THE SADDEST GIRL SINCE THE SONG DYNASTY

WORSE THAN EACH OTHER - PART VI

It happened two days after a defining altercation between Lady Zhao and Lala. It was one that involved many word-bitch compounds – fucking bitch, fucking stupid bitch, stupid fucking stupid bitch. It would be historically remembered as the Marble Staircase Incident for the steps leading down to the IDK Theatre on which it took place. Further accusations and counter accusations of gossip mongering, duplicity, and all-round cravenness were flung about liberally, this time coming from both Lady Zhao and Lala. In its aftermath, Lala called an uncharacteristically childish What-to-do-with-the-Lady-Zhao-Problem committee at her flat, to feature pedantic behavior analysis and jazz. It was invite only, those already certifiably aligned with the cause getting priority, and those, like Ander, who were considered neutral, cautiously asked along also. (It was while Ander was being invited that he first heard Zhao Lei referred to as Lady Zhao, though apparently many on the summer program had been using it since the previous Tuesday.) Ander said maybe, but that most likely he was going to be chatting with D'Misse.

The very next day, having not turned up to the conspiratorial meeting, with the atmosphere tense in the minds of certain belligerents, an informant advised Lala that Ander had been spotted with the enemy in Crawley's entertainment district, a blend of car park and boxy construction, exiting the cinema. They had been holding hands. They had then locked lips in front of the pizzeria next door. It was a scandal. This was when Ander was meant to be making cute-talk with the girlfriend he was devoted to! It was when, if not video-calling, he was meant to be receiving with cool detachment anti-Lady Zhao indoctrination! It was after Lala and her one of her companions had asked Ander out of courtesy on two separate occasions if he was interested in going to see an indie foreign language movie. He had declined both times, saying first that he found movie theaters stuffy, and second that he didn't like watching things if he had to read subtitles. Early reports placed their departure from the cinema within the conclusion time frame of an Iñárritu Spanish language film showing.

In one efficient night, Ander had succeeded in reversing a month of careful character-cultivation, and demoted himself in the summer school's social standing by several radical factors.