Chapter Text
She had never meant for things to get that out of hand. Before everything started, Joy had never even meant to have anything to do with Nina, period.
She was kidding herself if she thought that was possible. Whether she liked it or not, they were linked. They had the same birthday, shared the same cosmic destiny, even loved the same boy. Their paths were destined to clash, or cross at the least.
It all started with just one alcohol-induced question.
Anubis was invited to a party at Hathor House. The second Jerome got there, he did what he does best and spiked the punch bowl. His ability to obtain and distribute alcohol was one of the only reasons Anubis was invited anywhere.
Joy stood beside Mara while she interrogated Jerome about what kind of alcohol was in the punch. Her interrogation was futile though, because Jerome was busy taking bets on how many chicken nuggets Alfie could fit in his mouth.
“8? I am insulted on Alfie’s behalf,” Jerome scoffed at a kid named Louis from Hathor. Alfie shook his head in disgust. “C’mon who has a real bet?”
Eddie shouted, “15!”
“Yes!” Jerome said. “There’s a good man.”
Mara turned to Joy. “Well, I’m certainly not drinking mystery punch,” she groaned. She threw her cup in the bin. “I’m going to find Patricia, want to come with?”
“I’ll catch up,” said Joy. Mara wandered off into the depths of the party.
Once she was gone, Joy poured herself a cup of Jerome’s punch. She couldn’t bring herself to care about what was in it. She had stuff to get off her mind, and she knew it would do the trick. She tossed it back.
Unfortunately for her, the “stuff” she wanted to get off her mind entered the room carrying a plate of snacks. Joy watched him cross to the makeshift living room dance floor without paying her a glance.
It had been three weeks since Fabian and Nina had broken up, and still he wasn’t interested. Joy had assumed that if they had ever broken up again in earnest, he would finally consider her. After all, hadn’t that been his excuse all along, that he was still in love with Nina?
But here Nina and Fabian were, truly broken up, and for the first time truly just friends, and Fabian didn’t seem to want anything more with Joy than what he already had: friendship.
Her heart had broken so many times for Fabian that now any rejection from him just added to the dull ache in her chest. She didn’t know how to cope. This time, she wasn’t able to use his feelings for Nina to excuse his lack of feelings for her.
Joy poured herself another cup of punch and scanned the party for the girl in question. She spotted her with Amber in the mix of people on the dance floor. Joy hadn’t realized how much she would miss seeing Nina as the source of all her problems. It was so easy to blame it all on her. Now, though, Nina was just her housemate that she sometimes found kind of irritating.
After the night in the library, the end of the exhibition, and a long summer holiday, things hadn’t changed with Nina. Joy had some of her life back: her friends, her normal social life, but she never got Fabian back in the way she wanted. She also never made an effort to reconcile things with Nina. Mostly they avoided each other.
It seemed like the best course of action for both of them. Joy had too much to worry about and stress over as it was, and Nina was notorious for bringing trouble wherever she went. Joy didn’t need that. She tried to keep their worlds separate.
Joy sipped her drink and found herself zoning out while watching Nina sway with Amber. “Dreams” by Fleetwood Mac came on and Nina’s face lit up.
Joy huffed. She really was pretty, even though she hated to admit it. Even now, Joy saw a few of the Hathor and Isis kids checking her out while she danced with Amber.
She could understand her appeal. She was a total girl-next-door type — soft green eyes and a nice smile. And of course there was her hair.
She did a spin during the chorus of the song and her long hair fanned out and then fell around her shoulders. Joy reprimanded herself for staring. She sipped her drink and looked away, but she couldn’t help but look back. Staring at her hair reminded Joy of something from a long time ago.
Back in her early days at Anubis, Joy earned a reputation for braiding. She was by far the most skilled braider in their entire year; she could do anything. She used to braid Patricia’s hair every morning. Of course, every afternoon Patricia would then ruin her work at football practice, but Joy never minded.
Their little ritual ended when Patricia decided to “go punk”. (“Punk girls don’t wear crown braids, Joy,” Patricia had said.) Joy missed it though. Since then, no one had asked her to braid their hair again.
But now Joy was standing alone at a party — tipsy and desperate to get rid of her loneliness — thinking about how Nina Martin had the best hair for braiding she had ever seen.
“Dreams” ended. Nina looked bummed that the song was over. Joy, despite her hurt feelings and her jealousy and her vow to never get involved with Nina Martin again, downed the rest of her drink and walked over.
“Nina,” Joy said over the noise of the new song. Nina looked her way. “Can I braid your hair?”
Nina stared at her, dumbfounded. “What?”
Joy’s brain broke through the haze of alcohol and suddenly she realized how insane she must have sounded. She wondered if she should blow the whole thing off as a weird, alcohol-induced joke. But instead she asked again, “Can I braid your hair?”
