Intermission - An anecdote from an unspoken past.

Sarah took her plate with eggs, bacon and bread to the table along with a large glass of orange juice. There had been a line at the machine to get the juice, so Grace and Fernanda were already at the table. Grace had two donuts, a bowl of cereal with yogurt and a big cup of coffee, while Fernanda had a bowl of oatmeal with fruits, toasts with avocado and a cup of green tea.

Sarah sat down next to Grace and across from Fernanda, still eyeing Grace’s breakfast. Those donuts were heavily glazed, with plenty of sprinkles on top. Not to mention they were very sizable. “You shouldn’t eat those for breakfast. You’ll get a big sugar rush and then crash with low energy for the rest of the day.”

“I’ve been doing it for a while and I’ve been fine,” Grace said, taking a bite out of a donut.

“Really? Because that happens to me,” Fernanda said. “If I eat sweets in the morning I spend the rest of the day all lethargic.”

“It happens to most, but not all,” Sarah said, sighing. “In her case, she’s grown too comfortable and is falling into bad habits.”

Fernanda looked a little confused, but Sarah couldn’t elaborate. It wasn’t her place to tell her that having sex with Oliver was optimizing their bodies through magic to reach their ideal.

“So, Fernanda, how old are you, actually?” Grace said, swiftly changing the topic. “You look older than us.”

“Turned 20 not long ago.”

“You in university?” Sarah asked.

For a moment Fernanda frowned, a little confused again, but shook her head and answered. “Yes, but I had to freeze my semester.”

What was that? Ah, Diana did tell them she talked to Fernanda, but she didn’t give them any specifics. She had likely asked the same questions and Fernanda was surprised she hadn’t told them. That was Sarah’s best guess.

“Were you doing something art related or is drawing just a hobby?” Grace asked.

“Um… Yes, actually. I’m majoring in Fine Arts. I’m… hoping I can do something with my drawings in the future, but…”

Grace crossed her arms and grimaced. “Making a career out of art is… uncertain, right? Got any ideas?”

“...” Fernanda shifted uncomfortably. “I’ve always wanted to write comics, but my stories aren’t good so I’ve been trying to improve my art to work as an artist for other writers. If not that, then I’d like to do art for video games. I’ve also been considering getting into animation.”

“Oh, so you’re keeping your options open.” Sarah nodded. That sounded like a good mindset. Grace, however, frowned.

“You said that before. That your comics weren’t good. Why do you say that?”

Oh, no. Here we go. Should Sarah let Grace push this matter? She wasn’t sure. Grace and Sarah were similar in that they both hated listening to people talk themselves down. It was the one thing that annoyed them about Oliver when they first started hanging out, and they made it clear to him. The difference here is that Grace liked Oliver despite that. Fernanda, though? Grace could very well just get pissed at her.

“...” Fernanda frowned as well, frustrated, angry… At herself? “Because if even I don’t like my stories, what’s the point? I write them in text before I draw them, but none get to that point. They’re all awful. I don’t have the creativity to write a story.”

Grace took a deep breath. She took a sip from her coffee, then a larger one. She set the cup down and looked at Fernanda again. “Do you have anything on hand I could read?”

“Eh?”

Alright, fuck it. Let’s gamble, Sarah decided. “Let her do it,” she told Fernanda, pointing a thumb towards her friend. “This girl devours books. She would’ve been bullied for being a bookworm at school if she wasn’t the one doing the bullying.”

“Hey, a bully picks on the weak. I picked on the assholes. Kind of like Robin Hood.”

“Oh, don’t you compare yourself to Robin Hood.”

They suddenly heard a faint chuckle coming out of Fernanda. The girl was hiding her smile behind the back of her hand. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing. Have you two… known each other for long?”

“She’s been annoying me since middle school,” Grace said, smiling. “Sometimes it’s worth putting up with her, though.”

“Please, you’d be lost without me. You used to be SO stuck up, like you thought you were better than everyone. Actually, you still kind of think you are, only you hide it better. I was the one who knocked you down a couple pegs.”

Fernanda chuckled again. “Is that true?” she asked Grace.

“...Ugh, yeah,” Grace reluctantly admitted. “At one point Sarah had enough of me. We got in a fight, she threatened to kick my ass. I told her any gorilla could win a fight, that she should beat me in smarts if she wanted to talk big. Honestly, I was trying to get her to hit me. A suspension for her and free sympathy for me. She didn’t hit me, though. She walked away, stomping her feet. We had finals two days after that. She actually beat me in science and social studies and BY GOD did she throw it in my face. I was a laughing stock for the next week.”

“Because she was always bragging that nobody could beat her because we were all too dumb. Everyone had it against her, so they took the chance to laugh at her.” Sarah then let out a heavy sigh. “But then I never got a better grade than her again.”

“Then… How did you become friends?” Fernanda asked.

“Oh, we already were!” Grace said, laughing. “That was just our biggest fight. I was mad for a week, then we went back to hanging out like nothing happened.”

“The ones who had it worse were our other friends, Mila and Alice. They thought we would never speak to each other ever again.” Sarah smiled. That was a good memory for her, and of course it was. She won the argument, managed to humble her friend and she ended up accepting it. Grace would probably never admit that she was glad it happened like that, but Sarah knew better. And speaking of Grace, Sarah had decided to back her up here, so… “But in the end, Grace really is ridiculously smart. She’s already finished 16 books in half a year, and that was even while we were still in school. You already think your stories suck, so why not let Grace check them out? Have you ever let anyone else see them? Maybe what you need is feedback.”

Fernanda pursed her lips and thought hard about it, but after a moment, she brought out her phone.

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