𝐁𝐀𝐆𝐒 | 𝐉𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐌𝐈'𝐈𝐊𝐄

twelve.

eden slid into her seat in ap calculus, miss norbury had smiled sympathetically at her when she passed her by which was possibly more embarrassing than janis pretending that she didn't exist. the girl had spent the majority of the classes they had together the past two weeks kicking the leg of eden's chair to distract her while eden resisted the urge to ask her if she knew how petty and childish she was being. cady looked up at her with the exact same expression miss norbury had given her and eden literally felt like screaming. ap calc was her last class of the day and all she needed to do was get through it without repeatedly banging her head off the nearest wall.

cady turned to face her once she'd dropped her bag
onto the floor. "where have you been going at
lunch?" she asked. "straight to the point," eden
laughed. "it's just i haven't seen you in the cafeteria
since before halloween," cady trailed off awkwardly. it had been an excruciatingly long two weeks of eden hiding out in the bathroom. janis still refused to talk to her and the only contact she had with damian had been when janis wasn't dragging him away so they'd been restricted to texting each other. eden has tried multiple times to text janis but had been left on read every single time. janis' silence had made it pretty clear where her and eden's relationship stood. and it wasn't looking good.

"so where have you been at lunch?" cady pressed. "what did you do on your first day?" eden asked
lightly. "how was lunch with the plastics?" she changed the subject once she saw cady's pitiful expression growing. "rip regina's hair out yet?" cady shook her head. "no, janis thinks-" she trailed off once again. "sorry."

"it's fine," eden shrugged. "janis thinks you should act normal around them, right?" cady nodded. "yeah, that's what i thought." cady frowned at her. "i mean, you can't take them down if they know you're actively plotting against them." she shrugged. "makes sense, at least to janis it does." miss norbury handed eden and cady their worksheets, eden flushed red, wondering how much of their conversation she had heard. "not your best," she said to cady, who had a 65% mark at the top of her page. "keep it up," she nodded towards eden who had mainted her 95%.

"oh no, i guess my grades are slipping," cady sighed, winking at eden before she turned back around. she leant forward and tapped aaron on the shoulder, pushing the sheet of paper across the table towards him. "i think i need a tutor." eden didn't know why she was surprised that cady had let her grades slip just to get closer to aaron, she'd been acting like she didn't understand anything that went on in that class for weeks. "i could tutor you," aaron offered, cady nodded enthusiastically and when aaron turned back to face the front of the class, she gave eden a smile so wide it was a wonder her jaw didn't break.

eden listlessly noted everything that miss norbury ran through until the bell rang, the woman trying her best to assign homework even though everyone around her was too busy cramming their books into their bags so they could get out before the locker rush. "walk with me?" cady asked. "maybe janis has finally gotten over it." eden resisted the urge to laugh at the idea of janis having randomly forgiven her somewhere between her snarky remarks in american literature and now. "janis never gets over anything," eden replied. "i'm thinking of transferring schools." cady's eyes widened. "i'm joking," eden sighed. "cady, can you hold back?" miss norbury asked. "ugh," cady grumbled under her breath. "i'll just wait outside," eden waved her off. "you'll be fine, she's nice."

the brunette leant against the wall outside her calc class, trying to not take up space as students emerged from the classrooms around her and tried to push their way past her. cady emerged from inside, closing the door behind her before letting out a low screech. "she is so annoying!" eden pulled her away from the door and into the corridor. "thin walls," she gestured around her. "miss norbury's nice but i'm not sure how nice she'll be if she hears you name calling." cady groaned. "she threatened to move my seat away from aaron!" she said. "can you believe that?" eden could believe that but she wasn't about to say that to cady who looked seconds away from imploding. "and then she suggests that i stay behind for mathletes!"

"i'm taking it you said no," eden replied. "she's not really going to move you, that is what we call an empty threat." cady raised a brow. "she was definitely serious," she sighed. "and now i have to go over to regina's and rehearse some dance with them for the talent show." eden scoffed. "rockin' around the pole?" she asked. "yeah, miss norbury called it a recurring nightmare." eden nodded. "she's not wrong," she shrugged. "but hey, i've always been jealous of the costumes they wear so at least you get a hot outfit from it." she faltered a little. "don't tell janis that i said i was jealous of anything concerning the plastics." cady smiled at her. "obviously i won't."

eden felt someone pushing their way in between them and turned slightly, her entire body going stone cold once she saw it was janis who obviously felt the exact same considering she flushed from head to toe once she saw eden. "i didn't know it was-" she glanced at cady awkwardly. i didn't know it was you. eden bit on her lower lip harshly, with janis standing beside her it would just be so easy to pretend like nothing had happened between them. she almost wished that the girl would pretend like nothing had happened between them, it would be better than whatever this was. instead, janis grabbed cady's arm and pulled her away, not even giving eden another look. "um, i'll text you!" cady called after her apologetically. janis pulling cady away gave damian the chance to catch up to eden. "you two are the most stubborn people i've ever met," he said. "me?" eden scoffed. "i've tried multiple times to talk to her."

"whatever," damian brushed her off. "are you coming to the talent show?" eden nodded. "you're performing?" she asked. "duh," he said. "and it gets me an extra credit for french." eden smiled at him. "well then yeah, obviously i'm coming," she replied. "did you know the plastics are letting cady do rockin' around the pole with them?" damian rolled his eyes. "girl, she has literally not shut up about it." eden laughed before she caught sight of janis approaching them, cady taking off in the opposite direction with regina. "you read?" she asked damian. "yeah," he replied. "i'll see you tonight." eden nodded.

damian had started to walk away before janis turned and asked "you're coming?" he swung back around, eyes widened at eden. "um,yeah," she replied, her voice coming out higher than she had intended it to. "oh," janis nodded. "ok." she turned away from the girl once again and headed towards the exit. damian and eden were left to exchange confused looks before eden simply shrugged, waving damian off before janis realised he was still stood staring between both of them in the middle of the corridors. she watched both of them go, a sick feeling forming in her stomach.