There was suspicion in Nina’s eyes, but then she said something equally as crazy: “Okay.”
￮ ￮ ￮
Joy was able to mostly ignore the weird stares from her housemates at the sight of her and Nina sitting together. She concentrated on the braiding.
Most of their friends probably assumed they were just drunk enough for this situation to happen, which wasn’t entirely wrong. Joy was certainly tipsy, and considering how much Nina was laughing while chatting with Amber about Amber’s new obsession with Sailor Moon, Nina was too.
Joy had forgotten how much she loved doing hair. She felt a satisfying scratch to the part of her brain dedicated to braiding. She hadn’t lost her touch, in fact she found it easier than ever.
Back when she used to braid Patricia’s hair, Joy could hardly get her to sit still, probably because Patricia was an antsy 12-year-old who played for the boys’ football team. Nina, however, sat still easily. She even moved her head according to Joy’s directions.
Surprisingly, Nina was the perfect braiding candidate. She had really nice colors in her hair, and it was thick and moveable and easy to twist.
She decided to do two simple Dutch braids, but Joy saw the potential. She could do crown braids, waterfalls, fishtails — anything.
But her heart dropped when she finished the end of the second braid. This was a fluke, brought to fruition only by alcohol and an extremely casual party environment. Nevertheless, she enjoyed it. And it would never happen again.
Nina gave her the hair tie from her wrist and Joy tied off the end of the braid. “All done,” Joy sighed. Suddenly she was exhausted.
Nina turned so she faced both her and Amber. She smiled at Joy. Joy couldn’t remember the last time that had happened. “How do I look?” she asked.
Cute, Joy thought, but Amber was the one who actually said it out loud.
“Wait, it just needs…” Joy reached out and gently tugged a piece of hair out to frame her face. Amber did the same on the other side.
When they were done fussing with her, Nina asked, “Okay now how do I look?”
“Hot,” joked Amber. Nina snorted.
“I guess I’ve still got it,” said Joy. She really did; Nina’s hair looked beautiful in Dutch braids.
“Thanks Joy,” said Nina. She still looked a little confused, but also happy. “This was weird.”
Joy nodded. “Thanks for indulging me,” she said. She got up to find Patricia
She disappeared into the mess of people on the dance floor. The encounter faded away slightly, masked by the overwhelming feeling of having people bumping into her and the punch fully hitting her bloodstream.
Later in the night, Joy spotted Nina on the dance floor, braids still intact.
Joy felt a sense of freedom; she didn’t find herself searching for Fabian in the crowd as much as before. She danced with Mara and managed to pull Patricia off the wall.
Weirdly, she found her gaze kept landing on Nina. She wanted to know if she had messed up her hard work yet. But every time Joy looked, she hadn’t.
The next morning, Joy was exhausted, dehydrated, and irritated that there was a queue for the shower. She trudged downstairs so she could at least have breakfast while she waited her turn.
Alfie, Jerome and Fabian were seated at the table.
“I can’t believe you shoved 21 chicken nuggets in your mouth,” Fabian was saying. He imagined it with a repulsed expression.
“I can’t believe I was one nugget off,” Jerome said bitterly. “Lost all that money to that weirdo from Hathor with the nose piercing.”
“I tried dude,” said Alfie. “22 was one too many. Plus that last batch was hot from the oven; they burned my mouth.”
Joy sat down at the table without saying anything, hoping she would be spared from having to join this conversation. Unfortunately, Jerome turned on her.
“I believe we all witnessed a new level of the Mercer Drunkenness Scale last night,” he said.
She was too tired for his bullshit. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Well I’m assuming it would take at least four drinks for you to voluntarily offer to braid Nina’s hair,” he explained. Alfie nodded.
Oh right, she thought. She had forgotten she’d even done that. Maybe she had been drunker than she thought.
She was about to write the whole thing off with some excuse about being wanting a dumb party anecdote, but then Fabian turned his attention to her.
“I think it’s great! Are you guys friends now?” asked Fabian with a genuine smile.
Her first instinct was to burst out laughing. Oh, you mean the girl who practically killed me last year? Yeah, we’re really close.
But then she caught a look at his face. There was a hopeful gleam in his eyes. He wanted them to be friends. For the first time, Joy realized that she and Nina were once again in the same exact position with Fabian. Whether she liked it or not, they were both his past romantic interests to varying degrees, and he was trying painfully hard to keep both of them as friends.
Would saying ‘yes’ finally bridge that gap? Would being friends with Nina change how he saw her? The way he was looking at her told her it would.
Joy faked a smile. “I guess you could say we’re cool now,” she said. “The past is the past, right?”
