folklore: the novel

10. mad woman

"Betty!"

Inez and Betty pause to watch the beautiful redhead ascend the bleachers. She's still holding a pom-pom, the other one discarded on the gym floor where she abandoned practice to come over. Her smile is small but kind, and Betty suddenly wishes they'd spent more time together recently, the way they used to.

"Dorothea, hi."

Despite being a year older than her, in the same grade as James, she and Betty hit it off Betty's freshman year when they got paired up for a project together. Their friendship was an unlikely one—Dorothea is a pageant queen on both the cheer and dance team whose mom is infamous around town for selling makeup in magazines—and Betty wouldn't say it was quite as solid as what she has with Inez, but Dorothea has always been good to her all the same. However, she can tell Inez is struggling to connect the dots.

"Inez, this is Dorothea. Dorothea, this is Inez." Reconsidering the smaller size of the school, Betty asks, "Have you two ever met before?"

Inez shakes her head and Dorothea says, "I don't believe so, but it's so nice to meet you. Any friend of Betty's is a friend of mine."

"Well, as a fellow friend, it's my duty to officially invite you to Betty's birthday party."

"Oh! I think I've heard about that, actually."

"Really?" Inez grins, nudging Betty with her elbow. "Good, sounds like word is getting around then."

"Does that mean we'll be seeing you there?" asks Betty.

"Yes, of course. I wouldn't dream of missing it. Your mom throws the best parties, Betty."

"Glad someone thinks so," snorts Inez and Betty can just feel the key-lime dog story coming.

But Betty is saved just in time by a new-comer. A girl she's never seen before, someone she doesn't recognize... though the way a hush suddenly falls over the gym makes her wonder if she should.

Jeez, how can she be even prettier up close, Augustine wonders. Not that Betty being physically unappealing would make her any less anxious, but it felt like her nerves were eating a whole through her stomach before she got face-to-face with her.

"Hello," Betty says and while it's not spoken with any malevolence or attitude, Augustine reckons it has to be coming eventually. No way it won't once Betty realizes but... It's certainly not helping matters that she's just standing here in front of the three girls like a knot on a log.

Right. Get on with it then, Augustine mentally urges herself.

"Hi, sorry, I... I don't mean to intrude but, um... I was hoping I could talk to you, Betty. If you wouldn't mind?"

The brown-skinned girl at her side is silently scowling, clearly suspicious of Augustine, but Betty's smile doesn't diminish. It doesn't even falter, that inner glow never dimming. It's just as James always said; she's so... warm. She radiates it constantly.

"Sure, we can talk under the bleachers if you'd rather it just be the two of us?"

Augustine nods, grateful for the offer. It feels like there's a million eyes on them, everyone in the gym obviously waiting for some cat-fight to break out.

And maybe it will. Maybe Augustine would deserve it. But it will be away from prying eyes and that's enough. She's not sure if her ego could handle another blow right now.

"Look, Betty, I don't want to make any assumptions but... You don't know who I am, right?"

Betty shyly smiles. "Afraid not. I'm sorry."

"N-No—No. No, don't apologize. Please don't apologize. Not to me. Uh, so... Okay." A deep breath and then Augustine just spits it out. "I'm Augustine. I'm the other girl."

A small frown pulls Betty's eyebrows together, just for a split second. And then Augustine can see the exact moment Betty realizes, the moment she pieces it all together. But Augustine isn't quite ready for the verbal lashing that's no doubt heading her way, so she continues onward with a renewed sense of urgency.

"I-I just want you to know that... I had no idea. That night of the dance. I offered James a ride because... Because he looked... so sad. Defeated. But I never would have pushed for... I never would have let it escalate the way it did if I'd known he had a girlfriend."

"I didn't blame you. I don't blame you. I sort of... made assumptions myself, and I figured he didn't bother telling you about me."

"You might not blame me for that but even after... Even once you two broke up, I continued to see him. Knowing what I knew, knowing that he lied and the things he..." Augustine pauses, not feeling like it's Betty's place to have to listen to what James said and did to her. Backtracking, she says, "I don't know if you'll want to hear this from me or if you'll even still care, but I thought you should know that James hasn't given up. He still... cares about you, and I think he's planning to try getting you back. But I wanted you to know, in the instance that he does, that he has... been with me. I don't want it to come off like I'm bragging—because I'm not—but I couldn't sit by and think that he might lie to you. About any of it. All of it, probably. You don't deserve that. No one does. Not from him or anyone else. He was... foolish, and he should know that. I'm... I'm sorry, Betty."

She'd expected Betty to be mad, to be scathing like she was but... There's only quiet acceptance on Betty's soft features.

"I don't blame you. I never expected you to be able to read his mind that first night, when he wasn't willing to give the information himself. And the... other nights, he and I were no longer together. He didn't owe me anything when I told him I didn't want it anymore. And I... I want him to be happy, even if it's not with me. I appreciate that you gave him that, even if it was for just a short time. But I don't blame you. I don't blame you."

This time... Something about the way it's spoken or maybe because it's still said even after everything Augustine spoke, this time the words sink into her. She doesn't blame me.

There's... relief. For both sides. A wound that's been lanced and now the pressure is gone.

"And I appreciate the warning, too. I'd like to think that this whole thing hasn't... too terribly affected me, that I'm too young for it to have had some horrible consequences, but... I know that I'm not as trusting. Not with him, at least. It'll take more than some pretty words for me to accept him back into the place he had in my life before."

Augustine nods, glad that everything is... out in the open. There's no more secrets weighing on her. She's not part of an illicit affair that drags behind her like heavy baggage. James might've chased two girls, but he should've known better than to expect to keep them both. Now, he might not even have a shot at keeping one.

But... now that there's no more left to say, Augustine knows it's time to go. She offers Betty a shy smile of her own, backing out from the lip of the bleachers they're under, but Betty's voice stops her.

"You know, I was just telling Dorothea about a party I'm having at my house soon. Would you be interested in an invite, Augustine?"