Okay, so where were we?
Right! Lori and Timothy's budding romance.
Budding //very// slowly, I should say. But still! It was progress, and I knew that wasn't something that came easy for Lori.
The first sign of that was when Lori and Timothy would run into each other in the hallway, they would split off and walk together on their own.
I wasn't jealous.
I was hopeful that it was a sign that he liked her -- more than as a friend. A sign of progress towards a 'budding romance'.
But that progress was about to hit a snag.
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(css: "font-size: 150%;")[''Prologue 3'']
''Casey's Cruelty''
[[Continue->Continue1-00]]I've teased Lori about being like a turtle coming out of her shell, but that wasn't the only similarity.
Lori liked to do things //slowly//.
That was just her pace.. Turtle pace. I don't mean that in a negative way, necessarily.
Although Lori might bump into Timothy in the hallway, they'd still branch off once we got to class. She'd still sit with us, and he'd go sit with Samar and his friends.
Slow progress is better than no progress, I figured.. and hey, on the selfish side, I liked having her sit with us.
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[[Continue->Continue1-01]]The thing with going slow is that sometimes you can miss out on opportunities.
That was a fear I'd expressed to Lori.
"I know, I know", she'd say. I didn't wanna push too hard though. She had to go at her own pace.
One day when Timothy walked into class with Casey, I felt as though my fear was coming to life. Then again, maybe it's not fair to blame Lori for going slow.
I'd much rather blame Casey for butting in.
I bet she couldn't stand seeing the clumsy girl she laughed at, now getting all of this attention from the hottest guy in class.
In retrospect, I think Casey knew exactly what she was doing.
Still, I held onto the hope that coming into class together the one time was more of a coincidence and not a sign that they were actually spending any real time together.
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[[Continue->Continue1-02]]Unfortunately, I was wrong.
Not long after, I saw them together on campus.
I tried not to overreact. It's not like they were making out or holding hands. Maybe they were just friends.
Still.. Ew.
Anyways, I wasn't about to confront him. At the same time, I also wasn't about to sit idle while this big-butted bitch butts into the situation and breaks my friends heart.
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[[Continue->Continue2-01]]I didn't want Lori to get hurt. So, I thought the best first step was to go talk to Casey on my own.
No Lori. No Timothy.
Maybe I could talk to some sense into her.
I spotted Casey and her gang walking through the dorm lounge one day. They were always hard to miss.
High-heels clopping through the hallways in designer dresses, chatting about the latest gossip or fashion.
Blah.
Talking to Casey wasn't my idea of fun, but I had to. For my friend.
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[[Continue->Continue3-01]]"Casey, can I talk to you?", I said.
"No", she whispered and kept walking.
"It's about Timothy", I said quickly.
That got her attention. They stopped. "What do you want?", she asked.
"Wanna sit and talk for a sec... alone?", I suggested. Her reply was short.
"No", she said.
"Alright...", I sighed. I figured I might as well just dive into it before she leaves. "Lori likes Timothy -- I'm sure you've seen them together at class. I wanted to find out what your deal with him was?"
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[[Continue->Continue3-02]]"What business of it is yours?", Sahana interjected. "Do you have a badge?"
"What?", I replied, confused.
"I don't see a badge. You're not the relationship police", Sahana continued. "You want to know the deal?"
"Here's the deal: ''We'', can have any man we want", Sahana stated. "''She'', can have anyone she wants".
"And today I want Timothy", Casey said calmly.
"''That's'' the deal", Sahana concluded.
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[[Continue->Continue3-03]]"Any questions?", Sahana asked rudely.
"Well-- I just--", I tried to speak before she cut me off.
"No? You got it now? Good", Sahana chided.
Casey smirked and just told her "let's go".
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[[Continue->Continue3-04]]And so they left me standing there like a dummy.
You know, back when I was in high school, there weren't too many girls who would ever dare talk to me like that. It wasn't something I was used to and it totally caught me off guard.
I was speechless.
But not hopeless.
A couple of divas were ''not'' going to ruin things for us.
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