Fabian beamed. He looked sort of shocked, but in a good way. “Wow, that’s really big of you,” he said. She liked the way he was looking at her. It was refreshing. “I’m proud of you.”
Joy smiled for real, her heart fluttering.
“Give it an hour,” said Jerome cynically.
￮ ￮ ￮
When it was finally her turn for the bathroom, Joy headed upstairs and grabbed her shower stuff, riding the high of a great conversation with Fabian over breakfast. A tiny voice in the back of her head berated her for lying, but she shut that down quickly.
She just hoped she wouldn’t run into Nina in public anytime soon. Unfortunately as Joy left her room, she saw Nina speed walk into the bathroom.
She said, “Sorry, sorry, I’ll literally be one second!” But Joy wasn’t thinking about the possibility of Nina stealing her shower time, instead she was thinking about what she said to Fabian. The past is the past, right?
The past wasn’t the past, not for her and Nina. Too much had happened. Jealousy, frustration, bad blood — it all lingered.
Joy stood outside the bathroom door. When Nina came back out seconds later Joy expected the usual sour taste in her mouth. She was caught off guard when she saw Nina carefully unraveling the braids in her hair.
“All yours,” said Nina. She half-grinned at Joy and then walked away to go downstairs.
Maybe it was because she was super tired, but Joy stood frozen for a moment, entirely zoned out. The only thought she had was the fake declaration she’d made to Fabian, and the only image in her brain was fingers weaving between sandy brown hair.
Meanwhile, Nina made her way to the kitchen.
Somehow she had ended up with study plans with Fabian. She was fuzzy on the details, but she thought it started with Amber begging her to help her write her history paper. Then Fabian volunteered to help with research. By the time Saturday rolled around, Amber had dropped out of the plans all together, and Nina wound up with a one-on-one study session with Fabian.
She was hoping he would be too tired from the party to get work done, but she knew that was a long shot. Fabian never drank at parties, specifically because he didn’t trust Jerome’s methods of obtaining alcohol.
Nina entered the kitchen and went right for the coffee pot. She saw Fabian, Alfie, and Jerome at the table. Fabian didn’t spot her right away, but it was only a matter of time.
She was midway through making coffee when he said, “Nina, hey.” He got up and leaned on the counter between the dining room and kitchen. “Are we still good to study in a bit?”
She couldn’t think of a reason why not. “Yeah, uh, totally,” she said.
“My room, your room?”
“Uh, let’s do the common room. I think Amber is planning on sleeping till 3.”
“Works for me,” Fabian said. He went to his room to get his stuff.
Nina took a long sip of coffee. There wasn’t any reason she should feel the need to limit their interactions to public spaces. Things weren't weird between them.
“Things hadn’t worked out, we’re better as friends,” she kept saying to everyone. That stuff was actually true this time around, so why was it so weird for her to actually be friends with him?
It wasn’t because she still had heavy romantic feelings for him — she checked.
Fabian walked into the living room and sat down, leaving space for her on the couch.
She felt a pang in her chest. It wasn’t heartbreak or resentment. It was okay that they had moved on, honestly. But she was sad it didn’t work out. She really thought it would work out.
She took a deep breath and another long sip of coffee. There was still a bright side: she still had a friend, one who gladly chose to study with her on a Saturday when he didn’t have to. The same friend that willingly faced psycho maniacs and bottomless pits for her. After everything, she didn’t lose him. For that reason, she figured she could tough it out and study like nothing was wrong.
￮ ￮ ￮
“Y’know, I appreciate how much easier it is to research Bastille Day rather than some obscure dead Egyptian alphabet no one’s ever heard of,” Fabian joked about 20 minutes into their studying.
“No kidding,” said Nina. “I am kinda missing that feeling of wanting to tear my hair out, though. Gave life a little edge.”
“You bored without it?” he asked, looking at her like he already knew the answer.
She scoffed. “Please, with the people who live in this house?”
Fabian leaned toward her. “Speaking of: what was up with you and Joy last night?” He raised his eyebrows at her.
She had been hoping he wouldn’t bring that up. What was up with Joy last night? For the life of her she couldn’t figure it out. Joy didn’t even like sitting next to her, and then out of nowhere she asks if she can braid her hair? It was easily one of the most bizarre things that had happened to her at Anubis, and she’d seen ghosts.
She could tell Fabian was really invested in the answer, but she didn’t have one.
“Hell if I know,” she said. “I can’t speak for Joy, but I had some of Jerome’s punch if that explains anything.” That was partially true. Mostly, she just didn’t have a reason to say no to Joy. Also, it’d been forever since someone braided her hair and she missed the feeling. It was therapeutic.
