Page 81 of Sparks Fly
“Oh dear,” a voice said behind her.
Stella reluctantly flipped herself over to see Chelsea tiptoeing in with Kira and Effie close behind.
“Sleeping without a bonnet?” Chelsea said. “Things must be dire.”
They all made themselves comfortable on Stella’s bed, and she suddenly felt the urge to cry (again) at seeing her friends there.
“What are you all doing here?” Stella asked.
“Checking on you, obviously,” Kira said. “Effie told us what happened. We would’ve been here sooner, but some of us can’t just leave the office in the middle of the day.”
“Well, also I was making sure those guys didn’t go get their money from Miles,” Effie said. “They didn’t, by the way. We’ve got your back, Stells.”
That made Stella actually cry, and she quickly wiped her tears from her face. Chelsea passed her her tissue box.
“I wasn’t working, obviously, but I was on Long Island when I saw Effie’s text so it took a bit to get back here,” Chelsea said.
“You went home?” Stella asked.
Chelsea typically didn’t go back to the house she grew up in unless forced, but she waved off the question.
“My mom needed help with something, so I made my yearly Mecca trip a bit early,” Chelsea said. “I was happy to have an excuse to leave, though.”
“You’re welcome,” Stella said with a sniffle. “What am I going to do, you guys? I mean, am I being ridiculous? This is messed up, right?”
“Totally messed up,” Kira said.
“You know how I feel,” Effie said, her disdain more than evident.
“It’s fuck-corporate-America over here,” Chelsea added.
“Heavy on that,” Effie said, and they all nodded.
“So what do I do now?” Stella asked. “Quitting feels a bit…crazy, but I don’t think I can go back there, much less have to work with Melanie. I knew in my soul she was the worst, but wow.”
“I think if you want to quit we’ll figure it out,” Chelsea said, throwing her arm around Stella. “I can hold us down for a bit.”
Stella leaned into her best friend and sighed. Despite whatever weirdness had been going on between them lately, Chelsea was still there for her, as always.
“And if worse comes to worse, you know your parents will take you in,” Effie added. “You won’t be on the streets.”
“But also, if you are going to quit, I think you should give them hell first,” Kira said, grinning.
“How so?” Stella asked.
Her three friends all exchanged mischievous smiles and then Kira reached behind her and placed Stella’s computer in front of her.
“Write about it,” Kira said. “Tell everyone what Miles and Melanie did. Tell them about Sparky. All of it. Let everyone know the truth.”
“No one’s going to publish it,” Stella said, even as she took her computer into her hands. It was cold to the touch, but already she was beginning to feel like herself again.
“Bitch, you can publish it,” Kira said. “You did not grow up in the age of Tumblr to say something silly like that.”
“Okay,” Effie said, with a laugh. “Maybe don’t post on Tumblr. But Medium is perfect for this. And clearly you already know how to make things go viral, so this will spread for sure.”
Stella looked at her friends, who looked back at her with expectant gazes.
“You really think I can do this?” Stella asked.
