Tennis Court (SVU Fanfic)

29 { Shifting Tides }

The next couple of days were tough. All of Olivia's friends could tell something was off. Her and Amanda had been seemingly secretive, which pissed them all off.

Olivia tried not to think about all the looks the girls were giving her.

"You have 75 minutes to complete this exam. You shouldn't be surprised by anything on this exam, as long as you studied. Good luck. You may begin."

There's nothing you can do about the girls until you finish this exam. Finish the exam, then you can panic, Olivia told herself. After a slight nod and a deep breath, the little smartie pants flipped over the first sheet of the exam packet.

As if a switch had flipped in her mind, Olivia's full attention was on the work in front of her. It was her last exam of the day.

She had her other three exams tomorrow, then she was free for the summer. But in that moment, all she could focus on was history. Dates, people, and wars. Not the most exciting in the world, but definitely easy. First one done by a mile.

The next day was seemingly more awkward. She chose to ignore Elliot at all costs since the exam schedule was different than the regular class schedule and there was a chance all her friends would see them. At her locker, bright at early that morning, Olivia stood and looked at everything. Junior year was over, all packed into bags she had at the floor of the metal box that would no longer be hers. She got a new, supposedly nicer, senior locker next year.

This year was wild, Olivia thought. Well, this semester.

A buzzing phone interrupted her thoughts.

"You're pretty quiet this morning," from Amanda.

"Well, they're all ignoring me," Olivia wrote back.

"Need a friend?" Amanda was right next to her.

A small screech escaped Olivia's mouth. "Holy shit Amanda, you scared me!"

"Sorry. Still. I can stand here and make you look less like a loner."

Olivia laughed at the comment. "Thanks. I guess it beats going to sit in my Spanish classroom like a loner."

"Dude there's still fifteen minutes until the bell. You would look so sad."

The two laughed together. "So what are the others saying about me?"

"That we should ditch you since you ditched us."

That sent a sharp pain straight through Olivia's heart. Well, she didn't care for those girls but it still hurt. "What did you say back?"

"That with all your smart people classes and you not getting along with your mom, you just...sheltered yourself I guess. I don't know how true it is but I just lied to make sure they didn't hate you."

"You're so bad. But I guess I love you still for it," Olivia said.

"Liv, I'm not gonna lie, I love all of you. And even if you stop being friends with us...I still want to be friends with you. But it'll be really hard-"

"I don't want you to choose," Olivia cut her off. "If it means cutting me off, I'll make do. I don't want them hating you because of me."

"I'll cut them off if they do that to me. It would hurt a lot, but that would tell me all I need to know about them. I honestly don't think they're all that bad. Well, I didn't. Kind of. I don't know."

"You are part of a world I didn't naturally loop into. I forced myself in. Maybe you just don't see it. I didn't for awhile 'cuz I got caught up in it. You're honestly better than them, Mandy. But you do you. I'm not here to stop you."