For some reason, Fabian looked disappointed. Maybe he was really looking forward to the possibility of them burying the hatchet? If she was being honest, she couldn’t see that happening anytime soon. If there was one thing she had in common with Joy (in addition to their birthdays and romantic interests and all the other stuff) it was how strong-headed they both were.
“I could see us putting things in the past though,” she said, purely to ease Fabian’s mind.
Fabian grinned. Thankfully, after that he dropped it. Nina couldn’t though, now that she was thinking about it.
She racked her brain and couldn’t think of a single reason for Joy to offer to braid her hair. Then again, she couldn’t think of a single reason why she would accept the offer, and yet she did.
If there was one thing she knew about herself, it was that she did not attract friendly energy from Joy Mercer.
The rest of the weekend was strange. At dinner on Saturday, Joy was friendly. She said hi, she smiled, she laughed at something Nina said. It was freaking Nina out.
It was freaking other people out too. After dinner, Amber pulled Nina aside and whispered, “This is so weird! What is up with her?”
Nina shrugged. “I guess we’re friends now?” To that, Amber burst out laughing.
At the very least, that confirmed that Nina wasn’t the only one who thought Joy’s new behavior was odd. On Monday, she devised a plan to get to the bottom of it.
In the morning before school, Nina waited until Patricia and Mara both went downstairs for breakfast. She wanted to wait until Joy was alone, in case this ended up being ridiculously awkward.
She took a deep breath and knocked on Joy’s door. “Come in,” Joy shouted.
Nina opened the door. Joy was on her bed, packing her notebooks into her bag. Joy froze when she entered. She looked at her warily, the way she might look at a wild animal entering a place it’s not supposed to be. Nina could tell “what are you doing here?” was on the tip of her tongue.
“Hi?” said Joy.
“Hey,” said Nina. She tucked her hands into the pockets of her blazer. “Um, this is kind of a weird question… Would you be able to braid my hair again? The way you did it looked really good at the party.”
Her question hung in the air. This was all part of her plan to suss out Joy’s new attitude toward her. If Joy turned her away with a repulsed look, then Nina could move on with her life knowing that everything was back to normal. But if she said yes, Nina wouldn’t know what to think. Purely for clarity’s sake, she kind of wished Joy would just kick her out.
What she didn’t realize was that Joy was having her own crisis about the situation. She didn’t think her new attitude toward Nina would lead to this. In hindsight, she probably should have assumed that being friendly towards her might result in Nina thinking they were friends.
There was another problem though: she wanted to braid her hair. She missed the reputation she used to have years ago as the best braider in school. Plus, Nina’s hair was fun to style.
Maybe there was merit to continuing her little charade. It wasn’t hurting anyone after all. In fact, it was doing the opposite. If she was being honest, always being passive aggressive toward Nina was exhausting. As long as they didn’t get too close, Joy didn’t see a downside to being a casual acquaintance. And if that made Fabian like her more…
“Okay,” Joy said.
Nina entered the dining room 15 minutes later with beautifully done French braids. She sat down in her usual spot and went on with her morning. Joy, however, escaped to the kitchen, feeling antsy. It was only a matter of time before her housemates realized that Joy was the one who had done Nina’s hair.
Maybe she was overreacting. There was no reason this had to be a big deal, and she decided she would act as such.
“Nina, your hair looks so pretty,” Mara gushed.
Nina smiled. “Thanks, Joy did it.”
Sweet lord, Joy thought. Nearly everyone at the table turned to look at her. She seriously wanted to flip Nina off.
Jerome looked at Joy with the face he always made before he started shit. “So the rumors are true then, you two are really friends?” he said.
This was a delicate situation. On one hand, Nina was looking at her with the most confusing expression she’d ever seen, like a cross between daring Joy to say “yes” and hoping she would say “no.”
On the other hand, Joy had her charade to keep up with Fabian, who looked very hopeful.
And somehow on a third hand was everyone else who was purely baffled by the situation.
Joy chose the easiest option. “Aw Jerome, if you’re jealous I can do your hair too,” said Joy. “It’s certainly long enough.”
It was an easy diversion considering how much everyone loved to rag on Jerome’s hair. Joy sat down at her spot and laughed as Eddie compared Jerome’s hair to a seagull's nest.
She felt proud of herself. She could have started more drama or tossed hurtful comments at Nina, but she didn’t. A new leaf had been turned over, and Joy was a mature, evolved person.
“Alright, spill,” Patricia said to Joy as they walked to school later that morning. “Why are you all of a sudden all about braiding Nina’s hair?”
Joy huffed. “There’s no reason. She asked if I would braid it again, and I said yes. It’s as simple as that. And it’s not going to become a habit.”
Patricia opened a stick of gum and popped it in her mouth. She instinctively offered a piece to Joy. Joy eyed Patricia’s little accent braid in her hair. Joy guessed she had learned to braid it herself recently.
