"I—we—it's not what—" The taller girl tripped over her tongue, her hands flying out to swat at the empty space between them.
Her other friend stammered too. "We were just, you know, the weather! The rain out there is crazy, right, Vivi? And your head looked like it was, um, vibrating? Loudly?"
"Vibrating?" Vivi—the taller girl— shot her friend a wild, wide-eyed glare, her shoulders hitching up to her ears. "Lyssa! That is the dumbest shit you have ever said. Shut up. Just shut up."
"Well, you're the one who blurted it out!" Lyssa stammered back.
A bright, blotchy red flushed across her cheeks, clashing with her neon-pink hoodie.
Her boots squeaked against the bare floorboards as her fingers tore at the hem of her tattered zombie skirt.
The heavy grip on Justice's flanks loosened.
Instantly, he wriggled his body backward.
With a swift, quiet leap, he scrambled out of the puddle of neon fabric and darted behind the metal workbench.
