Gretchen's First Mistake

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Now she had found her group, Gretchen quickly settled into North Shore. Being with Regina was a fast pass to the top of the school.

A few weeks after their first meeting, Gretchen was sitting with Regina, Janis, and Karen in the cafeteria at lunchtime.

"I think you should meet my mom." Regina said between small mouthfuls of butter fries.

"I'd love to!" Gretchen excitedly replied. 

Regina rolled her eyes. "She's, like, super embarrassing or whatever, but she likes to meet my friends."

"I don't think she's embarrassing, Regina." Karen kindly said. "And, Gretchen, you'll get to meet her sister."

"Regina 2.0." Janis muttered. 

"What did you say, Janis?" Regina snapped.

"Nothing, nothing. Sorry." 

"Well, I'm sure it will be a pleasure to meet them." Gretchen quickly said.

 This seemed to soothe Regina. "Yes, I'm sure it will."

The bell rang and the four girls headed to History. Gretchen had been forced to sit away from the others, and next to another girl called Taylor Wedell.

"Gretchen, how did you do it?" Taylor asked her.

"How did I do what?"

"I've been trying to get Regina to notice me for ages! I feel like I'm invisible to her. I just want to be her friend. You've been here for like three weeks and you're already, like, really good friends. What did you do to get her attention?"

"I- I don't know." Gretchen answered. Both she and Taylor gazed over at where Regina was sitting and flirting with the guy next to her.

"Isn't that-?" Gretchen asked.

"Aaron Samuels. He's the hottest boy in our year." Taylor caught herself staring at him and looked away, realising who she was talking to. "Regina deserves him."

Regina leaned across the gap between their desks and pushed Aaron's hair back. He protested, laughing.

"They seem like a good match." Gretchen said. 

-----

The following day, the girls set their lunch trays down on the table started to sit down. Regina sat down first and threw her arms up.

"Oh goddammit, I've forgotten my cutlery!" 

"How the hell could you have done that?" Janis laughed.

"Gretchen, would you get me some cutlery?" Regina smiled sweetly at Gretchen.

Gretchen hesitated.

"It's OK, Gretchen." Janis gently laid her hand on Gretchen's shoulder. "I'll get it."

Janis got up and left the table. She walked over to the cutlery.

"Hey, Art Freak." 

She glanced over her shoulder. "Oh, hi Damien."

"So what's the deal with the new girl?" Damien leaned against the wall and used his tray to cover their faces.

Janis picked out a knife. "Damien, I'm not going to gossip about her. She's nice."

"I can't believe she got sucked in so early." 

Janis picked out a fork. "Well, Regina just wants to eliminate any competition, you know?"

"When are you going to leave her?"

"I don't know, Damien. She's a good friend."

Damien raised an eyebrow at Janis. "Is she?"

"She protects me from people who might not be so kind when they call me an art freak."

"Like you need protecting."

Janis picked out a spoon. "Damien, it's taken me a long time to get to where I am. I don't want to jeopardise that right now. Maybe it'll change in high school. I gotta go, Regina will be hungry."

When Janis returned to the table, it was painfully evident that Regina  had enforced a stony silence.

"Sorry I'm late." Janis said, holding out the cutlery. "I was kept talking by Damien."

Regina glared at her as she snatched the cutlery out of Janis' hand. 

"Regina, why can't we talk to different kinds of people?" Janis sat back down and began eating.

Regina didn't answer.

"Thank you." Gretchen murmured to Janis.

"Don't worry about it." 

It was the longest lunch hour of Gretchen's life. She, Janis and Karen made occasional conversation, but Regina's refusal to talk made their attempts feel very awkward. 

The bell rang. Regina got up and Gretchen hurried after her. Janis kept Karen sitting down by convincing her that the word 'gullible' was written under the table. 

"Regina, I'm really sorry that I didn't get your cutlery for you. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

Regina slammed her tray on top of the tray pile and then thought. "You could find out what Janis and Damien were talking about."

"I don't even know who Damien is."

"That's your problem." Regina answered. "And if you don't find out this week, you can't sit with us. Ever."

Gretchen stared in horror as Regina walked out. 

Janis quickly got up and stood next to Gretchen, clearing her plate.

"I'm sorry, Gretchen, I should've warned you." 

"Yeah." Gretchen angrily replied. "Yeah, you should've warned me. All this over cutlery?"

"What does she want you to do?"

"She wants to know about you and Damien."

"You can tell her that we were talking about you. Remind her that the new girl is the talk of the town."

Gretchen stared at Janis, trying to work out what she meant. Janis put her tray on the pile and left the cafeteria.

Gretchen glanced round the cafeteria and spotted Karen under the table. She stormed over and tapped Karen on the shoulder.

"What are you doing? We're late to class."

"Janis told me I could only go to class if I could find the word 'gullible' written under here." Karen explained. "I don't even know what it means."



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⏰ Last updated: Jun 17, 2020 ⏰

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