Chapter 54

Probe

-NADINE-

"…of course, intellectually, I'm well aware that this procedure is necessary to further our education and expand our knowledge of anatomy. On the other hand, I must say there is a part of me that is not looking forward to being wrist-deep in the innards of a fetal pig," Phoebe was saying as we exited the AP Bio class we shared, just after the announcement of what the next class project would be.

"C'mon,, Phoebe, don't you want to see how the sausage is made?" I joked, elbowing her. She gave me a dirty look in response. "Not a fan of pig puns, huh? Too bad. I'm probably going to geta lot of mileage snout of 'em"

Phoebe groaned. "You're not helping…"

"Sorry, they just bacon to me, you know?" Rhonda and I regularly joke that when we start a family, I'm going to be the 'dad' because I've already got the jokes down. I can't help it. I love puns, the worse and more labored the better. I guess it's something I get from my own dad.

"I just know that if I'm to have a career in the medical arts, this squeamishness is something that I will have to overcome. Actually… perhaps that is something you can help me with. You're rather notorious for your high tolerance for gross things. I remember back in second grade when we found that dead squirrel in the park and you just went up to it and poked it with your finger. *shudder*"

"I'm honestly not sure what advice I could give you," I responded, shrugging. "It's really just something that's never bothered me. As long as I can remember, I've always had a fascination with stuff other people consider gross and icky. To me, it's just my normal. I guess… if I did have some kind of advice for you, it would be to stop thinking of stuff as gross and just think of it as natural. Like… guts? Guts are inside you. You need them to live."

"Intellectually, I know that, but…"

"Then what's the problem? You were valedictorian at our last two graduations, if anyone can reconcile that sort of thing-"

"It's less easy than you think. You can tell yourself emotional responses are silly all you want, but when push comes to shove, they dictate your reactions whether you want them to or not."

"Well, like you said, you're going to need to desensitize yourself to it. Treat this as step one. Just tell yourself… it's a puzzle. One that you take apart instead of put together. And… which happens to be made of pork."

The suggestion got a titter out of Phoebe, if nothing else. Good… if she can laugh at it, then that's the first step to getting over it. "You know, there's an app you can download that basically simulates the experience. Maybe you can try it virtually to acclimate yourself to it."

"There's an idea. Thank you."

"Any time." We parted ways at the intersection; our lockers were in separate banks. At this point of the day, I didn't expect to see anyone I knew since our schedules didn't align that way. Today, however, there would be a surprise guest. And not a pleasant one.

I guess, if I didn't actually know who she was, Brandy Bristow would be a head-turner. She was, by all objective measures, an attractive girl. As long as she had never said or done anything in her entire life, I could maybe conceive of being attracted to her. Unfortunately, she was Brandy Bristow, and therefore objectively awful.

What she was doing next to my locker, I have absolutely no idea. I'm fairly sure her locker wasn't in this bank as I'd never seen her before around there (not that I would have been looking for her in particular, but I'm sure she would have registered if I had seen her. Any possibility that this meeting had been sheerly by coincidence was immediately dispelled when she addressed me directly. "Nadine," she said with as much cordiality as her voice was capable of containing. "Fancy running into you here."

"Yeah," I said, resisting the urge to roll my eyes. The sarcasm would hopefully be self-evident without any embellishment, but you never knew. "How strange that I would be at my locker between classes. Truly, what are the odds."

"Ha ha ha!" she performatively laughed. "I just wanted to congratulate you."

This was getting weird. Congratulate me for what? What did I do that she cared about? "Regarding?" I prompted, wanting more information, but not willing to say more than one word to get it. She was only worth so much effort.

"Well, you know… your successful relationship. I mean, let's face it… she's part of the elite, and you, well… no offense, but you're hardly in our league…"

…but no offense," I echoed sardonically.

"Exactly." She continued obliviously. "I mean, on paper, nothing about this should work. And yet, you've managed to survive. In fact, if I understand, you two have been together since at least middle school."

Was there a point she intended to get to? "Mmm-hmm," I nodded.

"I mean, it's so inspiring that despite your vast differences, you two have managed to stay faithful to each other." She lingered on the word "faithful". I had to wonder about the bizarre emphasis she placed on the word. "That's true love, right? That the two of you have been faithful to each other for so long? I mean, she's certainly been faithful to you. And you, of course… you've been faithful to her, why wouldn't you? You've got so much more to lose, after all."

Again with the emphasis on that word. She was trying to make a point. That much was clearly obvious by now. But why so much emphasis on my faithfulness to Rhonda? Putting myself in Brandy's position (and boy was that a distasteful position to put myself in), if I was intending to stir up drama, as I'm sure she was, I wouldn't be casting implications on the person that I was talking to. I would be casting them on their partner. After all, the point would be to stir up uncertainty… they'd know about their own actions, so what would be the point? "And what exactly do you mean by that?"

