Nanette was retrieving her afternoon class books from her locker when she was attacked- there was no other word for it- by a hysterical Amanda Sellers.

A slight girl with blond hair and braces, Amanda was enthusiastic, and popular, and extremely involved in school activities. Privately, Nanette found the younger girl a bit exhausting, but they had grown up attending charity dinners and events at the station together, so there was a certain connection between them, each sharing an unspoken misery as they suffered through years of boring speeches and awards ceremonies.

"You bitch!"

Nanette turned, alarmed. Amanda was standing two feet away, clutching her books to her chest like a life raft, flanked by a mousey girl Nanette didn't know very well. Amanda's mascara streamed down red, swollen cheeks in dark rivulets.

It took Nanette a moment to realize the crying girl was talking to her.

"What...?"

"You're a bitch! How could you not tell me? We're friends!"

'Friends' was a bit of a stretch, in Nanette's opinion.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Nanette said nervously. Students were stopping to stare bewilderedly at the scene unfolding before them.

"Don't pretend like you didn't know! Dad and I had to find out two years later! Two years!"

"Amanda, I don't know what-"

"And now my dad isn't talking to my mom!" Amanda's voice had reached a positively ear-splitting pitch. Her friend tentatively wrapped her an arm supportively around Amanda's shoulder and stared at the floor, avoiding Nanette's eye.

"Amanda." Nanette's voice sounded thin and panicked to her own ears.

"So tell your dad to stay away from us, you whore!"

"What?"

Amanda wiped furiously at her eye with the back of her sleeve, smearing the makeup further. When she spoke, her voice wavered, strained with barely-concealed pain. "You really don't know?"

"No, I don't know what you're talking about." A foreboding weight settled in Nanette's stomach. Her mind immediately jumped to the recent suicides. Her dad was the lead deputy on the cases- oh God, was there something big he had missed? Something she, Nanette, had missed? About Tommy? About--?

"I'm talking-"Amanda wiped again at her eyes- "about the fact that your sleazebag dad screwed my mom and has been pretending like it never happened."

A hushed silence fell over the immediate vicinity. Nanette felt suddenly very cold, and very removed from her body.

"So just stay away from me! I never want to see you again!" Amanda wailed.

"Well that works out well," Julie said coolly, appearing at Nanette's elbow. "We never want to see your ugly raccoon face again, either." She took a step towards Amanda, towering over the other girl. "So get the hell out of Nanette's face, and stop pretending she's the reason your mom's a skank, Amanda."

Amanda looked at Julie, eyes wide, before bursting noisily into tears. She ducked her head and allowed herself to hurried away by her friend, who looked absolutely terrified at the confrontation that had just taken place.

Nanette didn't move, just stared blankly at the spot where Amanda had been standing.

What the hell just happened?