I wasn’t sure I should have accepted her invitation.

  I started embarrassing myself upon arriving her house by taking my shoes off like I was at home. She told me she wasn’t bothered by it and that I should act in whatever way felt more natural for me. Easy for her to say, I felt like a fish out of water.

  Her house was pleasantly cool, with lots of old furniture which looked like it was brand-new and there was a huge picture on the wall of her whole family. It confirmed my suspicions about that awful guest I had the unluck of attending on occasion.

  Her house was so nice, I kept gawking with my mouth open like an idiot.

  “Wanna look around? My parents won’t be coming until dinner time today, so we have time.”

  I wanted to refuse to spare myself from embarrassing me further, but it was hard to refuse Abby when she was this excited to have me over.

  “This is my room,” she told me when we got to the first room to the left.

  “This is your room?”

  “Pfft, ah-haha! I just told you that.”

  Right, she did.

  The room was a bit over double the size of mine, walls and ceiling light grey with white accents, and it had a wide window to the back garden. Her bed could easily fit three of us, she had a lovely desk with a mirror and a closed that went from one side to the other. My bare feet felt like they were stepping clouds thanks to the carped covering the floor. I was impressed, both in its nicety, but also in something I wasn’t expecting. Her room, unlike her, felt very grown-up.

  Sober colours, no girly decorations and no plushies and stuff.

  “By the way, you can use my bathroom if you need it,” she said, pointing at a door inside her room I had thought was another space for storage.

  A private bathroom she didn’t have to share!?

  I had no problems sharing mine with dad, but I’d lie if I said there weren’t times when I wished I had one all to myself. It’d also spare me the embarrassment of having dad walk on me because I decided to use it before leaving the house and he thought I was gone. It didn’t happen all the time, but the couple of times it did were enough for me to be left scarred.

  I wanted to wash my hands and was curious about how it looked, so I took her offer.

  Inside, I only found more stuff to make me jealous. I only had a sink, toilet, bidet and a small shower, all cramped up, but what she got was a lot nicer, with a lot more space, and a bathtub where she could take bubble baths and such.

  Come on Violet, just because she has money doesn’t mean that…

  I noticed a box with colourful letters belling it as “bath salts” by the bathtub, so yeah, she did indeed take bubble baths. The image of her spshing and blowing bubbles seemed to match her to a tee.

  “I’d show you around some more, but those are spaces my mum doesn’t like me hanging about and I’m starving,” she told me when I got back.

  She had sat on her bed while she waited for me to come out, leaning back and waving her feet in the air and I saw that she had also taken her shoes off. If it was to make me feel at ease, I couldn’t say, but I silently thanked her. And then I saw a mascot bear staring at me.

  “…”

  “What?”, she asked.

  “Erm… your… your skirt.”

  “Ah!” she gasped, holding her skirt down. “Hehe, sorry about that.”

  Lunch was a lot calmer, thankfully. I was still feeling like I was intruding in a world I didn’t belong to, but her occasional casual chatter was helping keeping my mind below critical levels.

  “Are you sure you don’t want more?” she asked me after I finished my half pte of food.

  “I never eat more than this,” I expined her.

  “It’s not because of a diet, is it? Because you don’t need one at all.”

  “N-No, erm… I just don’t eat much.”

  Meanwhile, she was a bit of a glutton. She had finished a full pte and was done putting the st fork of her seconds, those being the other half of what would have been mine were I not a very light eater.

  “Oh, right! Erm, thanks for inviting me.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” she replied with a giggle. “I really appreciate the company. And besides, you even came out of your comfort zone.”

  I shifted my body in the padded chair to try and loosen up my posture.

  I thought about it and I reached to a conclusion that surprised me.

  “…Actually… this isn’t so bad…” I admitted to her.

  “Eh? So, do you think you would have preferred to eat at the cafeteria?” she jokingly asked.

  I knew she was joking, but it was food for thought, and something I considered important to answer with sincerity. And again, I reached to a surprising conclusion.

  “No, no, no! You can’t tell her that!” I thought as I shook my head.

  I thought that, but the way she was curiously observing me, it made me feel like I should tell her. I didn’t know the first thing about being friends with people, but I thought I should be as honest as possible.

  “No,” I told her meekly. “If I ate there, I would either be sitting alone, or would have to sit with people I don’t know. Either one would suck.”

  She looked both touched and surprised by my confession.