"Well, clearly, it's not like you have a lot going for you without her, right? You're not exactly anyone to be spoken of in the social sense." She smirked. "Really, I'm sure you must thank your lucky stars every day that someone like her would even notice you."

Now that sounded like the sort of condescending garbage I could have expected to hear from her. "Okay," I said. "I've officially had enough of this conversation, I said, grabbing my book for the next class. "Lovely talking to you, let's not ever again."

As I turned to depart for class, she suddenly grabbed my shoulder. "Hey!" she said indignantly. "Just who do you think you are to talk to me like that?"

I was about to retort, but I didn't have to. Because you see, here's the thing; this is a pretty crowded school, and there were witnesses to the act. And when a rich white girl lays hands on a biracial girl who also happens to be openly gay, and makes condescending comments to her, there are implications, whether intended or not; I could not pretend to guess whether Brandy subscribed to such attitudes, and frankly the thought had never occurred to me because I generally do not spare the girl a passing thought, but the gasps and accusing glares from the crowd suggested that it did occur to those gathered, and a look at Brandy's face suggested that she those thoughts were now just beginning to occur to her too. "I… I didn't mean… like, I'm not like that, really," she protested. But it was too late now. Furious tapping on phone screens indicated that the incident was already well on its way to being blown up all over social media. I suppose I was fortunate that this was a particularly progressive community; the confrontation would have gone a lot differently elsewhere. Then again, I had no doubt there would be less-than-sincere actors spreading the story, either being performatively "woke" or just jumping at the chance to tear someone, anyone, down.

Motivation ultimately didn't matter; the upshot was that Brandy had just violated social media's number one rule: Never be today's main character. And while she was dealing with that, I could make my escape.

"I have to admit… I almost feel sorry for her," Rhonda commented later when we met up. Her eye was skimming the latest Bleater posts regarding the incident on her phone screen. "Life comes at you hard. One moment you're the top of the food chain, the next, you're plankton and there's a hungry school of krill coming to chow down on you." She smirked. "See? Sometimes I do pay attention to those nature documentaries you make us watch."

"That's the difference between you two," I remarked, ignoring the dig. "I doubt she'd ever experience that brief moment of empathy."

"And yet, I can't help but wonder if, had things been different, I could've wound up like that. Like some tired, one-dimensional stereotype straight out of that old Lindsey Lohan movie."

"Oh, c'mon, you could never have been like that," I assured, as was pretty much my duty.

"I don't know… I was kinda headed there. Remember how terrible I was in fourth grade? Spoiled, entitled, fashion-and-status obsessed… granted, I'm still some of those things to a degree…"

"The difference between you and her is self-awareness. When she comes out of this – and lets face it, she will, these things always blow over for people like her – I guarantee you that she's not going to take it as a call to examine herself, she's going to blame everyone else but herself. I can't say the same about you. You actually criticize yourself. In fact, sometimes to the point where you'll beat yourself up over what you think is an offense and you convince yourself you're terrible. It gets kind of annoying, to be honest. All that navel-gazing. Not that you don't have a cute tummy…"

"Still. I can't help but look at someone like her and think about what might have been. So, wait… what was this all about, anyway? Because if she's harassing you, I want to have a few words with her." She gave her knuckles a crack. "A few calm, reasonable, violent words."

"That's the odd thing, I'm not sure what she wanted. It was a really odd conversation…" I replayed it for her, up until the incident, and I may have given Brandy a very silly voice that made Rhonda giggle that adorable way she does (which, admittedly, is why I do it), but the words themselves were entirely accurate.

"…and it was at that point she grabbed me by the shoulder and said *silly voice* Hey, just who do you think you are to talk to me like that?"

"So what you're saying is she tried to subtly hint that you were cheating on me… to you? That's weird."

"I know, right? It makes no sense."

Her eyes narrowed. "When I never heard a peep from her after homecoming, I thought maybe, just maybe, she actually decided to grow up and move on with her life. But she is definitely up to something. I just wish I had some idea what. But whatever it is, I seriously doubt she'll give up."

I nodded. "I probably haven't seen the last of her. If she pulls anything else, I'll let you know. And she'll probably try cozying up to you too. She definitely thinks she knows something, and I bet she's looking for some kind of corroboration."

Rhonda raised an eyebrow. "Very astute observation… you might just have an eye for drama yet, Butterfly."

"I did learn from the best."

For the rest of the day, Brandy Bristow tried to keep as low a profile as possible. Easier said than done, as she was one of the most recognizable people n school, especially now that she was trending for all the wrong reasons.

Why was this happening to her? Everyone knew she wasn't like that? She Bleated all the right hashtags! How could anyone question her? No, this was all because she was rich and they were jealous, so they wanted to tear her down, that must be it.

