The time to change into our PJs came.

  I was already feeling very self-conscious, but when I started pulling my dress down, it was like the floodgates had been opened. I was also starting to wonder if Abby was having the same thoughts too.

  No, of course not.

  Unlike me, she changed in the locker room at school.

  Still, I looked back towards her when I straightened up, and it was at the worst possible timing. It was right in the moment she had removed her shorts and our eyes met as she had nothing from the waist up.

  I immediately averted my eyes and covered my face in utter shame.

  “I’m sorry!” I squeaked.

  “Gee Violet. It’s fine. We are both girls, and we are friends. Besides, I’ve already seen you naked before,” she said reassuringly.

  Yeah, no. She saw me with my shirt unbuttoned, but I still had it on along with my bra and skirt. It was on our first PE css, but ever since then I had used the toilets cubicles.

  I apologised again, still hiding my face, but then Abby told me I was kinda hurting her feelings with the way I was acting.

  I didn’t want that. Was I really hurting her? If that were the case…

  “O-ok… g-give me a sec…”

  I slowly uncovered my face and restarted looking in her direction.

  My eyes eventually met her face, which showed a little rush of pink, and then, without my input, I started to look her from head to toes. She had a very nice figure for someone as tall as a thirteen-year-old. I had imagined her chest being bigger though. Not that it was non-existent. Let’s go with that it was reasonably sized. I also noticed she was quite fit. She clearly did workout. I could feel pricks of jealousy in my chest.

  “Y-you say that b-b-but you are blushing too.”

  “Well, yeah. I mean, you could say something instead of just staring.”

  Did she want me to compliment her? Yeah, maybe I should. Was that what I was supposed to do in a situation like this?

  I’d have to do some research ter, but right now I had to act in some way. Unfortunately for me, what I complemented was the thing that caused me more envy, commenting on their shape.

  Abby blinked a couple of times, her face expressionless. She then looked to where I was staring before looking back to my face.

  “That’s… that’s not what I meant,” she said covering herself, before putting her hands back down. “But thanks. First time I got them complimented.”

  “Sorry. It was the first thing that came to mind,” I excused myself, looking now to her feet. “I… I didn’t mean anything weird by it!”

  “It’s alright, although…” she paused to ugh nervously. “Although I wasn’t expecting your first complement to be about my breasts.”

  It wasn’t my first complement to her, but I was in such a state that thought didn’t occur. Her words made me feel a wave of embarrassment, but also of relieve.

  Thank goodness. I didn’t weird her out.

  “Abby, can I ask you something?”

  “Hmm… Sure Violet. I doubt anything you ask will be more embarrassing than this.”

  “Why are you so insistent on this kind of stuff? Erm, I mean, about us. I don’t get it why you try so hard.”

  She shifted her weight around as she thought about how to respond.

  “Why, you ask? Well, It’s because we are friends? No, wait. That’s not quite it. Hmm… It’s because… I want us to be the kind of friends that are very close? Yeah, that might be it. Yeah, I want us to be closer. Sorry, I never really thought about it, so I don’t think I can give you a real answer. Or one that might satisfy you. Also, I don’t think I’m trying hard. I’m just going with the flow.”

  That was… more honest than expected.

  I now took her answer to analyse my feelings towards her.

  She says she wants us to be closer… ok.

  That sounded like it could get really complicated. But was it that bad? Hmm, I didn’t think so. Also, she just said she just went with the flow. That sounded very… Abby-like. Would I be able to do so? No, but… I would like that. I was always overthinking every little aspect of my life.

  Looking at Abby, she was again getting a bit blushed.

  “I just realized why you think you are too thin.”

  “And why is that?” my curiosity now piqued.

  “Your legs. They are quite long, so that might be what makes you think you are thinner than what you actually are.”

  In an attempt to make them look shorter, I bent my knees and crossed them.

  “I know. They are so freakishly long, right? I bet you find them super weird too.”

  “Huh!? Weird? No, by the contrary! They are beautiful! In fact, I’m getting a bit jealous.”

  I’d have grown even more embarrassed by that comment were it not for the part she admitted her jealousy. That sounded very strange to me.

  “Jealous!? Why? I think you are very pretty. Prettier than me!” I admitted.

  “That’s funny hearing you say that. I think you are actually the prettier one out of us two.”

  “Again, why!? I’m so pin compared to you!”

  “No, you just don’t see your own charm. You aren’t pin in the slightest. And no arguing back! If I hear you say anything else self-deprecating, I’ll be mad at you!” she told me, in a more pyful way than anything else. Still, I didn’t dare to disobey her order. Despite all her silliness and occasional white lie, I had come to think of her as a very honest person, so, despite me disagreeing with it, I believed she really meant it.

  I asked if we could finally put some clothes on, to which she agreed, but asked if she could add a caveat.

  “It’s not… something unreasonable again… is it?”

  “Please Violet, have a bit more faith in me. I just want to choose your PJ’s.”

  I wasn’t sure I trusted her enough not to take that chance to mess with me even further, so I promptly refused.

  “C’mon Violet, I promise I’ll behave for the rest of the night! And tomorrow! I’ll even add tomorrow too.”

  “Just why?” I asked feeling exasperated.

  “Why? Because it might be fun?” she said it as if she herself wasn’t convinced of her answer. That made me sigh.

