Anne heard her roommate stir from their room and eventually wander down into the hall.
"Morning," Anne greeted, a piece of toast clenched in her teeth. She was dressed and eating breakfast before her 9AM biology class. It was Friday the 21st, and right after her lectures she'd be going over the final revisions for Sasha's bio assignment at the library.
"Morning," Marcy echoed through a yawn. "What's this?" They gestured to the table.
"I know your class isnt until 11 but it doesnt hurt to make a second egg for you, yknow?" Anne slid the plate over, swinging her bag around her shoulder. "There's toast too: I put the cream cheese away but I can get it back out if you want."
Marcy seated themself, then fixed their glasses, noticing something shiny hanging off of Anne's school bag.
"That's new, where'd you get it?" Marcy inquired, pointing to a small, red, frog key charm.
"Oh, Hopediah?" Anne glanced down at the new little frog dangling from its chain. "Sasha gave it to me yesterday, isnt he cute?"
To that sentence, Marcy fell quiet.
"So...thats why you left campus yesterday?"
"Oh, I thought I told you? I was going to Diamond Rows?"
"I mean I knew you were leaving campus, but not the Sasha part," Marcy spoke timidly, tension held in the expression on her lips.
Anne stiffened, her palm rigid on the table.
"Well...knowing what happened Monday...I thought it would be better if I didnt say," Anne confessed, guilt creeping through her tone.
Marcy took a deep sigh. "Anne, its okay for you to have your own friends. I understand that I'm not in control of you or your choices, but I thought we told each other everything?" Her voice soft, as if wounded.
"But, we do-"
"Do we?"
Anne found herself hesitating.
"You know my opinion of Sasha. I dont really think shes a good friend for you, but what you do is out of my scope of control," Marcy continued.
"Stop acting like you know exactly what kind of a person she is," Anne asserted. "You barely know her. I know you're worried for me, but arent you being judgemental? Arent you being just as bad as the people you claim are awful?"
"And don't you see how you're just the Lady Warriors little pawn? How do you seem to trust Sasha more than me?" Marcy stood beside her previous thoughts. "I know you've been around the team lately, its not like I dont see what Sasha or any of the players post. What? Do you think youre one of them now?"
"No-" Anne interjected.
"Do you think theyre just cooler than me?"
"What? Of course not-"
"Okay then; what really is the benefit of helping Sasha with her paper? Tell me, Anne, what information did you really get for your article that wasnt just Josie, Claire and Sasha tooting their own horns?" Marcy stated crisply.
Anne skimmed her mind for the right answer, but from her mouth escaped no words; there was no answer. In a sense, Marcy was right.
Just then, a musical tune began to play from Marcys phone. Their screen lit, reading WAKE UP!!! as the alarm name. It was 9:00AM.
Anne let out a frustrated sigh and quickly gathered her things, leaving their dorm without a single word to Marcy.
-
Anne tiredly rubbed her eyes entering NAU's library. There was a familiar smell to the place, one of old cardboard and musty book pages. Walking past the front desk it smelt more of froot loops from the air freshener resting on a corner. Anne snaked through the bookshelves before reaching the project tables, finding Sasha already seated with her laptop open. Anne set her belongings down and joined her.
"Hey," Sasha greeted with a smile. "I notice you keep Hopediah attached to your bag now."
Anne only gave a half-hearted grin when glancing at the red frog, then seated herself, resting her head in her hands.
"Rough morning?"
"Sure, you could say that," Anne mumbled, dragging her hands to the sides of her face.
"You don't have to explain anything if you dont want to, but I'm open to listening," Sasha offered.
Anne fixed her laptop onto the table, flipping it open. "Have you ever felt like you were forced to choose between a friend and someone you liked?"
"Depends, like as in this person's cool, or like as in romantically inclined?"
"Cool-" Anne blurted. "I think they're cool, yea," she bit her inner cheek and fumbled with her fingers under the table.
"Well, in either situation, why do you have to choose?" Sasha pointed out pretty simply. "If you really did value both people, wouldn't the answer just be both?"
"It's...more complicated than that."
"What part makes it complicated?"
"It's that the friend I already have and the friend Im trying to make don't...mix," Anne explained.
"Stuff that seemingly won't mix can still work, it all depends on preference I guess. Why do you think salted caramel stuff is so popular? Or sour candies?" Sasha shrugged.
Anne held her eyes fixed on the table, thinking.