  “You don’t like being alone?” she asked inquisitively, leaning over towards me with her hands supporting her head.

  Up until then, I had been acting a bit aloof towards her, and knowing myself, I could see her thinking I’d be someone who preferred to be alone. That was correct to a wide extent, but I was also tired of feeling lonely a lot of the times.

  I can’t tell her that!

  I couldn’t, but my face sure did. It was positively boiling, and it only got worse once she started pestering me about getting an answer. I kept telling it was nothing, but she then stood up and held onto my face, making it impossible for me to look away.

  “That so, huh? Then, why are you blushing so much?”

  She was taking too much enjoyment from her teasing.

  I tried to break free, but her small hands made me scared of hurting her by accident, so I stopped resisting.

  “Let me go,” I asked her.

  “Not until you fess up,” she told me, looking very impish.

  “No way!”

  “C’mon! I promise to let go and not ugh at what you have to say.”

  I tried once more to get my face free, but again, I didn’t want to hurt her, so I stopped. If only she stopped staring at me with those big, round, curious and gentle eyes she had.

  “I just thought… Being in school alone would be… a bit boring,” I mumbled.

  Her smile faded, being repced by a sad expression. She had seen right through me, despite me not telling her what I was truly feeling.

  “Are you saying you would miss me?”

  “No!” I said while shaking my head. “I’m just saying… you know…”

  I don’t think she believed my words even a little bit.

  She told me with a dead serious tone she was sorry and that she wouldn’t be able to keep her promise.

  I got mad at that and shouted for her to not dare ugh, so imagine my confusion when she did no such thing but instead gave me a tight but gentle hug. She was standing while I still sat, so our hights for once were reversed, resulting in my head being pressed against her chest. I could feel the smell of her soap, and she also felt soft and warm, impossibly so. Was this how hugs felt like? I wasn’t sure I liked being so suddenly touched, but… I couldn’t exactly say I was full-on hating it.

  When she looked at my face when she finally let me go, she snickered and fixed my gsses and hair as I was still in a bit of a daze.

  “Anyway, what should we do for the next hour?”

  I looked at the clock to check the time.

  To begin with, I’d do the dishes as payment for the meal.

  “No need,” she told me. “We have a dishwasher.”

  Another thing for me to get jealous about.

  “Well… could you expin me how are those equations solved? I’ve got work almost the whole week, so… could you help me with it?” I asked, before finally snaping out of my daze and realising how selfish I was being.

  She was ok with it, but not without asking why I wouldn’t leave it for the weekend. She’d even meet up with me to help.

  That was very nice of her, but I couldn’t accept that offer, and I told her why. I wasn’t going to be able to rex if I left it all for the weekend, and I’d feel bad for taking her time away on a day off for my sole benefit.

  “Hehe, you really are a nice person.”

  Was I really? I wasn’t too sure about that.

  “So, in other words… you are fine with us hanging out during the weekend?” she asked with a tiny smile.

  I guess I was, thinking about it. But why would she want to spend it with someone as gloomy as me?

  “I find your reactions very entertaining.”

  Yeah, it’s been only a week and I was starting to notice a pattern. To be frank, that made me suspicious of her. Was she only toying with me? Was she actually talking about this stupid girl she was pretending to be friends with behind my back to her real friends?

  “I have a suggestion!” she said triumphantly.

  That got me suspicious for a whole other cast of issues, but I asked what she had in mind anyway.

  “How about we have lunch here every time my parents are away this week? We can use the free time to do as much homework as we can. That way, we will have the weekend to do as we please.”

  “And you are fine with that? Won’t you be bored?”

  “It’s fine! I’ll be having an hour and a half in which I can tease and annoy you after all!”

  “I’d rather you didn’t,” I grumbled. “And won’t your parents be bothered with having to cook for me too?”

  “It will be fine! I mean, they aren’t the ones cooking. Besides, you saw how much food there was today. That’s always the amount they have for me. It’s always too much, but they still nag me for leaving leftovers. It’s as if they are trying to fatten me.”

  I was finding their nagging hard to believe.

  If it were me, after the few first times she had left food, I’d have asked the person who prepared the meal to reduce the amount. And the way she ate, if she left leftovers, they were nothing worth nagging over. Putting my suspicions aside, I thought she merely wanted my company.

  “If you say so… thanks.”

