Starry Eyed

Chapter Thirty-Five

Chapter Thirty-Five

Star arrived with a tray of three coffees, her English homework and complete panic flashing in her eyes in our dorm at thirteen minutes past four that afternoon. She wore ripped skinny jeans and a brown coat with her hair down, just a hint of eyeliner. I remember it very clearly; she abandoned the coffees on the dresser, threw her arms around James' neck, and said desperately, "don't look online."

"Too late," I said, stepping in and awkwardly prying her away from him, trying not to look stupid. "This afternoon has been wild."

She stepped back, looking apologetically at James, as if she was the one who'd started his downfall. He had just been easing up, beginning to bounce back into his usual self, and I worried her bursting in to talk about it would break him again. But he seemed to be made of stronger stuff now. She glanced at me, only just noticing I was even there. She flinched at the sight of the bloody tissue in my hand.

"Jesus. What happened?" Unafraid to touch, Star carefully moved the tissue off my nose, one hand on my left shoulder. There was a very unavoidable spark pulsing beneath her touch. I tried to ignore it nonetheless.

"Finn and I... got into a punch up," I admitted shamefully. I'd always thought when I got into a real first fight, I'd have some sick sense of pride about it. But confessing to Star that I'd been in a brawl was nothing but embarassing. 

"Oh my God," she exclaimed. James sat down on his bed and ran a finger through his hair behind her. "He got you in the nose?" 

"No shit," James murmured. She didn't bother turning to scowl like she would to anyone else. 

"I got him first. In the guts, but it didn't hurt him. So he punched me and threw us both out." 

"You're not making any sense," Star declared. "Start from the beginning. Oh, and also, here's some coffee. Coconut cardamon spice latte." She passed one to James from the tray, then one for me. 

"I don't know what the hell that is," I replied. "Alright, this may take a while."

I started from the moment James arrived to the dorm, angry and upset about all the people who'd pissed him off today. I recounted my own fear opening the video online, and talking to Finn about his stupid pranks last year. (Both Star and James winced at the memory.) Discussing my weak moment when I gave in to my fury and fought Finn made my stomach drop. It was silly, but I didn't want to do stupid shit if Star knew about it. She would never approve of her two friends attacking one another. She probably had thought, just like me, that Finn and I were actually getting along.

Star breathed out heavily like she'd been suffocating ever since the story started. And then she took a sip of her coffee, casual as ever, and stared back at me. Was I supposed to say something? 

"Uh..."

"You're a total dumbass. You know that, right?"

This gave me an actual sense of relief, to her surprise. I'd thought she was going to tell me she hated me or something. But she was just throwing around insults. It didn't bother me all that much.

"I know I shouldn't have fought him," I shrugged. "But he's being a jerk. How can he post that up online?"

"Quite easily," she answered. I was kind of grateful she was smart enough not to bring up James' incident with Facebook photography and start a fight, but I guess I never should have doubted that. "It's the circle of life, my friends. Social media is a living hell at times and you've just got to deal with it. At least it's not going to go viral."

"How would you know?" James asked, sighing from the other side of the room. She smiled and turned to him, graceful and wise.

"You know, if I text him right now, he'll delete it. He'll do anything I say."