Chasing Butterflies Chapter 41: Mean Girls (Patreon)

Alyssa's beady eyes flicked between Olivia and Trisha with open suspicion. "Olivia. Where have you been? Is this girl bothering you?"

Her eyebrows rose at the barely-veiled hostility in the senior flute’s voice. The implication that she had to explain her whereabouts to the girl rankled a bit, but she pushed it down and spoke in measured tones. "No. Of course not. She's my friend.”

The flute section leader's frown deepened. "She's a cheerleader."

Ah. That's what this is about.

All at once, Olivia felt so very tired. As though all the excitement of the evening had been sucked right out of her and replaced with wet concrete.

This kind of petty us-versus-them nonsense was what she'd been expecting to face from Trisha's friends. It was part of why she'd been so pleasantly surprised at their warm reception. Not that she was naive enough to believe all of that at face value—there had clearly been a few who saw Trisha as a threat or rival of some sort and put on a smile for the sake of appearances. But most were pretty genuine about it.

Even if those carefully-weighed political machinations were still present, though, they hadn't been relevant to her. They'd been in Trisha's world, and Olivia was just an observer who could afford to ignore such things.

Here, though...

Olivia closed her eyes briefly. The right thing to do would be to slip back into her meek personality, make some sort of apology and return to Alyssa's group. That's what the girl was clearly aiming for. It would be some sort of small victory, asserting her dominance over the blonde cheerleader in a petty way.

But there was no way she'd repay Trisha's kindness like that.

Olivia let out a tired sigh. "Alyssa..."

"Livi. Do you know these people?"

Trisha's voice caught her off guard. To her surprise, the blonde looked completely at ease, even when facing down a posse of clearly hostile upperclassmen. There was no chance she was oblivious to the brewing tension. She simply handled it with the confidence of a seasoned professional.

Olivia glanced back toward the group of girls and nodded. "Yeah. They're in band. They're... friends."

Alyssa bristled at the hesitation in her tone as Trisha grinned. "Oh! Is that why you were asking about us being friends?" She gave a light laugh. "Gotcha. I totally understand now. You must've been so confused, if this is how your 'friends' treat you."

"Olivia." Alyssa ground out between her teeth. "We've seen you two pass by at least three times by now. But I'm going to be generous and assume that you didn't just leave us behind to hang out with this..." her eyes flicked to a relaxed Trisha. "...This cheerleader for the past hour. Because that would be kind of shitty. Wouldn't you say?"

Had it really been an hour? The time had just flown by. Though she didn't miss the irony of Alyssa's accusation, given that the flute had left Emma and the other freshmen behind at the first available opportunity.

"Actually," Trisha jumped in before she could respond. "We weren't just hanging out, though I wouldn't blame her for leaving. No, we've been trying to keep her safe. Don't want her getting cornered by any more creeps tonight."

Alyssa looked as though she was going to shoot back, but Emma spoke up first. "Hang on. Creeps? What do you mean?"

Trisha smiled as the freshman took the bait. "What, you didn't know? Some guy was trying to put moves on little Livi here. I figured you would've seen, since you seem so concerned about her."

The section leader snorted. "Yeah. I'm sure that happened."

"Are you ok, Olivia?" Chrissy peeked out nervously from behind the others. The agreeable flute’s voice was tinged with obvious concern.

"I'm fine. Really." She assured the girl, trying to ignore the others. "It was a bit awkward, but Trisha got me out of there."

The blonde flapped a hand magnanimously, her pearlescent nails glittering in the light. "I wanted to make sure she was taken care of. But now that her friends are here, and upperclassmen in particular..." Trisha's eyes twinkled. "I'm sure that won't be a problem again. Right?"

Alyssa's lips pursed. She clearly wanted to go after the blonde harder, but her dislike of Trisha warred with her need to be seen as a leader. That uncertainty was exacerbated as her companions started to whisper among themselves, also seemingly torn on the issue. They weren’t nearly so quick to dismiss Trisha’s claims.

Emma piped up again, seemingly oblivious to her senior's plight. "We'll definitely take care of her. Flutes watch out for flutes! Right?"

After a long moment. Alyssa pursed her lips and gave a slow nod. "Right. We watch out for our own."

"Who was it?" Another girl asked. "Anyone we know?"

Olivia hesitated. "Just some guy. I'll let you know if I see him again."

They all knew Lance. Obviously. But outing him here and now would start drama unnecessarily, and she'd had quite her fill of that for the moment. If he showed up again, she could just leave. The dance was winding down anyway.

"Great!" Trisha clapped her hands. "Glad you have other people looking out for you, too. Thanks for hanging out with me, Olivia. I’m gonna go track down Eileen for a bit.”

At first she didn't understand why Trisha would leave so quickly. But it made complete sense. If she stayed, it was clear that Olivia would have to choose between the two sides—not a particularly enviable position to be in. Trisha clearly foresaw that, and so she made the choice for her. After all, hadn’t she wanted to reunite with her own group?

