LWLU – Mending Fences

Two days after the incident in the park, Sara was still upset about it. Nika was like a sister to her and they’d been friends for as long as she could remember. Never in all that time had they gone this long without speaking. The silence and averted eyes whenever they passed each other in the halls at school was painful. It didn’t feel right.

Nothing about the entire situation with Sucre felt right.

She was missing something, some critical piece of the puzzle. Had to be. Nika was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. A reason had to exist for why she’d be covered in bruises, but still rush off to lunch with her boyfriend. There had to be some way to explain why she’d call Sara in hysterics, yet still cling to the guy who gave her the busted lip. Why couldn’t Sara see it?

At least she wasn’t in trouble for cutting her afternoon classes. Nika was mad enough at her without Sara having to explain what was going on to her parents. If Paul hadn’t been able to smooth things over with the Girl’s Attendance office for her, telling her parents everything was exactly what she’d have to do. No way could she have stopped them from calling Nika’s parents about the situation.

Thank God Paul could charm basically anyone into seeing things his way. Well, except for Nika. Not even his silver tongue could get through to her right now.

Sara was attempting to focus on her homework when the doorbell rang. She made it to the top of the stairs before her mother opened the door.

“Why, Nika…what happened to you?”

Nika stepped inside and smiled. “Took a volleyball to the face at practice the other day. The lip looks worse than it is.” After a beat, “Is Sara home?”

“She’s in her room. Can I get you something to drink?”

“No, thank you, Mrs. Tancredi. I can’t stay long. I just have to talk to her about a project.”

Sara went back into her room to wait. There was no sense trying to talk to Nika until they were behind closed doors anyway. It wasn’t like they actually had a school project.

After a moment, there was a soft tap on the opened door. “Can I talk to you?”

“Okay.”

Nika slipped inside and closed the door at her back. Here wide eyes searched Sara’s face and then she shook her head. “I’m not mad at you. I’m just…hurt.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know.” She took in a deep breath. “And I can’t tell you what’s going on. I really need my best friend to trust me right now.”

“It’s not you I don’t trust.”

She made a noise of disgust. “You sound like Paul. I know I pushed you two together, but I really cannot stand your boyfriend.”

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

“You wear his coat and go everywhere with him. He’s your boyfriend.” Nika shook her head again. “Look, I don’t want to talk about Paul Kellerman. As far as I’m concerned, he doesn’t exist.”

“That’s fine, but why won’t you tell me what’s going on? I can tell something is really wrong and I want to help you.”

“Sara, I just…can’t.” She looked at the carpet. “I know what you think. That’s not what’s going on. Please just trust me on that.”

“If Sucre’s hurting you and making you stay quiet about it…” She didn’t know how to finish that thought. “You don’t have to be scared of him.”

“I’m not scared of Fernando. He’s a good guy.”

“Nika…”

“No. End of discussion.”

“But…”

“Sara, I don’t want to keep avoiding you at school. I miss you, but I can’t have a best friend who jumps to conclusions and won’t let it go when I say I can’t talk about something.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that maybe we shouldn’t talk to each other about what’s going on with the guys we’re dating for a while.”

That meant she wouldn’t be able to set Nika straight on who she was really dating. Michael was going to love this. “Okay. I can do that.”

Nika nodded. “Wow. That’s a relief. I was worried I was losing my best friend today.” She glanced at her watch. “Ugh. I have to go.” She opened the door and paused. “Are you going to the party at Billy Siskin’s house on Saturday?”

Sara shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about it. Besides, I doubt he’d want me there. It was a pretty bad break-up.”

Something twinkled in her friend’s eyes. “Well, I guess he’s over it because he asked me about you in class today. I’m pretty sure he’s hoping you’ll be there.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“I think you should go.” A mischievous grin took hold of her lips. “I think it’s a totally excellent idea.”

Sara’s heart dropped. “I know that look. This had better not be another fix-up because…”

“No way. I can’t stand that guy. I’d just love to see his face when he sees you with your new boyfriend.” She looked at her watch again. “Okay, now I’m late. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She tried to focus on her studies again once she was alone in the room, but her mind couldn’t focus. With everything else she was juggling, dealing with an ex-boyfriend was the last thing she needed. This was a party she’d be better off skipping.

Unfortunately, Sara wouldn’t know how right she was about that until it was too late…

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