She needed someone to complain to, but her friends had been ghosting her all day. It was unforgivable. That was her job when they offended her! How dare they abandon her now when she needed them! Some friends they were. Unfriended. All of them.

Finally, as it came time for her to leave, she saw someone who surely would take her side. "Ludwig!" She flagged him down, rushing toward her. "You would not believe the day I'm having. I need you to take me to Moonpenny's for a mocha latte this instant."

"Uh…" he replied, rubbing the back of his neck, "actually, my freestyle jazz-dancing club is meeting right now, so I kinda have to be there…"

"Well, blow it off! I need you right now! Nobody is listening to my side of the story, but as my boyfriend, you have to, so get your butt in gear and-"

"-actually, there's something I need to talk to you about." His eyes darted back and forth nervously. "I… think maybe we should see other people. Also, we shouldn't see each other."

Brandy's eyes narrowed. "Are… you dumping me?"

"I… I wouldn't call it dumping."

"Oh? Then what would you call it?"

"It's more like.. I'm setting you down at the side of the road and walking away. We can still be friends though! Only… don't, like, talk to me in public. Or private. Also, don't call me. Or text me."

Brandy seethed. "You actually believe the crap they're posting about me? I thought you cared about me!"

"Um… well… thing is…"

"I can't believe people think I'm a racist!" Brandy interrupted. "I did not talk down to Nadine because she's black! I talked down to her because she's poor and a nerd! There's a difference!"

"…yeah…" Ludwig attempted to continue.

"…and now, you're breaking up? With me? You do not break up with me. I break up with you, okay? That's how this is supposed to work."

"See?" Ludwig replied. "This is what I'm trying to say. It's not just this. It's been building for a while now. You say I should are about you, but I get the feeling that you don't care about me. You only care about yourself, and what I can do for you."

"That's not true."

"Really? Than why don't you ever come to any of my dance competitions?"

"Well, duh, because they're boring."

"They're my passion!" Ludwig retorted. "Dancing is my life!"

"Since when?"

"Since always! You never actually listen to me! I'm always talking about it!" He sighed. "She was right, I should have put my foot down over this a long time ago, but I just didn't want to say anything."

Brandy glared suspiciously. "Who was right?"

Once, Ludwig might have hesitated to reply, but no longer. "Rhonda."

"You were talking to her?"

"Yeah, a bunch of us were talking, and I mentioned that you never show up to my competitions, and she says that you should be taking an interest in things I care about. I defended you back then, but now I see she was absolutely right."

Vaguely, Brandy did recall occasions when Ludwig would natter on about this and that. It never really occurred to her that she was supposed to be paying attention. That was his job. "I can't believe you're her side over mine! You're nothing without me!"

He shook his head. "Look, I was trying to be nice about it, but you can't keep treating people like you ow them and then expect them to like you." He started walking away. "See you… but, like, not really."

"Hey! Don't you walk away from me! You can't talk to me like that! I'M BRANDY BRISTOW!" For the second time that day, bystanders were avidly tapping the latest news on their SM timelines, and once again, Brandy's humiliation was made public.

And, just like the first time, an opportunity for self-examination and possible growth was ignored. As Nadine had conjectured, Brandy Bristow, at no point, considered whether her own shortcomings had played a role in both losing her social status and the failure of her relationship.

No, this was all their fault. Nadine's for not knowing her place and Rhonda's for deliberately driving a wedge into her relationship. And it could not go unpunished. Brandy resolved, right there and then, that whatever it took, she would return the favor and drive the two apart, and expose them for the world to see. She already had the key, whatever this mysterious thing between Nadine and Joule was. Sure, Nadine hadn't had the expected reaction to her insinuations of infidelity, but that probably meant that she was good at maintaining a poker face. She had to be hiding something. Something that would destroy her relationship. And Brandy was now doubly determined to make sure it got out.

Because now, it was personal.

A.N.: The plot thickens! And yeah, Brandy isn't supposed to be (consciously) racist. Classist, for sure, which often goes hand in hand with racism, though not always. Though she definitely dabbles in a bit of homophobia, possibly out of denial over a subconscious girlcrush on a particular mutant. As for Ludwig, I wanted to give him a bit more depth, and I could see him softening up to Rhonda over the season to the point where he starts to consider her an honorary "bro", and that interest in dance has been there ever since "New Bully on the Block".

Jose: Oh, you can bet she's intending to make some serious trouble, especially now.

Veganmama: Thanks, more twists to come!

It may be a while 'til the next chapter 'cause I just got a great idea for a Big City Greens fic and I want to at least start it before I forget about it. So, keep an eye out for "There's Something on Your Face" in the Misc. Cartoons section (because for some reason BCG doesn't have its own category yet) in the near future.