“If you’re looking for Ella and the others, they were here till like five seconds ago, and then they went running out together,” Breindy says. Mimi jumps. She feels invaded, somehow, that she’s being watched.

But… Shoshana, with the others? Running out together, right before the bell rings?

They’re not by the stairs, she knows they aren’t, not at this time of day. But Mimi checks anyway, before shrugging, and turning down a hallway at random.

The lockers, the office, the isolated hallway near the janitor’s closet…

Pay dirt.

Ella and Tzippy are standing side by side, their backs to Mimi. Shoshana seems to shrink into the corner, wrapping her arms around herself.

“It’s not like that…” she’s saying, her voice small, and then she sees Mimi. “I’m telling you, Mimi knows…”

“Mimi knows what?” Tzippy’s voice is sharp, un-Tzippy-like. “She knows about what happened?”

“She knows… well, she knows about Dina, but also…” Shoshana swallows. She looks at Mimi desperately, and even though Mimi knew this would happen, told her so, tried so hard to prevent it, she can’t help but feel sorry for Shoshana, cornered and confronted by two of her best friends.

“It’s not about knowing or not knowing,” Ella says. Her tone is deceptively calm. “It’s that you put us in such an uncomfortable position. I mean, we’re friends, we’re best friends. And now we look like idiots, convinced that Dina’s getting married soon when the whole world, apparently, already knows that the engagement was broken off. A week ago!”

Tzippy taps Ella on the arm, stopping the tirade. “It’s not… it’s not like we don’t care, or that it’s about us. But we’re hurt. Why couldn’t you trust us? Aren’t we friends? Didn’t you think this could happen, didn’t you realize it would be worse this way?”

Tears pool in the corners of Shoshana’s eyes, trail slowly down her cheeks. She doesn’t seem to notice.

“Guys,” Mimi says. Her voice sounds rough and hoarse, like she hasn’t used it in a while. “Guys…”

Three pairs of eyes fix themselves on hers. She has no idea what to say.

“Let’s not do this,” she says, finally. “Let’s not fight over… this. What happened, happened. Let’s just move on.”

“Let’s just move on,” Ella repeats, a thread of mockery in her words. “Oh, it’s easy for you to say. You knew all along.”

“Ella, stop.” Tzippy shakes her head. For a moment, Mimi is relieved — Tzippy’s the sane one, the one who holds them together, Tzippy will work things out. But then Tzippy — the reliable, the dependable, the nice one — turns to Mimi, and her face is set. “Listen, Mimi, I know you mean well, but — it’s not so simple. Not everything can just be glossed over and erased because it’s more comfortable not to talk about it.”

A flush of heat creeps up Mimi’s face, her ears. The words sound so accusing… so defining. Is that who she is, what she does? It makes her sound like…

Like…

Enough. Stop thinking, stop wallowing.

Move on.

“They met Dina,” Shoshana says suddenly, hollowly. Her eyes are glued to her shoes. “They met Dina and were asking her about… the wedding. It was… uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable?” Ella’s voice rises to a shriek. “It wasn’t uncomfortable, it was mortifying! Like here we are! Shoshana’s best friends! Going up to our best friend’s sister who we know from like kindergarten, and chatting about nonexistent wedding plans like utter fools—”

“It wasn’t fair to us, and it wasn’t fair to her,” Tzippy says firmly. “You know she ran out of the store in tears, and we had no idea why…”

“I know this, okay?” Shoshana chokes back her own tears. “You think I didn’t hear the story from her? From my mother? You think this is easy for me? You think I did it on purpose?”

“We think you could have prevented many people from getting hurt, if you would’ve just thought a little,” Tzippy says, almost in a whisper.

Mimi’s breath catches. Shoshana looks stricken.

The bell rings. Once, twice. The hallways fall silent.

But the four of them just stand there, locked in place, frozen in time.

To be continued…

(Originally featured in Mishpacha Jr., Issue 904)