Chapter 4: It Can Be Your Best Friend

"Hi! Do you mind if I sit with you?" Sandy asked.

"Actually, I do mind," Alicia said. Sandy gaped at her.

"Close your mouth Sandrilene," Lindsey ordered. "It's so unbecoming--no wonder you haven't had a date for so long."

"Oh hi, Sandy!" Andrew exclaimed as he reached the table. "Where's Chloe? I thought I just saw her here.

"Hey, Andrew. Chloe's gone to the Library," James replied. "I think she's got some reading to do for Accounting. You might be able to catch her."

"You could catch her, but I somehow doubt she'd actually get any work done with you there," Lindsey added, raising one eyebrow. Everyone burst into laughter.

"I think you're right." Andrew smiled, pulled out a chair and sat down. "Aren't you going to sit down, Sandy?"

Sandy stared at him. What am I meant to say? They don't want me here, Andrew...they make fun of me. Ha! He'd think it was a joke! "Actually, I, uh..."

"She was just leaving," Alicia cut in. "It was good to see ya, Sandy, make sure you stop by again!"

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Matt had gone to the Library after his 'lunch' with Sandy and Thayet. Unfortunately, he'd been so caught up in his reading that he'd completely missed the bell. Now he was later to homeroom, and that was not good, especially since he still didn't know why he was being laughed at. Plus he had a funny feeling that it wasn't something innocent either...some jokes had been tossed his way, and it was decidedly dirty.

He walked into homeroom, and stopped in the doorway as a repeat of the lunchroom occured. Conversation ceased.

"Mr. Bangsund, are you planning to come into the room and take your seat? Oh, and by the way, thanks for actually making an appearance this afternoon--unlike this morning," Mr. Headdock added.

"Yeah, he was otherwise engaged," James said in a stage whisper from the back row.

Matt's face turned red. "Sorry," he said to the teacher as he walked across the room to his desk, which was right next to Stephen. He sat down and asked Stephen what was going on.

He rolled his eyes. "Don't play innocent, Matt. I can't believe that you would do something like that...but still. Just try to ignore it, okay?" He started to turn around, but Matt stopped him.

"No! Tell me what the hell is going on...or else I'll tell Charlene about your little crush," Matt threatened.

"You wouldn't."

"Try me."

"Fine. Everyone knows about last night, Matt. And they're talking. Is that good enough for you?" Stephen asked.

"Last night? You mean...oh God. Who's everyone? Please tell me Chris doesn't know," Matt pleaded.

"Who's everyone? Look around the room. Tell me who doesn't know. And as for Christine, I believe Charlene has already informed her," Stephen replied.

"Oh no. How could she tell her! What kind of friend is she anyway?" Matt cried.

"What kind of friend would she be if she didn't tell her? Better her than someone like...Chloe."

"Whatever. I can't believe this. I just can't believe this," Matt said despondantly.

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Thayet stared at Charlene in the bathroom. Just then Charlene turned around as if she knew someone was there. "Thayet," she said as realisation--and panic--appeared in her eyes. "How long have you been here?"

"Long enough." She laughed. "I sound like a soap opera character. But, really Charlene...I'm not stupid, I can see what's going on." The bell rang, but neither girl moved.

"Nothing is going on. I just have the flu," Charlene replied calmly.

"Oh, come on! I heard you yesterday, and it wasn't the flu that made you throw up," Thayet stated. "And besides, you're in some of my classes, and you have been just fine."

"Yesterday? What are you talking about?" Charlene played dumb.

"Don't do this, Charlene! Damn it, just admit that you have a problem. Who else knows?" Thayet yelled.

"Be quiet. Do you want people coming to see what's happening?" Charlene harshly said.

"Fine. If being quiet will make you talk, so be it. Just say something, Charlene, anything," Thayet pleaded.

"Look at you, Thayet. You have it all. And I mean it. You don't have a guy, and are damn happy that way. You're everyone's best friend and look at this! I'm barely even a close friend of yours, but here I am just babbling away to you. You look like a model, can do what you want without anyone even accusing you of being a loser...the list goes on and on," Charlene burst out.

Thayet laughed bitterly. "Sure. Whatever you say Charlene." Like my life is so great right now, she thought. "But why? Why are you doing this? Do you think hurting yourself will win you guys or make yourself have more friends?"

"It'll make me thin. And then guys will like me. I don't know...I don't really believe that, but it just sort of makes sense. I don't know why, Thayet! But, believe it or not, I feel good doing this. It's like I finally can take charge of my life. Does that sound stupid? It's like I'm doing this because I can. That's the only real reason I have!" Tears appeared in Charlene's eyes as she spoke.

"It doesn't sound stupid. It makes sense. But I'm not really the person you should be talking to--a counselor is," Thayet offered.

"Don't you think I know that? I just have one problem with that--my parents will find out. And then I'll be a loser all over again. They barely accepted it the first time. If it happened again, I don't know how'd they would react."