  “Ok. But please make it quick,” I said as I pointed towards the drawer where she could find them. I’ve never been this exposed in front of anyone I quickly added.

  “Liar,” she said as she looked through the drawers. I should have asked her to at least put on a shirt first. “What about in the school showers?”

  “T-that’s different! I only showered there once, and people weren’t staring at me,” I mumbled.

  “That’s because you weren’t paying attention.”

  What?

  That statement would now haunt me every time I’m in the locker room. Why did she have to say that?

  “Anyway, here you go,” she said in triumph as she handed me a sleeveless shirt I had for so long, it barely reached my bellybutton. Just that. A shirt.

  “You forgot the bottom and the bra.”

  As she heard this, she rubbed her temples. Despite all the excitement, I noticed she was starting to look tired. Or maybe she was getting tired because of all the excitement? I don’t know. At that point, I was feeling tired too.

  “Ok Violet, just answer me this. Do you usually wear so many yers of clothes with this heat? Is it something that maniac of a grandmother taught you?”

  I lied by saying yes. I was actually fine with sleeping only in my underwear. It was just me stupidly not wanting to be like practically naked while sharing a bed with her.

  “Ok,” she sighed. She grabbed the same shorts I accidently took from her bag and handed them to me. “Please wear these ones so you don’t get cooked alive in your sleep. All I saw in there were pants and knee length shorts.”

  Abby told she wasn’t going to need them with this heat when I asked her about it. Then, she grabbed my sweaty face between her hands like that time at her house to make it impossible for me to look away. Was she getting short on patience with me?

  “I’m going to say something you will want to contest, but please, understand, it is honestly because I worry about you. Unless it is a bra specifically made for sleep, it isn’t good for your health to wear one to bed,” she said in a very gentle way.

  “So…You are saying I’ll have to sleep without one?” I muttered a bit incredulous.

  She nodded, pleased that I wasn’t putting up a fight or throwing a tantrum. She said she’d offer me her sports bra if I really needed one, but it needed to be washed.

  “No, that’s ok. I’ll… I’ll do it the proper way today.”

  “Ok, then. That’s… that’s very Violet of you to say.”

  She let go off my face and went to sit on the bed, rubbing her eyes.

  She really was tired, was what I concluded as I put on the clothes I was handed. The shorts she gave me barely covered anything and were wide enough to just hang around my butt. That st bit made me again have a pang of jealousy in my chest.

  “There is a string on the inside for you to tighten them.”

  “Oh, erm… thank you.”

  When I was finally clothed, I sat awkwardly by her side.

  “Sorry that I got you mad.”

  “Hmm? I wasn’t mad. I just talked like that so we could get a move on, otherwise, it would be morning and we would still be discussing it,” she said giving me a tired smile.

  I looked to my knees wondering if she ever got mad. Today I had seen her sad, scared and all the other times she was either bored or acting excited. More often than not, the tter.

  “Do you prefer the left side or the right side?” she asked.

  “I don’t think it makes any difference.”

  “Then, do you usually have to go to the bathroom during the night?”

  “Hmm… No, I sleep the whole night.”

  “Ok, I’ll stay on the right. I tend to wake up during the night and really early, so I won’t disturb you if I have to get up.”

  She proceeded to get inside the bed still only in her nickers. I’d also have to pass over her to get to my side. I was too drained to even bother to compin at this point, so I just followed suit and turned off the light. Now that we were side by side I wondered when it was ever discussed the fact we would share my bed. There was no need for that as we had a spare mattress for guests. Guests whom we never got, in retrospect. Abby’d probably sleep more comfortably since that mattress didn’t have springs jabbing her. I was certain her bed was like sleeping in a cloud.

  Instead, we were now sharing a space where our shoulders lightly touched each other as we id belly up.

  She suddenly giggled.

  “What is it?” I asked, curious to hear what was making her ugh.

  “Today was quite the day, wasn’t it? Not a single thing went according to what we had pnned.”

  True, that day had been chaos. Remembering it, despite all its ups and downs, it somehow felt satisfying. I think it was because I felt we two got closer. Not that I would tell her that. Still, there was something I felt I should.

  “Yeah, but… I had fun,” I told her softly.

  “Did you really?”

  “Y-yeah.”

  “I see. I’m gd that you did. I had fun too,” she said in a meek but satisfied voice. She then added specially in this st part.

  “You thought that was funny?” I asked genuinely confused.

  “In its own twisted and embarrassing way, yes.”

  “I guess… I guess I can agree with that.”

  It was embarrassing now, but I could see me finding it somewhat funny in the future. At least, I hoped I would. And looking back to it, it really was.

  Our voices were starting to drag with each word. I felt my body and mind heavy with sleep.

  “Violet? Thanks for being my friend.”

  “Oh, erm… t-thanks… erm… m-me too…”

  “Pfft, hehe. That’s so sweet of you to say… today… no, all my days this past month or so would have sucked were it not thanks to you… I really mean it. Thanks for being my friend.”

  She almost sounded like she was about to cry. She sounded so lonely, it hurt my heart.

  “Good night, Violet. Sweet dreams,” she said as she shifted her body to y on her side, facing me.

  “You too,” I said as I too rotated towards her side. I don’t know why, it just felt more comfortable.