Five
Helpless When She Smiles
Several weeks flashed by with Wendy making close to zero improvement in her friendship with Irene.
Apart from the shameless staring and occasional stalking on her part, nothing really special happened. Irene certainly kept her side of the bargain by minding her own business and treating the girl as though she was invisible.
Wendy was almost sure things could not get any worse… until that one fateful day in class after the bell rang, signaling the end of another busy school day.
“Psst, Wen!”
As the girl was busy stuffing a bunch of papers and books into her bag, she felt Joy nudge her hard in the ribs. “What?”
“Will you just stop for a minute and look at that guy? Who the heck is he?” Joy whispered back urgently, fingers clasping around her friend’s wrist a little too tightly.
Wendy looked up just in time to see a boy, supposedly a senior, ruffling up Irene’s hair, a playful smirk sitting on his lips. He was tall, slightly muscular, and ridiculously good-looking; one would undoubtedly place him under the hunk category.
Maybe they were just good friends. Yes, that must be it. There was no way Irene could be--
“Oh, no,” Joy gasped and Wendy felt her heart break into a million pieces as they watched charming senior bend down to kiss the girl’s cheek tenderly. It hurt even more when she responded with a reserved smile, blushing to the very tips of her ears.
Everything fell silent that instant and all Wendy could hear was the loud clobbering of her heart right in her ears. She felt sick to the stomach. She was pretty sure she was no longer breathing. There was a tightness building up in her chest that was threatening to make her pass out. She needed to leave.
And leave, she did.
Grabbing her schoolbag, she darted out of the classroom before Joy could grab hold of her.
- - - - - - - -
Joy took a deep breath before slowly approaching her friend’s trembling physique seated on one of the benches in a lone corner of the campus. Although Wendy’s back was facing her, she could tell the girl was weeping.
“Hey, Wenwen…” She started, sitting down beside the girl to envelope her in a tight, assuring hug. That was also when the girl started sobbing even harder. Feeling Wendy jerking uncontrollably in her arms made her heart ache as well, and she soon felt herself tearing up involuntarily.
“It’s okay… just let it all out…” Joy said softly into her friend’s hair.
They sat in silence until Wendy managed to calm herself down, which was a good hour later. She only stopped crying because it was getting tiring, not because it did not hurt anymore.
“Are you okay?” Joy started and mentally slapped herself at once. Any idiot could tell that she was not okay. “No, scrap that. Do you need anything? Let me buy you a slice of that chocolate cake when we get to work later, alright?”
Sadly, not even the mentioning of her beloved chocolate cake could do anything to make her feel better. Wendy only shook her head gravely, “I feel so stupid.”
Her statement made Joy scowl, “Yah, what are you talking about? Just because she’s dating Mr. Stunner does not make you stupid. She’s a fool for picking him over you. She just doesn’t realize it yet.”
“Don’t you get it, Joy? She’ll never realize any of this. I have nothing on him. She’s straight as a pole and she only likes boys. I was a moron for even thinking she could be gay in the first place,” Wendy argued. It was all starting to make sense now – Irene’s indifferent behavior and seeming hatred towards her. The girl might even be homophobic for all she knew.
“How sure are you that she’s straight, genius?” Questioned Joy.
“One hundred percent.”
Joy scoffed at how her friend could be so stubborn at times. “And did you hear that straight from the horse’s mouth? Or maybe Irene has actually been walking around with ‘Straight’ plastered against her forehead. Have I been missing something?”
A few beats of silence passed before Wendy spoke up, “But these things don’t have to be explicitly announced. A girl is supposed to like a boy, vice versa. It’s obvious enough, like how you don’t top off a perfectly seasoned chicken thigh with, I don’t know, chocolate sprinkles. They’re not meant to go together. They never will.”
“Nobody knows these things for sure, Wen. I mean, have you even tried chicken and chocolate sprinkles?” Joy paused for a moment and scratched her head, wondering where she was going with the whole food analogy. “What the heck am I saying? That’s not even the point. It’s love we’re talking about here. It shouldn’t be affected by the silly stereotypes constructed by this superficial society.”
“But it’s wrong, Joy. On so many levels, it’s just… wrong.”
“One, I’m pretty sure there aren’t as many levels to this thing as you think there are. Two, stop maki
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