“I just think it’s weird,” said Patricia. “I mean, last week you hated her.”
“I didn’t hate her,” Joy said. Did it seem like she hated Nina? She had never meant to be that extreme. A strong dislike was all she had intended. “You don’t think I’m a big enough person that I could get over whatever disagreements we’ve had in the past?"
“I guess,” said Patricia. She tossed up her hands. “Fine, if you say you’re over it, then I believe you.”
“Thank you,” said Joy. She hoped she would drop it.
“Remember when you used to braid my hair?” Patricia said.
Joy smiled. Of course she did. “Yeah, before you went punk to piss off your parents,” she joked.
“I did that for the lifestyle,” Patricia said defensively. Joy knew she was lying.
That all felt so long ago. Five years ago they were just kids. She remembered Patricia’s perpetually scraped knees and her own horrible blunt haircut.
Back then, before Patricia discovered box hair dye, her hair was dark brown. She used to let Joy do all sorts of intricate braids on her head, and she barely complained when Joy begged her to get up earlier so she could try out something new.
Joy would sit on her bed and Patricia would sit on the floor. They talked about everything: family, annoying boys, sports, and romance — especially romance. Joy’s idealized desire for love was the most frequent topic of their conversations. It drove Patricia insane, but she humored her regardless.
Back then, even Fabian wasn’t on Joy’s radar. She didn’t know what her ideal romantic interest might be like. She only knew that she wanted them to be loyal, good at conversation, and wildly attractive. She wanted someone who could be her best friend. Like Patricia.
“I miss it sometimes,” Patricia said, bringing Joy abruptly back to the present.
Patricia looked Joy in the eyes. Joy felt the instinct to look away, to stare instead at the groundsman watering the grass in front of the school, or the flowers on the trees, but she didn’t.
She could tell they were thinking about the same thing – that morning, the one they avoided talking about.
As years went by, it became harder to find a way to bring it up. But Joy remembered, and she knew Patricia remembered. Sometimes it felt like every heavy conversation they had danced around the memory of that morning.
Now they were older. Patricia had Eddie, and she was in love even if she could barely admit it. Meanwhile, Joy had perspective, self-confidence, and a dying crush on her other best friend from childhood.
“I miss it too, sometimes,” said Joy. “Especially since you turning punk barely even pissed off your parents.”
“I should’ve gotten a nose piercing,” said Patricia regretfully. She walked ahead. Joy watched her for a moment before catching up. Her memories faded away to the back of her mind where they belonged.
Joy went about her day as normal as she could considering how weird things were shaping up to be. She meant what she said to Patricia: braiding Nina’s hair again was a one-time thing, a simple gesture, like an olive branch. But then something weird happened.
In history class, Nina and Amber sat down in the row behind Joy. The second they took their seats, a girl from Isis House gasped. “Oh my god, I love your hair,” Joy heard.
“Thanks! Joy did it,” Nina responded.
Joy groaned. She turned around, prepared to tell Nina to stop saying that, but then the girl from Isis said to Joy, “Wait, weren’t you the one who used to be really good at braiding? I used to wish I could do my hair like that!”
Joy felt a blush creep over her face, and then the rush of pride. She smiled modestly. “I suppose I kind of had a reputation back then,” she said. “I’m a little out of practice though.”
The girl from Isis shook her head. “No way,” she said, eyeing the back of Nina’s head, “it’s literally perfect.”
This was weird. This was so, so weird. But she kind of loved it. Call her a glutton for praise, but Joy felt great.
As the day went on, whenever Joy was around Nina she heard girls complimenting her hair. It made sense; Nina was one of those girls who chose one hairstyle and stuck with it for the rest of time. The compliments were still appreciated.
The crazy part was that it was just simple French braids. Sure, they were beautifully done, but that was nothing compared to what she could do. Last summer, she saw a super dreamy production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream where all the hairstyles were filled with complicated braids and flowers and ribbon. She could crush the hell out of that if she wanted to. The potential was insane.
In the last class of the day, Joy sat behind Nina, musing over the possibilities. So far she could only see big pros and tiny cons. On the pros side was the return of her braiding expert reputation and maybe even a closer relationship with Fabian, and that was enough for her.
The final bell rang, and everyone rushed out. Joy spotted Nina alone by her locker. She took a deep breath.
“Nina,” she said, catching her attention. She walked up to her. “I have a proposition for you.”
Nina looked skeptical already, but Joy noticed her face was softer than it usually was.
“Let me braid your hair again,” Joy said.
“I feel like that’s more of a request than a proposition…”
“Just say yes,” Joy huffed. “I have some ideas.”
