Seventeen-year old first year college student Josie Clarke would prefer not to blush the colour crimson at every little thing, but Idiopathic Craniofacial Erythema, a chronic facial condition doesn't play fair.
In fact, it's as uncontrollable...
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As rain begins to lash down on the car bonnet, Mel rolls up the driver side window and rests an arm across the steering wheel.
"I'll save you what you already know, which is that Madeline Parrish is awful. A true mean girl in every sense of the word."
I nod, finding it hard to look her in the eyes, especially since she looks so mad.
"And you know that Max left school halfway through Year 8, right?"
"I do."
Twisting in her seat, to lean against the door, she sighs loudly and lifts the strands of sea foam green hair away from her face. "Did he tell you what Maddie did to him?"
My stomach tenses. "Not specifically. All I know is that he's not exactly her biggest fan, but then, no one is."
"You got that right, so forgive me for getting my knickers in a twist seeing the pair of you chat away like your old time friends," Mel says, her grip on the wheel tightening. "Maddie is the reason why Max left school. The reason why his condition got worse."
"What did she do?"
Mel's shoulders slump. "Buckle in."
"What?"
She scans the car park and the bunch of students milling by the entrance. "We can't talk here, besides, Max and Libby will start to wonder where we've gotten to if we hang around here much longer." Starting the engine, I grab my seat belt and sit in silence for the slow journey to the Montgomery's.
When we're two roads away, Mel pulls over outside a grand house with three garages and cuts the engine.
"Once upon a time," she begins, rolling her eyes, "when we were new to Southbrook, Maddie's dad sold my dad a new car, and well, one thing lead to another and he invited the Parrish's over for a BBQ, before school started in September. This was like, a few weeks before."
I let all her words sink in, listening carefully, even though the grating sound of afternoon grass cutters and leaf blowers makes it hard.
"Max and Maddie met. I met her. We all did. She seemed sweet at first. Normal, you know, not a total manipulative heinous bitch, but whatever, I digress." She sucks in a deep breath and exhales forcefully, as if it hurts to have the memories of the past inside her. "He never saw it, but I think Maddie quite liked him."
I can see her jaw tense. Mine does too at the thought of her ever liking Max. And I don't like the way it makes my insides feel. "She did?"
Mel laughs, "Ironic right? He wasn't interested though, even though she was like, the first girl to speak to him in ages. The blushing thing didn't exactly make him the social butterfly of our last school as I'm sure you can imagine."
