In 1988 when Dylan Montgomery moves to Beverly Hills after her mother remarries, she must navigate the challenges of fitting into a glamorous but daunting upper-class life. Living across from the charmingly cocky Nicholas and his introspective broth...
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UPPER CLASS | cherriasian
january '88
Dylan hadn't expected the phone to ring. She'd spent most of her morning getting ready for school in silence and last day half-wondering if her old friends were avoiding her, too embarrassed to reach out after the chaos of New Year's. Which she wouldn't deny is something they'd do. But when her phone rang she felt her chest tighten, unsure if she even wanted to answer. It couldn't be them, right? They were in school already.
After a deep breath, she raised the phone to her ear, "Hello?"
"Hey, Dylan," Cara's voice came through, softer and more hesitant than usual. "I... I wanted to talk about New Year's. Things got really messed up, and I just... I don't even know where to start."
"That makes two of us," Dylan replied, her tone guarded. She could feel the frustration from that night stirring up again, "Why are you even calling me Cara?"
Cara sighed. "After we drove off, things got tense. Sarah started ranting, saying things about you that... well, they were pretty harsh. She was saying how you've 'changed' since moving to Beverly Hills and acting like you're 'better than us' now or something. When I tried to call her out, she got defensive and lashed out at all of us."
"You still all left me on the side of the road!" Dylan exclaimed.
Cara protested, "We thought you'd get a ride from your friends..."
"That's still not fucking cool?" Dylan frowned, gripping the phone a little tighter. "So, you guys just... went along with her?"
"No," Cara said quickly. "Not exactly. At first, I think we were just shocked. But by the time we got back to the house, it turned into a huge argument. Sarah was saying awful things, like how you 'don't belong with those people' and even brought up old stuff— She twisted it to make you sound... I don't know, fake."
Dylan felt a pang at hearing those words thrown back at her, distorted and used against her. She remembered making those jokes, back when she felt so out of place in Beverly Hills, but it hadn't meant what Sarah was making it sound like.
"I can't believe she'd... God, Cara. Did you agree with her?" she asked, half afraid of the answer.
"No, Dylan. Not at all. I tried to shut her down, but she doubled down and even got Hannah and Emma all worked up. They started talking about how they 'miss the old Dylan' and how this move changed you. It was ugly, and... I'm sorry. I should have done more to defend you, but it felt like everyone was turning on each other. It was honestly a mess."
There was a pause, the weight of everything Cara was saying pressing down on Dylan. It hurt, more than she wanted to admit, hearing that her friends had torn into her the moment she wasn't around. It made her realize that maybe she hadn't changed as much as she'd thought; maybe they were the ones who had.
