Josh began to reply, then cursed softly and hung up. Phoebe and Jane stayed silent for a moment, their minds running wild, but then Phoebe noticed the subtle shaking of Elide’s shoulders and wrapped her and Jane up in a tight hug. “I’m sorry for dumping this out on you..”
“It’s not your fault, Phoebe. Don’t blame this on yourself.” Elide said, letting out a small sigh through her nose.
Too late
Phoebe said nothing in response to that.
Jane cleared her throat, holding her trembling hands in her lap. “Right. We should— we should try to relax.”
Elide nodded, “Yeah good i-“ She was cut off by a ringing. She stood and made her way over to her phone, frowning down at the name on the screen.
Phoebe hugged Jane, watching Elide. "What's wrong? Who is it?"
“Damien…” Elide muttered, picking up her phone and sitting down on the coffee table.
Phoebe bit her lip, staying silent for a moment. "Any idea why?" Jane shot her a questioning look. Who'as Damien? she mouthed.
Elide shook her head, “No.” She took a breath and answer the phone, placing it to her ear but it was still loud enough for Phoebe and Jane to hear.
Elide? The school just called and apparently, you didn’t show up to class.
“Wh-What do you mean? I’m standing in the hallway talking to you right now.”
Don’t lie to me, I know you aren’t really at school.
“I’m not lying, I’m at school. The school must have made a mistake…”
Phoebe and Jane both tensed immediately, able to hear both sides of the conversation. Phoebe leaned forward to squeeze Elide's hand comfortingly, biting her lip anxiously while Jane wrung her hands.
How could the school have made a mistake? You’re lying, Elide, I know you are.
“I’m not.” Elide’s jaw clenched.
Fine. If that’s the way it’s going to be then you’re grounded.
“What! I haven’t done anything!”
Lying and skipping school is something. I’ll be talking to your mum about this.
“Giselle isn’t my mum, neither are you my dad so don’t call yourself that to make yourself feel better.” Elide was visibly shaking again.
Elide Richards how da-
Elide hung up the phone before Damien could finish. She was very tempted to throw her phone at something but she placed it down as gently as she could.
"Sh*t, I'm sorry Elide." Phoebe gave her a tentative hug. "I got you into this mess- I'm sorry. What can we do?"
Elide rubbed at her face with both hands, “It’s fine. It was my idea to skip so you don’t have to apologise.”
“I shouldn’t have agreed— or agreed to come here— I’m really sorry. What can we do?” Phoebe took hold of both Elide’s hands.
“Phoebe, stop apologising, you don’t need to,” Elide muttered, sighing a little, “And there’s nothing you can do, really. But it doesn’t matter.”
Jane bit her lip. “But it does matter, Elide, you’re getting into trouble because of us. There must be a way to get you out of this.”
Phoebe thought for a moment, clearly troubled. “If we got out of here quickly, we could go back to school and pretend we were in the washroom?”
“For twenty minutes? It won’t work,” Elide ran a hand through her hair, “It really doesn’t matter, guys. I don’t care if I’m grounded.”
The fact that she didn’t care was a bad sign. Phoebe sighed, looking down for a moment. “Good point. But lay the blame on me, okay?”
Elide shook her head a little, “I’m not getting you in trouble, Phoebe.”
Phoebe shrugged. “Why not? My mom won’t care anyways.” The lie rolled easily off her tongue. “Honestly, it’s fine.”
“I’m not getting you in trouble Phoebe, end of.” Elide said a little sharper then intended, “I’m sorry…”
Phoebe shook her head quickly, squeezing Elide’s hands lightly. “Hey, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. But I want to help.”
“I don’t know how you can help.” Elide admitted, looking down at her lap.
Jane finally spoke up. “I know- I know a lot of people don’t like lying to their guardians, but is there anything that you could say?” Phoebe nodded, agreeing with Jane. “That might be the only way to avoid trouble.”
“I-“ Elide frowned down at her lap, “I don’t know. I don’t think anything I can say will get me out of this. They’ll take the schools word over mine no matter what.”
“What if you said that you’d had a bad night— or wait—“ An idea suddenly dawned on Phoebe. “Matt. Tell them what happened with Matt. Say that you felt unsafe and left the school.”