Her Wish

Her Wish [Chapter 18]

No one really found out what exactly happened that day between the two once friends. When Alex had asked, Jennie merely shot him an assuring smile that everything would be all right before walking away. Other friends of theirs had tried as well, but it seemed as though even Elie was feeling reluctant to let up any information. And after countless failed attempts, people began to give up trying, allowing the girls their own privacy.

Although the general population of Cherrydale High and those not relatively close to their circle of friends may not have noticed the change in Elie and Jennie’s friendship, they definitely saw advances in the growing relations between Jennie and Danny.

When nothing completely terrible occurred to Jennie within the next few days after her confrontation with Elie, she began to develop optimistic hopes that perhaps she had been wrong after all. Perhaps there was no terrible fate and dramatic era of suffering awaiting her. But perhaps she had thought too soon.

“Jennie.”

Jennie wasn’t sure if she had heard correctly when Elie called her name to be on her basketball team in P.E. Her eyes widened in surprise as she looked to her former friend for confirmation.

Elie merely smiled and nodded her head before turning around to resume her dribbling. Being an excellent player, Elie had been immediately voted as one of the team captains amongst the girls.

Still uncertain of Elie’s true intentions, Jennie reluctantly rose from the bleachers and trudged forward, making her way to her former friend’s side. As the rest of the teams were decided, Jennie couldn’t help but notice how everything suddenly seemed as though the disagreement between she and Elie had never occurred. It was exactly how things used to be: their entire team consisted of friends and a few others who admired Elie. It made Jennie wonder why she had done this.

“Jennie!” The amiable call of her own name from Elie drew her attention away from her silent musings once more. Jennie looked over just in time to see the basketball being thrown her way. She fumbled to catch it, wondering if she had been so absorbed in her thoughts that she hadn’t even noticed the game had begun.

“You’re wing, okay?”

So it hadn’t started yet. She stared only a mere second longer before nodding in agreement. It was only the moment the game began when Jennie noticed changes from the past. Things were different from the way it had been before. Of course they would be. She had even expected it, been searching for deeper meanings and intentions behind Elie’s sudden acts of masked kindness.

She winced but managed to suppress a groan of pain when the girl blocking her jabbed her elbow back harshly into Jennie’s stomach. Saying nothing, Jennie ignored the pain and opted to keep a distance from the girl instead. She didn’t wish for such petty actions to be blown out of proportion; the pain would eventually subside anyways. Besides, it could just be her paranoia instead.

But as the game progressed, it became quite evident that such unsettling thoughts were not mere figments of her imagination. The dots were laid out clear for her and if Jennie refused to connect them, she would be the only one to blame. It seemed as though at every given opportunity, her classmates would shove Jennie left and right, in whichever direction pleased them most.

Whatever Elie wanted, Elie got.

This hadn’t been the first time such occurrences had happened all due to Elie’s one-sided affection towards one boy. Now that it was happening to her, Jennie began to realize how ridiculous this school her classmates and herself had become.

“Can you at least try?” a once friend scolded in bitter tones as she swept past, not forgetting to shove Jennie on her way.

She stumbled, but having quickly grown accustomed to their foul game, caught herself from falling. As she stared after the girl, bitter thoughts threatened to spill from the tip of Jennie’s tongue but at the last second, she managed to hold them back, convincing herself she would not give them any satisfaction of victory.