"Again? This is the second time?" Thayet was shocked.

"Look, Thayet, we better be going to homeroom...I'll catch up with you later, okay?" Charlene asked.

"No, wait. I want you to talk to Sandy," Thayet insisted.

"And Sandrilene will do...what?"

"Her sister, Tris, had an eating disorder too. I just think she'd be more able to help you than me," Thayet explained.

"Fine, whatever. I'll see you later," Charlene replied.

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Later on in the day, Accounting class arrived. All the students slowly filtered in...Sandy came first, followed by everyone else. Chloe arrived last.

"Chloe, I need to talk to you," Sandy demanded.

"Oh. Okay. Hold on a sec," she said as she walked to her desk. "Hey sweetie," she said to Andrew. "I'll be back in a second, I'm going to talk to Sandy, okay?"

"No prob. I don't think Mr. Smolenski is in today, anyway, so no hurry," he replied.

Chloe walked over towards Sandy. "What is it?"

"Can we have some privacy? I want to say something to you, and I don't think you want everyone to hear," Sandy replied. Chloe raised an eyebrow. She wanted to reply harshly, but she was no fool.

"Fine, sure." They stepped out of the classroom. "Well, what is it?"

"I know about your little 'plan,' Chloe. I know that you were trying to get me out of my job as chairperson of the Dance Committee," Sandrilene stated defiantly.

"Yeah?"

"What do you mean, yeah? How can you be so...cruel?" The truth was, Sandy was thrown off. She had expected Chloe to defend herself, but it obviously didn't work that way with her.

"Cruel? It wasn't anything personal, Sandy. I was just trying to drum up some excitement. You were an easy target," Chloe explained.

"What? You're telling me you did this because you could? That was your only reason! Well let me tell you Chloe-Lynn that you are a first class bitch and I hope that you have fun drumming up excitement in this school! But we'll see who's going to become this years cheerleading captain! It won't be you!" Sandy yelled and stormed into the class.

Chloe followed her. "Don't you even dare to try to steal my position as captain, Sandrilene, because I will destroy you if you do. I have few enemies Sandy, but most of those people have reason to be angry. You don't--and you will regret putting yourself in this position." Her voice was calm, cool--and deadly serious. She sat down next to Andrew who looked at her quizzically. The substitute teacher walked in and then they all shut up.

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After Computer Science, Thayet ran into Sandy. "Hey, what's up," she asked.

"Don't ask," Sandy replied. "But I do have a message for you. Linda told me to tell you that there's a Yearbook meeting today--she thought you might be interested. It's after school, in room B48. She said just show up if you're interested."

"Cool. Actually, there's something I have to talk to you about," Thayet started.

"If it's about Chloe--"

"It's not. It's about Charlene."

"Charlene? What about her?"

"I kinda...well, it was an accident...I sorta found out that she had an eating disorder. And I told her to come to you for help, I mean, what with the whole Tris thing and all," Thayet explained.

"Oh. Um, sure I guess I can talk to her--she's in my next class, I think. Yeah, she is. English with Mr. Ernst. I'll talk to her," Sandy looked sad, it was obvious that the mention of her sister was not a happy thought.

"Thanks, Sandy, look I better get going to my History class, later!" Thayet ran off.

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After school, Matt walked out of school. He remembered how he had wanted to avoid Christine yesterday. Now he would give anything to have her back--gossip and all. He saw Stephen walking too. Stephen had a car, and Matt didn't have his car, Stephen usually gave him a ride. Like he'd want to give me a ride now, he thought sarcastically. Still, what did he have to lose now? "Hey, Stephen, can I have a ride?" he called out.

"Uh, sure," Stephen managed a faint smile. "Hop in."

"Thanks," Matt replied. They sat for a couple of minutes in silence. "Do you want to stop by my place for awhile? I don't really have a lot of homework or anything....plus I just got a new stereo, if you want to check it out."

"Why not? I don't have anything to do immediately, either," Stephen replied.

Stephen pulled into Matt's driveway, and then walked into his house. His mother was sitting in the kitchen. "Mom? What are you doing here?" Then he noticed his mothers lawyer sitting beside her. "Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Fabian, I didn't realise you were here."

"It's alright, Matthew," Mr. Fabian replied.

"We'll just go upstairs, and leave you alone," Matt told his mother, and started out the door.

"Wait a second, Matt. Mr. Fabian didn't come here to see me. He came here to see you," his mom explained.

"What? Is something wrong?" he asked.

"I'm afraid so. Maybe you should read this," Mr. Fabian said while handing him a letter. Matt opened the letter and read it. His face paled. Oh my God. What the hell is going on?? Please tell me this is a nightmare....

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Sandy walked over to Charlene's locker. "Hi Charlene," she said.

"Sandy, hi!" she exclaimed.

There was an awkward pause. "Thayet told me about your...problem, and I thought I could help. Do you want to go somewhere where we can talk?"

