6. In which the girls attempt vague conversation

Hallelujah. Friday, I adore you.

On Friday afternoon Hillary was in her usual spot on the concrete wall. That day, however, she had some new companions. Both Ellie and Ashley were seated on her right, and together they watched the other students file out of the building. Ellie and Ashley were engaged in a conversation that Hillary was loosely following. In the past two days of classes the three had grown into an easy friendship. Things were still a little awkward because the relationship was so new, but Hillary's brand of dry sarcasm fit well into the humor of the other two and they enjoyed their time together. Still, Hillary found that much of the time she didn't have the slightest idea what they were talking about.

"I can't even believe he thought that line about being sorry would work on me. He's such a twit." Ashley cried, and Ellie nodded a little in sympathy. Hillary vaguely wondered if she should perhaps interject, ask for a complete re-hashing of what was obviously an emotional story. In the end her sensibility won out, and she kept quiet rather than opening what seemed like a painful wound. "Whatever. I am so over him."

"I'm so proud of you Ash." Ellie said, then paused for a moment. "To celebrate, you think we could go over to Insomnia tonight?"

Ashley cocked an eyebrow and laughed.

"Us? Celebrate? At Club Insomnia? Eleanor Nash, explain to me when pod people took over Degrassi..." she replied between fits of laughter. Ellie shrugged.

"Well... the truth is my friend Blane is spinning there tonight. It's his first time ever spinning in public and I promised him I'd be there. But I don't want to go alone. I know it's not your scene, lord knows it isn't mine... pleaaaase, Ash?" she whined, grasping the other girl's arm. Ashley sighed as she threw her eyes to the sky in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah. Okay." She finally conceded, turning to Hillary who was busy drawing on her notebook. "You want to come, Hillary?"

Hillary was taken aback at first. These girls had only known her for three days and were already inviting her to go out. She wondered which god she had fallen into favor with to be making friends so quickly.

"Yeah, sure. Sounds interesting." Hillary told them, and the other two smiled. Ashley's joy was short lived as a sudden thought struck her.

"Elle, what if HE is there?" she asked, looking over at the redhead in a panic. Ellie took her hand in an attempt to bring her back down out of the emotional rafters.

"Honey, he won't be. Have you seen him lately? He's acting like one big doomsday warning. The last thing he's going to do is go to Club Insomnia." She soothed, and Ashley slowly allowed herself to be calmed. Hillary looked on in confusion.

"He?" she whispered to Ellie. Ellie leaned over.

"Her ex. He cheated on her before break with Manny Santos, then tried to date them both at the same time." She explained. Hillary's jaw dropped.

"Ashley, that's horrible! What a JERK..." she cried, and Ashley smiled silently in thanks of the support.

"It doesn't matter. Like I said, I'm over it." She told the other two, and then smiled wider as though to prove the point. "So Hill, we'll pick you up early, like 6. You can come over to my place and get ready. Sound good?"

"Um..." Hillary stammered. "Uh, yeah. Six is fine, but I can get a ride over. I live pretty far out of the way."

Both Ashley and Ellie nodded, and Hillary sighed deeply with relief. She liked the way things were progressing, and she liked having what seemed like real friends again... but she wasn't quite ready for them to see where she lived yet. As if to emphasize her point, her brother pulled up then and grinned at her through the open passenger side window.

"Hey Hill-bear. You ready?" he asked, and Ashley and Ellie shared a glance. Hillary laughed as she gathered up her things and launched herself to the ground.

"I know guys. My brother is a babe, right?" she spoke, and the two girls remaining on the wall colored slightly. Hillary laughed again as she took off down the walkway, waving a little as she went. "See you guys tonight."

They both nodded in unison, watching as she opened the back seat and threw her stuff in. As she crawled into the front seat Ryan leaned over the steering wheel to catch their eye. He smiled charmingly and threw them a wink.

"Ladies..." he called out as a kind of goodbye before peeling away from the curb and into traffic. Ellie and Ashley shared another look before laughing at themselves.