its glass windows. Patrons were sparsely seated, the most of them working on their laptops. A sign in red block letters, reading Levi's, was on the windows. 

"Oh my God." Avi rolled his eyes back causing Dana to chortle. "They have the best chocolate shakes here." 

They got out of the car, walking into the cafe. Top ninty hits were playing from the speakers at a low volume, loud enough to hear but not so much you had to raise your voice to speak. 

A young lady at the register gave them a smile through her red lips. 

"Hey, Angie." 

"Avi," she nodded at him. "Your friends are in the usual place." 

"Thanks." He nodded at her before leading Dana past the booths to one in the back. The chairs at the booths were yellow with granite table tops. 

Dana felt her entire body that had tensed, unbeknownst to her, relax when they got to the table. 

Lian had her phone out taking selfies with Leila while Talia and Archie were in an animated conversation. Everyone was paired up so she didn't have to feel pressured to engage in conversation with anyone but Avi—fine by her. 

Once they'd sat down, Avi pulled out his phone and Dana found her eyes moving to Archie. Her gaze lingered longer than a few seconds on him as he threw his head back in laughter, a smile forming on her own lips at the sight. 

"Took you guys long enough, we almost ordered without you but because I'm so nice, I convinced them not to." Talia finished with a toothy grin, her fuchsia pink lipstick making her smile brighter. 

"I like your lipstick," Dana said. 

"Yeah, me too." Lian chirped after returning Leila’s phone. 

"Thank you, my loves." Talia winked at Dana. A huge smile spread across Dana's face. Everyone was warming up to her, that just left Leila. 

"That's all very nice," Archie said before waving a waiter over. 

"Two chocolate shake, three vanillas, two large chicken salads, three beef burgers... What do you want Dana?" Dana was so engrossed in listening to his voice, she answered moments later. 

She blinked. "Anything." 

He propped up his chin with his elbows on the table, a lopsided grin on his face as he watched her. Dana felt her cheeks heating up and was thankful when he finally looked away. 

"How about a medium chicken sandwich and the orange and pineapple juice? Is that okay?" Dana nodded then looked down at the place mat in front of her, letting her hair fall around her face. 

"Thank God for this aircon." Leila sighed, her body reclined into the seat. 

"Thank God for this entire cafe. How are we supposed to learn anything at school in this heat?" Talia asked, pouring the salt in the shaker onto the table. 

Lian groaned. "Let's not talk about school. Was the weather ever this two-faced where you lived, Dana?" 

Dana's heart skipped a beat as everyone's eyes were on her. Everyone except Avi and Leila. "Oh no, it was mostly cold." 

"Where's that?" Archie asked. 

"Maine." 

"This is sort of a rude awakening then. It’s only going to get hotter." Talia said, putting the salt granules into parallel lines. Dana's hands itched to clean it up. 

"Pool party!" Lian squealed, a welcome call as their food came then. 

While they ate, everyone except Dana talked, throwing around names of people she didn't know and memories she couldn't join in reminiscing about. Dana listened in on their conversation, the longing to be part of their stories growing in her with each shared laughter and inside joke. 

Long after they'd finished eating, they remained in their seats, everyone stuffed and in lax conversation. Dana sat still, her bladder begging her to get up as the minutes went by. 

When Archie left to use the toilet, she felt more comfortable to leave as well. She slipped out of the booth, the pressure of her full bladder making her rush into the first of the three stalls in the bathroom at the back. 

She leaned against the wall once she was done, letting out a breath of relief. She half wished they could all leave so she wouldn't end up missing all her post-lunch classes. English had begun twenty minutes ago. 

She was barely doing well, the last thing she needed was to keep missing class. 

Still, here she was, privy to something special even though she wasn't a part of the conversation. Besides, it was nice to be out of school and away from the heat in cool, air-conditioned Levi’s. 

Dana sighed and pulled down her jeans skirt, taking her time coming out of the bathroom. She was about to round the corner and walk back to their table when the door to the male toilet was opened. 

"You ready to head back?" 

Dana rubbed her arms. "Kind of." 

Archie slipped his hands into his jeans' pockets. "I can't decide if I like your hair in the braids or like this better." 

Dana looked down at the black and white tiled floor. "Probably this way." 

"Both are beautiful." He pulled his lower lip between his teeth before he walked away, blue eyes glistening in the white lights and a small smile on his face. 

Dana's cheeks flushed, and she stood in her spot, her hand touching her hair. 

She managed to keep the smile off her face as she got to the table. There, she found Avi dropping three twenty dollar notes while everyone else was getting their things and leaving the booth. 

"Let's go, love." Talia said to Dana, picking up her takeaway pack and following behind the other girls as they walked out of Levi's.