One Of Us Is Better Off Without Them
Feb. 15th, 2020 01:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tellshannon815Title: One Of Us Is Better Off Without Them
Fandom: One Of Us Is Lying, by Karen M. McManus
Characters: Luis. Mentions of Cooper, Addy, Nate, Bronwyn, Simon, Jake.
Rating: PG
Summary: In the weeks following Simon's death, as the Bayview Four band together, Luis starts to question what he ever saw in the popular crowd. For 100fandoms prompt: crowd.
As Luis sits and looks at the same old faces he’s been spending most of his time with throughout his time at Bayview High, he wonders what the hell he saw in any one of them.
He should have said something when Jake first got everyone to freeze out Addy when she slept with TJ. Jake had given all those speeches about how cheating was wrong and who the hell did Addy think she was cheating on him, and he made a mistake bringing that skank into the group, and people like Vanessa and Olivia were hanging on his every word. All Luis could think of was the time he’d cheated on Olivia with that girl who’d been turning up to watch all his games last year. When Jake had found out about that, he’d acted like he thought Luis was a hero.
At least Cooper had tried, had spent a few minutes of his lunch break with Addy most days before going back to join Jake’s friends, making the time to talk to her. Luis hadn’t even managed that.
He’d gone along with the freezing out of TJ, too, reconciling himself with it by thinking that TJ hadn’t lived in Bayview that long and they hadn’t had much of a chance to become friends, while he’d known Jake for years. TJ hadn’t seemed to care; he’d started hanging out with other kids, kids who weren’t really Jake’s friends and didn’t give a crap what had happened with him and Addy. But Luis had always thought the guy was kind of cool before that, and after hearing the way he talked about Jake controlling Addy, Luis thought he did have a point. But he hadn’t been anxious to make an enemy out of Jake; at one point in freshman year, Luis had been surprised to hear in casual conversation that before Cooper moved to the area, Simon Kelleher had actually been Jake’s best friend. He didn’t know what had happened to put an end to that; he’d asked Olivia once and Olivia had shrugged “Who cares? It was ages ago.” Keely had chimed in with “Besides, Simon is his own worst enemy with the way he digs up the dirt on everyone and then uploads it to his app,” before immediately checking that same app on her phone.
Luis had dropped the subject after that and never thought of it again. Olivia was right, it was ages ago. Plus Simon didn’t seem to care. He seemed okay hanging out with Janae, and the only time he ever took any interest in any of them was when he was digging up dirt on them for his site. Even then he’d usually post something once and then let it drop, it wasn’t as if he was laying into Jake the way he did to Leah. Luis had been a little surprised when Simon ended up on the homecoming court, but again hadn’t thought a lot of it. It was only now that Addy and Cooper had told him how Simon had rigged the votes in order to get himself onto the court, and how Cooper had been so scared that Simon had realised he was gay that he’d asked Vanessa to uninvite him to her after party, prompting him to decide to involve Cooper in his crazy revenge plot, that Luis understood that maybe Simon had cared more about being dropped by Jake than he ever let on.
“You know Vanessa,” Cooper had said. “She’s always liked uninviting people to things. She never even asked any questions.”
Luis did know Vanessa, could quite easily picture this. He wonders now why they all just accepted this, froze people out even when there was no obvious reason for it. Addy had said afterwards that it was only when Janae had told her Simon had been specifically excluded from that party that she had consciously realised he hadn’t been there, and Luis has to admit that was true of him too. If Jake hadn’t been so quick to turn his back on Simon, hell, if any of them had made more of an effort to include him, if Jake had tried to understand his need to be on the homecoming court instead of laughing in his face, would things have ever got as far as they did?
When Maeve had told him she thought it was great the way he’d defended Cooper right when he first came out, Luis knew he couldn’t take the credit for it. He still remembered that day at lunch when Olivia had flounced over to their table saying “Can you believe Addy Prentiss just ditched me? I invited her to come back and eat with us to talk about what just happened and she actually chose to eat with Bronwyn Rojas instead!”
