Try talking to her.

You know what this is like. You know it all too well. You know that the last thing she wants right now is for you to talk to her. But, if your own experiences are anything to go by, it’s the thing she needs the most right now.

You man up and go up the stairs.

There are only three doors. One probably leads to Vivian’s room, another to Ms. Norah’s and the last one is most likely a bathroom. A loud noise, like something slamming against a wall, is the only hint you need to know which is Vivian’s.

You knock on her door, and there’s a sudden silence all around. You decide to speak up.

“Vivian, can we talk?”

“…go away!” You hear her say from the other side.

Of course she’s pushing you away. Why would she let people in when she’s at her most ****?

“I can’t.” You say. “Not when you’re like that. Not when I think you’re going through the same shit I did.” You tell her. “Please, talk to me.”

There’s silence again. It lasts for a long time as you stand in front of her door, unmoving.

It’s probably after a solid 2 minutes that you hear the door unlocking before it opens.

Vivian stands before you, eyes red from crying so much. She doesn’t even look at you before she hugs you tightly. It’s a strong, **** hug. Pushing her away right now would kill her, so you hug her back, just as tightly.

That breaks her, and she begins to cry again into your shoulder, screaming loudly as she does. You remain silent, letting her release all the frustration.

She stops after a long while, but is still hugging you, her face buried in your shoulder.

“C-Can… can we talk… for a bit?” She pleads hesitantly. Her voice is weak and you only hear her because she’s so close.

You gently rub her back and answer. “Of course.”

She lets go of you and goes back inside her room. You follow her inside. She sits on her bed and you sit beside her. Her room is actually rather plain. It’s clean, but it doesn’t have many decorations. There’s a desk where she seems to use the laptop she took downstairs, if the mouse and headphones are any indication.

The two of you remain silent for a while, and you wonder if you should start. But what do you say to her? Do you ask what she’s going through? Do you tell her you went through the same thing? Those questions are rendered pointless when Vivian is the one to speak first.

“I… get bullied in school.” She admits in a strained, quivering voice. She’s looking down at her clenching fists over her knees in a stiff posture. You can sympathize with her. There’s something about saying “I get bullied” that sounds outright pathetic, so it’s even harder to admit.

You nod, encouraging her to continue.

“It’s… a group of girls. The head cheerleader and her lackies.” Her voice carries a lot of hostility that is thankfully not aimed towards you. “I… I don’t even know what I did to them!” Her voice cracks again, but she manages to hold back her tears this time. “And since the whole school is afraid of them, no one even talks to me!”

“You have no friends, people hate you for god-know what reason and the teachers don’t even care.” You say. “Am I right?” You ask with a wry smile.

“…” Vivian looks at you as if you just took the words out of her mouth.

“I know it’s terrible, but… well, saying it’ll get better with time doesn’t help much, does it?” You say. “I know how it is. I know how much it fucking sucks.” You groan and shake your head. “Hell, as much as I wish I could, I can’t even tell you how to make it better, since I never could.

“But you know what?” You continue, looking at Vivian straight in the eyes. “You have two, probably three things going for you.”

“What could I possibly have going for me!?” She snaps.

“First, didn’t you say you were going to a tennis club?” You asks calmly, trying to calm her down too. The questions takes her by surprise, so she does.

“Yes…”

“Do you like it?”

After contemplating it for a moment, she nods. “A lot.”

“Well there you go! You have something you can use to distract yourself from all the day-to-day crap. Back when I was in school all I did was study and… well, play games and such.” You laugh at yourself.

“I… I do feel better after playing tennis.” Vivian admits with a very small smile.

“See? Secondly, your friends don’t HAVE to be from school, do they?”

“I… I guess not…”

“Then problem solved.” You tell her.

“How is that problem solved!?”

“Because now you have a friend!” You proclaim. “Well… if you want to, that is.” You add, with a little bit less confidence.

“You mean…” She stares at you with eyes wide.

You wonder why saying all these things is so easy when you’ve had so much troubles making friend yourself, but the answer comes quickly. You’re just telling her all the things you wished someone had told you back then. Someone offering to be your friend, to point out the good things you had but never noticed. You’ve only come to remember those recently.

“We don’t have to make a big deal out of it, just…” You sigh heavily. “Look, I have a good idea of what you’re going through because I went through the same. I’m only now starting to get my life back in order. And while I can honestly say things have gotten better, I still… don’t have people I can really call friends, just nice acquaintances.” You admit.

There’s a bit of silence before Vivian speaks again.

“You were bullied too?” She asks softly.

“Oh yeah!” You laugh, trying to lighten the mood. “I once even punched a dude because of it, but he gave it back to me ten times worse.”

“Did you really?” Vivian laughs, too.

“Yeah, then I got suspended.” You add. “Thinking back, I should’ve punched him harder.”

Vivian keeps laughing, and you notice just how cute she looks while doing so, even with her reddened, tired eyes. Yeah, you’re glad you took this job.

“Wait, you said I had three things in my favor. What’s the third?” She asks after she calms her laughter down.

“Oh, that you’re beautiful, of course.” You say casually, and only become aware of your words second after saying them. Vivian’s face reddens and she quickly looks away from you.

What made you utter those words as if they’d meant nothing, you don’t know.

“Well!” You say, standing up. “I think’s it’s better if we leave things at that for now. We’ll pick up on Wednesday!” Your words come out a little too quickly.

“Yeah…! That’s… good.” She agrees.

“S-see you around, then…!”

“S-See you!”

You’re about to exit her bedroom, when she calls to you.

“W-wait, John…!”

“Y-Yes…?”

“Can… y-you…” She fidgets a she tries to speak and fiddles with the sleeves of her sweater. “Can we… exchange numbers?”

Oh.

“S-Sure!” You sound a little too excited for your own taste.

You add each other’s numbers to your contact lists and you go back home.

When you fall asleep you go inside Vivian’s dream again to have another date. It goes pretty damn well.