A/N: This update would have come a little sooner, but livejournal was being pissy. Anyways, thank you to everyone that story alerted/favorited/reviewed/ect.
The second major change had come not even a week later, this one proving much more public and much more obvious that things had changed between the two seniors. Just thinking about those moments in which her world turned upside down would cause the redhead to pale for years afterward. If anyone tried to ask her what had happened, or why it was such a big deal, Holly J would never be able to come up with what classified as a real reason. Most of the time when this occurred, she would hang her head, her flame-coloured hair casting a shadow over her usually lively eyes. It made her felt like she was in primary school and being told by her teacher that 'cause' wasn't a reason.
Still though, to her that was reason enough. And why shouldn't it be? It wasn't every day you were completely humiliated in front of your classmates, and have all of the cracks in your relationship with your dearest friend shown off. It didn't matter that most of them were indifferent about what happened, or didn't realize the gravity of it, or just didn't pay attention or care, it had happened.
It was the final day for the fitting of grad robes, and Fiona had been there getting fitted with the rest of them- she had taken a few night classes from some of the teachers to get the credits she was missing, so she could graduate with her class and go to Yale in the fall- though she frequently complained that she'd rather wear Charlie's art smock than the plain navy robes. That in and of itself had caused Holly J to cringe; a fact not lost on Anya, who was as always too perceptive for her own good.
Finally, the fitting was completed, and with some time before their next period, another senior had suggested they all change into their dresses and have a mini-fashion show. After a few reluctant girls were convinced, they grabbed their dresses that were being stored for the rapidly approaching graduation. Simpson had thought up that one as, in his words, a precaution against having the aforementioned dress code for the event being severely broken. In other words (or rather, Anya's), they all handed their outfits for the shindig over, to make sure they didn't show up looking like a bunch of skanks.
As Holly J started to change, like the other seniors, however, Fiona had suddenly grown very uncomfortable in the room, quickly departing from it to change in the bathroom instead. Once again, this had not been lost on Anya, or Chantay either. Holly J knew that if Chantay had picked it up, chances were others had as well, though it was doubtful they knew it was abnormal.
Abnormal turned into downright bizarre when Fiona never returned, and bizarre turned to downright fucking strange when throughout the entire outfit show-off, Holly J had not one critical thing to say about another's dress, and there were some damn weird ones, no doubt inspired by the Lady Gaga craze. When the block had finally ended, the redhead had rushed out of the room with her head down, and neither her nor Fiona were seen the rest of the day. While the next morning, Fiona had returned, citing a sudden bout of sickness as reason for her absence, Holly J was still missing.
It had taken quite a toll on her, to have Fiona suddenly treat her differently, treat her like some sort of lecher, or a complete stranger, or a jealous hag; which she wasn't, really she wasn't, she told herself. But Fiona must have seen Holly J as that, why else would she leave so suddenly? It wasn't as if Fiona hadn't changed in front of Holly J or the rest of the class before, or vise versa. As she sat in her room with her head held in her hands that day, Holly J couldn't help the ironic thought that seeped into her head, wondering if this is how Fi had felt when Holly J awkwardly got Anya to zip up her dress, and then tried to set her up with the LGBT club's treasurer.
The next day though, was perhaps worse than the two previous; the day of the incident was bad because of the initial horror and embarrassment, sure, and the next dreadful because of the time the redhead gave herself to reflect on those events, and the ones that had lead up to it, but no contest the third day was just plain horrid due to how people acted. It was bad enough that their fellow classmates seemed to stare at Holly J at any chance they got, but how Chantay, Anya, and Fiona acted… Holly J was sure she must have somehow died on the way to school, and this was Hell. Those glances and whispers between Chantay and Anya when they thought she didn't see or hear, Chantay's forced chipper demeanour, Anya's lack of nosiness, and Fiona's lack of anything. In fact, the brunette hadn't said more than five words to Holly J all day, and she had been counting. They had been exactly, 'Hi', 'Cafeteria food sucks', and 'Sorry' when she had accidentally bumped into Holly J in the hallway, which never happened given normally they walked to their various classes together.
Holly J couldn't shake the feeling that she had royally messed up, because frankly, having to go through seeing Fiona being sappy with Charlie, hearing about how awesome their dates went, how sweet she was, and having movie nights only to end up sleeping in the guest bedroom because she and Charlie now shared a bed was so much better than this.
A week had passed since that fateful night, and there was no invitation for Holly J to come over for a movie and sleepover.