Unhappy

22. Irene

Irene stood, staring at the sky. Lots of guys had treated her like this before. She was used to it. But all it meant she had to act perfect again. Do things correctly. Please everyone. Smile for everything, no matter what it was.

"Hey, Irene." Wendy said. She looked down at her, and smiled.
"What is it?" She asked. Wendy glared at her, as she looked over to Kanai.
"He's weird." She pointed out.
"Don't say that, he's-" Irene began.
"Shut up. You know I'm right." Wendy said. She went silent. Irene didn't know what to say to that. "Listen up, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about. I want you to know that you will NEVER be my friend. I won't like you no matter what you do. I don't care how many times you save me. You'll always be the dumb pretty girl that everyone loves. I'll never see you as anything else. Got it?" Irene paused, as she stared down at her.
"That's fine. I'll just keep saving you anyway."  Irene said, looked back up. Everything was silent, as they watched Kanai walk over to them. His pace was slow, and he seemed generally nervous.

Irene knew what this was. She had dealt with this a lot when she was in school. The confession. People would walk up to her, and tell them their feelings. She knew exactly what to do.

She fixed her posture. She made sure no dust was on her. She prepared her face for a smile. She prepared her answer... wait, what was her answer? She would always reject people because, well, she had a boyfriend... that she didn't even like. But she had no reason to say no this time. She thought about it for a moment, and decided that she was going to make this guys day.

"Hey... um... Irene..." Kanai said. He stared at the floor. Irene smiled.
"What is it?" She replied, even though she already knew what he was going to say.
"I uh..." he paused for a moment, twiddling his thumbs. "like you... or whatever." He groaned for a moment. "Would you like to be my girlfriend."
"Sure!" She replied, smiling at him. Kanai looked up, and stared at her, a confused look on his face.
"What?" He responded. Irene quickly glanced at Wendy. She looked furious, as she began stomping away.
"I mean, I'll give you a chance, you know?" Irene said, putting out her hand to him. He stared at it for a moment, before taking it.
"Okay..." he said, still staring at the floor.

Irene didn't have a crush on this person, whatsoever. But he seemed nice. She didn't want to crush his dreams just because she didn't say yes. Plus, she didn't have anything to lose at this point.

Kanai took his hand away, and ran to Kingsley. Irene couldn't help but laugh. This was the response she always thought boys like this would do. It was just funny to her.

"Irene." Someone said. She looked over to see Wendy. "I will murder you." Her eyes went wide.
"What? Why?" She replied. Wendy gave her a pouty face, before turning around.
"Because it's always like this! The hot popular girl gets swept up by everyone and then the small one always gets thrown out the window!" Wendy responded, glaring at Irene.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean for it to have that kind of effect." She explained. But Wendy wasn't having any of it.
"Oh yeah, sure, you're sorry! Well news flash Princess, not everything can be solved with a simple 'sorry'!" Wendy yelled back. Irene froze.

She didn't know what to say to that. Wendy was right about that. But... what else did she have? That's what she used her entire life, and it wasn't going to work here. Irene sat down, as she watched Wendy walk away. What did she have anyway?

"Hey Irene, you doing okay?" Kingsley asked. Irene shook away the thoughts, and gave a convincing smile.
"Yep! Why wouldn't I be okay?" She replied. Kingsley stared at her, as if she were suspicious.
"I could tell that you didn't actually like Kanai. Why did you accept?" Kingsley asked, staring directly into her eyes. Irene looked down at the floor for a second, and then back at him.
"I wanted to make his day. Eventually I'll break the news to him. But for now, I'll let him have a good time." Irene explained. Kingsley stared at her for a moment, not looking very satisfied with her answer.
"Next time, don't try and play with other peoples feelings, okay?" Kingsley said, looking her in the eyes.
"Who's feelings am I playing with?" Irene replied, staring into Kingsley's eyes. He stared back for a moment.
"Kanai's. Anyway, I'm gonna go see what Milo is up to." Kingsley said, walking away. Irene felt a smile come across her face.