The Tumultuous Dana Clarke

       Dana Clarke tightened the grip she had on her lunch tray as she surveyed the cafeteria; groups of friends chatting over their food, jocks producing raucous laughter and the pretty girls sitting next to them with their sweet smiles.         Her palms moistened with sweat in the noisy atmosphere. Two weeks and she still had no friends.         She began her daily walk to the empty table close to the exit, trying to ignore the hollow feeling in her chest when suddenly, two hands shoved her to the side.         The events that followed were like a reel, as if she were watching herself from outside her body.         One moment she was dragging her feet to her chosen table, the next she had tripped over her blue sneakers and was falling face first onto the white-tiled floor, her tray and its contents flying from her hands.          Pain rippled through her ribs as she staggered up. Her lips burned from being bruised, her chest, in embarrassment, as she picked up her lunch and placed it in its original position.         "Damn it, Joel!"        Dana looked up at the exclamation, finding two boys running around the cafeteria as if it were a maze, one yelling at the other.         Her lips twisted in a scowl. The one being chased had to have been the deviant behind her fall. Meanwhile, everyone else went on with their discussions as if nothing had happened.         Her eyes brimmed with tears as she walked to her table, unable to stop the one that slipped from her eye. No one had bothered to help her up or at least, ask if she was okay while her assailant had simply ignored her.         The woes of being a non-entity like herself.         She sat down, the tears still prickling her eyes and she willed them to go away. Her fall had been horrid enough, she didn't need to start crying like a baby.         "That looked pretty nasty." Dana was joined by a tiny blonde clad in a black tee. The girl settled into the chair opposite hers and peered at Dana with warm brown eyes.          "Yeah." Dana mumbled.         Why was she sitting here the one time Dana wanted to be alone?        She began eating her sandwich, the weight on chest compelling her to cry. Maybe if she ignored blondie, she'd leave and no one would watch her be pathetic.         "Nobody even bothered to help me up. Who does that?" Dana suddenly blurted out, her voice breaking at the end.         "If it were someone else, say... Leila-"        The girl snorted before pushing a striped red and white straw into a red grape juice box, drawing Dana's attention to her black painted nails. "They'd have been kissing her feet, trying to see if she was okay. Hell, no one would have even dared to push her."         Dana scanned the cafeteria for Leila. As usual, her raven hair hung over her shoulders, lips pulled into the small smirk Dana had come to identify her with. Surrounded by her friends and clad in her black leather jacket, Leila exuded a coolness Dana could only wish for.         "Everyone loves her," Dana said wistfully before stuffing the second half of her sandwich in her mouth.          "And her friends." The blonde added, sipping her juice. No lunch tray sat in front of her, just a packet of vanilla cookies and a copy of a book Dana had never seen before.         "Must be nice being part of her crew. Everyone treats you with respect."         "No one messes with you,” Dana continued.         Dana couldn't count the amount of times in her two weeks at Gregory High that she'd been bumped into, shoved aside or sneered at for making the mistake of being in someone's way.         Perhaps it was her stature. She was tiny—mousy as people preferred to call her—and had spent her life being talked over and treated as if she were invisible. She was too easy to ignore.         A sigh escaped her lips. There was no way she could be Leila Kane and she was far too boring to be friends with her.         At least she had someone here with her. Maybe they could be friends. She turned to her acquaintance, managing a small smile, "what's your name?"         The corner of her lips curled up into a smile. “Josie.” After a beat, she sighed. "Look, you don't need to beat yourself up about what happens in this craptown, it won't be long before we're out of here. Just keep your head up."        Her words were enough to make Dana smile. "I know." She just had to make it through this one year. It sounded easy enough—in theory.         Josie grinned before picking up her book and cookies. As she stood up, Dana's stomach dropped.         "Where are you going?"        She held up her book, "Got to catch up on this. I just wanted to see that smile."         With one parting wink at her, Josie was gone.         The smile soon slipped from Dana’s face and her attention drifted back to Leila and her friends, her thoughts wishful.  •••••        Later that day, Dana stood in the supermarket, squinting at the products on the dairy shelves. Her sister, Cora, had insisted on probiotic yoghurt even though Dana didn't know what it was.         Her brunette hair fell from behind her ears and into her face. Her benevolence in cutting off some of it for a cancer survivor meant goodbye to her sloppy buns and hello, shoulder length bob.        She bit her lip before tossing one of the yoghurts that said zero-percent fat into her shopping cart. Hopefully that would appease her sister. Her eyes already hurt from reading labels to ensure the things she picked had ingredients that were Cora-approved.         Dragging her cart to the next aisle, her eyes lingered on a certain strawberry pudding. It wasn't until her cart recoiled into her stomach abruptly that she looked away and paid attention to where she was going.        Vivid green eyes, the colour of the sea, met hers, holding her gaze.         Tall and muscular with sharp features, Avi Kane stood with his cart in front of her. He had the same raven hair as his sister, except his was cropped close to his head.         While Leila favoured the laid back look, Avi was always seen in chinos and shirts, classy and proper with loafers and sleek watches.         His lips stretched into a smile. He pushed his cart forward till he and Dana were side by side, never dropping his gaze.         Dana’s stomach curled. What was he looking at? Her eyes weren't captivating or anything of the like. They were a grey like the clouds when they were pregnant with rain—dull.         Perhaps it was the glint in his eyes when they drifted down to her chest and then back to her face, or how his tall frame loomed over her like a predator, but she felt her heart catch with something akin to fear.         "You should watch where you're going, beautiful."        Dana looked at the items in her cart, an attempt to hide her shy smile. No boy as handsome as he was had ever called her that.         She tucked her dark hair behind her ear and looked up at him. "Sorry for bumping into you, I got carried away."        He stroked his chin, his full eyebrows in a frown as he moved to stand closer to her. "Have we met? I feel like I've seen you before."         His masculine, aqua, perfume wafted into her nostrils, almost dizzying her. "We go to Gregory together," she replied breathily.         "Senior?"        "Yeah."        His smile became brighter, all pearly whites on display, green eyes twinkling in the bright white lights of the supermarket. "I'll see you around then?”         Heat spread through Dana’s cheeks and she nodded.        “Bye, beautiful."         With flushed cheeks, Dana watched Avi walk to checkout and she fixed her attention on picking the rest of the things she needed.         However, her eyes would ever so often wander to his frame until she looked at him yet again and this time, he was looking back at her.         She was ready to snap her head away when he gave her the most handsome smile, making her stop. Then, he made his way out of the store.         Her heart soared in her chest, the fear she had felt prior entirely forgotten, with elation taking all preeminence.  •••••