Catch a Glimmer of Your Star

Blackmail

"Marie, I messed up. I think I might need your help."

"Oh, anything," she replied warmly.

Basil explained what had gone down last night at the Halloween party. He had time to tell the whole story; class didn't begin for another five minutes. He was grateful that Marie arrived early to all her classes.

"Those two pricks!" she said after he finished his story. "Don't worry, Basil. I've got you."

"You do?" Basil replied, genuinely surprised.

"I don't talk to Bethany anymore, but I've got an ace up my sleeve. I can probably convince her to tell Wayne not to take revenge on you or your boyf—I mean, your friend."

Basil's face turned into a roaring inferno. "What did you just call Sunny?"

"I said, friend!" Marie replied, grinning cheekily.

"Come on...Sunny's not like that," Basil said.

I still haven't introduced Marie to Sunny yet, but she's seen the two of us studying together all the time.

"I didn't mean to imply anything," Marie said. "It was just a slip of my tongue."

"Ah...okay, I hope so." Basil tried to laugh it off but he felt the skin on his face practically getting burned off by embarrassment. Did he and Sunny really look like that together?

"What's your ace?" Basil asked, trying to distract his own thoughts from themselves.

"Hmmm...I'll tell you about it during our study period. It's a bit of a story."

Come on, I was hoping to be distracted already!

Their instructor arrived into class and began his lesson.

The next hour passed with the speed of watching paint dry. Basil kept thinking about Sunny. Was he safe? Did Wayne or any of his goons find him? Would pepper spray be enough for him to defend himself? How was he going to survive walking from his class to his locker and through the hallways to the cafeteria? To his next class? Wayne was probably out on a manhunt for him.

Basil wanted to just bolt out of class to find Sunny and make sure that he was safe. Thoughts of seeing Sunny beaten up, finding him lying on the ground unconscious and bloodied, having to be carried on a stretcher out of school to the hospital...

I'm such a hypocrite.

His anxiety was in overdrive.

I already hurt Sunny so badly by stabbing his eye...

Yet he keeps protecting me over and over again.

If anything bad happened to Sunny now, Basil would never stop blaming himself.

Why do I always make things worse for the people I care about?

I...should've just given up on getting my flower crown back so Sunny wouldn't have had to confront Wayne.

His fingers trembled. His foot couldn't stop tapping. He turned at the clock and wondered how its hands could move so slowly.

After what felt like an eternity of waiting, the instructor's lecture finally ended. Basil had barely paid any attention, much less taken any notes. He immediately turned to Marie and asked her what her plan was.

"I'm gonna have to tell you some stuff first," Marie responded.

"Sure, just let me know what your plan is."

"Alright, so a while back, when Bethany and I were still friends, we used to go exploring together," Marie began. "Bethany was really different back then. She wasn't mean or awful or a bully like she is now. She was...always smiling."