Waiting to Exhale

Valerie’s POV

Finally I heard Layla pick up her phone.

“Hello?” she said breathlessly.

“hey, Lays, it’s me, Valerie.”

“Oh, hi!” Did she just stifle a giggle? I felt a stab to my heart. Suddenly I heard a muffled voice in the background and Layla tried to suppress her laughter but to no avail.

“Lay, who’s there?” I ask cautiously.

“No one!” she answers while laughing hysterically. I heard her say something in the background, “Mikey, SHUSH!”

“Mikey?” a pause followed.

“Umm…” was Layla’s brilliant answer. Great. My two best friends, alone together, without me, doing god knows what. My day just couldn’t get any better, could it?

“You know what? You’re obviously busy right now. I’ll call back later.” I waited for a moment for her to protest and tell me to stay on the line but I heard only silence. With a resigned sigh, I slammed the phone down and collapsed onto my bed in tears for the second time in less than 24 hours.

Layla’s POV

I heard Valerie talking as I punched Mikey for making himself known.

“Pardon?” I asked quickly. No answer. She had hung up. I put the phone down gently in shock. Whenever Val and I got into a fight, I was the one of anger, the one who hung up after the first biting remark. This wasn’t like Valerie; she was the peace keeper, the golden girl. I sighed and brought my attention back to the dark-haired boy sitting in front of me. He smiled uneasily.

“What happened?” he asked.

“She heard you,” I reply back and trudge into the kitchen with Mikey on my heels.

“Oh? It wasn’t too bad then, was it?” I ponder that for a minute and decide that she probably turned off the phone accidentally. That was Valerie; not the girl who hung up on her best friend. I figured she would call back in a few minutes once she realized that the phone was off.
“No, it wasn’t.” Mikey smiled mischievously.

“Now where were we?”

Valerie’s POV

I was greeted by whispers as I entered classrooms the next day at school. Stares followed me; not the usual admiring or envying ones, but ones filled with pity (most) and some filled with triumph at the fall of my power. But I kept my head high, looking coldly at the few that dared to meet my gaze. At lunch, however, the bathroom stall second from the door was filled with sounds of sniffling and suppressed sobs. It hurt to be treated this differently. I also hadn’t seen Mikey or Layla all day. Well, that wasn’t true. I HAD seen them – together. They were sitting in the corner where we didn’t usually sit for lunch, feeding each other and giggling. It was sickening to watch them pay so little thought to someone other than themselves.
The next day was the same, with Layla and Mikey both ignoring me. Apparently, Layla was angry because I hadn’t called her back. Well, what about all those times YOU never called back?! I wanted to scream in her face. Mikey was no better; I thought that he would talk some sense into Layla but he was too smitten. For once in my entire 16 year old life, I didn’t have any friends. I spent my days crying in the bathrooms. I spent my nights lying under the covers, music blasting into my ears as I try to drown out my loneliness. Weeks passed and soon, it was Winter Break, though why it was called Winter Break (I am in San Diego), I do not know. Layla and Mikey and I…drifted apart. After that conversation on the phone where I had hung up, neither of us talked until we, suddenly it seemed, became strangers. I regretted my decision to hang up the phone for many nights after that.