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"I didn’t do it" She pulls out soloss "I had it done"

"I didn’t have sex with him, Anna"

"Wow," she says "You al to you She set me up--"

She snorts "Don’t even"

"She is She set uts--"

"How duina? You know the part that reallyfroet off on that?"

"Anna, he--" The words come out of my mouth fast and stupid, because if I think about them too much, I won’t be able to say them "Anna, he tried to rape me--"

It doesn’t go over well She slaloss down and whirls around, her face as red as her hair

"I cannot believe you just said that"

This is the air sucked out of s, this is a punch in the stomach, this is a slap across the face, and that is not what she was supposed to say

"I’m your best friend," I choke out

"You were until you fucked loss back into her bag "I’ve been saying it forever You always acted like you hated hiet me to break up with hiht and you’re scared and you’re standing there telling ina"

"Wait--I’ll show--I’ll show you--"

I’ll show her the bruises I fu horribly, while Anna zips up her bag The washroo me, and when I turn around, it’s Kara She looks so different Like, confident So this is really bad

"Bell’s gonna go," she says over ?"

I turn back to Anna She s at Kara, through me, but this can’t be over because I haven’t had et the time to make the speech that saves your life, and everyone wants to listen to you She hasn’t even seen the bruises yet

"Anna, just wait--"

"Yeah," Anna says to Kara, over ?" Kara asks Anna, grinning

"Anna, please" Anna gives herself one last look in the , and passes me on her way out The air that follows her s after it "Anna, Anna, Anna--"

"Fuck off, Regina," she says in a singsong voice And she leaves

Kara doesn’t I feel her behindthis I take Anna’s place in front of the nore how sick itthis I try to conjure the Regina she was afraid of The one who put her in her place Over and over again

I can’t

"You talked me out of it" My voice breaks "You told ood if you had," she says in that sa voice that Anna used, and then she leaves, and I bite my lip until I taste blood

It hurts less than what just happened here

For the first time in four years at this school, I’m aware of the cafete ria like I’ve never been aware of it before Greasy, overcrowded, hot and loud

I can see everyone

Those teen movies that use the cafeteria to present the social hierarchies of high school, the ones where the lunch tables become little islands, spaces for you and people like you and no one else, where the overlap is nonexistent--they’re all wrong Hallowell High’s cafeteria is only overlap Cliques bleed into other cliques for lack of space, and there’s only one exception: Anna’s table It’s always been Anna and everyone else