Anne and Louisa had known each other since primary school STD7. They officially became BFFs in form 1 when they ended up in the same school and Anne loved her friend dearly. An only child, she considered Louisa her sister. They grew so close, even their mother’s became friends to the point they considered each other blood.
All the struggles of puberty, the ups and downs of girlhood and everything in between, they went through it all together. Anne had a soft personality and perhaps because of it, she didn’t seem to have a lot of friends or make friends easily. And perhaps because of this, she felt abit possessive of Louisa. Louisa on the other hand had an aggressive personality and was much more outgoing. She always had a crowd around her and had a way with people. It always seemed to Anne that Louisa could get anything she wanted from anyone she wanted. And because of this, Anne found she felt constantly insecure that Louisa would get tired of her and ditch her.
They went to the same college and even shared a room, but they took different courses. Anne, the bookish one, was in the sciences and Louisa was in the arts. Anne had assumed that with the newfound freedom of college dorm room living that she could depend on Louisa to mitigate her introverted habits and help her develop a better rounded social life, akin to her own, but it was quickly apparent that it was not to be.
They had vastly different schedules and this on top of their opposite personalities quickly created what felt like an abysmal chasm between them, which had Anne’s heart sinking with despair. Her worst fears materialized as it became increasingly difficult to even have a conversation with her soul sister. It’s like she became a different person. By half way through their first semester, she dressed and acted different. More mature and worldly than ever, feeling really grown up. She also, as usual, was surrounded by friends and even had a new clique, in which she was the queen bee, that she now spent all her time with and the genial relationship they came in with quickly cooled to icy indifference towards her. Anne, still her usual almost overly nice self, felt as though an iron wall 100 feet tall had sprung up between them as Louisa completely ignored her.
This feeling of alienation soon had her so deep in depression she could barely go to class. She also tried to make a few friends of her own but just when she thought it was getting somewhere; they suddenly seemed to magically dissolve away. She couldn’t understand it… until she heard the rumors. Somebody… people, was saying things about her. Horrible, horrible things.
One of the few people who still spoke to her told her. Word had it that she was dirty and spoiled. She didn’t know how to do anything because she never did anything at home. Her rich parents spoiled her and she didn’t know how to do anything and she was actually a pig. That she forced Louisa to do all the work, ever since high school. She was a slut and a boyfriend thief… Hurtful things! She couldn’t understand where it was coming from. Who would say such things about her?
It got so bad, every group of people she would walk past would go quiet as she passed and her wavering self-esteem plummeted. The depression intensified when she tried to confide in her friend only to get completely blown off. And the few times Louisa didn’t beg off for various petty reasons; she was tired; she had a headache; she was going out early tomorrow; she had her own problems to worry about; she was stressed, she would half listen, then cut her off midway with some hasty piece of pseudo advice before dismissing her and her problem and going back to ignoring her.
Hurt, and feeling at the end of her tether, she, for the first time, resorted to calling her mother. The moment she heard her voice, she broke down, completely heartbroken. Her mother, concerned, asked what the matter was, but she couldn’t bring herself to say anything. So she gave a fake excuse about some boy breaking her heart, and then hung up. Soon after thoughts of suicide would drift around in the outer reaches of her mind as she struggled to keep them out and her grades began slipping.
The concerned classmate who let her know about the rumors, not long after this, approached her again, clearly concerned for her, and this time she had a more heartbreaking revelation. It was Louisa. She was the one spreading all the rumors on campus. Her being, on reflex, rejected this information. The sheer thought of such a thing…!!! Her reaction was so bad that girl stopped talking to her. She felt bad about it but she couldn’t be bothered considering what she had just been told. There was no way!!! Louisa was her sister!!!… Right?!?
As the doubt creeped in, she tried to convince herself that this other girl was just another horrible gossip like the rest of them. She again, attempted to bring it up laughingly with Louisa, who responded with a blank stare and a “stop bothering me with your stupid socially dysfunctional problems and get a life!”
The eloquent animosity finally stuck her dumb. She felt so alone.