Still, it felt wrong just to let her leave like that.

“Trish.”

Olivia reached out and grabbed the blonde’s hand. She looked back with surprise as she was drawn into a quick hug.

“Thanks. For everything.”

She felt the eyes of the other flutes boring into her, but she didn’t care. She'd already said they were friends, and Alyssa indicated they'd been watching them hang out for quite a while. Giving her a hug would hardly be a surprise. It was more about reciprocating the public display of friendship that Trisha had been showing her all this time.

When they stepped back, Trisha was positively glowing. The girl looked over the group of band kids with a satisfied smile before giving Olivia one last wave.

"I'll see you at Dom's!”

...And just like that, she was reminded of just how immature Trisha still was.

The change was instant. Even the faces of Alyssa's more empathetic companions slipped right back to hostility as Trisha turned and left. "Dom? Who is Dom?"

Olivia could only look toward the sky. The encounter had been going so well. But either Trisha hadn't thought about the consequences of her words, or she simply hadn't been able to resist the parting shot. Either way, it didn't matter now. The damage was done. "It's nothing."

They clearly didn't believe it. But no one pressed the issue at least. Alyssa just pursed her lips and turned. "Come on. Everyone else is over here."

The girls escorted Olivia back to the main group of band kids. Thankfully, Lance wasn't there. But even in his absence, the mood was clearly different now. She felt as though something had shifted between her and the rest of the flutes. Something that marked her as an outsider.

Just another difference from last time around, I guess... But what's one more at this point? The night's gone so completely off the rails that I barely can keep track of what I should be doing now.

Occasionally, she glanced back out at the mass of writhing students beyond, occasionally catching a flash of ivory and gold. Her earlier enthusiasm for the dance had dampened quite significantly by this point. But that was all right. If anything, it only reaffirmed her resolve.

She was going to that afterparty. It was the only way she would feel even remotely at ease regarding Trisha. And besides… she could use a bit of levity.

***

"You want to go to a party?"

The crackly timbre of her dad's voice through the phone wasn’t as upset as Olivia expected. Really, she’d expected more indignation or affront rather than pure disbelief. Maybe that would come after the shock settled. Though honestly, she couldn’t blame him. This was new territory for both Olivias—but territory that she wanted to tread.

"I do. But only if it's all right with you."

"...What kind of party?"

She knew what he was really asking. "There will probably be alcohol involved. In fact, I’m almost positive there will be. But I'm not drinking. Mostly, I want to go in order to watch out for a friend of mine. She can probably take care of herself, but I'd feel a lot better knowing that she has someone trustworthy at her back, just in case.

"I'll obviously give you the address and check in every hour to be safe. She's already secured a ride there, but I'll be checking to make sure the girl driving is sober and stays that way. If I see her drinking or have any suspicions that she has been, I'll find another ride or call you if need be. Again, if that's all right with you."

Her words were met with a long silence. She grimaced. Maybe she'd gone a bit overboard in explaining the ways she intended to ease her dad's worries? It may have come off as a bit desperate, even if it was all true.

Still, she wasn't going to lie and pretend this was some completely PG-rated event. Her dad wasn't stupid. And she wasn't just looking to get a rubber stamp on attending, anyway. If she was, then she probably would have asked her mom. No, she wanted approval. To know that it really was ok, even after her dad had all the information that she could provide.

It was the kind of thing she'd hoped her boys would do for her, once they got to that age. And as much as she did want to go watch out for Trisha, she didn't want to do it at the cost of going behind her dad's back.

Olivia braced for her dad’s flat refusal. But it didn’t come. She was about to check if she'd accidentally hung up when he finally spoke again. "...All right, sweetie."

She straightened involuntarily. "Wait, really? Are you sure?"

"I’m absolutely not sure. I’d prefer if you just came right home and went to bed, obviously. But… I trust you. You’re a responsible girl, and you’ve got a good head on your shoulders. But I do expect you to check in. All right?” His voice turned serious. “If I don’t hear from you every hour…”

“I will. Promise.” She reassured him. “I’ll make sure to set a reminder. And if I forget and you come to hunt me down, then I completely deserve it.”

“That’s right you do.” He paused. “And try not to get back too late, ok? I probably won't be able to sleep until you get home."

She nodded her head emphatically, even though her dad couldn't see it. "Of course. I have no idea how long these things go, but I won’t stay long. I'll need to sleep at some point.”

"What if your friend wants to stay longer?"

“Then I'll be very convincing and drag her with me." Olivia said flatly. "Otherwise that would kind of defeat the point."

She heard her dad chuckle on the other end of the line and smiled. She honestly hadn't expected him to be on board with this. Not in the slightest. But the fact that he trusted her enough to let her go, even after she'd been very clear about the nature of the event... It made her feel warm.

"Thanks, dad."

"Of course, sweetie. Go have fun, ok? But not too much fun. Love you."

"Love you, too, dad." She chuckled before hanging up the phone.