Unexpected Friendship

She’s actual here.

Why is she here?

Is Amanda here as well? Jenny hiding around the corner? Underneath the table? I don’t dare to take my eyes off of Trish to check. Maybe Elise can do that?

Nope. She’s giving a menacing glare at Trish. Ow. I’m glad I’m not the recipient.

“We’re busy,” She says, voice hard and full of edge. It’d be scary if it wasn’t disturbingly alluring, the way contempt dripped from her words. Am I into that?

“I’m all alone!” Trish rapidly says, holding up her heads and looking around demonstrably. Maybe her partners in crime aren’t nearby?

“Doesn’t matter,” Elise growls out.

“I’m serious! To cut a long story short, I’m no longer friends with them. I don’t want to hurt you; I just want to talk”

“There’s room,” An unexpected deadpan voice interjects. Rouge? When did she get here? Judging by the uneaten state of her food, not that long.

And, just like that, Trish plonks herself down opposite me and next to Rouge.

That’s fine. Totally fine, though Elise doesn’t seem happy with it.

“Why are you here?” Rouge asks in lieu of everyone else’s silence. Thanks, sis. Always digging into other people’s issues.

“Look, I’m… I’m sorry. Sorry for not getting involved. Sorry for letting it go on for so long. Sorry for, fuck, everything, really,” Trish burbles out rapidly.

She came here to… apologise?

“I know, I know,” She carries on. “I mean, I thought they were good people—they were my only friends. It’s not like they spent all their time bullying you; I could just ignore that.” She huffed. Great. Exactly what I wanted to hear; someone thinking I’m so insignificant they can just ignore my bullying.

I stuff my face with omelette, not wanting to speak, though my eyes conveyed my sentiment. Omelette good.

“All I’m hearing are excuses.” Elise chimed in, not letting up the pressure on Trish.

“Yes, they are.” She sounds… defeated? “I recorded the last one my phone, as well as some others. I tried showing the videos to them, hoping maybe that’ll get them to change their ways. But they laughed at it. Wanted me to spread them around.

“So I sent them to her.” She looked towards Rouge, not eating her breakfast and silently listening in to our conversation.

It happened so quickly yesterday that I barely had time to take it all in but my memory was becoming clearer, now that I thought about it. Trish was on her phone, though I didn’t pay that much attention. How many other times was she like that?

“Rouge?” I ask.

“This dickhead here sent me the clips at god knows how late but they were shit. Wobbly, out of focus, and from a country mile away. You could barely tell who people are, except for you.

“So, I asked her to take another one. I was up late last night cutting it down to remove all incriminating evidence,” She pauses, sending a familiar **** glare at Elise, “And sent it to our head of year to help save your ass.”

Elise, wide-eyed, looks at me worryingly. I couldn’t blame her; no one could with eyes like that.

I take a second to process all that. Why wasn’t I told about all this?

“But, why? Why do that?” I question.

“Firstly, I do what I want. Secondly, you’re my sister,” As if that point was self-evident. Not like she cared about us being family in the past. “Thirdly, without undeniable proof, the school wouldn’t have done anything. You’d both either not be punished or both punished. This way, you’re the clear-cut victim and they’re the villain.” The way she says it all is like she’s insulting me.

“And what about you?” Elise coldly zeros in on Trisha. “Betraying your friends so you don’t go down with the ship?”

“It sure looks that way,” She replies with a half-hearted chuckle. “But, no. I had a secret and once I showed them the videos, they threatened to spill it. So, I took a chance.” She raises her eyes up at me apologetically. Argh; why do you have to be so beautiful when I want to hate you.

“We don’t forgive you,” Elise quickly says. We? I like how possessive that sounds.

“Isn’t forgiving me up to Scarlet?”

“Let’s hear your secret. Then, maybe I’ll forgive you.” I can’t deny that I’m intrigued.

With a sigh, Trish answers.

“I work at Honey’s. My parents are hyper traditional and who knows what they’d do if they found out. I can’t let them know.”

Oh. Not quite the world-destroying stuff I was thinking of, though I suppose it must be serious considering Trish betrayed her only two friends to avoid it getting out.

“Honey’s?” Elise inquires.

“It’s a lingerie shop,” Trish answers succinctly. Rouge scoffs at the answer but doesn’t say anything. Is there something I don’t know? “Happy?” Trish asks me now that I’ve heard her secret.

“Sure,” I answer. I thought I was more vindictive than this. Why does a simple apology feel so good?

Immediately with my answer, the hard look on Elise’s face softens.

“I didn’t care. Just wanted to see how remorseful you were.” Ouch. Elise can be so devious at times. “And lingerie? Where I come from, we just call them ‘formal attire’.”

This pulls a smile from Trish, recognising the acceptance Elise is offering her.

My heart’s actually calmed down, now. Much nicer.

We finish out breakfast (not that Trish ate anything herself; she just wanted to stay and talk) and head towards our respective form rooms, but not before Elise confirms that we’ll see each other at lunch.

In the first time in who knows how long, I feel like school may not actually be that bad from now on. Who knew?

All that’s left is for me to learn my timetable. One day, but not today.