The next few days were rather uneventful overall, and only a few changes took place.

Mark officially joined the basketball team, which Mary and Josie were secretly happy about. The soccer idiots, as they usually thought of that group, would not have been a good influence, and the less interaction they had with them, the better.

Mary wanted to tell Mark to keep away from them all together, but Josie disagreed. She thought that he’d either hear rumors from others or find out for himself, but that Mary couldn’t risk getting caught being a tattle tail, which Mary begrudgingly agreed to.

Mark was essentially still a stranger to them, even if they were hanging out with him more.

One day Mary forgot her books, so they all just naturally ended up scooting together and sharing Josie’s. And even when she remembered the books, they somehow still kept sharing the one, between them, as if it was the most natural thing to do. Mark still hadn’t gotten his own. The teachers had apologized and once again blamed the fact that they hadn’t known he was coming until he was already there.

And speaking of the teachers, another thing had changed. Their homeroom teacher was acting weird. He constantly looked down at the girls with eyes that indicated he was afraid of something, or wanted to tell them something, but in the end he never said anything.

Another thing, Mark had gotten into the habit of hanging out with his new buddies from the basketball team on the breaks between class, but still dutifully ate lunch with Mary and Josie. Something none of them had talked about, but all of them, at some level, had just accepted as fact.

He still didn’t bring his own lunch and kept buying the sandwiches from the cafeteria.

One time, and only one time, he got a tuna surprise for Mary, as she had said she liked them, which had made her go entirely pale.

“Sure… I love them…” Mary had said, not one to back down on a lie, voice trembling, as she slowly and carefully put the sandwich up to her mouth, held it there for a second, before opening wide and starting to bite down. Josie slapped the sandwich away before Mary’s teeth touched the bread, and the poor sandwich thumped along the floor.

“Oh noooo! Now I can’t eat it!” Mary whined, voice dramatically rising a pitch.

“How sad…” Mark said, shaking his head in disappointment. Josie hadn’t said anything but just let out a little sigh of relief.

Another change, Mark had started to wear different clothes from that first day. Now he wore what other boys wore, jeans and a t-shirt. But where most of the other boys wore baggy shirts, Mark wore a fitted one. Where the other boys wore jeans with faded patches and holes, Mark wore some that were unmistakably different… somehow…

Josie, who knew more about clothes than Mary had suggested it might be from a high-end brand, which was unusual around there, while Mary had asked Mark point-blank.

“I don’t know, I just asked for some new jeans and then I got them a few days later,” he had answered.

“Are you, like, rich?” Mary couldn’t help but blurt out at this absurd statement, but Mark had just shrugged and left it at that.

The girls had looked at each other, Mary with outrage in her eyes and Josie with understanding. They both had just assumed he was rich from that day on.

Just apparently not rich enough to have someone make him proper lunch…

But peaceful days never lasted long in high school.

One day, Josie went to deliver her homework at the teachers lounge, Mary and Mark following, as she had forgotten to deliver it the day before. Something already unusual, coming from Josie. Their homeroom teacher darted his eyes around, looking over their shoulders, looking overall uncomfortable, and he quickly agreed to an extension without any problems. 

Probably because Josie usually didn’t cause any problems, and overall was a good student.

Everyone made mistakes once in a while.

On their way back to the class, Mark needed to go to the cafeteria for his sandwich, so they followed him some of the way.

But in the middle of the hallway, close to the toilets, was the female teacher Mary and Josie had talked to that very first day Mark had arrived.

She was loudly yelling at a group of boys, the very same group of boys that had dragged Mark along that day.

The soccer idiots.

When the teacher saw the girls, she waved them over, sending dread into the pits of their stomachs.

Josie and Mary shared a look before Mary shook her head in a small movement, trying to convey to the teacher to shut up.

They didn’t want to be mixed into whatever this was. They had been so careful when they had asked for help. Making sure they hadn’t said any names, hadn’t blamed anyone, hadn’t given any direct hints. Only told about their suspicions in the most vague way possible, to be taken seriously enough to maybe get some help. But here the teacher was, pulling them into something that could only be trouble.

The teacher did not understand, or did not see, the subtle headshake, calling out once more. The girls had no way to pretend they hadn’t seen her, leaving them no choice.

“Wait here,” Mary said to Mark. 

She didn’t want him to get caught up in this, especially not when he had already escaped the group once, and hadn’t been given a proper warning against them. What they were capable of.

