Glass

She was all glass. She was shattered and had missing pieces and I could see it as she sat across from me. She smelled of honey and milk, and her seaweed green eyes sparkled in the sun shining through the skylight. She wasn’t looking at me. She was staring into the corner of the room, perched almost awkwardly on the edge of my bed. I couldn’t help but wonder what was making her look so uncomfortable. I thought it was something to do with her posture. She seemed to be holding herself unnaturally straight and upright, more so than even her usual ballerina’s stance. The film had ended long ago and we’d been sitting in silence since. “So…” I said, trying to break the awkwardness. “Uh…Juniper do you want to watch another film or…?”

“I’d really better be going,” she replied, and she stood up, threw her black leather backpack over her shoulder and walked out. I got up from my beanbag and threw myself onto my bed.

Deciding to invite the new girl from dance class to my house had been a bad idea. I suppose ‘new girl’ was a slight exaggeration. She’d been at the school for four months now, after moving into the area. Yet she hadn’t spoken to anyone or made any friends within the class. She just turned up to lessons, showed us all up by perfecting everything that was thrown at her and left again without a word. My friend Karla said she was a ‘right weirdo’, and would insult her at almost every opportunity, although I wasn't entirely sure why being quiet made her a weirdo. I’d felt bad for her, that’s why I’d attempted to be her friend. I wasn't sure if she had any friends from outside of the dance class, seeing as she went to a different school to me, but considering her behaviour within the studio I found this unlikely. 

Juniper was incredibly pretty, and this made her inarguable talent in the ballet class all the more difficult to deal with. As I lay on my bed with the sunlight shining into my room, I began to ponder if this was perhaps why she had no friends. Although, it seemed entirely as though she didn’t want any friends. After today’s fiasco, I chose not to try to become friends with her again. If she’d been at all interested, today wouldn’t have been anywhere near as indescribably vexatious as it was.

But still I could not get the sight of that profound sadness which lay behind her eyes out of my mind.

The next day I went to dance class as usual. As I walked in I caught sight of Juniper, sitting over by the chairs and sliding on her pointe shoes. The door slammed loudly behind me and I winced at the noise. After checking no one noticed, I let out the breath I’d been holding, only to glance back over at Juniper and find her staring intently at me. I caught her eye for a moment and she smiled at me. It was more than anyone else had got out of her, and it felt like a small victory.

“Hey, Marcie,” Juniper caught me after class. “Thanks about the other day, I had fun, really. Sorry I had to leave so early.”

“Yeah…” I replied slowly, not sure how to respond. Should I lie and tell her that I had too? Was she lying to me so she didn’t come across as impolite? “Me too.” Juniper smiled again as she walked out of class. I watched the swing of her hips as she sauntered out of the room, and couldn’t help but smile at the bizarre girl.

That night, as if the day couldn’t get any weirder, I received a text from Juniper. I didn’t even remember giving her my phone number, but I must’ve done, possibly when I invited her over.

Thank you again…would love to do something sometime x

This girl was impossible to understand. I was reluctant to arrange anything else, for fear it would be the same as before, but eventually I gave in and agreed to meet up with her that Saturday.

Saturday came and I pulled on my black skinny jeans, a black vest top with a blue and green checked shirt hanging open over the top of it and my black Dr Martens, then did the walk into town to meet Juniper. I spotted her sitting on a bench just outside of the Greggs. She looked stunning as always. She was wearing grey skinny jeans and a black The 1975 t-shirt. I immediately found myself smiling at the obvious declaration of her love for indie music. She’d curled her long, auburn hair and had two plaits on either side of her face, pinned back around her skull.

“Hey!” I called from a short way away. Her head immediately snapped round and she began to smile.

“Hey you,” she grinned, and somehow the greeting felt almost flirtatious to me. I moved to tuck some hair behind my ear, but then remembered I’d scooped it into a messy bun that morning.

“I like your shirt.”

“Thanks. I like your hair,” she replied.

“So, where do you wanna go?”

“Dunno…let’s just walk.” Juniper got up from the bench and we walked side by side down the crowded high street. We’d barely gone twenty steps before I spotted a familiar figure. The bright green hair and the six foot four physique were entirely unmistakable. Completely forgetting who I was with I screamed, “Oaty!” and sprinted towards him. I threw myself into his arms and he hugged me back hard, laughing at the enthusiastic greeting. I pulled away from Otis and noticed that Juniper had joined us.

“Where’ve you been I haven’t seen you in ages!” I cried.

“I haven’t been anywhere, I’ve been in bed,” Otis laughed. Then he caught sight of Juniper, and I watched as he looked her up and down approvingly. “Who’s your friend?”

“Juniper,” I said, almost defensively. “Juniper, this is Otis, my friend from school. Besides, who stays in bed for a week, you should've been in school.”

“Nice to meet you.” Otis extended his hand to Juniper, staring at her with desire in his eyes and completely ignoring my question.

“You too,” Juniper mumbled, shaking his hand, and I noticed a hint of distaste in her voice. Otis must have noticed this too, as he looked slightly taken aback.

“Anyway, we should get going…c’mon Per, I’ll see ya later Oaty.”

“See ya,” Juniper and Otis said simultaneously.

“I’m sorry about him,” I said to Juniper as we walked away.

“It’s okay, I’m used to it.”

“Yeah,” I muttered. “People probably do stare a lot, must be nice to be good looking.”

“What? No, people stare because I’m weird looking…don’t they?” Juniper looked genuinely shocked. For a moment I wondered if it was her purely fishing for compliments, but as I searched her face I could find nothing but complete sincerity.

“Well, I don’t know obviously. But I’m pretty certain people stare because you’re stunning.” As I said this I felt a blush crawl over my cheeks, and couldn’t quite understand why I felt so embarrassed at speaking these words.