Young Writers Society

September 25 • Wednesday

7:05 am

"Misunderstandings are some of the worst things that can happen. That's because it leaves multiple people feeling bad about themselves, not to mention angry at others, while there was nothing really there to fight about in the first place.

"Misunderstandings cause a whole slew of negative emotions- pain, sadness, rage, disappointment, guilt, and so on. And the only way to get rid of these is to do something that humans hate the most: admit that you were not right.

"-F-"

Finnley nervously turned down Mia's street, knowing what he had to tell her- after her behavior earlier, he wasn't sure how she might react. He hated the thought of her coldness, because it was the most un-Mia-like he had ever seen her.

He walked up to the doorbell with apprehension, but he heard footsteps immediately after he rang, which he took to be encouraging. Mia flung open the door and sighed when she saw Finnley. "Alright, alright, we need to talk," she said, holding the door further open. She gestured unenthusiastically for him to enter. She shut the door behind him and they went into the living room, where Finnley sat uncomfortably on the edge of an armchair while Mia sprawled on the couch, a mug of something warm in her hand.

"Look," Mia directed before Finnley could begin to explain himself, "I'm sorry about yesterday. I realize now that you don't know what you're getting into with Sylvie, and I know she can be very overwhelming and persuading. Sorry I didn't tell you more about that so you could have defended yourself against it."

Finnley sat back, baffled, blinking hard. "What? No, uh, I mean I guess I don't know about her," he replied, stumbling over his words. That hadn't at all been what he was expecting her to say. "No," he said again, but firmer, as he regained his footing in the situation. "No, look, you've got it all wrong. You see, she came up to me in class to ask me to homecoming, and I rejected her. I explained that I was going with you instead, and of course we aren't even really going. Sylvie stalked me the entire day, bringing her gang of people with her. Then I couldn't text you back because I was in class, and well... you see how that all adds up to give you a false impression." Finnley finished awkwardly and sat in silence, staring at the soft beige carpet.

There was no sound for a moment, and then Mia laughed shortly. "Ha! I'm such an idiot!"

Finnley just stared at her, dumbfounded. She explained further, "I wouldn't have believed it for a second if Sylvie had told me herself. But she's much smarter than I thought- she let people in your class see her flirting with you, and then told key, reliable people that you had agreed to go to homecoming with her. Then, when someone I trusted, who was not in with Sylvie's group, told me what she had seen and what had been said, I completely believed it!"

"So... we're good?" Finnley asked tentatively. Mia grinned and leapt up from the couch, setting her drink down heavily on the side table.

"Good? Well, Finnley, this changes everything! We can go back to normal now," she said, and twirled around a bit before hugging him.

"Hold up," Finnley commanded. He was glad that Mia had bounced back to normal as soon as she'd seen the misunderstanding, but there were still things he wanted to get straightened out before he was okay with everything. "Mia, did you see what happened with us yesterday? Misunderstandings or not, you went cold, and it was terrifying. You need to tell me about that, because I don't want it happening again."

He breathed in deep before plunging ahead. "And I know this isn't just over homecoming. We may have the plan, but it's more than that. There's a girl... Monica. She told me that you have a history with Sylvie, and I can only see things escalating and getting worse from here on out, so I think it's for the best that we talk about it."

Mia shook her hair out of its ponytail holder and ran her fingers through it before putting it up again. She sighed but stared dead on at Finnley. "Look. A long time ago, we used to be friends, best friends. I liked to mess around, still do, so we started prancing each other. It was fun, at first. A fake mouse in a lunchbox. A locker stuffed to the brim with notebook paper. But she and I couldn't stop outdoing each other- it was just the way we were. The whole thing escalated rather quickly, as you would imagine.

"One night, in the middle of winter, I snuck out and poured a bucket of water on her porch, her sidewalk, her driveway, everything. It was cold enough that it wouldn't take long to freeze. The next morning, her little brother ran out of the house, not seeing the ice. He broke his leg."

Mia swallowed hard and looked at her hands. Finnley had never seen her like this either, remorseful. His heart ached for her and her past decisions. "It... it wasn't as bad as it could've been. No one would fess up to our prank war, so it was her word against mine. Ultimately, there wasn't a clear culprit, so no one was blamed. That was when Sylvie began to hate me. That had been an accident, but she loved her little brother to death. More than that, as he was recovering, he was the source of most of her parents' arguments. Sylvie had nowhere to go when they fought- she no longer trusted me. They ended up splitting up- her parents, that is."

Suddenly, Mia was crying, wracked with silent sobs on the couch. Finnley was stunned, and the sight nearly made him want to cry himself. He had never needed to be the one to comfort her before. He hugged Mia tight. Friends went both ways.