Mark gave a curt nod in understanding but whispered that he would be ready if anything happened.

Josie and Mary, hand in hand, started walking towards the six boys and the teacher. When they came close enough, they could just catch the tail end of something the teacher had said about paper, but it didn’t make sense without context.

“Thank you for coming over here girls,” the teacher started out, sounding pleasant enough, which made it entirely more uncomfortable.

She didn’t realize, the girls thought. She didn’t realize what she had pulled them into. Just what she had done to them. How much they would pay for this later.

The soccer idiots were idiots, but they were dangerous idiots, the type that would always get revenge if they felt wronged.

But there was still hope. Maybe the teacher just wanted to ask about something entirely different. She couldn’t be stupid enough to directly involve them… right?

“So, these two young ladies reported some possible trouble some weeks ago,” the teacher started out, being exactly that stupid. 

That’s when Mary and Josie knew they were entirely fucked. They would not get away from this easily.

“And it wasn’t us!” One of the boys said, sounding enraged. Like he had already told her this multiple times.

“Now now, let us hear what the girls have to say,” the teacher said, completely unfazed, and then turned to Mary and Josie, who were squeezing each other's hands tightly. Mary, to reassure. Josie, to hold Mary back.

“Say about what?” Josie asked.

“About the trouble you reported, of course. Was it this group of boys back then, too?” The teacher asked, holding the girls hostage under her stare.

“Too?” Mary asked and received a hard squeeze of her hand from Josie in response. The teacher didn’t seem to notice the pained expression that came over Mary for a second, there and gone immediately.

“Yes. After your report, I’ve been keeping an eye on things around here. While there wasn't anyone in the stalls that day, I did notice writings on the wall, no toilet paper, and vandalized stalls, and today, I finally caught these guys red-handed. Now, was it or was it not the same boys you saw?” The teacher said, her voice still alarmingly ‘nice’ to the extent it started to sound menacing and creepy.

Mary was about to answer, but Josie was prepared this time, and squeezed her hand even harder, making Mary momentarily lose her words.

“No, I don’t think so,” Josie said, calm and collected. It didn’t sound like a lie. She dragged out the words a tiny bit to make it sound like she was thinking, while looking carefully at the boys, as if she was trying to recall something, and in the end deciding it wasn’t quite right.

“We only saw their backs.” She added firmly before the teacher could respond.

“And you’re sure? Mary? Anything to add?” the teacher asked, dragging out Mary’s name as if it tasted bitter on her tongue.

“Josie would never lie,” Mary lied, but sounding so truthful that she started to think she might not have lied, after all. Not really.

“Well then… Thank you for your time, girls. Boys, come see me after class. While you might not be the original troublemakers, you’re all still troublemakers none the less, and you are, indeed, in big trouble,” the teacher said, and started turning to go.

“Hey, we didn’t do anything!” Another of the boys yelled at her back. She slowly turned to them, giving a little scoff.

“Oh, so you’re not the ones I caught red-handed stealing all of the toilet paper? The very same toilet paper that is hidden in your hoodies right at this moment? Yes. Go on now, go put it back, and don’t let me catch you again,” she said, saw one of the boys was about to say something, and cut in before he could, “don’t. Do it. Again. This is a warning, not a challenge.”

That seemed to work, and she walked away this time.

There was awkward silence in the hall as the boys looked at Mary and Josie, murder in their eyes.

Josie was prepared to hold Mary back, which Mary could feel in the way her hand was being squished, Josie’s arm rigid, like she was ready for Mary to try to break free.

But…

Just as they thought all hell would break loose, it was not Mary, nor the boy group that took the first step.

It was Mark.

“Hey guys, wanna play soccer? I’m free today.” Mark said, as if he was totally oblivious to the tension, which he surely wasn’t.

He hooked his arm around the shoulder of the boy that looked like the leader of the group, like they had been best friends forever.

He had seen everything, maybe even been close enough to hear it.

So how was he so calm?

Mark pulled the boy over to him, whispered something in his ear, something Joise and Mary couldn’t hear. Then Mark turned his head and looked at the rest of the group, back at the ‘leader’ and smiled.

The boys looked at each other, everyone seeming a bit confused, before the ‘leader’ gave a slight nod, and they all turned back to Mark.

“Sure. Let’s go,” the ‘leader’ said, hooking his own arm around Mark, all buddy-buddy like.

And off they went, not saying anything to the girls, who were left behind.