Dawn

A couple of days later, my good spirits began to fade.

I didn't know why- Noah didn't want me and I didn't need him. What was the problem?

But that was just it. There was a problem- that Noah didn't want me.

So many things had happened at once that my brain still couldn't quite comprehend how exactly we'd broken up.

But why was I still thinking about this? Why wasn't I living my life normally?

It didn't make sense.

But sometimes I would catch myself thinking about him when I walked alone in the park, when I stared at the unmoving pieces on the chessboard, when I remembered throwing magnets at him in the kitchen.

I needed a distraction.

I grabbed my phone and asked both Aria and Kat if we could go out shopping together.

They both responded a couple of minutes later and we arranged a place to meet.

"What's up?" Aria asked as we headed into the mall.

"We have literally never gone shopping together. Something must be bothering you," Kat added, looking serious.

Suddenly Aria grinned. "You have a new secret boyfriend and you need something nice to wear on your first date!"

I glared at her. "That's just it, I'm still thinking about Noah!"

"I thought you got over him," Kat frowned. "It's been a week."

"I know, I know... I had thought so myself! But no, I haven't. Maybe shopping will get my mind off him."

Aria patted my shoulder and Kat agreed.

The next few hours passed in a whirl of excited chatter and bags and clothes and jewellery. We parted with Noah completely out of all of our minds.

"Next time!" Aria yelled as we walked back to our separate houses.

I agreed, thinking excitedly of everything we'd bought and done today.

As soon as I got back to my silent house, I put my new clothes I'd bought into the wash and wondered into my bedroom. The novelty of shopping hadn't quite worn off yet, but I was already feeling lonely.

The empty bed stared back at me.

*

The next afternoon, I decided to head to the city to waste my day away. I mean, there was absolutely nothing waiting for me at home, so why stay? I wore my new cream leggings and a matching off-the-shoulder crop top that I'd bought yesterday. I smeared on concealer and put on a light shade of lipstick, feeling satisfied as I stared at myself in the mirror. I grabbed my purse and locked the house up behind me. Leaving my hair out, I stomped towards the train station, which was within walking distance in my heeled boots.

Feeling confident that I finally had a vague plan for the day to put Noah at the very back of my mind, I leaned against the pole on the train carriage and waited impatiently for my stop. I twirled my hair around a finger and watched the landscape flash past outside.

At one point in time, I noticed two guys from my high school get on my carriage, stare at me openly and the skin I was showing, then one with black hair low-whistled and the other blonde one slapped him. They chuckled and moved to stand behind me. I felt uncomfortably twitchy, knowing that it was their stares burning into me and not the wrinkled eighty year old lady in the corner who was waving her walking stick around and talking, no, croaking into her phone about her mental health.

"I'm not barmy, how dare you mention that!" She scolded the person on the other end of the line. Her walking stick hit a pole with a clang as she whacked it through the air particularly viciously. "I'm perfectly normal, thank you very much! No, that was not my head cracking open! My walking stick just got into a little accident with a pole. Nothing serious! Can you please just stop worrying about me? Yes, I took the damn pills! What was that?" She paused.

At this point, most of the conversation had stopped and everybody was watching the lady converse with the person calling her. Some were smiling, others looked annoyed. I turned my head quickly to the side as if staring at the old woman, and out of the corner of my eye, confirmed that it really was the two guys who were looking at me. 

"You did not just call me fat and hairy!" She wheezed loudly and suddenly, breaking the silence. A young girl who was sitting a couple of seats away sniggered. An old man glared at her from his seat. 

"Excuse me-" he began. 

"Oh, sorry dear! You meant give the hat to Mary! Apologies. Of course I won't forget to do that. See you soon! What? I'm a lie? Oh, you meant bye!" 

I mentally facepalmed and shifted my stance.

The lady hung up and it took her a couple of seconds to realise half the carriage was staring (and probably laughing to themselves) at her. When she did, she muttered, "Whatcha all lookin' at? I'm not hairy or fat, alright! Go bug someone else."

She got off at the next stop with her nose in the air, not noticing the bin right next to her and almost tripping her way into becoming trash.

Eventually, my stop drew nearer, and I breathed a sigh of relief as I stepped onto the platform, glad to get away from the staring guys- when surprise, surprise- they followed me out and trailed behind me as I walked up the stairs and through the tap off Opal card machines.

My skin was prickling now and I could feel the back of my neck heating up as they followed a couple of metres behind me as I headed towards the park surrounding a lake. 

As the path joined into the walking track, I pulled my hair up into a high ponytail and took out my earphones, selecting a song that would match my current mood. 

Then, I began a brisk walk in my boots around the lake, following the track, and trying -trying- to ignore the stares of the guys behind me. 

Stalker much? 

They continued to follow me around and soon I was really starting to panic. I could feel sweat beading on my forehead that had nothing to do with the speed I was going at. I decided to set myself a time limit to when I was actually going to face them and ask what the hell they were doing.

Two minutes. I would walk on for two more minutes, then stop and wait for them to do some explaining. 

I had been feeling pretty confident about everything, but when there was only one minute to go before I would face them, I got nervous. I started rushing through what I was going to say- what were they doing? Why were they following me? What if they started acting really menacing? I started to panic. I wondered if I had social anxiety problems. 

Deep breaths. Just turn around and ask them what they were doing. How hard could it be? 

Maybe I should come with a cool response so that it wouldn't seem like I was affected by their presence. It was a good idea. 

How about 'get lost' or 'mind your own business'? They seemed fairly to the point and short. It wouldn't give away anything- my fear, my panic. Which one would I choose? I ran through both of them in my head again and sighed inwardly. 

I wished Noah was here to back me up. 

Nope. Nonononono. I was not thinking about him. I was strong. I could face these two idiots by myself. 

I summoned up both Kat and I's feminism vibes and stopped my brisk walking. 

Their footsteps paused too as I turned around.

I opened my mouth. I froze. More specifically, my brain froze. 

Just say the words. 'Get lost' or 'mind your own business'. It's not hard. Do it. 

Okay.

I pulled out my earphones and said really loudly:

"GET YOUR OWN BUSINESS!"

Silence. Even the birds had stopped tweeting and had probably shriveled up and died in shame. I froze all over again. Oops. I'd mushed the sentences up together to form a sentence that didn't really... make sense. I blamed my brain.

The guys froze and eyed me weirdly. They stared at me. They stared at each other. 

"I SAID-" I said loudly again, no longer in control of myself, wondering what my brain would spit out this time. 

"Okay, alright, chill. We're going," the blonde cut in hastily. The dark haired one nodded quickly and they backtracked and literally raced away from the weirdo. 

Hi. I'm Dawn Parker, the weirdo they were running away from. I know, it's great. 

I smiled triumphantly and plugged my earphones back into my ears. I started my walking again. 

Sometimes, weird was awesome. Even if you got some words mixed up until they made no sense at all. 

Alright, I owe you all an apology. I seriously haven't updated in ages! I'm so sorry! I had writer's block and then school started up again and we got so much homework yay. Not. At one point I was wondering if I should put this story on hiatus but I told myself I wouldn't give it up. 

Just for you guys. :)

Hope you liked the short chapter! Hopefully I'll update sooner next time. And hopefully you guys will still be interested??? 

xxx, HalloPhoenix

P.S. OOohhhh, and also, if it's not too much to ask, could you maybe check out my new book, Immortal Ashes? It's only got two chapters though! It's a completely new thing!