Only Emptiness Remains

What About Your Friends

Lo and behold, it was Shelby Cassidy. She was one of Brittany's former friends from the cheerleading squad who, according to her big sister, failed to stand up for her against Missy and the rest of the squad when they shunned her after she hurt her knee. She did nothing more than just sit back and watch as her older sister was kept away from one of the major things in her life that had been super important to her.

It was a pretty typical mindset of the Chipettes where if you had bad blood with one of them, you had bad blood with all three of them. This was evidenced by the fact that she and Jeanette had both frozen Alvin out for a little while after the way he thoughtlessly broke up with Brittany. But there was actually history between Eleanor and Shelby as well.

Shelby used to be on Eleanor's soccer team back in middle school. While the two of them were never really close friends, they got along reasonably well. But once they had started high school, Shelby decided to try out for cheer. When she made the squad, she had to give up soccer due to not having enough time for both.

After that, Eleanor barely ever saw Shelby anymore. Well, other than during those sleepovers for the squad Brittany would host every now and then before she left the squad. Jeanette and Eleanor were always mandated to attend those by their eldest sister, despite their reluctance and even protests.

So given how Eleanor and Shelby rarely associated with one another anymore, what could she possibly want to talk with her about? And she said it was about her sister? The blonde Chipette realized she had to be talking about Brittany. And she felt a lump form in her throat. She knew in her heart it had to be serious for Shelby to be approaching her like this.

"This is about Brittany, isn't it?" Eleanor outright asked, as she eyed the blonde girl.

Shelby solemnly nodded, confirming what the youngest Chipette had already been aware of.

"You heard about the whole thing with Brittany in the hallway this morning, right? And how Missy and Erika were there?"

Eleanor scratched her head as she tried to think back to her first class. Biology was just thirty minutes ago, but it felt like she had been sitting in there for hours. She was extremely distracted throughout the entire period with her mind being on Brittany and the muffins the whole time.

However, Eleanor did vaguely recall some kids in her class talking about someone fainting in the hall and getting sent to the nurse after being hassled by a couple of cheerleaders. She never got to hear the name of the student in question though. Nor had she been up to participating in gossip at that time, so it did not even occur to her to ask. But now the pieces of the puzzle were all slowly starting to come together.

"Oh my God..." Eleanor said in barely a whisper, as realization hit her like a ton of bricks.

It was true. Brittany had passed out again. And now it appeared that even an old friend of Brittany's was concerned enough to track down one of her sisters and say something about it.

Of course, it made sense that Eleanor would be the one Shelby would go to over Jeanette. After all, she did know her much better due to having once been on the same soccer team. She wasn't sure if Shelby and Jeanette had ever even had a proper conversation before.

Despite the fact that Eleanor was still processing the concerning news she just figured out about Brittany, she braced herself to listen to more of what Shelby had to say. Though she was not really sure if she was prepared to hear it or if she ever would be. But still, it was important to find out what could be wrong with her eldest sister. And if Shelby knew anything that could help, Eleanor needed to know.

"I think I know why that happened." The wavy-haired girl continued to speak.

The green-clad Chipette nodded her head, letting her know she was ready for her to continue.