"No, Annie, please. Don't."
"But she hit you. Even if it's playful or like that, it's still bullying."
"No. It's--the--" Dani couldn't put it in words what she was trying to say. She'd said it wrong. She hadn't started it right. She'd told her the wrong secrets. It wasn't Jia's fault. It wasn't like that.
"What's her name?"
"What? No. No." She couldn't give her name. Somehow it was going to pass along a long list of friends, ending with Jia. And Sam. No, not Sam. He would ask. And she couldn't answer. She couldn't say that his longtime crush was sort-of-but-not-really bullying her because maybe she was jealous or maybe she didn't want competition in writing. Or maybe Dani was just paranoid that the girl's frenemic actions were because of Sam. She just couldn't. And the connections between Annie and him were just--no.
But Jia didn't even really bully her. Just an infrequent shove or two. A seemingly friendly hug.
"I want a name, Dani. I won't try to confront her," Annie said, even though she had just ranted on that. How Dani should stand up for herself and march up to Jia and ask what the pickles was the soapy water down her back for.
"Please, Annie. I can't--I don't...no..."
"You don't know? You don't know the name of the girl you talk to everyday--"
"It's not everyday. It's just...it hadn't really bothered me up until she did something that made me mad. I mean, I did nothing to her and she just--"
"I will punch her. How dare she have the--"
"Annie, please. We're on civil terms now. We can talk. We have stuff in common."
It's complicated, Dani. You wouldn't understand unless you were here. And I don't. Because you'd know. You'd tell him. And he would ask.
"Like what?"
"We both are thin." There was a sound on the other side of the phone, and Dani had a fleeting thought that she'd just described Jia as thin, when in reality she was just tall, which made her look thinner, and she had just narrowed the search down to thin students in her school. But then a lot of people were a lot of thin people. Dani got ready to say they both wear glasses when Annie swerved the conversation again. No, not again. It had taken a while before Dani had broken down and information had dripped out of her, except the one proper noun that would send the rest of the info down in a rainstorm. She couldn't give the name.
"I won't confront her. I'll just stalk her. You know I stalk people."
That did not comfort Dani at all.
"No. Please."
"What?"
Dani was silent. Annie waited.
"I'm afraid," Dani said, her voice sounded small and...pathetic to her ears. Annie didn't reply yet and Dani continued. "That you would talk to a certain person about it. And that certain person would talk to me about it and I can't--I can't--"
"Who would I tell? It's not my place to tell."
"I think...that we may like the same person." There was silence and Dani was suddenly afraid Annie had pieced it together and the teasing would start. "What?"
"You like someone?"
She must not know! a part of her screamed.
"No--it--ugh. You know how, sometimes, if a guy likes a girl and he tells people that, they automatically assume the girl likes him, too?"
"He likes you?"
"Liked, Annie. Liked."
"Fine, liked."
"And he used to like her, so maybe she's jealous or I don't know or--"
"You're a very likeable person, Dani."
"Well. Thanks. But you should see me in school. I'm an awkward...bunny." Dani could hear her mom calling her to get out of the closet and go to sleep.
"I'll explain some more, Annie, just...I have to go and..."
"Name."
"Please. I have to go. And...don't. Please don't." Maybe Annie had picked up on the vulnerable tone in Dani's voice, for she finally agreed and Dani hung up. She breathed. What had she done?
It was going to be hard to explain the Jia problem. Even harder the Sam problem. No, that would be for another day.
---
Sometimes, the solution to your problem can just cause more problems. So it's better to just have that one problem.
