"No, you don't know me Ariana! We were in highschool and I know that all of us showed some amounts of stupidity at some point but what you did to me was just unacceptable. I am not even sure if you know what you did!" Ariana just stared at her with a blank face and anyone could tell that she was utterly confused.

This got Bianca more annoyed and she continued,"Ariana, you and I were best friends even before Bennet had joined us making our duo a trio. I was dependent on you for everything. Heck, now that I think about it, I realise that I was such a loner who hung out with a girl who craved attention and popularity and with a guy who was so nervous, even though he was the football team captain that he wouldn't talk to anyone at all except us only because we had helped him on the first day of our 9th grade! You only hung out with me at school because you were scared that the "cool and popular" group of the school would not accept you and when they did...you didn't even turn back. You went away and started acting like a female dog towards me!"

"Bian-"

"No, just listen. You want to know why I am shutting you out? Well, it is probably because...let's see, everyone I knew shut me out, everyone left me for their selfish purposes. They only cared about themselves and their happiness including my own fricking parents!" She was finally letting out all of her bottled up emotions.

"What? B, What are you talking about?"

"I said listen!", Bianca shouted and this shut Ariana up.

"I cared about you genuinly and after you decided to choose a group of the most popular girls in our grade...I lost a very sensible friend. I considered you to be the one who was never going to take advantage of me and who would always stick to me. Did you care about what I felt or what I was going through when you chose to ignore me? How would you feel if a person you have known for so long and who basically lived at your house went behind your back and embarrassed you in front of the whole school only to get the attention of the "plastics" of that school?!", Bianca was raging and her hands kept trembling as she wiped a tear that managed to escape her blood shot eyes.

"I dealt with the most excrutiating pain ever. I felt like I was drowning and like there was no tomorrow for me. I was genuine to you and shared every little part of my life with you which you decided to casually "let slip" as a rumour! And soon, I became the homeless damsel in distress who was too crazy to think straight in life. I would cry myself to sleep because the drama you had created about my personality, the lie my two best friends played out when they should have told me everything, my slipping grades, my anxiety and the regular wwf matches my parents had at home where just too much to handle! And all I asked for was one...just one fugding true friend who would hug me and tell me that everything was going to be all right.". this was where Bianca let out the waterfall of tears roll down.

She was tilted and welcomed into a warm caressing hug, a small gesture of kindness that showed that one was not alone, yet she tried to wriggle out of it. However, this time Ariana didn't let her get out of it.
"I'm listening.", Ariana said softly.

Bianca could feel her lips quiver indicating that she had also been crying. Bianca was seeing her after five years and was letting out so much from her heart. It was like the heaviest burden was being lifted from her shoulders.

She needed someone to support her emotionally and mentally, in fact, everyone needs someone to keep them sane in this insane world.

Bianca continued, "Ariana...my parents weren't the happiest couple. They kept arguing and shouting the entire time. Usually, I would let it slide. I would try to solve their misunderstandings and try to make both of them happy. It is just that even after I tried so hard for 16 years of my life to keep the three of us intact in the small family, I fa-iled Ariana, I failed", she said through sobs that had started again. Ariana was listening to her intently and rubbed her back to show her that everything was going to be fine.

Well, that was the same thing she had kept telling herself for the past 5 years. Yes, I know to become a doctor, especially a neurosurgeon, one has to study a lot, maybe for 10 years or more. But, Bianca on the other hand took just 5 years after graduating from highschool and that was because she was gifted with a unique brain I guess...I don't know. She had taken half the time as well as Blake because of which they were spoken about a lot and were often featured in various magazines.

"Ari, I am just frustrated from life. I left home, I didn't want to be with any of them anymore and I went to my aunt's. Even at my aunt's, I hardly spoke to anyone. I remained quiet. I wanted you to be with me when I thought I was falling apart. Our years of friendship was just broken by that crave for popularity and the fact that you broke it because you had started having feelings for Bennet while you knew that he still had feelings for me. I always thought that it had been my fault that you didn't want to be friends with me anymore. I blamed myself everyday for being the reason for our broken friendship before Bennet had called me a year ago and told me what had actually happened. Your actions at that time were purely out of jealousy and it was so stupid! Why didn't you bother telling me that you were having feelings for him? I would have totally been fine with you dating him but alas! you thought that since he rejected you beause he still had feelings for me...the best way out was to tear away that years of friendship and throw it in the garbage can.", Bianca told her rather calmly, because, after telling out everything loud, she realised that all she had gone through was no one's fault entirely.

Somewhere it had been her fault not to talk to Ariana and look at her point of view. She looked at her to see if she had any explanation.Ariana let out a heavy sigh and rubbed her temple with her fingers before speaking,

"B, I am not going to be that kind of person who has gazillion excuses for whatever they have done. I know what I did was stupid and unreasonable. I don't know what had come over me. But, I just want to say that whatever has happened has happened and I am really, really sorry that I was not with you when you needed me. I left my best friend alone when she needed me and now that you have let out everything...I hope we can start afresh, even if you decide to not forgive me so soon. I was a fool, something that I can not go back and change and I realise that now. I deserved your cold behaviour towards me as I had been the worst person ever. I am very sorry!", Bianca could see that Ariana had geniunely appolagized as she let her hand wipe away her tears.Bianca had been waiting for just that five letter word for the past years and now that she finally heard it, she felt relieved.

Bianca let out a shaky breath that she didn't know she was holding as Ariana continued,"Bianca, everything is now alright and I am neither telling you this just to console you nor am I telling you this out of pity. You, Bianca, have come a long way and you have come out stronger. Look at it in this way, if your parents wouldn't have taken a divorce, you would have to solve their petty problems throughout the years and wouldn't have been able to concentrate on your studies and be in those amazing magazines. You would have probably been sitting right now at your house, doing nothing but trying to make both of them happy, yet, they would still not be happy and would make you even miserable. If you wouldn't have moved to your aunt's place, you wouldn't have experienced what it was to be a little normal rather than spending sleepless nights and tearful days."

(You might be wondering what Shivers is doing. He was, well.......................... just sleeping, {so much like Bianca!} as he had gone to sleep just after he had seen Bianca talking to Ariana. He did notice that she was crying but hadn't come to console her like he always did. I guess he left this one on Ariana since, she was back and the fact that he was a guy... I don't think he would want to get between whatever girl drama and emotional recipe was being brewed over there. Hehehe.)

Bianca didn't say a word. It was her time to remain silent and listen to Ariana."I am the last person you want to see right now but, I am still here whether you like it or not and to confess, I actually took a lot of time to realise who the right friend for life is because...well, Claire was kinda life threatening. Well, it wasn't until last week that I realised what she was up to. She had become friends with me during highschool due to all of my property that my parents had left me before they passed away when I was 4 as you know."

Yes, Bianca knew. Arinan hadn't had the privilege of getting to know her parents like Bianca did but at least, her parents had loved each other when they had been alive. Her parents had died in a plane that was highjacked years ago while returning from one of their trips.

"Last week...",her voice was cracked and it was worse than Bianca's. Her eyes went wide like she still couldn't believe whatever had happened. Bianca didn't know what it was but she knew that she had forgiven her and would be there for her. Unlike her.

~*~