  Abby smiled pleasantly at me, that being too much, and forcing me to look down.

  All that talk, seeing her eat and getting hugged by her got me thinking…

  “W-what?” she asked, sounding shy for once as I looked at her belly.

  “I… I don’t think you are fat,” I stammered.

  “Well, yeah… I even do a lot of exercise. Erm, thanks. But still, I wouldn’t mind being as slim as you.”

  “No, you don’t!” I cried out. “I’m too thin. Compared to you I… I…”

  Why did I have to get mad at her? She was just being nice. Even if it was a lie she was telling me, I still should have had better control over my emotions. Now that I had messed up big time, what should I do? Would apologizing be sufficient?

  I wanted to say something, but as time went by, I felt worse, the feeling gluing my words to the pit of my chest.

  “Violet, come with me for a second,” Abby told me as she grabbed me by the hand.

  She guided me back to her bedroom where she started to look through drawers. Standing there without knowing what to do and yet having to say I was sorry was uncomfortable, so to start a conversation, I asked her if there was anything I could do to help.

  “No, it’s fine. You can just start undressing.”

  Huh!?

  She looked back in the same way she would if I had shouted. Seeing me all red and shivering from embarrassment, Abby expined she was looking for a specific dress she believed would look perfect on me and that she insisted in me trying it on.

  I tried to politely refuse, but she cut me off midway.

  “Here it is!” she said while raising it towards me. “Here, put it on!”

  I was at a loss for words as I took it from her hands, mine shaking. It was so familiar.

  “It’s… very pretty,” I managed to say.

  “Won’t you try it on? Please?” she pleaded in her best whiny voice.

  She was looking at me with those damn eyes again. And that voice? Was there someone who could put up a fight against that?

  “I… I erm… Ok… if you insist.”

  “I do! So… please,” she told me in a tone that was both a request and a demand.

  “Ok, but… can you… turn around?”

  “Hmm? Sure, but…why?”

  “…You’re… staring.”

  “Oh, ok. If that makes you feel better.”

  It was so weird to be taking my clothes off in somebody else’s room.

  Abby had her back turned, but maybe I should have asked her to leave me alone while changing.

  No, this is her bedroom. That makes no sense.

  I’d just have to be quick about it. The sooner I was done, the better.

  Just to be sure, I checked on Abby once more before turning my back to her too. I wouldn’t be able to be sure if she was peeking or not, but if she would, I’d rather have her only see me from behind.

  “Eek!”

  “Are you ok?”

  “D-don’t look!”

  “I’m not!”

  “…”

  “You ok?”

  “Y-yeah.”

  Apart from the gut punch to my pride from having produced such a weird noise. I was rushing so much, I almost fell headfirst when I tripped on my skirt.

  If I wasn’t so self-conscious about my body, this would all be so much easier. Even in school it was a huge hurdle. I was so skinny and featureless.

  “Erm…”

  “Are you done?”

  “Y-yeah…”

  We both turned and faced each other, like this was some sort of weird western showdown.

  She seemed to like what she was seeing, Abby acting all fluffy-like and smiling approvingly, prompting me to ask her if she thought it really looked good on me.

  The dress was strapless, of a pearly white colour with a blue flower pattern close to the seam around the legs and had some frills around the chest area. The waist was made in a way to hug the wearer’s physique and didn’t have buttons or a zip, so that was how it held itself up. It also showed my legs, the seam flowing slightly below two thirds the length of my thighs.

  “It doesn’t just look good. It looks fantastic on you.”

  “Really? Thanks Abby!”

  I tched on to her, unexpected as it was. She pointed that out, hugging me back.

  I expined to her I had found a dress just like this one time on a store close to my workpce. I stared at it every day for the better part of a month, but once I gathered enough courage, to enter the store to get it, someone had bought it first.

  “Then it’s more than decided it is now yours! I mean, I don’t even fit in it,” she cheered. not in these past two years anyway she then quickly added.

  I had thought she had perhaps been the one who bought it before me, but if she had it for these past two years… unless she was telling me another white lie?

  Truth or lie, I was beyond happy having the dress I had wanted so much.

  “Thanks Abby. I’ll take really good care of it. I mean it.”

  “You are more than welcome, Violet.”

  “I’m really thankful but…” I said, starting to jumble a bit my words, putting my trembling hands on her shoulders. “Could you now please let me go?”