Hmm, choosing not to eat with the person who’s been giving her the silent treatment for days and instead choosing to spend her lunchtime with someone who treats her like a human being? I really can’t imagine why, Luis wanted to say. But he didn’t; Keely was approaching at that moment and she had to be having a hard enough time that day as it was, she didn’t need to know Olivia had been trying to win Addy back for the sole purpose of gossiping about her. So he stayed silent, picking at his food, listening to the gossip, knowing he should say something. Cooper was their friend, the guy they hung out with every day, and these guys were able to take such delight in humiliating him, just as they had with Addy, yelling such stupid comments as “Cooper Clay is Cooper Gay!” as though their friendship had meant nothing at all?
“You losers seriously give a crap about this? Get a life.”
As Cooper’s best friend, Luis should have been the one to tell them that. Instead, these words had come from Nate Macauley, a guy who until recently had never exchanged two words with Cooper, and yet when it came down to it, Nate was the one who was defending him and telling their old friends where to go. As Nate was laying into Vanessa about the way she’d offer a hand job to anyone whether she knew them or not, Luis realised he should have said these things himself. Nate had said all the right things, and what had Luis done? Offered him a goddamn banana, of all things.
Luis knew he shouldn’t have been angry at Nate for being the one to do the right thing. It was himself he was really angry at deep down for not having stood up to the old crowd sooner. Cooper had obviously built up a good relationship with the guy; Luis had known he should give him a chance too. Cooper had actually called him out on it, not long after Nate was first arrested, wanting to know how Luis could have been so quick to think he was guilty, to talk about him the way he did after having hung out with him every day at lunch for the last week. And when Kris worked out what really happened, and Luis knew that Nate wasn’t guilty after all, he understood that he should have been more open to that possibility, and to the guy himself.
This group of people may not have known each other for that long, may not have had the history that Luis had with his former friends, but when it had come down to it, they were the ones who had really proven their loyalty, the ones who showed him what friendship really was.
Fandom: One Of Us Is Lying, by Karen M. McManus
Characters: Luis. Mentions of Cooper, Addy, Nate, Bronwyn, Simon, Jake.
Rating: PG
Summary: In the weeks following Simon's death, as the Bayview Four band together, Luis starts to question what he ever saw in the popular crowd. For 100fandoms prompt: crowd.
As Luis sits and looks at the same old faces he’s been spending most of his time with throughout his time at Bayview High, he wonders what the hell he saw in any one of them.
He should have said something when Jake first got everyone to freeze out Addy when she slept with TJ. Jake had given all those speeches about how cheating was wrong and who the hell did Addy think she was cheating on him, and he made a mistake bringing that skank into the group, and people like Vanessa and Olivia were hanging on his every word. All Luis could think of was the time he’d cheated on Olivia with that girl who’d been turning up to watch all his games last year. When Jake had found out about that, he’d acted like he thought Luis was a hero.
At least Cooper had tried, had spent a few minutes of his lunch break with Addy most days before going back to join Jake’s friends, making the time to talk to her. Luis hadn’t even managed that.
He’d gone along with the freezing out of TJ, too, reconciling himself with it by thinking that TJ hadn’t lived in Bayview that long and they hadn’t had much of a chance to become friends, while he’d known Jake for years. TJ hadn’t seemed to care; he’d started hanging out with other kids, kids who weren’t really Jake’s friends and didn’t give a crap what had happened with him and Addy. But Luis had always thought the guy was kind of cool before that, and after hearing the way he talked about Jake controlling Addy, Luis thought he did have a point. But he hadn’t been anxious to make an enemy out of Jake; at one point in freshman year, Luis had been surprised to hear in casual conversation that before Cooper moved to the area, Simon Kelleher had actually been Jake’s best friend. He didn’t know what had happened to put an end to that; he’d asked Olivia once and Olivia had shrugged “Who cares? It was ages ago.” Keely had chimed in with “Besides, Simon is his own worst enemy with the way he digs up the dirt on everyone and then uploads it to his app,” before immediately checking that same app on her phone.
