"Caddy! Hey!" Janis called from down the hallway, speed-walking over to where Cady stood at her locker.
Cady slammed her locker shut and glanced around cautiously—there was nobody to see her talk to Janis, thankfully.
"Dude, don't worry, the queen bitch is gone. It's safe, you can talk to me without having your reputation blown up," Janis's tone was only slightly resentful, and Cady had to smile guiltily.
"Sorry. It's becoming a habit. My bad."
"It's cool, I get it. What were you and Regina laughing about earlier? When I was in the hallway?"
Cady flashed back to the joke about Janis liking her. She had figured it was just some gossip she didn't know yet, but she'd have to figure that out later. And Janis didn't need to know they were laughing at her—it would just hurt her feelings unnecessarily.
"Oh, that? It was just something stupid about Shane Oman. You know how the plastics are," Cady rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, sure," Janis replied. It was clear she didn't believe her, but she let it drop for the time being.
"So uhh, how was your day?" Cady asked. "I feel like I never see you guys at school!"
"Probably because you're always with the plastics now," Janis scoffed. She shook her head like she was trying to shake off the negative vibe before continuing. "It was fine. We put a piece of blue cheese in Mr. Olson's desk drawer and we're gonna see how long it takes him to notice the smell. Also, I made you something!"
Janis pulled a bracelet out of her pocket. It was a sort of woven friendship bracelet, with a little elephant charm on it—Cady had told Janis last week that her favorite migrations to observe were the elephants that crossed the savannah, and that she always felt a sort of kinship with them. She had been drunk when she said it, otherwise she wouldn't have shared at all—she always felt like a total dweeb for sharing that stuff with anybody here. Everybody thought the idea of her being in Africa was 'totally exotic', but the actual day-to-day of homeschooling and watching the empty plains for hours was a lot less glamorous. Cady had learned quickly to keep her mouth shut about it. But Janis had loved hearing it, and had asked Cady questions for hours about the animals and the people and what life was like out there. Hence the bracelet now, with it's little varnished elephant charm.
"The pink is for you pretending to be plastic, the olive green is for the adventures you had in Africa, and the blue is for your friendship with us! Then the peach is for, well, peach schnapps," Janis blushed as she mentioned the last color, and Cady looked up at her friend, noticing the twinkle in her eyes.
"Janis, that is so sweet!"
"Here, let me put it on."
Janis fumbled with the braided ends for a moment before getting them securely wrapped around Cady's wrist. Janis laid her finger alongside the soft skin over her pulse, so that she wouldn't pull the bracelet too tight. Cady noticed how soft and cool Janis's skin was, laid along her own, and how long and elegant her fingers were with their assortment of silver rings. Once the bracelet was tied, Janis rotated it so that the elephant charm faced up. Cady beamed.
"Janis, this is so kind. Thank you so much," Cady pulled her friend into a hug, squeezing tightly. She smelled like peonies and cloves and the essential oils she swore helped her third eye stay clear.
"Ok, lovebirds!" Damian's sing-song voice chirped from across the hall.
The two girls laughed as he ran up and wrapped his arms around them, squeezing them tightly into a bear hug.
"Damian!" Janis groaned. "You're pulling my hair."
"I can't help that I love you more than life itself!" Damian replied as he released them. "Now how were your days, ladies? Give me the highlights!"
"Ooh, I have an update for you guys!" Cady squealed.
"Plastics-relevant?" Damian asked.
"No, Aaron-relevant!"
"Ooh! Spill." Damian commanded.
"He's gonna tutor me in math! He's coming to my place tomorrow."
"Tutor you?" Janis asked incredulously. "Aren't you like, a super genius at math?"
"Sort of, but he doesn't know that!"
"Why is he tutoring you?" Damian asked, not understanding.
"Well, I've been pretending that I don't get what we're doing, so then he'll explain it to me and we always end up talking like that. And now he's coming over!"
"Cady, that's ridiculous," Damian scolded.
