Best Served Fake

fifty-four // decked him

"I know where Kai is."

Cora was leaning against the hood of my car when I went to unlock it after school. Kai hadn't been in today, and it felt as if the rest of his friends were avoiding me.

The only real win of the day was that Tommy hadn't told anyone what he'd learned. Maybe because there was still some hint of morality at his core; some recognition that he had already dealt me enough harm that the scales of who was more grievously injured by the other could never be balanced. I was grateful. I cared more about Kai than I ever would about my reputation, but it would be nice to have both.

But it didn't really seem as if it were likely when I couldn't find a single one of my friends. At least, I hadn't seen them. Jameson and Cora had been absent from homeroom and Seb's usual seat next to me in Biology was vacant. Our usual lunch table was empty, and I'd instead sat with Aurora Anderson and her friends, who'd welcomed me without hesitation, but seemed confused that I wasn't choosing to sit with my usual crowd. I'd have answered their unasked questions if I knew the answers myself, but I wasn't really sure why. Kai, evidently, hadn't chosen to cut me off completely. Just because we hadn't confirmed what our relationship was—romantic only for show, or in reality; friends, best friends, or friends with casual benefits—the one thing I knew was that we had one, regardless of its iteration.

But clearly Cora, at least, had been here, and probably all day. It didn't surprise me that she was ignoring me; we were still fighting, technically, although since the anger all stemmed from her camp, it was understandably and rightly one-sided.

She tapped her foot impatiently as she waited for my response. I didn't know how to respond to a statement like that, given that Kai himself was the source of our argument. Especially since Sydney had enlightened me on why, exactly, she'd been so furious.

So, I didn't answer her statement. Instead, I looked her squarely in the eye and asked, "Do you think you'll ever be able to forgive me?"

Cora rolled her eyes, with the characteristic irritability she always displayed when someone asked a stupid question. "Unfortunately, Sydney has forced me to realise you weren't being malicious, and you really were just stupid all along. She dropped by my house last night begging me to forgive you, as if I wasn't always going to do that anyway."

In her own way, Sydney was truly trying to make amends for what she'd done. It made me think I'd done the right thing by not cutting her out of my life entirely.

"You were right to be mad at me," I said.

Cora shrugged, kicking the loose gravel with the rim of her school shoes and avoiding my gaze. "Not really. It's not as if you knew."

I tapped her shoulder to get her attention and when she looked at me, I tried to effuse every ounce of sincerity I could muster into my words. "I should have known."

At that, she grinned. "Oh, absolutely."

It made sense, when I reflected. Sydney's decision to single-mindedly pursue a guy she didn't really care about. The way Cora kept insisting I figure out my shit with Sydney, because she was afraid I would lead Kai on while still harbouring unresolved feelings for my ex-best friend. Cora's historical aversion to any particularly serious romantic entanglements over the years. A thousand puzzle pieces that slotted into place.

I offered her my hand. "Friends again?"

"Don't ask stupid questions," said Cora, shaking it with a bemusement at the traditionally masculine gesture of resolved tension. She squeezed my hand tightly, until I hissed and withdrew it. She lifted a shoulder, as if to say, you deserved that. "Instead, ask me all your not-stupid questions that you've been desperate to ask, but haven't, because I would've bit your head off."