She does.

Vivian silently nods to your question. She finishes drying up and stands up. You’re about to offer her to go eat some place else when you realize you don’t know her school at all.

“Where do you want to go? I’m okay with anything.” You say with a smooth save.

“Let’s… go to the roof.” She says. You nod. Some may say it’s cliché’, you call it classic. You get a bit more nervous when you realize that, even if this is a dream, this is your first sort of date with a girl.

She leads you up the stairs and to the roof of the school. The edges are closed by a tall fence, just like they were at your school. Vivian has her back to you. The silence is a bit awkward, so you try to think of something to say.

“So, where do you want to…”

“What was that all about…!?” Vivian cuts you off, angrily lashing out at you. “Why did you talk to me!? Are you with them!? Is this some sort of joke!?”

You flinch at her harsh tone.

“What is it!? Am I so fun to mess with!? Can’t you all just leave me alone for ONE DAY!?” She turns to you. Her face is red with anger and frustration as tears roll down her cheeks.

You’re about to get angry when you remember your own experiences. You lashed out at people like this as well. When everyone seems to be against you, it’s hard to believe someone might actually be worried about you.

You sigh heavily and decide to drop all pretenses.

You sit down, leaning against the fence, open the lunchbox and grab a sandwich. You eat it and notice it’s your go-to sandwich for when you’re hungry at home. You didn’t specify the kind of sandwich, so maybe your subconscious filled the blanks.

“I was pissed, that’s all.” You tell Vivian. “Those girls are exactly the kind of person I dislike the most, so I got angry.”

Vivian seems to calm down a bit.

“It sucks, doesn’t it?” You begin. “You have no idea why they do it, but they torment you and make your life miserable as if it were just a game to them. Everyone else seems to be playing along.” You begin to get angrier and angrier. “Nobody does anything to stop it, teachers either turn a blind eye or don’t even notice. All you can do is drown yourself in the things you like, hoping it makes life just a little better.”

You sigh again to try and calm yourself. You’re not even talking about Vivian’s situation anymore. Somewhere along the way, you began to rant about your experiences.

You notice Vivian sits next to you, at about an arm’s length away from you. You move the lunchbox close you her and she takes out a sandwich.

“Do you have anyone you can rely on?” You ask.

“…” Vivian thinks for a moment. “My tennis coach.” She answers. “She’s been really nice to me and hears my complaints about school.”

“What about your family?” You asks. Surely Ms. Norah…

“I don’t have a father, and mom’s… not been the same since he died. It’s like she doesn’t care about me anymore.”

Wait wait WAIT! Hold your horses! This goes THAT deep?

Shit. Well, there’s a lot of work to be done here, it seems.

“Look, it might not sound like much, but believe me when I say it gets better with time. It’s all about meeting the right people. Though I’m also in the middle of that, so it’s not like I’m one to talk.” You laugh sheepishly.

“…” Vivian doesn’t say anything, but you can see her lips curl into a small smile…

…and her eyes begin to water.