BRIDGETTE

We were sitting inside the diner just a few blocks away from Cara’s apartment. Scott had just set aside his empty plate while I finished my milkshake. He raised an eyebrow from across the table.

I arched an eyebrow at him. “What?”

“The story?” he asked.

“Oh, that. I was hoping you forgot about it.”

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he said with a shrug. He had taken off his white coat and he was now facing me with his loosened tie and gray, button-up shirt.

“No, I guess you should know,” I uttered, sitting back against my chair. “I want you to know everything about me after all.”

He smiled. “I’d love to know everything about you.”

“You won’t like who I was years ago,” I pointed out. “In fact, you won’t like who I was before you met me.”

He chuckled. “I’ll be the judge of that.”

“Okay…” I said slowly, my mind already reeling back to the past. “Hmm…I guess I should start with once upon a time, there were two ladies who were so much different. The other one was beautiful--that’s me--and the other one was just the plain nerd with ugly big glasses--that’s Cara’s, of course.”

I let my words linger for a while. I watched Scott as he listened with a smile on his face.

“I didn’t really consider Cara a friend at first. We were in high school and I was the alpha girl. Everyone adored me, the girls envied me and the boys were very nice to me, if you know what I mean. So I didn’t really need anything, much more be friends with a nobody. I only knew of Cara’s existence when we partnered during our Biology class. I knew then that she was smart and so I decided I could use her services. So there, I pretended I didn’t mind being friends with her and all until the time came when I grew fond of her and her ignorance over a lot of things such as makeup, clothes and boys. She became my mentor in all things Biology and I became hers in all things girly. We were quite a match, actually. I grew to like her and I always defended her against the mean girls at school.

She would spend some time in my home where I would dress her up and do a makeover and I would come over their house to make projects. It became a routine for both of us and people started tagging us as best buddies. It went on for years until our senior year in high school and I met Quinn. He was just one of those cool high school guys you would see in television. He was a great basketball player, he was smart and he was hot. He took interest in me and we started dating. That also meant that he spent a lot of time with Cara whenever she was around and they mostly spent it fighting or throwing snide comments toward each other. The two became three for quite a while. Until it happened. The break-up.

I should let you know that I was not as good as Cara back then. I was the alpha girl, right? And I always got what I wanted. What I didn’t want, I threw away. But it was Quinn who broke up with me, not I. I couldn’t take it. It never happened to me before. I was angry and worried that everyone at school would know. And they did. For a few weeks, I had to suffer the truth that I, Bridgette Finn, was dumped by Quinn Carter.

Cara felt bad for me, of course. She knew how I adored Quinn and how I had been chasing him around for years. But when I found out that he broke up with me because of Cara, I was devastated. Can you imagine it? He decided she was much better than I. I felt betrayed by him. He had been spending all that time with me and all the while, he was eyeing my friend? That was just unacceptable, right? I had to get even, I thought. And I did. I cooked up a great plan.

I knew Cara didn’t like Quinn. She had always been vocal about him being too cocky and immature. She said that she had known him for years and all that time, he had been nothing but a nuisance. He would always play pranks on her when they were in kindergarten and he used to call her names even until high school. It was why I knew that my plan would work. One day, while we were inside my room doing our nails, I asked Cara for a favor. I asked her to be nice to Quinn. She asked why. I told her the truth, of course. I thought she wouldn’t mind and she wouldn’t care because she never really pictured herself having a relationship with Quinn. She was shocked at first, but she recovered. She said Quinn approached her one time and asked if she would like to hang out one day. She refused, of course, after she learned that I was not part of the group. After hearing that, I told her to call him and say she would love to hang out with him and that I was cool with it.

Cara didn’t like my plan. I told her that she had to do it for me. She was not into him and it would be very easy to break his heart, right? She didn’t immediately say yes. It took me three days to convince her that Quinn really did break my heart and when she said yes, we started our scheme. She didn’t want to be the one to call Quinn, so I did. That way, he would think I was cool with it and that I didn’t mind if he dated my best friend. He was too happy to ask Cara out the second time which she accepted.

So there, my plan was put into action with Cara unwillingly dating Quinn just for my sake. I became a school hero after people found out that I helped the two get together despite my history with Quinn. I willingly gave him to my best friend and in high school, it was a big deal. Quinn was also different around Cara. Back then, I didn’t see what he saw in her that he couldn’t find in me. They dated for months and Quinn was even planning on joining Cara to college. He was that in love with her. I was very excited for the big reveal to happen, when Quinn would finally have his heart broken. But things turned upside down. Cara flipped.

