Mondays should just go die in a hole. That was Larkin's first thought as she trudged to school in the morning, alone. She had texted Greta on Saturday, and on Sunday, too, but she never replied to any of them. This morning, she had waited until the last possible minute for Greta to walk out of her house, but she never did. So Larkin walked to school alone.

Larkin sighed before trudging up the steps in front of her school. She opened the door, and was hit with a blast of cool air from inside. Right as she entered the building, Larkin heard the warning bell ring, and all the students milling around in the commons area started to rush to their classes. She scanned the faces she passed, looking for Greta.

"Silvie!" Instead of finding Greta, Larkin spotted Silvie among a sea of tired faces.

Silvie glanced in the direction of Larkin's voice and stopped. Larkin briskly walked to Silvie's side, and they continued walking to their lockers.

"Have you heard from Greta this weekend?" asked Larkin.

Silvie glanced over at her friend with a frown on her face. "No. Why? Did something happen to her?"

"I don't know. We went to see a movie on Friday and everything ended on a sour note. I texted her on Saturday and Sunday but she never responded," explained Larkin.

"Maybe she's already in class."

"I suppose." Larkin didn't believe her own words, though. She bit her lip as she made her way to her first class of the day, wondering where Greta was and hoping she was okay.

()()()

By the time Larkin arrived at the cafeteria for lunch, she was sure Greta wasn't at school. It worried her because Greta was almost never sick and always texted when she was going to be gone. That's just how the two friends did it. Larkin considered the fact that Greta might just be mad at her and didn't want to communicate in any way with Larkin-the-Terrible-Best-Friend Knolls, but quickly dismissed that idea. We didn't really fight. It was more of a disagreement.

That's what she told herself to calm her guilt.

Larkin walked to her usual lunch table and sat next to Silvie. Finn was already sitting down with a tray of food, but the other boys had yet to make it through the line. She pulled out her sandwich and attempted to eat something. She sighed multiple times before Silvie elbowed her in the gut and told her to stop moping.

"Honestly, Larkin, you look like someone just killed your puppy. You and Greta are too good of friends to be broken apart from one tiny fight," assured Silvie.

Larkin only frowned harder and grumbled under her breath. She tore into her sandwich with a ferocity that would rival that of a lion's. She was angry at everything and everyone for passing this off as if it didn't matter. It did matter. It mattered more than she actually let on.

"No need to kill your lunch, Larkin!" joked one of Jacob's friends, Evan.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Lunchmeat is already dead, you nimrod," she growled. The hostility in her tone couldn't have been mistaken for joviality under any circumstances, so Evan simply shrunk in his seat a little.

Larkin could vaguely hear Finn describe a vacation he had gone on over the summer, in which he had accidentally been left at the airport, but she didn't really listen. She could hear the constant rumble of voices in the cafeteria, but none of it meant anything. At first, she thought she was just too out of it to try to participate in the scintillating conversation about the pros and cons of flavored water, but it was something else.

Larkin was uncomfortable. She could feel herself sweating like she would be if she had just run a 5k. She felt jittery, like she had had one too many cans of Mountain Dew. Larkin got up from the table without saying anything to her friends. She couldn't say anything. She felt like her mouth was stuffed with cotton balls.

She walked right past the cafeteria monitor and out of the doors. Walking the hallways until she found herself at her locker, Larkin stopped in front of it and spun in her combination automatically. The lockers at her school were all painted purple, to match the spirit colors, and the paint on hers had been peeled off in some places where the previous owners had taped things.

Without getting anything out, Larkin shut her locker's door again. She slid down the slick surface and sat with her back to it. All in all, Larkin hadn't felt this bad in a while. Maybe I'm coming down with something. She paused her thoughts. In August? No. Larkin couldn't be sick in August. She never was.

She was too engrossed in her thoughts to realize when someone had sat down next to her. She ignored the presence on the floor next to her and buried her head in her knees. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed that the dizziness would go away. Deep breath in, deep breath out, she told herself.

When the feeling finally passed, Larkin looked up to find out who had been sitting next to her. Honestly, she was relieved that the person sitting criss-cross-applesauce on the floor next to her wasn't anyone from her lunch table.