"You know, Sandy, it isn't really that a big problem--I can handle it," Charlene insisted.

"I'm sure you have other things to do to, and I have my friends and all..."

"I think you're trying to get rid of me. Let me tell you now that it's not going to work. Do you want to go to the Dairy Queen?" Sandy tried.

"That's not exactly the place for a private conversation. Do you want to try going to Jubilee Park? We can just go sit on one of the benches or something...not many people go there," Charlene explained.

"Sure. If that makes you comfortable," Sandy replied.

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Andrew saw Chloe-Lynn close her locker, and start walking away. "Chloe--wait up!" She turned around.

"Hey!" She stopped, turned around and smiled.

He ran over to her. "Chloe, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" she asked.

"Well, maybe you'd like to go somewhere...this might take awhile," he said uncomfortably.

Chloe look at him with questions in her eyes, but she didn't voice any of them. "Okay. Do you want to go to the Dairy Queen?"

"Sounds good to me," he replied. "You know, I really need to go and sit for my license. I didn't realise how much I would need a car."

Chloe laughed. "In this city you always have places to go."

"True." They walked out to Chloe's car, and drove to the Dairy Queen, making friendly chit-chat on the way.

They walked in, and found a booth. "Well, what is it?" Chloe asked.

"Chlo...I've heard people saying...well, more specifically, I heard Sandrilene saying....you were going to play a trick on her. Is it true?" he asked.

"Well, yeah. It wasn't anything against Sandy! I was bored...I was trying to drum up some excitement. What's the problem?" Chloe indignantly replied.

He sighed. "Why do you need to do this, Chloe? Why do you have to go and stir things up? Can't you just leave everything alone? And I heard you in Accounting--you threatened to 'get' Sandy if she became captain! Can't you just let bygones be bygones?"

"I can't believe this. She was the one who tried to screw everything up--I didn't even trick her, and now she's trying to hurt me. Who's side are you on, Andrew?"

"I'm on the side of the truth. And you threatened Sandy. I want you to play fair, Chloe. I don't like this...game playing," he quietly stated.

"You're meant to be my boyfriend! You're meant to stick by me. But I guess I was wrong," she cried.

"Chloe, if you can't see what I'm doing, then maybe I shouldn't be your boyfriend anymore."

"Maybe you shouldn't!" Chloe cried.

"If that's the way you want it, fine." Andrew stood up, and looked at her sadly. "I'm sorry, Chloe. I really thought you were special--but you're not if this is how you want to end it. Bye." He left.

Chloe stared at his retreating back. Was it possible? Had she just broke up with him? I didn't want this! She felt tears coming to her eyes, and she ran into the bathroom, with everyone staring at her.

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Thayet got up from the desk. She was in the yearbook meeting, and glad that she'd came. It was so nice to have a place to go that didn't involve eating disorders or backstabbers. Just work, work, work. Thayet loved working on stuff that she liked--and she liked the yearbook.

"Okay, so we're definitely going with this layout, then?" Linda asked.

"It looks good to me," Jim Bradley contributed.

"All right. Then if anyone wants to leave now, you can go ahead. If you want to stay a bit longer, we can play on the computer and have a look at some past layouts & stuff. Sound good?" Mr. Pegg, the advisor queried. The answer was a definite yes. Some people left, and then there were a couple people left, including Linda, Thayet and Mr. Pegg.

Thayet went on the computer. "Mr. Pegg, it's almost five o'clock--do you mind if I turn on the radio so that we can hear the news?" Linda asked.

"Go ahead," he replied.

She turned on the radio just in time to hear a song finish. "And now for the news at five o'clock," the DJ announced.

Thayet tuned out. She looked at the mug shots for last year--they didn't really look all that good. Looking carefully, she realised it was because they had tried alternating fonts. Maybe she'd bring that up in their next meeting. Then all of a sudden something on the radio broke into her conscience.

"A local teen who can not be named for legal reasons has been accused of the rape of another local teen. The rape occured yesterday evening, and the complaint was lodged today. We don't have much information yet, but once we find out, you'll be the first to find out on FM 116.9!" The news reader cried.

The entire room went silent. "Whoa," Thayet said. "A local teen? This is the only high school in the area--it must've happened to someone who goes to school here."

"Last night, huh?" Linda asked.

"That's what the man said," Thayet replied.

"It didn't happen at Chloe's party, did it? I mean...I wasn't there, but it seems like it would've been easy, no one would've heard or anything." Linda mused.

"The only thing that happened at Chloe's party was the Matt incident, which is pretty unsettling in itself. To have 2 things occur at one party is going to stop Chloe having anymore parties soon!" Thayet said.

"You don't think it was Matt? Maybe he really raped that girl--not just slept with her like everyone says."

"No way! Matt is not the type to do something like that!" Thayet cried. But inside, she was thinking to herself. Is he? Matt...a rapist?? People always say that it can your best friend...but this is just way out!

Chapter Five~~Currently Untitled