“Well, good for you, but is it getting you any further? And I’m sorry, but her life not being easy? You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. She is dating the most popular guy in school, she gets respect from everyone. She can do whatever she wants and no one will blame her. She won’t ever know such a thing as being excluded in her life. She’s a little miss Perfect and she may whine to you about how hard it all is to her, it’s not. She knows her mother -”

“What makes you say that? You don’t know anything about her! For all you know, her parents don’t give a shit about her. Look, Shane, I like you, you know it. You’re an amazing friend. But please, please don’t pretend you know Bette because you slept with her once. And I’m sorry to break it to you, but she doesn’t even remember.”

“So protective, Tee,” Shane simply replied. Tina hated it when she did this, completely avoiding the question. “Hey, look who’s there,” Shane said, pointing over Tina’s shoulder. Tina turned around and saw Bette run away.

_ _

Bette Porter narrative

I didn’t want to, but I couldn’t help myself. I started to like Tina Kennard, just as a friend. I hated that, but she was so innocent… she was just a good person. I knew she was trying to help me and that she wouldn’t give up.

She never gave up. She knew I was someone else, she knew I wasn’t who I pretended to be and she seemed determined to discover who I was. I wanted to show her, open up, but I was scared. What if she would tell everybody? What if she would run away and leave me alone, all by myself, like Fiona had done?

“Fuck you, Fiona!” I shouted in my pillow. Good thing I was home alone. It was a Saturday and I had been crying all day long over what I had seen. I had seen that Tina was just playing tricks on me. Why did she kiss me if she was so clearly with Shane? They were holding hands outside when they were supposed to be inside the school in different classes? Why had she fucking kissed me?