Marcy and Anne were exuding a palpable awkwardness around each other. Their interactions were stilted and strained as they both attempted to avoid each other at all costs, taking different paths and making every effort to steer clear of one another.
Sasha wasn't oblivious to the tension between them, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what was causing the strange behavior and a sense of unease gnawed at her.
Her thoughts turned to the party they had all attended the night before.
Could it have something to do with the events of the evening that was causing this situation?
Perhaps a game of truth or dare had gone awry, and they had been dared to stay away from each other?
It seemed like the most logical explanation for their bizarre behavior, and since no other ideas came to Sasha's mind, she decided to stick with that one.
Still, she couldn't shake the feeling that there was more to the story.
She knew that Marcy and Anne had been close friends before she came into the picture, the two were always inseparable so their sudden estrangement was troubling to say the least.
Sasha decided to confront them, hoping to get to the bottom of the issue and solve whatever was going on as best as she could.
Just then, Sasha spotted Marcy leaning against her locker with her hood up, her tongue sticking out in concentration as she played on her console.
Perfect.
Without hesitation, Sasha approached Marcy, since she was the first out of the two that she saw and she hoped to get to the bottom of what was going on as soon as possible. Plus, Marcy was probably going to be easier to crack between her and Anne.
As the blonde stopped next to her, Marcy could feel her cerulean eyes staring through her, and tried her best to avoid eye contact, but Sasha's gentle voice broke through her concentration.
"Marbles, is everything okay?" Sasha asked, trying to sound as caring as possible since she knew she could come off as demeaning sometimes.
The directed question forced Marcy to tear her gaze away from the screen and meet Sasha's eyes, hesitation clear on her face as she responded, "Yeah! All good, just struggling to beat the greatest JRPG game of all time!"
Marcy put on her usual dorky grin, but it didn't fool Sasha.
Sasha was only mildly-disinterested on the gaming-talk, but she had another reason now to shot the topic down since she could tell that Marcy was trying to avoid the issue at hand.
She shook her head and crossed her arms. "Marcy," She said firmly, hoping to get her friend to open up.
As Sasha continued to press Marcy, Marcy couldn't help but wince.
She didn't think Sasha would see through her act so easily. Though she probably should've expected it after their years of friendship.
After a moment of hesitation, Marcy let out a deep sigh.
"Okay, fine," She said, finally relenting. "I'm just feeling really awkward after the truth or dare game at the party yesterday and- this dare came up and made things awkward between me and Anne, and I don't know what to do." Marcy said, tugging on the strings of her hoodie nervously, trying to be vague enough where Sasha wouldn't catch on.
She could feel Sasha's gaze on her, silence filled the air before she rolled her eyes, "Marce, you gotta be more specific than that, I'm not trying to get any scoop or drama I just have no clue why this dare would make you guys act like the other has the plague or something!"
Marcy sucked in a breath, she probably should've expected that, and she didn't blame Sasha for being annoyed, but she just didn't know how to go about this topic.
"Yeah- sorry, it's just.... complicated, don't even worry about it! I'll just- sort things out by myself, thanks for the help though, Sash."
Marcy put on that same bright smile she usually did, one that made a small wave of guilt wash over Sasha once she realized she's seen that plastered smile before.
"Marcy, I didn't—"
"Hey, dudes!"
The booming voice cut Sasha off, and both of the girls eyes went to the direction that it came from, only to see Anne walking over to them with a raised eyebrow at their expressions.
"You two alright? Did I- interrupt something?" Anne asked, putting on a joking tone but a small part of her was anticipating the answer, hoping she hadn't interrupted anything.
Marcy's eyes widened and she quickly shook her head, making a point to clearly show that her and Sasha were not doing anything romantic.
"No! No, of course not."
Sasha's eyes narrowed at the frantic tone of her friends voice, before she turned her attention back to Anne, who was weirdly quiet.
Sasha may not have known the full extent of the situation but she could feel the hostility in the air as her best friends had a small starting contest, both trying to read the other but failing to do so.
"Alright, you two gonna kiss or what?" She asked sarcastically, which drew the attention of the two girls.
Both pair of eyes were wide as a shade of maroon covered their cheeks.
"What?!"
"Dude!"
Sasha's eyebrows knitted together once she noticed the intense and defensive reactions of the two.
"Why are you two getting so defensive? I've made that joke hundreds of times before and you never minded it until now?"
Anne and Marcy's eyes met each other's for a split second before they looked back at Sasha. Marcy's face was still bright red while Anne had a lump in her throat, that she tried to get rid of by clearing her throat.
"It's just.... a weird joke, we're not gonna kiss, not like we have- I mean, not that that's a bad thing, because being gay isn't bad and anyone would be lucky to kiss Marcy but just not me and—"
The more Anne rambled on, the more Marcy's face grew hotter, as she stared at her shoes, whilst Sasha pursed her lips.
"Boonchuy, you need to calm down. We get it, Marcy's cute, anyone would want to kiss her, hell, I would want to kiss her."
"Dude?!"
"Relax! I'm not gonna steal her away or anything, I'd probably kiss you too, it's not about choosing."
With that, Sasha walked away, leaving her best friends confused and slightly mortified.
The two stood next to the lockers, unsure if what just happened was real or not.
The weird interaction made them forget why they had been avoiding each other in the first place, and they didn't even realize this was their first time staying in the same room next to each other for more than five minutes since yesterday.
Marcy nervously fidgeted with the Nintendo Switch in her hands as Anne rubbed her chin, processing what just happened.
"Sasha's kind of... weird sometimes, isn't she?"
"Yeah, but so are you, so it's fine." Marcy waved off, making Anne gasp.
"Marcy! That was so uncalled for, but... You're right. Don't forget that you're kinda weird too. Which isn't a bad thing! I actually like that- uh, that- you're so honest about yourself, yeah."
Marcy softly giggled at Anne stumbling over her own words, and reached for the girls hand, gently squeezing it.
Annes eyes dropped down to it before meeting her friends eyes once more.
"Don't worry, Anna-banana, I like a lot of things about you, too. Like the fact that you're amazing at making connections!"
Anne's cheeks held a pink tint to them, even though Marcy's words were probably true in her mind, to Anne, they were false, because right now, she wasn't making the connection on why she was suddenly so nervous and flustered around her best friend.
"Uh-"
The loud bell cut Anne off, which also made Marcy drop her hand and turn to her locker, causing a cold feeling to flow through Anne.
"Shoot! That's the warning bell, we gotta get going!" Marcy said whilst scrambling to get her things and walking off quickly to her class.
Anne stayed standing in the same place for a few more seconds, a sigh escaped her as she frowned to herself.
This day was bizarre.
To be continued...
[a/n] so, if you have this story in your library you don't have to have the other one from now on, bc chapter 4 til the end will be the same dialogue even in the other revised version because it has my current writing style I guess.
this story is more in-character for all of them I think, or I'll try to make it like that.
if you're reading this still, then thank you! I'm surprised you waited so long for an update but here it is.