karma → 5sos au

0.2

"So you just stood there and watched him?"

Jess's voice rose several octaves as she asked the question. Bryana pulled the phone away from her her ear before the high-pitched voice did any damage. She could just picture Jess, lying on her stomach on her bed, a shocked look on her angelic face.

"Yeah, it was kind of . . . interesting," Bryana said. She knew that would get a reaction out of her friend - and it did.

"Interesting? But - that's so cold!" Jess cried.

Jess was always so sweet, so nice to everyone. She never broke the rules, never swore - she was basically the polar opposite of Bryana.

Brianna loved to shock Jessie, to make her voice rise.

Across town, Jess, lying on her stomach on the bed, in her bad minton jersey, looked at her phone as if to ask, "Am I actually hearing this?" Her brown hair, falling in loose waves down her back, was still wet from the shower. She shivered.

How can this person be my friend? This question ran through her mind. Why has Bryana changed so much?

They had been friends since grade school. When Jess's family moved out of Middleton to the less fashionable area known as Westington, the friendship had continued, but mostly over the phone.

Bryana had always been kind of snobbish, Jess thought. And that snooty private school, Oak Creek, she went to had done a lot to make her even more so. But she was so smart and funny, and so pretty, and such a good friend, someone you could always talk to, confide in, tell just about everything to.

So when had she turned so cold?

Had she been that way all along, and Jess just hadn't noticed?

No, Jess thought, as Bryana's voice continued to murmur in her ear. No. Bryana has changed. Since the divorce, I guess. . . .

"You'll have to meet Ashton," Bryana was saying. "You'll like him a lot. He's really hot, and - "

"He goes to Oak Creek?" Jess interrupted.

"Yeah. It's his last year. He's already been accepted at Yale. In America! Can you believe it? I can. He's so smart, oh, Jess. I just know you'll fall in love with him the minute you see him. But don't even think of stealing from me!" Bryana chuckled. Jess sighed. "Everyone in his family goes to Yale."

"Nice," Jess said. She didn't really know what to say. "I-I'm just so surprised. I mean, totally. I thought you and Luke were really serious."

"We were," Bryana said. "Too serious. It wasn't good for either for us."

"What do you mean, Bryana? I'm confused."

"I mean Luke has no money, and he never will," Bryana replied, talking very quickly, the way she always did when she got excited. "Sure, I care about him. But a person has to be practical, too."

"Practical?" Jess was truly shocked, more by Bryana's voice than anything else. She sounded so hard, so removed, as if she were talking about a stranger.

"I'm thinking about both of us," Bryana said, not meaning to sound as defensive as she did. "I mean, how do you think Luke feels about being driven around in my BMW all the time?"

"I don't think it bothers him," Jess said dryly. Then she added, "You know, Luke wouldn't mind taking the bus every once and a while.

Brianna laughed. "Sure. Because I'm totally going to take the bus when I have a £40,000 BMW sitting in the garage!"

This isn't the first time she's told me how much he car cost, Jess thought, brushing back her wet hair uncomfortably. "What kind of car does Ashton drive?" she asked, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her voice.