When You're Among Friends

It wasn’t too many classes between lunch and the shopping trip for the girls. Courtney had noticed the snob girls had quit saying much of anything to the scholarship students, like herself. She had run into Dawn who had told her about what the rich kids were planning and that Rose and Kyle were planning something.

So, when she spotted Sam and Rose waiting for the shuttle she talked to them. It turned out their plan was to not exclude anyone, Rose was willing to pay for a catered breakfast Saturday morning, Juice/Coffee bar all day, and a dessert bar at the end of the barbecue. Sam and Courtney though said it was too much; they both understood it was Rose’s way of trying to help. Sam knew her well enough to know that she would sometimes go overboard when it came to helping people she considered friends. It wasn’t Rose trying to be better than anyone as much as having some insecurities and wanting to make things better. Growing up around people that would throw money at a problem to make it go away; did that to people. Sam pulled Courtney aside and explained this to her; Courtney wasn't particularly surprised by this. Neither blamed her but they did talk her down a bit.

So, the catered breakfast stayed, the coffee/juice bar nixed because there was a likelihood the coffee guy from the school would be there and a juice bar would be nearby; Rose wasn’t trying to take away business from anyone. The dessert bar stayed but morphed into more beach-friendly treats; like to build your own sundaes with a tone of toppings things that were really good and fun at the same time. Rose insisted that she didn’t take credit, alone, for any of that. So, the whole group would get credit. Kyle on the other hand was planning an impromptu concert, after the talent show, anyone who wanted to could perform. That would be easily done. The point was that while the rich kids were excluding anyone that wasn’t them; their plan wouldn’t exclude anyone. Everyone could have fun and everyone could be a part of it. Let the snobs play elite in their little group; more fun would be had by the many.

By the time all that was over the shuttle was arriving and Courtney shot a text to Conner to let him know what was going on because while she figured Kyle would fill in the guys; he wouldn’t know the update. Sam texted Heath to basically tell him she would text him later...all that couple kind of stuff.

Courtney spotted Melissa getting on the shuttle and took the advantage to sit next to Mel when she realized the girl was sitting more towards the back, a few seats away from people, and sat by her.
Melissa’s day had gone as suspected. Doug had walked her to every class; she was glad that they had no classes together and she had been able to talk to Dawn in cooking.

When she had gotten changed into what she was going to wear on the shopping trip; which was casual clothing, uniforms not required. She picked out something with long sleeves. As suspected, her wrist had bruises on it and she knew she had to cover those. It was probably about 70 degrees and so not too warm that long sleeves looked suspicious. When she down she rubbed her wrist but quickly stopped when she saw Courtney approach and ask if she could sit there. Sure, no problem at all. Melissa could only hope.

Courtney didn’t think anything of the long sleeves, as some of the other girls were wearing similar things. However, she hadn’t missed Melissa rubbing her wrist. “So, are you going to be buying anything or just looking?” Courtney asked Melissa.

“Buying,” Melissa answered. “I want to get a new swimsuit or two.” It was more that Doug had told her too but she wouldn’t say that.

Courtney took a breath and saw Melissa’s sleeve ride up a little, enough that part of the bruise was visible. Mel quickly pushed it back down. Courtney looked Mel directly in the eyes but the other girl couldn’t return the same thing and look down. Courtney got quiet and said in a hushed tone. “I won’t ask you if Doug did that because I’m pretty sure you won’t tell me,”

Mel said nothing and Courtney continued. “I don’t know exactly what is going on between the two of you but I can tell it’s not good.” She had a sinking feeling it might be worse than she even suspected. “Look, I want to show you something.” She pulled out her cell and did a quick Google search. “I found this app last year when I was doing a report for a class. It’s an app that looks like a calculator but when you press in a code it will send a message to whoever you program in to get it.”

Melissa looked up and then at Courtney’s phone. “I don’t …”

“You can’t expect me to believe you don’t need it,” Courtney responded. “Just put it on your phone, if you don’t need it then don’t use it. But if you do, then it’s there.”

“Whose number would I even put in there?” Melissa honestly asked.

“Mine.” You can add more later if you want.

Melissa nodded and downloaded the app; putting Courtney’s number in it and getting it set up. It didn’t take long and then Courtney said. “I think you could get other numbers if you wanted, but that can wait. Courtney then added. “You can call me anytime, just remember that.”

Melissa felt a little like crying but didn’t she instead just said. “Thanks.”

The rest of the trip they talked about the beach party and a few other things and before they both knew it the shuttle was pulling into the parking lot of the shopping center. It was then off the shuttle and on to the stores.