"Thank you," Anne sighed. "I think between this, the article and-" she glanced up to find Sasha already looking at her. "Uh, other feelings...it's been a very chaotic month."
"The weeks before the Fall Formal are always like that. I know writing this article is really important to you so you want to do your absolute best, but why be so critical of yourself?"
"I could ask the same of you."
Sasha tightly pursed her lips. "Touché, Boons."
"But, why are you so hard on yourself?" Anne asked. "Obviously, you're not the person everyone thinks you are, so why do you care?"
"I don't know, I can't explain it. Sometimes I'm just worried I'll regress; everyone expects me to anyway," Sasha crossed her arms on the table, rubbing the bracelets around her wrists. "What are you supposed to do when everyone already expects you to fail?"
"Prove them wrong, my knight," Anne hummed warmly. "Isn't that the whole thing a knight does? Defy those who have no faith and slay the dragon in retaliation?"
"And bag the princess, of course," Sasha shot her a coy wink, sending butterflies to violently swarm her stomach. She couldnt quite process if she hated the sensation or not.
"And even if you do screw up somehow, what's important is how you go from there. Do you let it simmer, then hurt you when it boils over? Or do you recognize the flaw is there and find a way to fix it?"
Sasha fell silent, looking like she was contemplating something: something difficult for her to think about, judging by the look in her eyes.
"You talk a lot like my grandpa," Sasha then mentioned softly, her expression shifting like she retreated from her original thoughts. "Though, he was more affectionately brash."
Sasha slid her phone over to Anne, showing the image of an old man, burley in build and rugged in appearance. Sasha had told her short stories of the man her family nicknamed Grime, but of all the memories she heard, not one had mentioned his eye.
"Wow," Anne muttered. Next to his side, covered in just as much dirt as Grime, was a younger, pre-scar Sasha, beaming with pride as her tiny hands held up a football the size of her chest, her hair tied into two little pigtails.
"Yeah, my Grandpa Grime was actually blind in one eye, but could still throw a spiral to me pretty damn far," Sasha murmured with fondness.
Anne chuckled. "The pigtails were a statement."
Sasha quickly took her phone back and covered her face with a hand, blush easily spreading across her cheeks like a bed of blooming red roses.
"Ahah, my mom always thought updo hairstyles were nice on me," Sasha let out a nervous laugh.
"And she's right, you still rock them," Anne complimented, watching Sasha pull her laptop in front of her view and dip her head lower. She knew the attempt to block her face was meant to be indiscreet but Anne picked it out immediately.
"Anyway," the blonde cleared her throat. "I made my final revisions in the doc, take a look."
Anne took a moment to skim the essay. "If your professor doesnt give you an A, I'm coming in there to take his toupee off myself."
Sasha laughed through the hand obscuring her face. "Thank you for all your help by the way," she added gratefully. "...I have a question for you as well."
"Hm?"
"Do you remember the party Bell mentioned a while back?"
Anne nodded.
"Well, I wanted to know if you'd like to come?"
Anne gave her a skeptical look, speaking with an equally skeptical tone. "Me?"
"I know your previous 'interviews' with Claire and Jose didn't go so well, so I figured you could talk to more players there," Sasha replied. "But obviously, don't feel obligated to say yes. No pressure, just curious."
Anne lightly tugged on a piece of her auburn hair, swirling the strand around a finger in thought.
"So I'm already assuming all the Lady Warriors will be there. Who else?" She asked.
"Anyone we invite basically, most of the guys football team stops by too."
"Somehow I feel a single dorm couldnt fit both teams."
"You'd be surprised. Plus, if its Josie were talking about, she's already got other people on the floor in on the whole party. As shes always told me, who says it stays in a single dorm?"
Anne flicked her finger free from the curled hair strand.
"I don't know how I feel about it," Anne stated with uncertainty.
"Thats fine, I understa-"
"But," Anne cut her short. "I'll go."
Sasha flicked her eyes past her laptop toward Anne. "You sure?"
Anne felt like her inner moral angel and devil were arguing right about now. The little angel chanted a loud, fervent NO! But the little cunning devil, resting on her shoulder with fingers folded over fingers, only whispered undeniable truths that made the angel hush.
Going would get you more quotes and prove Marcy wrong. Sasha may act differently around her team, but doesnt everyone act different with different friend groups? That doesnt change who a person is. Anne thought.
Marcy was only jealous, theyd get over themselves eventually.
"I can't deny how enticing it'd be to get more quotes," Anne confessed. "And who doesnt like a good party?"