My Friend Is A Bit Unhinged

Dragging the pencil across the page, she fleets her gaze across the board and back to the book. It's convenient to have a friend who's good at math during these trying times, but when she doesn't come to school, it makes her question how much she really knows on the subject.

A few days have passed in silence, or as silent as it can be in the chaotic hovel of a school.

Everyone's been chill—chaotic as hell, moody as fuck, but chill. She likes that there isn't any drama in their lives right now.

Erasing her answer from the page, she watches as another kid in the class goes up and rights the corrections on the board when a nudge from her left diverts her attention.

What the hell?

Zani never disturbs her during math; she knows she can barely concentrate, much less pick up on the damn subject. She'll write something on her page to get her attention or lightly tap her shoulder. She can't think of any reason why her friend would divert from the norm.

"What's up? Is something wrong?" MJ's words are murmered in quiet, her eyes glancing between her friend and the answer's on the board.

"Something happened with Abby the other day; she just went to the guidance counselor, so be prepared for some drama during lunch." Zani murmurs near her ear.

Her exhale is filled with exasperation and concern in equal measure—a feeling she's gotten used to since becoming friends with this group.

"Is she in trouble or something?" Mj asks.

"Not exactly. You'll have to wait until lunch to get the full story, but apparently Shanakay's been bullying and saying stuff about her on WhatsApp, and she decided to deal with it."

MJ lifts a brow, a small frown on her face. "Why am I just hearing about this now?"

"Not sure; as I said, we'll get the full story from Abby during lunch, so just keep that in mind."

"Alright"

Her attention falls back onto the white board, and while it seems she's taking in the information quite well, her thoughts are consumed by what could be going on with her friend.

Two classes and a lot of chatter later, she and Zani go looking for Abbigail.

When they find the girl, she's full on cackling with Angie. The two girls smile from ear to ear as they lead them to their usual empty classroom.

Her attention darts to the shorter girl, waiting for the two to come down from their high before she starts asking any questions.

"So, Abbigail, Angie, what the hell is going on? What's this about Shanakay? Because last time I checked, we're on different sides of a spectrum and we all don't talk to her, so what's this I'm hearing about?"

Abby smiles, and she's suddenly reminded that people view her the same way she was once viewed.

Quiet, innocent things they both knew they weren't.

So really, she's not all that surprised by Abbigail's response once the young girl starts her story.

"What happened is that Shanakay has a boyfriend who I just happened to know, and she found out, and as a result, she started to make some very unnecessary comments about me, which I brought to the guidance counselor.

After a couple days, the guidance counselor cornered her and had the two of us go to her office. This girl cried big, fake, ugly tears that neither I nor the concellor were falling for.

After a while, she calmed down enough that the counselor could tell her to apologize, which she did. Now, I didn't really like her apology; it didn't seem all that genuine to me, so I told her and the guidance counselor that I wouldn't accept her apology unless she went down on her knees.

And since the guidance counselor wasn't going to make her leave until she did it, she did.

The girl couldn't look me in the eye when she left, and the reason you didn't see Zani or Angie during your second class was because they were with me when it all happened."

A laugh escapes her at the image her mind conjures. "All of this over a boy, I swear if that was me, I'd just leave it alone. It's not like you were trying to take the guy."

"Gurl, real, this was the most ridiculous shit I've caused in a minute."

She pops her shoulder, taking a bite of the lunch she brought, as the other three talk and laugh over the whole experience.

The room is bright; the chatter from outside is coming through the walls and echoing around them. It's an avid distraction; along with their conversations, it fills the time until lunch is over with inane chatter before heading over to their next class.

The next three hours are long and draining, and by the time she and Abby settle down in her dad's car, the two are basically falling asleep against each other. Her head lies against the door, and Abby places her head in her lap. Something she's grown to call the norm between the two these days.

'Today's been an eventful day' she thinks as sleep drags her into its calming oblivion.