"Can you text Ayano?" Her head snaps upward at the name's mention. "She's running late."

"I- yeah, sure," she forces herself to reply and reluctantly begins typing the message. She'd much rather the tardy girl not arrive at all but- she told them to wait for her. So wait she shall. It's probably better than the alternative.

"Speaking of, you know how Jess broke up with Franics?" She shakes her head, she's hardly been in the mood to keep with the latest events these last few days. "Aishi caught him making out with Martha at Jess' own freaking party- the gall right? Anyway, the first thing she did was tell her. Apparently like- half the others knew it was happening but nobody said anything. Massive fallout."

The girl bites her lip. Gossip is what put her in this situation in the first place, she should stay as far away from anything concerning Aishi as possible. And yet- she can't help but feel hopelessly intrigued by the little tidbit.

"Good for Jess. Better to know who's your real friend before you actually need them and suddenly find yourself without any." She allows just a bit of bitterness to color her words, only for it to go unnoticed by Juliet. Figures. "I'm surprised Ayano told her though, I didn't think they were close."

"I guess she's just nice like that. Maybe she doesn't like cheaters?" They fall silent for a moment. "Did I tell you what she did for me last week?"

"Uh... you mean finding your phone?" Because if so then yes, twice.

"No- well, yeah that too but not what I meant. You remember what happened to that mouth-breathing stalker?" Mouth-breathing... ah.

"Greg? Kinda hard to forget, only been two days." And was it a sight to see that creep after he 'fell down the stairs'. "Wait, you mean to tell me she did that to him? Get outta here." She says in a strained voice, trying to convince her classmate that it was not the Asian girl just as much as she is trying to convince herself.

"Well, not directly but like, the rumor is Naoki beat him up, told him to stay the hell away or else."

A ball of ice forms in her stomach.

"That ABB?" Oh God. "He's barely around ever since..." Since Natalie- the words don't go through her throat but are audible enough. "A-anyway. What does Ayano have to do with it?"

"Trish says she saw them talking with Greg groaning on the ground just around the corner. She looked kinda scary too- I don't think she wanted Naoki to roughen him up that bad."

Or maybe she wanted him to go all the way and was angry he didn't.

"Shhh, sh sh sh. Shut up." She startles, realizing that she must have said the words aloud. Juliet nervously looks around before her voice drops to a conspirational whisper. "Don't say that shit so loud. You didn't hear this from me but I heard her dad is with the ABB, like- some higher up, so when she asks them a favor they just go with it." She grimaces, she might dislike the girl but that is a bit much.

"That's... Juliet come on, I mean I talk with Peter yeah? Doesn't make me a nazi." A shame that he is one though, they guy is hot and actually kinda nice- a pity he can't extend the same courtesy to her non-white friends.

"I- well- sure but-"

"Hey guys." They both almost suffer heart attacks when the object of their conversation makes her presence known.

"Oh, h-hey Ayano." She plasters a smile onto her lips. Crap, she hopes the girl didn't hear their gossiping. She does a double take when her eyes land on the newly arrived teen's attire. "Uh... are you okay?" She asks when she sees a violent twitch run through the other student's body, no wonder, the gym clothes the Aishi girl is presently wearing don't exactly seem warm. Actually, now that she's paying attention, it does feel quite chilly here, even in her sweater and jeans. "And why are you wearing that? Don't you have PE at two o'clock?" She asks while checking the hour on her phone.

Ayano offers them a grin that's just a bit off, then again, the girl smiles rarely enough that any kind of smile looks kind of weird on her lips.

"Ah... I got something spilled on me. Ruined my clothes." She plays with the hem of her substitute T-shirt. "Which reminds me, I'm going to go the the mall this Saturday, you want to come with?" The Asian girl shoots her a pointed look.

"Oh!" She very nearly squeaks. "Oh I was planning to go anyway," she replies with forced cheer, glad that the girl does not seem to have heard the conversation she's been having before her arrival at least. "Juliet, what about you?" She turns to the third girl with a pleading expression.

"Eh, sure, why not. Haven't done any window-shopping in a while." Oh thank God.

"Great!" The high pitch of her "friend's" voice makes her wince. She stuffs her trembling hands into her pockets. "Come on, lets get something warm to drink. You look like you're cold."

Sorry for the mess with re-posting this, somebody on SB had an idea good enough that it made me rewrite the chapter.