Nina stared her down, definitely trying to suss out her intentions. “All those compliments really got to you huh?” she said. Joy rolled her eyes. Even though she was right, she did not have the right to say it.
“Say yes, will you, so we can end this conversation?”
Nina nodded. “Okay, fine,” she said. She closed her locker and added, “I like compliments too.”
“Well I guess we agree on something then,” Joy said.
Nina smiled at her, one of multiple smiles Joy had gotten from her in the last few days. It must have been some kind of record.
Joy headed back to the house. It was a very weird day, but at least she had a new braiding muse.
When Nina showed up to Joy’s room the next morning, she didn’t know what to expect. The morning before had been kind of awkward. They really didn’t have that much to talk about.
She knocked on her door anyway, knowing she had faced much worse than awkward conversation with Joy Mercer.
“Hey,” she said, setting her bag down by the door. “So, what do you have in mind?”
Joy held up a hand to silence her. “Nope — no questions. Just sit there and trust my process.”
Nina rolled her eyes. “Sounds dangerous,” she said. Regardless, she sat down where instructed and Joy went to work.
Before this week, Nina had never really spent time in this room. Most of their Sibuna meetings happened in her own room, and they tried to keep their distance from the bedrooms of anyone not in the loop. Sitting against Joy’s bed gave her ample time to really look around.
The yellow floral wallpaper was really cute. She liked it more than her own room, which could feel a little dark at times with all the purples and reds. Joy’s part of the room was definitely the most chaotic, especially compared to Mara’s neat, organized bed. She couldn’t imagine keeping all of that straight and put together all the time. Her own room was more like Joy’s: random stuff thrown around in organized chaos.
Nina spotted a pile of DVDs mixed in with Joy’s textbooks on the desk. She knew Joy was a fiend for rom-coms but didn’t realize how much. She had all the classics. Nina skimmed the titles for one that she knew. It didn’t take long.
“You have The Holiday on DVD?” she said. “I love that movie. Gran and I always watch it when it comes on at Christmas.”
“Really?” Joy asked, sounding kind of shocked. “That’s actually my favorite.”
“It’s really good,” said Nina, excited that they actually had something in common. “But I still don’t totally buy the Jack Black-Kate Winslet relationship.”
“What?” Joy said, scandalized.
“Come on, it’s like those movies where the hottest woman alive falls for, like, Adam Sandler in basketball shorts just cause he’s in the room and barely funny.” For the life of her she couldn’t understand it.
Joy was silent, which Nina accepted as the definitive end to their friendship that was barely a friendship. But then Joy said begrudgingly, “Okay, I kinda think that too.”
“Right?!”
“I always thought it was just a little weird!” Joy said. “And not ‘cause Jack Black doesn’t deserve to be happy , but like, if a woman ever looked like him or Adam Sandler, she would be an outcast, not Ryan Gosling’s love interest.”
“Literally,” Nina said. “I mean, Jack Black is charming. But so is Kate Winslet’s character. And she’s beautiful and successful and funny.”
“You know what movie is evenly matched?” Joy said.
“Titanic,” they said at the same time.
Nina laughed. “Ugh, I hate that we just did that, but also relieved you have good taste,” she said. Joy laughed.
“Same.”
They got on so surprisingly well that Nina came to Joy’s room almost every morning that week so Joy could braid her hair. Joy found that she really didn’t mind the company all that much.
They also had a lot in common. They both unironically loved Mamma Mia!, they both liked One Direction more for their personalities than for their music, and they both despised being called paranoid.
“I feel like I have a right to be paranoid. I was kidnapped!” said Joy on Wednesday morning.
“Exactly, that’s what I’m saying. You know, Fabian used to say I was being paranoid, but obviously I wasn’t. Rufus was a psychopath, Victor was lowkey evil, I did get locked in a shed,” said Nina.
Joy nodded. “I’m on your side. Everyone was always asking me ‘Joy, why are you so hostile to Nina? What has she ever done to you?’ and I was like, ‘I feel like she’s going to almost kill me someday.’”
Nina burst out laughing. “Sorry,” she gasped between laughter, “it’s not funny, I actually did almost kill you.”
“It is sort of funny,” said Joy, giggling.
For Joy, one perk of this new ritual was that Nina started helping her with her homework. Joy figured it was just a nice gesture to repay her for all the braiding, but she also had a suspicion that Nina was just annoyed that Joy was bad at geography.
One week into their strange, new friendship, Nina came to Joy’s locker in search of the notes she’d lent her for their French exam.
Joy dug around in her locker and finally found them. “You smudge your writing. You should consider using a pencil,” Joy said. “Or perhaps learning to write with your right hand like a functioning member of society.”
“Oh no, you don’t have to thank me for letting you mooch off my notes. Your company is thanks enough,” Nina said sarcastically.
