A rare opportunity

The next morning, Jana prepared herself for school. She stepped into the shower and washed herself and after that, she proceeded to applying her lotion before settling down for a suitable dress. She was more of a jean person as she doesn't like skirts or gown. Those dresses reminds her of memories about Renee and she doesn't want to divulge into them for now or in the future.

She tied up her hair, picked up her backpack and proceeded to join the rest of her family downstairs for breakfast.

She was surprised to find Maisie seated on their couch very comfortably. She was clad in a mini skirt and Jean jacket and on her feet were a pair of sneakers. Her hair was beautifully styled and for a second there, Jana thought that she was Renee.

Maisie smiled at her when their eyes met as she muttered "good morning" to her.

"Jana come and eat breakfast so you can go to school. We don't want to keep Maisie waiting" Her mother interrupts while Jana forced a smile. She excused herself from the living room and walked towards the dining area and lowered herself on one of the chairs.

Her mother dished out the meal for all of them and sat down too.

"Maisie" she calls out and Maisie strained her head to respond to the call.

"Yes ma'am"

"Do you care for breakfast?"

"Nope I'm fine thank you" she responds politely and resumed whatever she was doing.

Jana quickly finished her breakfast and bid her parents farewell as she set off to school with Maisie.

"I can't believe that you came to my house?" Jana spoke up.

"I was there yesterday too and besides we're neighbors or should I say project partners" she paused before saying "or maybe friends?"she requests hopefully but Jana only stared at her.

"I don't do friends" she replied truthfully

"Is it because of what happened to your friend?" She asks and Jana stops on her tracks. She gave Maisie a cold stare that almost scared her out of her wits but she maintained her composure.

"How did you know? I never mentioned it?" She replies her keenly while Maisie shifted her gaze.

"I just guessed"

Maybe she's crossed the line a bit but she won't let Jana get mad at her about it.

"Is that why you've been stuck with me throughout yesterday? Because you feel pity for me and maybe think that I need a new friend or companion? Is that it?" She lashed out.

"You've got it all wrong?"

"Enlighten me then" she says hands akimbo

"When I arrived at school yesterday, I saw a group of girls talking about you." She began "They said a lot of awful things about you and I felt bad because something similar to what you experienced has happened to me before. That's the reason we moved" she confessed. Although she didn't hear it from a group of people.

"I lost my best friend Maisie" she breathed out. "I lost her in the cruelest way unimaginable and the worst part is that she isn't coming back. So you and I have nothing similar. Stay away from me cause I clearly don't know what you want with me" She started walking when she heard Maisie talk.

"I lost my brother" Jana stopped on her tracks and turned to look at Maisie. She had a pained expression on her face and she noticed how she fought to keep the tears that were threatening to fall at bay.

"At least he died a natural death..."

"He was killed." She finished off for her "The doctors couldn't even give us a reasonable explanation. The only thing we saw were two fang marks on his chest and that was it"

"I'm sorry" Jana apologized

"So you pity me now?" She laughed off the angry tears

"I just...."

"Exactly Jana. You didn't know but it's not fun pointing fingers at people. My parents were so scared and that was why we moved here to Shadyside. I reached out to you because I felt like you were the only person who would understand but clearly I was wrong" She angrily swiped the tears off her face and walked away, intentionally hitting Jana in the process.

When they arrived at the bus station, Maisie got in and sat at a different seat. She plugged in her earphones, ignoring Jana all through the Journey and when they arrived at school, she quickly got off the bus and hurried inside so that Jana won't talk to her.

Today didn't go as planned for Jana at all. She never meant to start a fight with Maisie and she doesn't know how to atone for it cause Maisie made absolutely sure that she completely ignored the living daylight out of her.

All through the class, she pretended as if she doesn't exist.

*.*.*

During lunch, she took her tray and walked to Maisie's table And sat down. Maisie didn't spare her a single glance an continued eating.

"I'm really sorry about what I said earlier this morning Maisie. It was out of line and I didn't mean it. Forgive me?" She begged with and reached for her hand across the table "please"

"For someone who said you don't want any friends, I'm surprised you still want to talk to me"

Jana laughed

"Are you saying that you want us to be friends?"

"You are very persuasive" Jana replied and she smiled at her.

"I'm glad" she answers before digging into her food.

"Do you still think of her?" Maisie asks "Your friend I mean"

"With each passing day. I almost ran insane when she died. It felt like another part of me died"

"What was she like?" Maisie inquired.

"A smooth talker, loud mouth with a twisted brain. You remind me of her a lot" Jana finished with a smile.

"I'm glad there's one thing you consider good about me" she teased and they both laughed before continuing with their food.

*.*.

After their last class for the day, they went to take the bus and used the opportunity to talk about their project.

"So I'll meet you later so we would go to the library I talked about. Make sure you're ready by the time I arrive"

"Not a problem. And I have a favor to ask from you" Jana said staring intently at Maisie.

"What is it?"

"Please don't let my parents know that we're going to that library"

"But why? We need to take their permission since it's close to the other side of town and it's not like we're planning on going over to boulevard so why?" She inquired.

"I just don't want them to know"

"Jana" she called softly "is there something that you're not telling me?"

"No nothing at all. I just want it to be between us both"

"Now you're scaring me" Maisie said with a straight face.

"Just trust me please and if they ask, don't tell them exactly where we're going okay. Please" she said with pleading eyes.

She nodded "okay"

"Thank you" Jana said with a smile.

This is the closest she would ever get to Boulevard and while she's there, there's something she needs to check out. Her parents never let her out of the house without a good reason and always managed to keep their eyes on her after the incident.

She needs to find out if everything has been a figment of her imagination all along or if her mind was playing tricks on her that night.

An opportunity has finally presented itself and she's going to use it.