What would you do if your best friend was the centre of the Universe?
Would you keep their secrets?
Would you help them with every problem they had?
Even if they didn't care as much for you?
Amara Shields, Joe Ranford and Leena Noor were known as be...
"You ungrateful cow," Amara's high pitched voice screeched. "You're a bitch!"
Just like that everyone in the study hall had turned around to see what the commotion was about. Her face radiated rage and her jaw clenched as if she was holding back something else.
I looked at her with tears ready to run down my cheek.
Joe's mouth was open, he was ready to say something. What he was about to say now wouldn't be heard as Mrs Reeves walked in and barked for everyone to get back to what they were doing.
"You three," She snapped her fingers at us and pointed at the door. "My office now. And bring your bags."
Picking up our things, Joe and I got up from our seats. Amara had already made her way down to Mrs Reeves' office.
"Get ready for her story," Joe muttered under his breath. Glancing at him I knew exactly what he meant. If this was a show, she would be the star, the main role and the lead character.
And me, well, I wasn't the main character. I was the side character. It was the same for Joe.
Already the study hall had started to fill with whispers of guesses, theories, rumours and entertainment. My legs were ready to leave. It was funny how most of these people were our "friends". They weren't. They only cared about themselves and the gossip. They played nice for information. Information some of us would have given.
"Everyone get back to work," Mrs Reeves' shouted. "For God's sake most of you are 18 and have exams coming up. If you wanted to be treated like adults, act like it!"
Even though walking down to her office usually took just a minute, this time it felt longer. This time it felt like we were walking to our own funerals. If a cliché could describe how nervous we were, it would definitely be how hard our hearts were beating against our chests.
As we had got to Mrs Reeve's office door, Amara was already waiting outside with her arms crossed.
All I could think was that she had the audacity to call me a bitch. And a cow. This time we weren't joking. It wasn't banter. It was the harsh truth that had come from her mouth.
Mrs Reeves opened her office door and the three of us followed behind. Amara, Joe then Me.
Mrs Reeves sat behind her desk. Amara and Joe sat in the two chairs that were available. I dropped my bag on the floor and stood a few steps back.
"First of all, you have exams coming up," Mrs Reeves started to say. "The fact that the three of you are making a commotion where everyone else is studying is idiotic and disrespectful."
The three of us listened in silence as Mrs Reeves went on about how this time was supposed to be for us to revise and relearn all the lesson and module materials. It was the same thing they would repeat again and again in assembly.
"What the hell is going on?" She barked.
As I looked at both Amara and Joe, I realised there was no point in sticking by her anymore. Joe glanced over at me before turning back to Amara. She was staring ahead at the wall, not saying anything. Joe heavily sighed and picked up his bag.
But before he could leave, Amara got her bags and stormed out. Her shoulder pushed hard against mine and the door slammed behind her.
Joe set his bag down with hesitation before finally deciding he would leave to.
"Just for the record Miss, I don't want anything to do with her."
"Joe if you sit down, we can talk about this and think about how we can resolve this."
"No," Joe said with scoff. "I think we're all fed up with Amara's shit."
I looked at Joe in disbelief.
"Leena included." He looked at where Amara had sat one last time and rolled his eyes. "I've got to revise."
As he left, Joe looked at me with a small sympathetic smile and closed the door quietly behind him.
Mrs Reeves looked at me with the same sad sympathetic look. "Are you alright Leena?"
I nodded and lifted my bag.
"If you want, you can work in here. I know what it'll be like upstairs."
I sat down where Joe had been and took out my maths book and revision cards. Mrs Reeves turned back to her computer and continued her work that she had been doing earlier on today.
"It's a shame, you guys were good group of friends."
Yeah, we were. Past tense. I looked back down at the revision cards and my maths book. The formulae and the equations weren't making sense. The numbers kept moving around as concentration seemed to cease.
I sighed and lay them on the table.
No matter how much good happens your way, sometimes the people who are your closest and nearest – the ones you call your confidants, friends and even soulmates- they simply don't give a shit. They make their situations and their life the only topic that everyone can talk about.
They are the centre.
They are the sun. They have the planets orbiting them.
But sometimes those planets are the centre of the universe, they have a moon (or in some cases more than one moon) orbiting them. In my case I was a planet. I was the planet orbiting the person who I called my best friend. It wasn't just me. Joe was another planet orbiting her solar system. The moons that were orbiting around me were the tiny, insignificant, repetitive parts of my life. Like I said before, I am not the main character.