Larkin let a grin break out on her face.

"Thanks for not hating me," she said.

"Why on earth would I hate you? My best friend of all people?" exclaimed Greta.

Larkin let out a sigh of relief. Greta was fine. She was at school. She didn't hate her.

Larkin ducked her head sheepishly. "I was kind of a jerk on Friday." Those were the only words she could force out of her mouth. She was too embarrassed to say anything else.

The smile melted of Greta's face. She pursed her lips before saying anything. "We all have our bad days," she said reassuringly. "We're too good of friends to let something as small as you shooing me away to ruin everything. But I do want to know who it is."

At first, Larkin sighed in relief, but then the second part of Greta's statement struck her. But I want to know who it is. Who what is? What is she talking about? Larkin furrowed her eyebrows. "What do you mean?"

Greta smirked. "Who is it?" There was an underlying tone of urgency in her voice. Her eyes were bright with curiosity.

Larkin had no idea what Greta was referring to. She shrugged it off. "Shouldn't you be worrying about why you found me sitting on the ground next to my locker?" inquired Larkin.

"Well, I was going to ask that second, but I decided to go with the more important question first. But just to satisfy your needy self, I will ask. Ok, Larkin. Why did I find you sitting on the ground next to your locker?" she asked mockingly.

"Since you are so concerned, I am sitting here because I felt sick. See, I was eating my lunch while reveling in my crappy mood. I was perfectly fine until lunch came around, and I started sweating buckets and shaking like it was freezing outside. I left the cafeteria and ended up here. Now, may I ask why you are here?"

Greta didn't respond right away. She seemed to ponder her answer and taste the words in her mouth before saying them. "Well, I was not at school this morning. I believe the cool kids call it ditching."

Larkin's eyes widened in surprise. "Look at you! My baby is all grown up!" she squealed. "Now why were you ditching?"

Greta pressed her lips together. "I can't tell you. Now that you've asked me two questions, I get to ask you another," she declared, quickly changing the subject. "Who was it?"

Larkin was still oblivious to what Greta had in mind. "I don't get it."

"Who did you ditch me for? I know it was someone. I saw you whispering into the dark when I was coming back with the shaved ice."

"No one," Larkin replied instantly.

"Come on Lark! Do you take me for an idiot?"

"At times, yes."

"Come on! It's not that big of a deal. Sure, you had a late night rendezvous with a mysterious guy, but that's not a bad thing. My Lark has fallen in love!" Greta let out a dreamy sigh.

Larkin's face reddened in embarrassment. So that's what Greta meant.

A stupid grin was etched onto Greta's face. "I knew it! You're blushing! The stone-cold Larkin finally met someone to melt her heart of ice!"

I did meet someone but not in that way.

"I do not have a heart of ice, Greta," contradicted Larkin. She scowled at her friend's hopeless romantic ways. "I just don't have time for all that nonsense. I mean— why date someone if you don't intend to marry them? I don't get it."

It was Greta's turn to scowl. "Stop being a downer."

"Let's just go to the cafeteria and maybe I can finish my lunch there," suggested Larkin. "I feel better already."

"Sure."

()()()

Apparently, Larkin did not really feel better already. She promptly threw up after taking another bite of her sandwich and rushing over to the trash bin. She didn't quite make it there, however. After a visit to the nurse's office, Larkin was sent home with a get-well-soon from the nurse and instructions to take it easy.

Larkin shuffled to her house. Both her mother and her father were too busy to pick their ailing child up from school. Larkin decided that she would complain to them about their care-taking skills once she was better. All she wanted to do was go home and sleep.

Perhaps the only good thing about her sudden illness was the fact that she got to miss AP European History.

Larkin arrived home and decided that she should probably put the rest of her uneaten lunch in the refrigerator, so it didn't spoil. As she sorted through the contents, putting certain things in the fridge, she noticed something glinting inside of her sandwich bag. She grabbed the half she didn't eat and pulled it out of the bag.

Yellow shimmering flecks rested on her lunch meat. Larkin didn't have to think too hard before she realized what it was.

Gold.

Where it came from, she did not know.