Author's note : I would like to mention Jazzy Morga who helped make some grammatical corrections to the first draft of this story. Thank you for your help, mate. You're a great editor and an even better friend.
Liam Ellis is feeling not as chipper as usual today. The eighteen years old Jewish boy is waiting in the library, wearing a sweater to stay warm. He reads a textbook, making notes silently, one hand tapping on the desk. As he sits there, the boy anxiously waits for his best friend Sarah to show up. He is feeling a bit depressed and knows that talking to her will only make things even more complicated and difficult to sort through, considering how they've gotten distant lately.
Finally, she arrives. Looking up from his book, Liam smiles lightly at Sarah as she approaches, sitting down opposite him. The dark haired fellow nerd places her bag on the chair beside her, looking at him with her usually brooding eyes. She then takes a sip from her water bottle, before placing it down on the table as he watches her with his warm, gentle expression.
"Hi, Liam," she says, giving him an apprehensive smile. The two of them have known each other since they were ten and have always been close friends. Unfortunately, that friendship has been gradually strained by some of Sarah's choices. Being part Jewish on his mother's side, Liam has been the target of bullying by some nasty other kids, who would often call him a 'kike'. At first it was behind his back, but once they realized he is too meek to retaliate, they'd use the label in his face.
Sarah has generally helped him to cope with it, telling the others who were after him to piss off. And he is very grateful for that. However, it all changed from a month ago when she started hanging out a lot with some of the girls who were taking part in bullying Liam, despite the boy telling her how their clique have regularly mistreated and verbally abused him. In fact, he discovered they were already secretly friends before that but Sarah never told him, with him only finding it out by himself.
Right now, the two friends find themselves at a difficult spot, not knowing what to do to ease the tension between them, unable to do much else than let it stew for a while. Liam doesn't really like it that much, both because he hates being confused by his best friend's presence and also prefers actively seeking solutions to just sitting and waiting for the problem to leave by itself.
"Hi Sarah! Any plans for today?" he attempts a casual greeting, still trying for a smile despite how awkward the meeting is for both of them. Sarah attempts to return the gesture with her own, her eyes looking at him a bit guiltily. She knows that hanging out with people like Mary Ann and Reese is damaging her friendship with Liam but they are part of the cool kids group.
"Not really. Probably just going to stay here for the entire lunch break and then go to classes. After that it's just for studying at home," she grumbles slightly, miffed at herself for having nothing more interesting to do. Turning to Liam, she asks "What about you though?"
Liam shrugs with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'll probably be reading like you. You know I don't do much more than that. Maybe go for a short walk," he replies, drumming his fingers on the desk gently. He is, for now, content to be with his best friend here and not having to worry about any harassment from someone else. "So, are you planning to go hang out with Mary Ann and Reese again?"
Sarah rubs her weary eyes. "Listen, I know you've got a beef with them, but they are my friends too and the two of them really aren't that bad. They've only been a bit mean before....."
"A bit mean?" Liam repeats slowly, willing himself to remain calm. "Is that what you call someone hurling racial slurs at me, your best friend, since we were kids?" He couldn't believe how she was trying to justify their actions like that. To her credit, Sarah does look quitea ashamed at her own attempts to trivialize the emotional abuse her new friends have put her lifelong best friend through. But she still wouldn't give up.
"Please, Liam," the girl is now begging in her sweetest tone. This makes it difficult for him to get mad at her. "If only you would try to talk to them like I've suggested. All you've got to do is give them a chance.." And there it is. The anger has returned. Fortunately, Liam has always been good at containing his temper, although when he gets pissed, he does shout quite a lot.
"A chance! What bloody chance do I have to give them? To heap all those derogatory remarks on me all over again and again? Blimey, Sarah!" he cries out, shaking his head, visibly upset. Sarah is upset too at the outburst but can understand her best friend. After all, the two girls she is hanging out with have indeed been remarkably cruel in their words to him. Suddenly, she could feel someone standing behind her.
"Hey, snotty! What are you doing here?" A strong hand grasps Sarah's hair, pushing forward and pressing her face onto the table. The thin boy quickly glances up towards his best friend's attacker, readying himself to shout at her, before groaning loudly as he realizes who the person is. He should have been able to recognize her voice.
Jenna Peryton is standing there in her sports clothes, one hand keeping Sarah's face pressed to the desk, the other on her hip. The eighteen years old is the star of the basketball team and also plays mixed martial arts, giving her a very chiseled body. She has been bullying Sarah for many years, ever since that one time Sarah called her a dumb blonde. Jenna wasn't supposed to hear that but she did, and took great offense to that. She has constantly been hazing Sarah constantly after that. It was kind of understandable at first, given what Sarah called her, but she took it way too far and then also targeted other geeky girls who have done nothing to her as well.
Her nickname for Sarah originated from when Sarah had a violently sneezing fit in front of everyone and covered her own face in the mucus, disgusting everyone except Liam, who handed his friend his handkerchief to wipe it away.
Right now the girl is winking at Liam, like she always does. The basketball goddess has been flirting with him a lot over the past four years, trying to get him to go out with her, but he has always refused, given how she treats his best friend. Still, he can't deny that, her mean tendencies aside, Jenna is quite attractive. With her long blonde hair that she is always messing up to make it seem like she just came back from Basketball practice, perfect alabaster skin and athletic figure, she is gorgeous.
Her friend, Serena, is also beautiful, standing behind Jenna and smiling brightly at him. She is wearing her usual black leather jacket, looking cool as ever, grinning every second and every day. "Hey, Liam. Hi, snotty," she says, directing the second part at Sarah, who is flailing about wildly beneath Jenna's hand, her face still trapped on the table.
