Conflict

__** Conflict **__ "She's my friend!" Hollered Millie, tugging my arm firmly towards her, as a yelp of pain escaped from me. "No, she's my friend, don't you agree, Julie?" Growled Vicki, yanking my other arm back, causing my body to be jerked towards her. I groaned inwardly, sorry that I'd ever gotten myself into this human tug-of-war in the first place. I remember how we used to be the best of friends. "The three roses" we called ourselves, spending any and all of our time together -- so much so that it was hard to find one of us without the other two, neigh inseparable. We always made up for each other's weaknesses, always gave each other support when one of us were down. It was the perfect friendship. That was, until Vicki started to get interested in fashion. She began to wear increasingly striking, bold clothes, flashy accessories, and the worst part – began to gossip incessantly. When I refused to partake in her conversations, she would simply wander off to mingle with the popular girls, where all manner of rumours abounded, whether it be about the latest celebrity, or the teacher from the class next door. Millie, on the other hand, turned into a bookworm, often holing herself up in the library and pouring entire afternoons over nothing but piles of books. She started extreme discussions on advanced scientific theories and mathematic modeling, leaving me lost in confusion, barely able to understand half of her speech. Recognising this, she simply turned up her nose at me, deeming me as inferior to her supposed high intellect, then striding off to join the more advanced group of students and leaving me alone with my thoughts. I spent the next few weeks either following one or the other, but eventually ending up having to amuse myself for majority of the time. Then, there came a day as to when I had to decide which friend to still maintain ties with, landing me in the situation that I was currently in. Another hard tug from Vicki brought me to my senses, almost physically being able to feel my arm bruising under her fingers. Mixed emotions raged through me, the blue sense of disappointment in such behaviour, the dark purple streak of pain coming from my arms, but above all, the red flash of anger threatening to burst out any second. “Enough is enough!" I snapped, tearing my arms away from their death grip. Once I had regained possession of my limbs, I grabbed both their wrists and dragged them to a corner of the school where we would make less of a scene. "What’s the matter with you two? What has become of our friendship?" Arms crossed over my chest and foot tapping against the tiled floor, I glared at the two, expecting an answer.   “Well, Vicki started it first! All that nonsense about being thoroughly modern!” Snorted Millie, head raised high, as if the very idea of being fashionable was beneath her.    “What about you! You, with your string theory and ‘The Mind of god’ and other rubbish!” Vicki rebuked, pointing an accusing finger at Millie. “Don’t you Dare call Einstein’s theories rubbish! He’s a genius, and what are you? An…an airhead!” snarled Millie adamantly. Then, all of a sudden, Vicki turned to me, with an unpleasant scowl on her face. “It’s you! It’s your fault for being indecisive, and two-timing! So who would you rather have as your friend? Huh?”    That comment hurt more than their initial bickering. I looked back and forth between the two faces, both equally undesirable. “Neither. The friends that I know wouldn’t make me choose.” Turning my back on them, I walked away, and never once looked back. A week later, I sat at a canteen table, pushing the peas around my plate with a fork. It felt entirely unnatural to be eating without friends. I had grown so used to having Millie and Vicki for company that I did not know what to do when I was left alone. I felt a thump beside me on the bench, but I did not bother to look up. “Hey… about last week, I’m sorry. I was the two-timing one, not you.” It was Vicki. I said nothing in response, spearing a lone pea with my fork instead. Another thump beside me and Millie’s voice became evident, “Yeah, Julie. I shouldn’t have just left you like that. We were silly for not recognizing what we had all along. Would you forgive us?” I remained silent, for a minute more, dividing the scoop of mashed potato into smaller portions. The tension hung in the air like tightwire, you could practically cut the atmosphere with a butter knife. I dropped my fork with a clatter onto the table, reaching over their shoulders with my arms and pulling them inwards with a gentle hug. “Aww, you know I can never stay mad with you guys!”