Joy sighed. “Thank you…” she said begrudgingly. “Despite the incoherent penmanship, they were actually quite helpful.”
“Bold words for someone who writes like a 9-year-old boy,” Nina said.
Joy shut her locker and squared up, ready for a fight.
Except this wasn’t fighting, she realized. This was banter. What the hell was going on? Nina wasn’t supposed to be funny. Outside of her regularly scheduled death-defying night activities, Nina was supposed to be bland. She was from Ohio.
“I wasn’t aware you even knew how to use sarcasm,” Joy said.
The jab just rolled off her back. “That reminds me, I’ve been dying to ask whose idea it was to name you Joy? Kinda ironic, no?”
Joy rolled her eyes. “Your originality is staggering,” she said. “I had a great-grandmother called Joyce. I’m named after her, not the emotion.”
Nina considered this.
Then Joy asked, “Whose genius idea was it to call you Nina, then?”
With a straight face and no warning she said, “My dead mom’s.”
Joy blanched. She didn’t know if she should laugh or beg for forgiveness on her knees. She felt an equal instinct to do both.
Luckily, Nina spared her. She grinned and said, “Sorry, I’ve been told not to ‘joke about my parents’ untimely deaths.’”
Joy smiled, relieved. “I thought it was funny,” she said honestly.
“My therapist did not,” Nina said. Joy snorted. Nina adjusted her bag back on her shoulder. “Guess you’re the exception not the rule, right?” she said.
“I guess so,” said Joy.
She left Joy alone at her locker, grinning to herself.
Back in her body, Joy cleared her throat and wiped the smile from her face. Now that she was alone, she had a moment of mental clarity. She was floored.
The only thing worse than the fact that she was now apparently having little banter exchanges with Nina Martin, was the realization that she wanted it to happen again.
On Friday of that week was an event every student in the school passionately hated: physical fitness exams. As it was, they barely had gym class, so every student who wasn’t in school sports was hanging on by a thread, praying to pass and get it over with.
Joy was absolutely wrecked with nerves. That morning she didn’t just do Nina’s hair, she asked every girl if she could do theirs too (well and Jerome, but he refused). It did wonders for soothing her stress, but it wasn’t enough.
The exams for strength and flexibility were fine, but what really scared Joy was the endurance test. It involved a long running course around the school and through the forest. The last time she took the exam, she failed hard. She really didn’t feel like doing that again.
By the time all the upper year girls lined up at the back of the school to start, Joy was a puddle of nerves. She felt like she might faint.
Patricia had done her best to give her confidence, but her advice fell flat. Despite her exit from the school football team, Patricia had remained pretty naturally athletic. Earlier she crushed the strength test so hard she started challenging the guys just for fun. Needless to say, her inspirational “you can do it Joy!” speech was ineffective.
She looked at her other friends to see if they were nervous. Mara looked like she was gearing up to run the Olympics 100 meter, which wasn’t surprising. An exam was an exam for her; she couldn’t be caught failing.
Even Amber looked normal. From their conversation when Joy was braiding her hair, it sounded like Amber could care less whether she passed or not, as long as she didn’t break too much of a sweat. She was basically unbothered.
The exception was Nina. She didn’t look nearly as nervous as Joy, but maybe that was just her cool exterior. Joy knew as much as anyone that Nina was not a runner, or any other kind of athlete, for that matter. If Joy remembered correctly, she came in just before the cut-off mark last year, and it looked like it nearly killed her.
They were in a similar boat apparently. It didn’t really make Joy feel that much better. She would still be failing even if they failed together.
Ms. Robinson outlined the course for them one last time and then stepped aside to start the exam. Joy’s stomach tossed, making her nervous about how much breakfast she ate. Ms. Robinson blew the whistle and they were off.
￮ ￮ ￮
Running, Joy decided, was pure agony. She didn’t know how people did it for fun.
She was about 15 minutes into the course, and predictably everyone was way ahead of her. Even Nina was nowhere in sight. By the time she got to the edge of the woods, her legs were burning.
She saw the sign pointing her to the trail, but her legs stopped. She faced the opening in the trees, wondering why she couldn’t move. Her heart pounded. Why did they have to run through the woods?
She hadn’t been back in the woods in a long time. Not since the night she escaped. She remembered standing alone, silent, waiting for friends who never came.
She tightened her ponytail and bent at the waist, trying to catch her breath. “You can do this Mercer…” she whispered. “You may not be the Chosen One anymore, but you can run a freaking 2k.”
She took off into the trail. She tried her best to ignore the sudden lack of sunlight.
It wasn’t so hard. She followed the trail markers, stayed on the path, even picked up some speed. She was doing great, actually. Well, until she wasn’t.
