Mark started hanging out with the soccer idiots a lot since that day, no longer joining the girls for lunch, even going as far as to move his chair from the girls’ tables and going to sit with two of the soccer boys.

The homeroom teacher said nothing to this change and let them do what they wanted, which was weird, as he usually wasn’t one to let that sort of thing slide.

Josie and Mary weren't sure what to do, or not do. It seemed like Mark was doing it to protect them… Somehow… Maybe…

But it also just felt wrong to them.

Especially to Mary, who didn’t like other people fighting her battles for her. Josie felt guilty too, as she had been the one to say not to warn her, but she didn’t know it would end up like this. How could she?

“We should talk to him,” Josie said one day, after Mary had been staring after him as he left to get his stupid sandwich.

“Why?” Mary spat, annoyed. Josie gave her a look that told her very clearly to stop that with her, and Mary coughed, trying to get the meanness out of her voice.

Josie could be very scary.

“Why?” Mary repeated, more neutral this time.

“To hear his side of the story. Maybe we misunderstood something, or maybe he just got tired of us. It’s not like we had much in common to begin with,” Josie said, sounding thoughtful, but not at all believable. She most of all felt like it was her fault he was in this situation, and wanted to right her wrong. Especially since Mary seemed so bothered by it.

“Yea, not like we were ever friends…” Mary mumbled, mostly to herself.

Because what exactly had they been?

Classmates that ate lunch together and shared books.

That was it.

Sure, they had fun together, but it never moved out from the walls of the school.

Where Mary and Josie hung out almost every day, going to cafés and shopping, or just going home to Josie and watching movies, they had never spent any time with Mark outside. They had never even thought of asking him to join.

Nor had Mark suggested that he wanted to join, so it wasn’t like they had intentionally left him behind, either.

But if he had asked to join them? What then? Would they have agreed easily, smiling and said he was welcome, or would they have had an awkward moment of silence before they shared a questioning look and hesitantly told him he could come along?

Would they have simply said no?

Somehow Mary didn’t think they would. Josie would have said yes, she was sure. If Mary hadn’t said yes first, that was…

So why did Mary feel so… Hurt? Betrayed? Lost?

“Let’s just talk to him? Okay? We can catch him after school, before he has basketball training,” Josie said, and Mary could do nothing but nod in agreement, wondering a bit to herself why Josie knew his schedule.

After school, the girls did as planned. They waited near enough to the basketball court that they knew he would come by sooner or later, but far enough away from the classroom to not be caught by the soccer idiots. For good measure, they hid behind a wall, just for an easy escape if needed.

They didn’t have to wait long before Mark came by, alone, and they couldn’t believe their good luck.

“Psst, Mark,” Josie whisper-yelled, but there was no reaction.

“Psssssst, Maaaaark!” Josie tried again, this time a bit louder, but not loud enough to be normal speaking volume.

Once more, no reaction.

Mary had gotten enough already, stepped out, and yelled “Hey! Mark!”

She was just about to clap her hands in his face like she had done that one time, but instantly stopped, hands almost touching, when she remembered the reaction it had gotten last time.

Mary quickly made a motion as if something was stuck on her hands, that needed brushing off, and then casually crossed her arms, staring at him with angry eyes.

Josie wasn’t far behind, coming out as well, and the three of them stood there for a moment, staring at each other, not saying a word.

When the silence had gone on for too long, Mark cleared his throat, “I, uhm… I have practice…”

He awkwardly pointed towards the basketball court.

“We know,” Mary said, not being able to decide on what to do, so she went with what she knew best.

Hostility. Anger.

Josie stepped forward, taking one of Mary’s hands, so she at least didn’t have crossed arms anymore, and looked a tiny bit friendlier, before she said, “We know, but we really wanted to talk to you. Can you spare a few minutes?”

“No isn’t an option,” Mary interrupted before Mark had a chance to answer. Then she indicated for them all to go behind their hiding wall.

Mark looked out at the court for a second, then followed, looking too much like the shy and awkward boy they had seen when he had introduced himself.

They walked a bit along the hallway, going where most classrooms were empty, and where there weren’t many club activities being held.

“I… I really have to get back soon…” Mark said, looking uncomfortably at the two girls.

“We won’t take too much of your time,” Josie said calmly. 

Mary shuddered. She had heard that tone of voice a few times, but most recently it was when Mary had eaten a strawberry off of Josie’s plate. It had looked like something that had been picked off the cake to be thrown out, and Mary thought she had helped. But as it turned out, Josie had saved it for her last bite as she wanted to end the overly sweet cake-experience with a ‘fresh’ taste, and had not been happy about it at all.

She was scary like that.

“Okay… So what do you wanna talk about?” Mark said, either not noticing Mary shuddering or not knowing what to make of it.

“Us,” Josie said simply, voice still calm, “you, Mary and I. We miss our lunches with you.”

“Oh… I… I didn’t think about that,” Mark said, looking down at his shoes.

“Didn’t think about what, exactly?” Josie prompted.

Mary was happy about not being on the receiving end of Josie’s anger, for once. Josie could be more scary than people gave her credit for, it just wasn’t that often she cared enough to actually get angry at all.

And that was when Mary realized… Josie cared about Mark.

Sure, even Mary realized that it was partly guilt about pulling Mark into the situation in the first place, with no warnings. But she still cared enough about Mark to know his schedule, hunt him down, and get angry enough to make him squirm.

But how did she care for him? Simply as a friend? A boyfriend? A brother?

Just someone to eat lunch with?

Mary didn’t know, but she didn’t feel entirely comfortable thinking about it, so she decided to stop.

“Uhm… I don’t know… What were you asking about again?” Mark asked, looking truly troubled this time.

Mary decided to give a helping hand, her own anger and hostility fading a bit as she had another person to stand target for Josie’s anger.

“Why did you ditch us for the idiots?” Mary asked, direct and to the point.

While Josie probably tried to make Mark see the error of his ways himself, Mary was getting tired of things not moving forward.

“I didn’t ditch you, I was just trying to…” Mark cut himself off before he finished.

Mary was pleased with herself. As she thought, accusations and getting people to defend themselves was the way to go.

“Trying to what? Help?” Mary asked, but didn’t spare a moment for him to answer, “Do we look like two frail damsels in distress that need the help of a big strong man? Did we ask for help?”

Mary knew she was being unfair. They had been in distress. The teacher had thrown them under the bus, and they had been in a terrible situation, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t have found a way out. They always found a way out. 

Even if the results weren’t always the best, as long as they had each other, they would be fine.

Josie was the thinker, Mary was the do-er. They would have figured a way out that didn’t involve Mark if they had been given the chance.

Mark didn’t answer, just stared even more intently at his shoes and looked a bit ashamed.

“Sorry…” Mark said, finally, almost whispering it.

Mary looked at Josie, who nodded. It was her turn. She was the warm person who would put back together what Mary broke.

“It’s okay, Mark. And it’s not that we aren’t grateful for the thought. It’s just, we would much rather eat lunch with you, than see you walk around with idiots, knowing we’re at fault. Don’t sacrifice yourself for us.”

Mark nodded.

He then looked at the two girls, smiled, and with something looking like it glistened in each corner of his eyes, he said “I’ll see you at lunch tomorrow. But now I really have to get to practice.” 

Then he started running away, but Mary yelled after him “Not tomorrow!”

When he looked confused and hurt, she continued “It’s Saturday tomorrow…”

“Monday, then!” Mark called, and ran away, a big smile on his lips.

And while Mary and Josie hadn’t entirely known how to define their relationship with Mark before, now it felt obvious.

They were friends.

Of course they were.

It was that simple.