𝐁𝐀𝐆𝐒 | 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐌𝐈'𝐈𝐊𝐄

five.

eden let her head fall dramatically onto janis' desk the next morning. she had stressed herself out over cady the entire night that she had wound up with a headache that was refusing to go away. the darker haired girl patted her gently on the head. "i feel the same about having to be here." eden sat back up, pulling her chair a little closer to janis' table just as she caught sight of cady entering the class. she pulled her bag off the chair next to her and waved the girl over, she could not handle watching the girl sitting on the floor for another class.

"is that your pink shirt?" eden asked damian, lowering her voice ever so slightly. she'd headed straight to her class the second she'd entered the school that morning, assuming janis and damian would already be there. instead they must've been wrangling cady into something pink before the plastics kicked her out. "yeah," he shrugged. "can you believe that girl does not own anything pink?" eden shrugged. "what i can't believe is that she's willingly going to spend time with the plastics."

"hey!" cady dropped her bag onto the table, shooting a smile towards eden which seemed to mainly be relief that she didn't have to spend the entirety of the class without a chair. she pulled her seat closer to the three, eden's phone lighting up at the same time. she thinks that regina is nice, can you believe that? damian had struck up a conversation with cady, giving eden a chance to roll her eyes at janis before going back to the message. it's been less than 48 hours, of course she thinks regina george is nice.

janis scoffed at her phone screen, both damian and cady looked at her quizzically. eden had never been so grateful for her american literature teacher until he let the door slam shut behind him, cady quickly pulling her chair back to her table. damian grabbed janis' phone from her hands, shaking his head. "i can't believe i'm being excluded from gossip," he put his hand over his heart in mock betrayal. "it's like i don't even know you two." janis grabbed her phone back from him, rolling her eyes teasingly at him.

"are you going to be ok with this whole her pretending to be plastic thing?" eden asked quietly. if cady being 'pretend plastic' bothered janis, eden could manage to talk her out of it. it wasn't like cady wanted to be one of them, it would be incredibly easy to just include her in their own group. "why wouldn't i be?" janis asked. "it's not like she's actually plastic." eden glanced towards cady who had her head bent over her english textbook and tried to imagine her fitting directly in with the plastics. "yeah," eden frowned slightly. "it's just weird."

"is that why you ran off yesterday?" janis asked. "are you really so bothered by her sitting with them for a week?" eden wanted to shake janis by the shoulders, she didn't care where cady sat or who she spoke to as much as she cared about janis' incessant need for revenge and the wedge it was putting between them. even though janis hadn't seemed to notice the way eden pulled back anytime the plastics were mentioned. "no," eden shook her head. all she had to do was tell janis that regina george was not worth it, that she couldn't put up with it anymore. that yes regina hurt her but she was never going to change no matter what janis did. but instead her mouth opened and closed with no words forming. "is there something you two would like to share with the class?" eden swung around in her seat quickly, not noticing how close their american lit teacher was to both of them. "no, sorry," eden shook her head. the man in front of them levelled both janis and eden with a warning look before returning to the front of the class.

eden tried to keep her focus on the front of the class for the rest of the lesson but she was finding it increasingly hard. she could feel janis' eyes on her and wondered what was going through the girls head. was she wondering what was wrong with her best friend or was she too preoccupied with all the information she was going to get from cady about the plastics? eden wasn't sure whether she really wanted to know the answer to that, she wasn't sure whether it would be the answer she desperately wanted.

✭

"so how long are you going to act like you're not totally jealous of cady?" eden turned to make sure that janis wasn't standing anywhere in the vicinity of them before glaring at damian. "i am not jealous of cady," she replied. "i would not want to be in her shoes right now." damian raised a brow. "literally or figuratively because both are valid."

he picked his tray off the counter, waiting for eden to get her own lunch. "seriously though i don't think she has any interest in janis," damian shrugged. "not like that." eden rolled her eyes. "it's not that," she sighed, deciding not to mention that she thought cady had her eyes on none other than aaron samuels. "i don't really like the idea of her being used for janis to take down the plastics or whatever she's planning on doing." eden took a deep breath. "and i don't like what this is going to turn into either," she continued. "if anything happens, it's going to backfire on janis and not any of the plastics as usual."

"she just wants gossip." eden took her tray, falling into step next to damian as they made their way down to where janis was already sat at the table. "i think it's pretty harmless." eden bit the inside of her mouth. "honestly if she wants to hear all the shit regina comes out with, i'm ok with that," damian continued. "after the way regina treated her, i get it." he shot eden a look. "but i'm not in love with her so i get why you feel put out."

in a lot of ways, eden supported janis' hatred of regina. she never expected janis to forgive regina for what she'd done because eden would've never forgiven regina either if she'd done it to her. but now she was figuring out where the line was for her and cady infiltrating the group for reasons janis had not yet told them was where the line was starting to be crossed. but for now, she decided to listen to damian. maybe she should just chill out, maybe janis did just want the gossip from the plastics table for no reason. but she needed confirmation from janis that this wasn't going to turn into something more than gossip.

"what are you two talking about?" janis asked as eden slid into the seat next to her, she nudged eden gently. "looked pretty serious to me." eden had full view of cady from where she was sitting, it was incredibly hard to chill out about practically sending cady into the lions den when she could see regina sizing her up a couple of tables down from them. "oh nothing," eden answered, tearing her eyes away from the plastics table. "she's going to get eaten alive over there, you are aware of that?" she felt damian's foot pressing against her leg in an attempt to get her to not start this conversation up again but she really couldn't help it.

"no," janis shook her head. "she'll be fine." eden stuck her fork into her food a little more violently than she had intended, janis frowning at her in response. "what happens if she starts telling them stuff because she thinks they're nice and she trusts them?" eden asked. "then regina uses it against her and it's just another incident waiting to happen." they didn't really talk much about janis setting fire to that stupid plushie because it was still an extremely sensitive topic with janis which was also expected, saying it was about to happen for a second time had crossed a line and eden knew it. "sorry," she ran a hand through her hair. "i'm just a little worried about her."

"it's fine," janis shrugged but she refused to meet eden's eyes. she looked to damian in the hopes he would jump in but he was giving her his infamous 'i told you so' look. "you're not going to do anything when cady comes back and tells you all the shit that goes down at that table, are you?" eden asked. "no," janis replied. "i'm not going to do anything." eden didn't know whether she believed her entirely or not but in that moment she chose to trust her instead of doubt her. "ok," eden shrugged. she didn't know whether janis was telling her the truth but looking in the girls eyes, eden knew she was going to go along with whatever janis wanted to do. all she had to do was hope that all of this didn't spiral out of their control. "what's the harm in one week then, right?" damian clicked his fingers subtly to let her know he approved, eden had to restrain a laugh.

eden couldn't help but admit to herself that she felt incredibly lighter when she pushed cady and the plastics to the back of her mind. if no one else was worried about the outcome of a couple lunches, she would try her best to not be either. damian had become distracted by his theatre guy once again, waving to him from across the cafeteria. janis dropped her hand onto eden's leg and squeezed her gently. "thank you," she whispered so softly that eden didn't know whether she was hearing things. she smiled a little towards her friend and tried to ignore the way her skin felt like it was on fire once janis' hand left it.