“Ow!” Out of nowhere, she tripped in a little ditch and rolled her ankle. She collapsed. “Ugh, you have to be kidding!”
She cradled her ankle and looked up. That’s when she realized just how alone she was. The trees stretched up toward the sky, so tall they covered the sun, leaving her completely in the shadows. She strained her eyes to see if there was anyone in front of her, but she couldn’t see anyone.
Her ankle hurt really bad. Panic set in.
How long would it take people to notice she never made it to the finish line? Would anyone notice? She was hoping Patricia would, but if her results were anything like the strength exam’s, she might be too absorbed in her win to notice.
She rubbed her ankle. It really hurt. Maybe she should shout for help? There must be teachers around somewhere.
“HELP!” she shouted. “SOMEONE!”
Nothing.
“HELLO!”
“HELLO?” said a voice from back toward the entrance of the trail. “JOY?”
Joy sat up. In the distance, Nina was jogging up to her. Apparently, Joy wasn’t the slowest in their year. Well, maybe now she was.
“Nina! Thank god!” Joy had never been more excited to see her.
Nina reached her finally. She looked exhausted, but she focused on Joy regardless. “What happened?”
“I twisted my ankle,” Joy admitted. “Ugh, and I was totally gonna pass this year.”
Nina kneeled down next to her. “How bad is it? Can you walk?”
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” Joy said. Regardless, she tried standing up. It hurt. She nearly fell over, but Nina grabbed onto her.
“Okay, c’mon,” Nina said. She threw Joy’s arm around her shoulder.
￮ ￮ ￮
It was very slow work, but eventually they made it back to the school grounds. Nina looked like she was going to die. In fact, when Ms. Robinson and the boys from Anubis ran over to relieve her, she collapsed on the spot.
Without Nina, Joy teetered on one leg. “Alright, alright!” said Ms. Robinson. She grabbed Joy’s arm, asking her a million questions. To Joy’s surprise, Fabian rushed over to her to hold her up. Her heart rate doubled, which probably wasn’t good.
Meanwhile, Eddie helped Nina up. “C’mon champ, ya did good,” he joked.
“Did I finish the race?” Nina mumbled.
“Hell no,” said Eddie, walking her off to get some water.
Joy watched her stumble away. She felt a warmth in her chest. Maybe she and Nina really were friends.
Fabian and Ms. Robinson practically carried her over to the first aid station
Her ankle still hurt. But it wasn’t all bad. Fabian was happy to sit with her for the rest of the day, holding ice on her ankle, making conversation. It was like old times: he said something academic, she teased him, he laughed. This was not how she expected this day to go. She was happy. Things were good.
That night at dinner, Joy limped into the dining room to applause.
“There’s the champion 1k runner!” Jerome said, for once not being entirely sarcastic. Her other housemates clapped and cheered.
“It was supposed to be a 2k,” Joy said. Patricia and Trudy helped her to her seat.
“By the time you lapped back around it was basically the same,” Patricia said. She thankfully left her 1st place medal upstairs.
“Speaking of,” Joy said, looking across the table at the girl who saved her from at least an hour alone in the woods with a hurt ankle, “thanks for that Nina.” She meant it.
Nina smiled. “Don’t mention it,” she said. Nina met her eyes and Joy felt that same warm feeling in her chest as before. She wondered what that was about.
Dinner went by smoothly. Joy continued her earlier conversation with Fabian, and made sure to thank him for taking care of her.
He smiled sweetly and said, “Anytime you need me.” Joy expected her heart to explode. But it didn’t.
She went back to her dinner feeling super confused. The boy she was obsessed with had just spent practically his entire afternoon paying attention to her and nursing her ankle and now was telling her he’d do anything for her, and she didn’t feel anything?
She sat back in her chair, stumped and, honestly, kind of annoyed.
Then at the other end of the table, Nina laughed hard at a joke Alfie had made. All of a sudden all Joy could think about was how Nina helped her out of the woods, even when she was exhausted.
Eventually, Joy returned to her body to find that her palms were clammy and her heart was beating kind of quickly. Unconsciously, her eyes flicked to Nina. She wasn’t even doing anything that warranted a look, just eating her salad.
Joy looked down at her plate but she could only stare right through it.
No. There was no way this was happening. What the hell is wrong with you? she asked herself. She knew exactly what was wrong, she just couldn’t say it.
She couldn’t have a crush on Nina Martin. Of all the things she wasn’t allowed to do, that was number one.
She dared to look at her again — her soft green cardigan and her girl-next-door smile and the exhausted expression on her face from carrying Joy through the woods. Her heart jumped, her mouth got dry, she felt an alarming urge to get up and walk over to her despite her hurt ankle. There was no question.
Fuck.