She was mindlessly walking back to her dorm after an evening class by way of the library when she heard a familiar voice, she thought she imagined. It turned out to be the last guy she wanted to see. Fred, Louisa’s ex-boyfriend almost all through high school (they broke up in first term, form 3) and also her former crush. To be honest, she had liked him since before he even started dating Louisa. She had been heartbroken when he started dating Louisa, but resolved herself to let it go because she loved Louisa and he was too cool for her anyway. And besides, Louisa was the butterfly, so it was obvious she would be the one to get his attention.
When he broke up with Louisa, (under undisclosed conditions Louisa refused to talk to her about) she had assumed he had done something horrible to Louisa, and resolved to hate him forever, for hurting her friend. Wrote him off as scum. But now, completely beset and overwhelmed by her situation, to her conflicted psyche, his familiar face was like a life raft. She had been vaguely aware that he came to the same campus as them, but this was the first time they had met here.
It was an awkward meeting but, Anne was hurting and needed a friend and shoulder to cry on. She realized that she still liked him when she hesitated to bring out the ugly when they got to talking. Their chatter started off mundane and ended up going all over the place. They spoke about all kinds of things teasing and laughing and for the first time in a loooong while she felt like she could breathe. The realization had her tearing up instantly and she couldn’t control it. Mortified, she turned away trying to pull herself together quickly, but failed, miserably.
She expected him to get weirded and excuse himself, but he stood there with a sad expression on his face. And she knew he knew. He had heard them too. The rumors. She couldn’t help herself so she tried to hide her face in her arms as she had the worst timed meltdown in history. She felt him gently pull her aside leading her out of sight of others’ curious stares into a small grove on the side for some privacy.
She felt him hug her as her heartbroken sobs racked her frame and she melted into it letting go. A long while later, when she had finished crying and had calmed down a bit, she felt mortified at her display. He assured her it was okay. She tried to come up with some sort of excuse for her actions, but he told her she didn’t have to. He knew why she was upset. And then proceeded to tell her what she had, deep down inside, realized must have been the case.
It really was Louisa. He confessed that he had actually like Anne in high school. And he would have asked her out, but Louisa had approached him first and told him all kinds of things about her and convinced him to date her instead. He confirmed that Louisa was always saying horrible things about her to people and that was why people avoided her and she didn’t have many friends. Louisa had initially convinced him that she was a stalker type clingy girl she had known in primary. And he had broken up with her because of all the inconsistencies in her stories and her nasty attitude.
Louisa had made him look bad so that Anne would hate and never talk to him, so he couldn’t even tell her. The moment he heard the stories about her on campus, he had known they were all lies and he was actually really happy he had met her and gotten the chance to talk to her. He was glad she didn’t blow him off.
These revelations gave her mixed feelings. But the biggest feeling was betrayal. Strengthened by a wave of anger and a little hate, she got up with the intention of confronting Louisa with it. Fred followed closely behind, sensing an explosive situation and it didn’t take her long to find her. She had been thinking she was going to find her in the dorm, but ended up running into her outside the cafeteria on the way there.
Upon confrontation, Louisa didn’t deny it. She tore into Anne about how she was always acting like she was better than her just because she was a rich only child! Always showing off and pretending to be pitiful and how even with her money, she had made sure to put her in her place by showing her she couldn’t even buy herself some friends.
She confessed to seducing all the guys she had ever shown interest in just to get at her. She made sure to milk all her friend’s generosity and money to the last drop and had finally gotten too tired of her to even bother to continue pretending even if their moms were friends. She called her a pathetic slut for going after her left overs, referring to Fred, who was standing behind her. The rearing to go Anne was left tongue-tied by the understanding that Louisa had never even liked her! She had always been hated!!! All this while…
Louisa yelled all these things so it drew the attention of the crowds of the people going in and coming out of the cafeteria and people were milling around with quite a number filming on their phones. Anne felt humiliated, unable to answer. The crowds swelled when it got out that it was the girl from the rumors. She had to run away with a fresh wave of tears in her eyes.
It felt like her whole life was a lie and the world was crumbling down around her. Fred, still with her, once again tried to console her, but even he wasn’t much comfort in the face of what just happened. That night, she packed all her bags and her mother. Fred waited out in the cold with her till the car came and she deferred the year.
She and Louisa never spoke again. She eventually started dating Fred and apologized to the girl from her class. By the time she got back, all the rumors about her were old news and she had to start from scratch with a new class and a whole new attitude.
Careful who you call your friends…