"I can't help it!" Cady looked at her two friends, who were both looking at her with confusion. "I can't talk to him any other way, or Regina would murder me!"
"Maybe it's a sign," Janis muttered.
"What?" Cady asked, confused.
"Maybe it's a sign that if you have to pretend to be stupid to get this boy to like you, you shouldn't be into this boy," Damian said, looking to Janis to see if he was correct. She crossed her arms and looked away, refusing to look at Cady or him. "Why don't you tutor him?"
"I mean, it's just a way to get us to talk. And now we're hanging out! Me and Aaron! One on one!" Cady looked back and forth between her two friends, but Janis still refused to look at her and Damian just looked appalled. "I don't understand why you guys can't be happy for me," she huffed.
"Babe, it's because this is not how you get a guy. Shit like this is probably why Aaron dumped Regina in the first place," Damian reasoned.
"Regina dumped him," Cady scoffed.
"And who fed you that bullshit?" Janis finally spoke again.
"I mean, Regina did, but why would she lie?"
"Because she's a no-good dirtbag of a human being who cares about nothing and nobody but herself," Janis retorted, rolling her eyes. "Why do I feel like I'm starting to have to convince you of that, Caddy?"
"You're not! It's just. . . I mean, you realize you talk more shit about her than she does about you, right?"
"So you admit you were talking shit about me earlier," Janis shook her head.
"No! I mean, it's not like that," Cady paused, uncertain what to say. "She's just. . . Regina. I don't know how to explain it."
"So don't," Janis replied flatly, turning and beginning to walk away. Damian followed quickly. Cady watched her friends go for a moment, hurt and confused.
"Can you guys just be happy for me?" she called, hating the note of desperation that crept into her voice. If she didn't have Janis and Damian, she had no one. She didn't want to lose them.
She ran after Janis and Damian and whirled around to face them, walking backwards. "I promise I'll stop playing dumb. I swear it. But I get to hang out with Aaron! Can we please be happy?"
She smiled wide at Damian and Janis. Janis still refused to meet her gaze, but Damian smiled half-heartedly, raising an eyebrow as though he still didn't believe her.
"What are you going to do?" he asked. "Have him show up and be like, 'oh yeah, by the way I'm actually smarter than you, now let's make out?'"
Cady rolled her eyes. "Obviously not," she replied. "I'll figure something out."
"Of course you will. You better." Damian smiled. Clearly he had forgiven her.
"Janis?" Cady asked, still walking backwards. Janis stared at her, not saying anything. Cady kept walking, petulantly waiting til her best friend would forgive her. Suddenly, the ground dropped out from beneath her and she tumbled backwards—they had come upon the stairs at the end of the hallway, and Cady fell down them, landing squarely on her tailbone.
"Ow!" she cried, rubbing at the spot where she landed. Janis burst out laughing, so hard she had to bend over and put her hands on her knees to draw breath.
"Oh god, you should have seen the look on your face!" she guffawed. Cady glared at her from the ground, watching Janis wipe away the tears that sprang to the corners of her eye, blackened by her dark eye makeup. After she could breathe again, Janis stood at her full height and smiled at Cady good-naturedly, with the same fiery twinkle back in her eye. "We're good, Caddy. Don't be a dumbass anymore."
She jogged down the two steps and helped her friend up. Cady rubbed her butt a few times—her ego was more bruised than her ass—but felt satisfied. Janis and Damian weren't mad at her. She'd promised to stop playing dumb, but that didn't mean she needed to be completely forthcoming about her abilities with Aaron. If she had it her way, very little of their study-date the next day would be spent on actual studying anyways.
Cady linked arms with Janis and Damian, breathing in Janis's scent of peonies and cloves from one side, and Damian's Chanel No. 5 from the other. This was the way things should be, surrounded by her two best friends—so why couldn't she help but look around as they emerged outside, checking over her shoulder to make sure nobody was seeing her with the two outcasts?