An Unstill Life by Kate Larkindale

her.
    The smell of the locker room hit me before the noise. It was a musty scent, moist and heavy, a competing array of perfumes spiking through it. Steam drifted out the door, spiraling in and out of the light shafting through the windows at the end of the hallway. Voices and the sound of running water spilled from the doorway. I walked in, eyes raking across the bodies at various stages of undress. It was hard not to stare, not to compare my stick-like figure with the soft curves on display here.
    Mel strode from the showers, a towel wrapped around her body, another turban-like over her hair. I hadn’t realized how tense I was until I saw her. Relief coursed through me, and my muscles loosened.
    “Hey, Mel.” I wove through the benches and strewn bags toward her.
    “Livvie?” She swiped the towel from her head. “What are you doing here?”
    “I kind of need somewhere to hang out for a while.” I sat down and watched her rub her hair dry. “Mom’s totally pissed at me, and I don’t want to go home.”
    Mel gave me a curious look. “What did you do?”
    “I cut Jules’s hair off.”
    Mel almost fell over, had to put a hand out against the wall to steady herself. “What?” The word shot from her mouth in a plum-colored dart that struck the grimy beige wall and stayed there, quivering.
    “Jules asked me to. And now Mom’s got her panties all in a knot.” My mouth twisted as I tried to smile. “So, can I come home with you for a while?”
    Mel grinned as she shoved her long legs into her jeans. “Sure. I’ll outdo myself and microwave two frozen dinners.”

    The sun sat low in the sky when we wandered out of the gym. School had only just started, but it already felt like fall. The air held the hint of cinnamon and ginger that always came with autumn. A stab of sadness pierced my gut at the idea. Soon, summer would be just a memory.
    “Oh, hi Sam.” Mel’s breathy voice halted my rambling train of thought. She stopped walking and leaned up against the building. I joined her, letting the heat of the sun-warmed bricks soak into my back. Sam Taylor stood over us, his bulk blocking the sunlight from streaming into my eyes.
    “So, how was practice?” Sam gestured toward the track.
    Mel shook her head, letting the short blond hair fly around her face and settle again. “First one of the year, so you know… Chaos. What about you? How come you’re here so late?”
    I could see the hopefulness in her words, gold and orange, and knew she wanted him to say he was there for her.
    “Swim team.” He nodded in the direction of the school pool, housed in an annex off the gym. “We’ve been at it two weeks already, so I guess we’re in better shape than the track team, huh?”
    Mel grinned. “I wouldn’t count on it. Eddie did a personal best today, and I shaved two seconds of my fifteen hundred meter time from last year. A lot of us have trained hard over the summer. I’d like to think we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
    The breathiness was gone from Mel’s speech. The silly, flirty body language had disappeared too. She stood up straight and tall, eye-to-eye with Sam whose mouth twitched upward in amusement. “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”
    “Yeah. I guess so.”
    “Well, see ya.” Sam walked away, joining three other guys shuffling toward the parking lot.
    Mel sagged against the bricks, watching him walk away.
    Before Sam had walked more than a few paces, he stopped and said something to the guys he was with. He jogged back toward us.
    “Hey.” Sam stopped a few feet away, and his eyes flicked from Mel to me. “You hang out with Hannah McMillan, right?”
    My heart sank, settling somewhere toward the pit of my stomach where it pulsed sickly, sending threads of nausea coursing through me. I nodded.
    “You got her cell number?” He jerked his head, flicking blond strands away from his eyes. When I didn’t answer, he turned those eyes on Mel.
    Mel sighed, her chin dropping down