  She didn’t want to let go, telling me jokingly that I was the one who started the hugging and protesting against ending it with a whiny voice.

  While I couldn’t deny it, things were starting to get very awkward for me, and my emotions were starting to boil over, but she still refused to go.

  I asked her again to let me go, still trying to manage being polite about it.

  “But you smell nice.”

  “Stop it! It’s hot and I’m sweaty!”

  “I run every day. Sweat and the heat doesn’t bother me at all.”

  At this point we were almost wrestling.

  “Please Abby! You said you were going to help me with homework!” I squeaked.

  She finally let me go, and right on time, because I was proper mad at her for having been so pushy. Once she said she was forgetting about it because we were having so much fun, I’ve had it.

  “You were having fun! Not me!” I growled.

  Her whole demeanour changed. She looked scared and stiff.

  “I’m sorry Violet… I-I didn’t mean to make you mad.”

  “Well, you just did,” I said frowning.

  She began fidgeting her hands and knees while avoiding eye contact.

  “Just hit me on the head if you think I’m going overboard,” she then told me.

  …what?

  She told me that like it was the most natural thing in the world.

  “…You say it like that’s a valid solution.”

  “Well, my mum sometimes does it when I really go overboard” she told me, finally looking up, reminding me of a sad puppy. “I’d rather have you do that than having me souring the mood like I did just now.”

  Did her mother really do such a thing? I had met her a few times and had no doubts she was a nasty person, and agreed, Abby could be a handful, but going as far as to hit her? That was awful.

  “I won’t be doing that to you… but please… try to be a bit more aware of what you do, ok?”

  She nodded, a bit of her spirit coming back to her.

  “Are you… like this with all your friends?”

  She didn’t fire away an answer as usual, but thought about what I had just asked.

  “No, I guess I’m not. We used to, but we grew distant and now barely even talk. Except perhaps for my friend Paul, but he is more of a cousin. And a guy. Also, he got himself a girlfriend, so this type of goofing around would be unacceptable. I barely see him anymore.”

  She didn’t sound like she was lying.

  If that was the case, that cheerful girl was just as lonely as I was.

  “I see… I guess I was wrong…”

  She asked me about what, but I avoided the question.

  An uncomfortable silence formed between us, both not knowing how to carry on from here.

  “I’m dead serious when I say the dress looks good on you.”

  Lucky for us, she was the better talker of us two loners.

  I thanked Abby again for the dress, but I also felt bad for just taking it. I offered to pay for it, but she refused.

  “That’s not how presents work” were her words.

  I knew that, and I enumerated what she had done for me up until that point. The meal, accepting to help me with homework, giving me the dress, it was too much. It was like I was taking advantage of her.

  I suppose it does look good on me…

  While I was thinking about what I could do to make up for her, I caught a gnce of myself in the mirror and started moving my body around, studying my reflexion.

  It hid many of the things I took issue about my body.

  The frills around the chest hid the fact I was as ft as could be, the way the waist puffed up around the hips gave them a bit more curve than what they actually had, and it also hid how freakishly long my legs were.

  “In that case, I want you go to the next two csses in that dress.”

  “What?! I-I can’t! The uniform!”

  “Also,” she continued, ignoring the legit point I raised. “If we do meet up on a weekend, I want you to go wearing it.”

  I contested again. I couldn’t see myself going out in such a pretty dress. I’d be attracting too much attention. I even offered to pay for the dress again, but Abby was already shaking her head before I could finish.

  “That’s not how gifts work! Besides, I gave you the dress because I like to see you in it. So, of course I would want to see you showing it around.”

  “But Abby, this is a strapless dress!”

  “Yeah… so?” she asked in genuine confusion.

  “It’s embarrassing that people can see the straps of my bra! And am I not supposed to not wear one with this?”

  She didn’t say a word, but I could see it written in her face.

  “Why do you even bother wearing one?” it said. I had my reasons for it, but I wasn’t going to tell her now. Preferably, I’d never tell her.

  “Let’s at least meet up over a weekend and have ice cream together. I’ll let you pay for it, if it makes you feel better about the dress.”

  It wasn’t fair at all, to meet up with her wearing what she gave me and just treat her to ice cream but we had already wasted enough time, so I agreed to it.

  “Hehe, yay! I can’t wait!”

  …Humph, I guess it’s fine…

  She was happy so… it was fine?

  I still had so much to learn about friendship and about this strange girl.