Page 5 of Tiny Fractures

“Fuck off,” Zack tells his sister. “I’m the better, hotter, smarter twin. And I’m three-and-a-half minutes older, so I’m also more experienced and obviously wiser,” Zack tells me with a grin.

I notice the small GoPro camera in his left hand. I don’t love cameras. I don’t like having pictures or videos taken of me, especially if I didn’t expressly consent to it.

“Are you filming?” I ask him, trying to keep my voice steady.

“Always,” Zack says with pride.

“My brother thinks he’s the next Steven Spielberg or one of the Coen brothers or Martin Scorsese or whatever, so he walks around with a camera all day every god damn day,” Vada explains.

“Oh, okay,” I say apprehensively. I don’t know how to feel about someone capturing my every move, every angle.

Vada studies me. “Yeah, sorry. It’s annoying as hell, but if you want to be friends with me—and you definitely want to be friends with me—this is one of the less fun parts, along with having to endure my brother’s presence a lot of the time. But I promise you’ll get used to it. The camera, at least. Not so much my brother’s presence,” Vada says with another eye roll, which is mirrored by Zack.

Tori and I laugh.

“You’re so fucking funny,” Zack says. “Look—Cat, is it? You might want to reconsider any intention of being friends with my sister. She’s an asshole.”

Vada waves him off. “Aww, you know you love me.”

“Psh, the only reason I put up with you is because you’re my best friend’s girlfriend,” Zack says.

“Not because she’s your sister?” Tori asks him with a laugh.

“Nope,” Zack says adamantly.

“Oh, wait, so your boyfriend Steve”—I point at Vada—“is your best friend?” I ask, moving my index finger to Zack.

Both he and Vada nod.

“Yep,” Zack says. “But to be fair, Steve has been my best friend way longer than he’s been Vada’s boyfriend.”

“And her boyfriend,” Vada chimes in, pointing her own finger at Tori, “is my boyfriend’s little brother’s best friend. Well, Steve’s brother is also one of my closest friends, but, yeah.”

I knit my eyebrows together. “Hold on, your boyfriend’s little brother is also one of your close friends, but he’s Tori’s boyfriend’s best friend?”

All three nod at me.

“Yep, she’ll do just fine,” Zack decides with a slap on his knee before he takes a giant bite of his sandwich.

“Oof, okay,” I sigh, hoping I’ll remember all of this.

Tori laughs. “It’s a lot easier once you see the dynamic.”

“I imagine so,” I nod. “So, where are your boyfriends?” I look around as if I know who the heck I’m even looking for.

“Oh, their lunch period is after ours,” Vada gripes.

I have to admit that the idea of different lunch periods is new to me. At my old school in North Carolina everyone ate at the same time, but that’s probably because it was much, much smaller.

“Oh, shit. Hey guys,” I hear a male voice call.

Turning my head, I recognize the burly guy from this morning; he’s accompanied by two others with similarly wide statures.

“Hey Drew,” Tori says.

Drew veers in our direction while his two buddies stay back, and he comes to a stop next to Vada. He grins at me. “Ahh, so we meet again, gorgeous,” he chuckles.

Vada raises her eyebrows, looking from me to Drew. “You’ve already met Cat?”

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