Intermission - Growing up.

Noelle knew she was far faster typing on a keyboard than writing by hand, so she took notes in class using a tablet and keyboard. Most of her classmates did something similar, too, either using a tablet like her, their phones or their laptops. The professors allowed it, so everybody took advantage of it. One of the few that didn’t do it was Noelle’s new friend, Mandy.

A chubby blonde only slightly taller than Noelle, Mandy wrote everything on her notebook with pristine handwriting. She organized it well, highlighted key information and did it all incredibly quickly. She also had a good memory, easily remembering things the professors said even when she hadn’t written it down.

“Very well, that’s it for today,” their professor said, then tapped the whiteboard with his marker twice. “Remember, we’re already covering test material. We’ll have a quiz worth 10% of your grade next week. See you then.”

Noelle stretched her arms and her back as the entire class relaxed. The professor left, her classmates started talking and some were hurrying to the cafeteria to get in line or grab their seats. Luckily, both Mandy and Noelle brought their lunch from home, so they didn’t even need to go to the cafeteria.

“I like this style,” Mandy said, nodding approvingly. “A small quiz every few weeks feels easier than two huge tests at the middle and end of the semester.”

“We’ll still have those huge tests, though…” Noelle sighed. “But yeah, it’ll be easier to remember everything this way.” Noelle began to put her things inside her backpack. “So, how was your weekend?” she asked.

She and Mandy didn’t see each other until Wednesday since they had chosen a few different classes that made them miss each other on Mondays and Tuesdays. Mandy was also not the type to text a lot.

“I had a cold, so I stayed in bed and binged the two seasons of that show you told me,” Mandy said, grinning. “It’s stuff like that which makes me kind of like being sick.”

“Ugh, I can’t enjoy anything when I have a cold. I didn’t get sick last year and I’m hoping to make it a streak this one.”

“And what did you do?” Mandy asked. “You seemed to be looking forward to it.”

Noelle grinned, reached into her backpack and took out a miniature figure of a soldier in a coat, wearing a gas mask and holding a rifle. “A friend gave me a couple of minis and taught me how to assemble them and paint them.”

“Oh no, you’re getting into plastic crack…” Mandy teased, grinning and taking the mini from Noelle to see it. “Holy cow. Did you really paint this? Is this your first? It’s really good.”

“I’ve painted a few model kits before, but these are harder since they’re so small,” Noelle said. “Still, it was fun. I’m considering getting an army of those.”

“If you do, I might do it, too. I haven’t done it yet because I don’t have anyone to play with,” Mandy said, holding in her excitement.

“Pffff! Are you girls really playing with toys at this age?”

Noelle blinked. If it wasn’t for the word ‘toy’ in there, she wouldn’t have known they were talking to Mandy and her. She turned around and saw a group of four. Three girls and a guy, gathered around a desk and eyeing Noelle and Mandy with poorly hidden mocking grins.

The girls all had very pretty, well cared-for hair and wore thin jackets and nice jewelry. The guy they were with had dyed blonde hair and nails painted black. The girl that spoke was arguably the prettiest of the group. Long brown hair, lithe body, cute face… yet that mocking grin made her look really ugly.

Noelle was about to bite, but decided against replying. She was going to turn back around and suggest to Mandy that they just leave… but Mandy did bite.

“So what if we are?” she asked, frowning.

“Oh, nothing. It’s cute, you know?” the guy said, his tone… flamboyant and gaudy. “Your girls clearly haven’t lost your innocence. It’s cute.”

One of Noelle’s eyebrows rose against her will. The rest of their group pretended to hide their laughter.

“What does that even mean?” Mandy asked, growing more and more upset.

“That you two are still clearly virgins, obviously,” the first girl said. “Still playing with toys and watching cartoons at your age? You’re still just kids.”

What the hell was going on? Was this really the ‘mean girls’ act here in university of all places? Weren’t people supposed to grow out of that by the end of high school at the latest? Noelle didn’t even know the names of these people, they’d never talked.

Mandy flinched. Her shoulders tensed up and it seemed like she was about to yell a retort. Noelle just wanted to leave them alone, but that had clearly touched a nerve in her new friend.

“What’s that have to do with anything?” Noelle asked, keeping her tone calm, if notably upset. “What do our hobbies have to do with sex?”

“It’s childish, dear,” the guy said. “Childish and unattractive. I bet neither of you have ever had a boyfriend. And you never will if you keep that up.”

Funny. A year ago Noelle would’ve actually felt called out. No boyfriend, nerdy hobbies, only like three friends… She would’ve felt that they had hit the nail on the head. But now? It was so easy to tell they just wanted to be mean and belittle them for their own amusement. After all, there was a decent chance Noelle had had more sex than these four people combined. She was a huge sex-loving pervert, even bordering on nymphomania, if she was being honest.

Mandy, though? She probably felt that they were calling her out specifically.

Noelle sighed. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right,” she said, smiling wryly. “Who’d want to go out with a girl who likes to paint miniatures. I’m sure getting plastered at parties and opening your legs for the first dick that comes around is a lot more attractive to guys.”

The mood shifted. Their smiles didn’t completely leave, but now it was like they were keeping them on as masks.

“You’re assuming a lot,” the main girl said.

“I thought I’d do you all one, too, as you also seem to be assuming a lot,” Noelle said. “Who even are you? We’ve never talked. What’s with this high school bullying act? So busy looking for approval from your little echo chamber that you forgot to grow up?”

“Oooh, look at you, sooo mature,” one of the other girls said in a blatantly mocking tone.

“Big words from the little virgin,” the other girls said.

“Sure, sure.” Noelle threw her backpack over her shoulder and turned to Mandy with a smile. “Hey, what did you bring for lunch today?”

Mandy was pursing her lips hard, only this time it was in an attempt to keep her grin from showing. “Chicken wraps. You?”

“Oliver made veggie fried rice for dinner yesterday. It was really good, but I don’t like peppers…” Noelle said as the two casually walked out of the classroom.

They were quiet as they walked, and once they were a fair distance away, Mandy spoke again.

“Hey… I’m… sorry I fell for the bait.” She grimaced, then smiled wryly. “And thanks for backing me up. That was good.”

Noelle grumbled. “No, I can imagine some of my friends doing better.” Grace and Sarah would’ve left that group eating their own words, and Alice and Oliver would’ve done the actual mature thing and just walked away.

“But… Hey, you have a boyfriend, don’t you? You’re not… um… actually a virgin, right?”

“Hm? Oh, no, I’m not,” Noelle admitted sheepishly.

“Then why didn’t you just tell them?”

“Because it doesn’t matter,” Noelle said. “What do they care about what our hobbies are? What does it matter whether we’ve had sex before or not? Like I said, they’re just trying to look cool inside their little echo chamber like this is the 5th year of high school. They were just talking shit, Mandy. Don’t pay them any mind. My best guess is that they’ve noticed how smart you are and they felt like they had to make fun of you to make themselves feel better.”

Mandy smiled and jumped to give Noelle a big hug. “Thanks, Noelle.”

The redhead giggled. “Just telling the truth.”

The funniest part about this is that that group later tried to spread the idea that Noelle was a nerd and a virgin who’d never had a boyfriend to other people in their class. Not only did most people not give a damn, but some actually started calling them out because they’d seen Noelle and Oliver together around campus. By then, nobody was taking that group seriously at all.

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