“Well then, all the more reason for you to ask her. Just say you want a portrait done for your parents’ anniversary, and if she says she’ll do it, I’ll give you a photo of mum and dad and you can just hand it to her, yeah?”
“I think Carmen would know the difference between Caucasian and Hispanic parents, Isla,” Asa said, his lips twitching as they fought off a smile.
Isla’s eyes widened at that, and she cracked a smile of her own before she dissolved into full-blown laughter. Asa grinned that his best friend didn’t seem so disheartened anymore.
“I’m such an idiot,” Isla muttered once her laughter died down, and she let out a huge, deep sigh. Her eyes flickered up to Asa’s. “She’d do it for me then?”
Asa thought of her, of Carmen; of the girl who wore a ghost of a smile on her face every second of every day as if it was her duty. He knew what her answer would be.
“Yeah, Isles.” He smiled, throwing his arm over her shoulder and steering them towards the direction of the cafeteria. “Just ask her. Trust me. She doesn’t bite.”
And when they stepped into the eating area, Asa’s eyes searched—for just that one tiny moment—for a girl with hair the darkest shade of indigo who created masterpieces in her head.
He found her then: sitting at one of the ordinary tables, in an ordinary school’s ordinary canteen, with other ordinary students, like she belonged there. Like she— Carmen West— could fit in with the rest of them.
But that was the difference between him and her; she stood out like a single black rose in a garden full of red ones, whilst he stood out like a pesky weed.
22.
Willa Bonham
Willa was holding an ice pack to her left eye, the cold temporarily numbing the painful throb that had spread over her cheekbone. Despite keeping the pain at bay, she knew it was going to bruise and turn a nasty shade of purple in a few hours.
“Is it any better?” Carmen asked from behind her, the left corner of her bottom lip tucked under her teeth in slight worry as she watched Willa.
“Oh yeah, it’s fantastic,” Willa responded sarcastically. “I can totally feel the pain disappearing into thin air like I didn’t just take a freaking hit to my face while playing basketball!”
“You mean attempting to play,” Lottie cut in, stifling a laugh. “You were so horrible at it I wanted to cry.”
“Sorry,” Carmen muttered, looking away and fixing her eyes on some graffiti on one of the doors of the bathroom stalls.
Willa sighed and lowered her hand, ignoring Lottie as she placed the ice pack on the sink for a brief moment. “No, I’m sorry for snapping,” she said, looking at Carmen through the mirror and offering a small, tired smile. “It wasn’t your fault.”
And just like that, the dejected look left Carmen’s eyes and she smiled at Willa with everything in her.
Carmen did that a lot, Willa realised. She was always so ready to smile and ask people how their day went and always help and give away her heart to a complete stranger. Willa shook her head to herself, scoffing slightly under her breath. People like Carmen didn’t last in this world, she thought to herself, looking at Carmen, not with that naïve mentality and idealistic tendencies, which was a shame, really, because Carmen was nice.
Willa was realistic. She knew the way the world worked, and you didn’t survive in it by setting yourself on fire so that others could use your flames as a source of light.
“We ready to leave?” Lottie asked after a few more minutes had passed.
“Yeah, I’m just going to walk though,” Carmen said.
Willa resisted the urge to roll her eyes at the thought that Carmen probably chose to walk in order to not pollute the air with car exhumes or something along those lines.
“It’s chilly outside, man,” Lottie told her, looking at Carmen like she was crazy.
Carmen cracked a smile for some odd reason. Willa could never understand how that girl’s mind worked. She was always walking around with an infuriating smile on her face like nothing could possibly go wrong in the world.
“That’s okay,” she murmured, adjusting the strap of her bag on the shoulder. “I don’t really mind all that much. You kind of forget about the cold when you take in everything else.”
“Everything else?” Willa asked despite herself.
“It’s autumn,” Carmen replied, a twinkle in her eye. “It’s perfect.”
“It’s cold,” Willa grumbled, leaning away from the sink and grabbing her backpack off the marble surface as she did so. “You’re crazy.”
Carmen only smiled in response, shrugging slightly. “I think it’s beautiful.”
Lottie sighed and opened the door of the washroom as the three of them began piling out. “You think everything’s beautiful, Carmen.”
Carmen didn’t say anything; Willa noticed her hand reached up to the chain around her neck, tugging on it slightly.
“Hey,” Willa said lightly, nudging her elbow as they fell back a little from Lottie. “We should go bowling sometime. I haven’t checked out the arcade yet. Or the mall. Or any of the diners.” She laughed lightly.
Carmen’s face seemed to brighten at that, and despite Willa believing that Carmen was living in an ignorant bubble, she felt a sort of warmth at seeing her face light up like that.
“Oh, yes, we should do that.” Carmen nodded enthusiastically. “We should bring Asa along, he’d know—”
Willa choked on her spit and shot Carmen an incredulous look. “What on earth for?”
“Well, he’d be a better guide than me, and more fun too. Plus, I want this