When I told her that it was time for her to break up with him, she was silent. It was then that I knew she fell for him despite everything that she told me. She said that she was no longer planning to break up with Quinn and that she was going to tell him the truth. I felt betrayed for the second time. My own best friend chose the guy who broke my heart over me. Again, I just had to do something. I thought of the most selfish thing I had ever thought of. If I couldn’t have what I wanted, Cara shouldn’t as well.

I told Cara it was okay and she was so happy that I almost chose to forget about everything. But every time she would leave me in the middle of something to be with Quinn, it ate me up. I no longer felt anything for Quinn and at that time, what I felt toward Cara was bitterness. And then the night of the prom came up. I had a cool guy for my prom date, but I never liked him. And then there was Cara, all dressed up and beautiful after all the makeover we did together and she was with Quinn. They were so happy and in love.

After the prom, some students decided to go to this house party and I urged Cara to go with me. She said yes and Quinn tagged along. I got so drunk because I was hoping to spend the last high school house party with my best friend yet there was her boyfriend who wouldn’t leave her side. Quinn was telling Cara that he had to take her home because he promised her dad he would. I became angry. I couldn’t even remember the exact words I said, but I do remember Quinn walking out and Cara running after him and her coming back to slap my face and she was crying as she said we were over.

It was a few days later that I found out the whole story of that night. A friend of mine told me that I screamed at Quinn and told him everything was a lie, that Cara never loved him, that it was just all part of a plan to break his heart. I had told him that Cara had been itching to get rid of him all along. The worst part was that I didn’t feel anything. I believed that Quinn would have been hurt the same way anyway if Cara eventually told him the truth. I felt that I made things easier for her. So when I met her along the corridor at the school and when she didn’t even glance at me, I didn’t mind. She decided we were over just because of a guy? How shallow could she get, right?

So there, it went on like that until the end of the school year and we all had to say goodbye. Quinn never talked to Cara after that night. I heard she tried to reach out to him, but he always made it a point that they never saw each other around school. I was cool with that. I believed that they both deserved it and that losing them both was no big deal.

That’s how Cara and I parted ways. We parted ways as enemies. And it took us ten more years to meet each other again and when we did, we ended up like this,” I finished with a dry smile. “Sometimes I think it’s fate playing with us for everything we did ten years ago. Maybe fate has decided that we should learn our lesson. You know, the one that always happens in the movies?”

Scott was looking at me with disbelief. “I can’t believe those things happened to you. It’s like I was hearing a script from a freaking movie.”

I gave off a small laugh. “I don’t know which high school you came from, but from where I came from, those things happen. Maybe that’s why it was easier for me to live with it for a few months until graduation, you know? People made a big deal out of it, sure, but they soon forgot about it because something bigger came up. We were just a passing show that did not end up well. It was only until I met Cara again that I realized I might have ruined all our lives. It was obvious that she never got over Quinn. And then, when he saw me and thought that I was Cara, I knew,” I snapped my finger, “it was still there. He was still in love with Cara after everything she did.”

“But he’s marrying someone else, right?” Scott asked with a frown.

My eyes widened. “Oh my God, I almost forgot to tell you. No, he cancelled the wedding. He’s back with Cara now.”

A surprised smile broke on his lips. “Really? And he’s okay with…you know, the swapping thing?”

I looked at him dryly. “Of course, he is. Why do you think he spent all those time with her when he could have just left everything to his ex-fiancé to handle?”

“Well, you do have a point.”

“Well? What do you think? You still love me after everything?” I chided.

He narrowed his eyes with a grin. “I think you’ve learned your lesson. You did, right?”

“Of course. The hard way,” I said, pointing at myself, at Cara’s chest.

“Then I guess I don’t have any problem with your dramatic past.”

“Well, then, now that’s settled, I have to tell you that Cara wants to talk to you.”

“What for?”

“Well, she said she wants to talk.”

“I will be talking to the nurse Cara, right? The one I had been treating really badly in the hospital for years?”

“Uh, yeah, you will.”

“And this time she knows I know and she can be honest with me now, right?”

“Uh…yes.”

Scott groaned and closed his eyes. “Now I’m starting to think this is not going to be very easy.”