Mare stared down at her plate. Against her will, a smile split her face. "Marvellous choice you've made," she quietly congratulated Marianne. She picked up a piece and dared a glance at Marianne. "Bon appetit."
She bit into the piece of meat, flavours exploding in her mouth. She could already feel the sauce dripping off her chin and choked down another smile. She swallowed her bite slowly.
Marianne had to force her eyes away from her friend’s face, focusing all her attention on her meal and only allowing herself a tiny smile. The poutine was delicious as always, untainted by the gross artificial cheeses she found at the store. “How’s the food so far?”
"Amazing." She wiped the juice of her chin. "You?"
“Delicious.” Marianne laughed quietly. “I’m glad you like it.” There was still some residual regret and discomfort in her stomach, but since Mare seemed to have mostly brushed past the incident, she tried to do the same.
Mare breathed in and held her breath, wanting to apologise to Marianne for saying anything. She was about to open her mouth to say something, but stopped herself. It was probably best to let it go.
She checked the time on her phone. "We should probably get back to school. Lunch ends in 20 minutes."
“Sure, I’m finished anyways.” Marianne tucked a strand of blonde hair behind her ear, motioning for the waitress to bring them the bill. She payed for both of them, gathering her stuff. “Do you want anything to go?”
Mare shook her head. "No, thanks." She gathered her things and went to stand by the door. She looked out towards the school, dreading going back now that her only friend was weirded out by her.
Marianne followed, twisting her hair into a rope and up into a messy bun, which she let fall back down. “You good?” They began the walk back to school, each step adding a little more weight to her shoulders.
"Good enough. We're in the same class now, right?" Mare asked tentatively. The students were all flooding the courtyard.
"Yeah, we have History now, right?" Marianne decided not to prod at her answer to the question. "Ms…. Sharma, right? The new one?"
Mare rolled her eyes, forgetting for a moment things were supposed to be awkward. "Mme. Hilal was so bad, I'm just praying the new one's better."
(haaaaaalp me I hate Latin homework)
"Same here, ugh." The bell rang, and they wove their way through the crowds to their lockers. Marianne opened hers, quickly grabbing her binders and pencil case.
(is it fine if I make some stuff happen even if you're leading? I'll write this but change it no problem if you don't want)
Mare took out her books and also tucked her ballet laces into the bottom of her bag. They were great for stress relief. She locked up headed for the history classroom. She kept her head down, mulling over lunch, arms wrapped around herself. She was on the breaking point at the moment Ryan stepped into her path out of the blue and tripped her.
She fell over his extended foot and sprawled her foot, head slamming into the linoleum floor. She felt a drip of blood leak onto her forehead. She got to her feet, gathered her bag and was about to walk away. But she wasn't about to take this again.
"Do not test me today, Ryan," she warned him without looking at him.
(I don't mind at all!)
Marianne heard something– or someone hitting the floor behind her and shut her locker, turning around to see what had happened. When she saw Mare getting to her feet and Ryan sneering next to her, she immediately came forward. "Are you okay?"
(Awesome! Do you control Ryan?)
"Step away, Marianne, please." Mare marched up to Ryan. She was small and had to look up to him. "What is your problem, Ryan? Answer me that."
(You can control him for this scene, since you have a plan, but in general we can both control him since he's a side character)
Marianne stood back, surprised at the firmness of Mare's tone. She promised herself to intervene if things got bad, but this wasn't her fight, and Mare clearly wanted her out of it. You go, Mare!
Ryan sneered down at Mare. "Feisty little dyke, aren't we?"
Mare inhaled deeply. "Is there no other insult you've got in that big brain of yours? Because stuff happened to me today. Today, and loads of other days. So that doesn't really get to me anymore."
Unsure of what to say, Ryan pushed Mare back. She didn't move.
"I'm gay." She continued. "Okay, congratulations. You've guessed it. If that bothers you so much, the principal's office is right down the hall. And if you're scared about me hitting on Marianne while you've got yourself a little crush on her, don't worry. I wouldn't even if I could since it'd be no use. So, mock me. Just know that I'm sincerely sorry you're such a dick." She was about to turn to walk away, but needed one last bit of vengeance. She brought her foot down on his shin with all her strength, and only then did she walk away to History.
(okay I'm done with dramatic Mare now. Sorry ^^')
(you go girl!)
Marianne stared, shocked, at the retreating back of Mare, and then back at the speechless form of Ryan. Slowly, a smile began to form on her face. What a victory. She's so brave– I don't think I've ever seen Ryan looking borderline embarrassed before. Then, a more frightening thought occurred to her. What if he goes around telling everyone?? She turned to him, but he was already halfway down the hallway, muttering to himself. Jogging to catch up to her friend, she silently poured all of her support into the amazing girl she was friends with.
Mare's breathing came in short, angry breaths. She barely noticed Marianne run up to her before the girl was right next to her. She turned to her, but said nothing. "Sorry about that," she said after a moment of silence.
"Why are you apologizing? That asshole should be the one doing that." Marianne fell into step beside Mare. She could feel the anger coming off her friend, and some of it fuelled her own. How dare he treat her like that?? How dare he?? "That was the most amazing thing I've seen in a while."
A small smile appeared on Mare's face. She shrugged a shoulder. "Thanks. I feel better now."
They quickly got to the History class. "Sit next to me?"
Marianne nodded quickly. “Of course.” They slid into their seats right before the attendance began, and she felt the tiniest spark of hope that things would be okay between them from now on.
The new teacher took the register and then Mare allowed herself to zone out. She shook her out to hide the fact she wasn't focused at all and tried to sort her thoughts.