Luis had dropped the subject after that and never thought of it again. Olivia was right, it was ages ago. Plus Simon didn’t seem to care. He seemed okay hanging out with Janae, and the only time he ever took any interest in any of them was when he was digging up dirt on them for his site. Even then he’d usually post something once and then let it drop, it wasn’t as if he was laying into Jake the way he did to Leah. Luis had been a little surprised when Simon ended up on the homecoming court, but again hadn’t thought a lot of it. It was only now that Addy and Cooper had told him how Simon had rigged the votes in order to get himself onto the court, and how Cooper had been so scared that Simon had realised he was gay that he’d asked Vanessa to uninvite him to her after party, prompting him to decide to involve Cooper in his crazy revenge plot, that Luis understood that maybe Simon had cared more about being dropped by Jake than he ever let on.
“You know Vanessa,” Cooper had said. “She’s always liked uninviting people to things. She never even asked any questions.”
Luis did know Vanessa, could quite easily picture this. He wonders now why they all just accepted this, froze people out even when there was no obvious reason for it. Addy had said afterwards that it was only when Janae had told her Simon had been specifically excluded from that party that she had consciously realised he hadn’t been there, and Luis has to admit that was true of him too. If Jake hadn’t been so quick to turn his back on Simon, hell, if any of them had made more of an effort to include him, if Jake had tried to understand his need to be on the homecoming court instead of laughing in his face, would things have ever got as far as they did?
When Maeve had told him she thought it was great the way he’d defended Cooper right when he first came out, Luis knew he couldn’t take the credit for it. He still remembered that day at lunch when Olivia had flounced over to their table saying “Can you believe Addy Prentiss just ditched me? I invited her to come back and eat with us to talk about what just happened and she actually chose to eat with Bronwyn Rojas instead!”
Hmm, choosing not to eat with the person who’s been giving her the silent treatment for days and instead choosing to spend her lunchtime with someone who treats her like a human being? I really can’t imagine why, Luis wanted to say. But he didn’t; Keely was approaching at that moment and she had to be having a hard enough time that day as it was, she didn’t need to know Olivia had been trying to win Addy back for the sole purpose of gossiping about her. So he stayed silent, picking at his food, listening to the gossip, knowing he should say something. Cooper was their friend, the guy they hung out with every day, and these guys were able to take such delight in humiliating him, just as they had with Addy, yelling such stupid comments as “Cooper Clay is Cooper Gay!” as though their friendship had meant nothing at all?
“You losers seriously give a crap about this? Get a life.”
As Cooper’s best friend, Luis should have been the one to tell them that. Instead, these words had come from Nate Macauley, a guy who until recently had never exchanged two words with Cooper, and yet when it came down to it, Nate was the one who was defending him and telling their old friends where to go. As Nate was laying into Vanessa about the way she’d offer a hand job to anyone whether she knew them or not, Luis realised he should have said these things himself. Nate had said all the right things, and what had Luis done? Offered him a goddamn banana, of all things.
Luis knew he shouldn’t have been angry at Nate for being the one to do the right thing. It was himself he was really angry at deep down for not having stood up to the old crowd sooner. Cooper had obviously built up a good relationship with the guy; Luis had known he should give him a chance too. Cooper had actually called him out on it, not long after Nate was first arrested, wanting to know how Luis could have been so quick to think he was guilty, to talk about him the way he did after having hung out with him every day at lunch for the last week. And when Kris worked out what really happened, and Luis knew that Nate wasn’t guilty after all, he understood that he should have been more open to that possibility, and to the guy himself.
This group of people may not have known each other for that long, may not have had the history that Luis had with his former friends, but when it had come down to it, they were the ones who had really proven their loyalty, the ones who showed him what friendship really was.