The tension calms a bit and I see her scanning her memories mentally.
“I remember that,” she says, but she’s staring at a poster behind me now. “I didn’t even like them like that. I only ate them because Za liked them and your mum wouldn’t let her have them. So I pretended they were for me.”
“That’s cap.”
“Excuse me?”
“You liked the green ones. You always picked them out first.”
She hesitates then puts her hand on her hips.
“Well… who doesn’t like green apple?” —yeah but you loved green apple, Jelly— “And that’s not even the point. When you called me that in front of everyone at school and all your little mates, the name stuck.”
“And?”
She goes quiet again. I wait for clarification but nothing. Something’s not adding up.
“And?” I repeat.
“…It wasn’t perceived that way.”
My stomach drops slightly. “Then how was it perceived?”
She exhales slowly. Like she’s choosing whether to give me something I don’t deserve.
“They thought you were joking. About my weight. About how my body moves when I walk.”
Everything in me locks. The room suddenly feels smaller.
“Francine—”
“It’s fine.”
But it’s not fine.
“It’s not fine.”
She shrugs, but there’s tension in her shoulders. “It really is. I should’ve known you weren’t clever enough to think of that on your own anyway.”
Normally, I’d clap back but I don’t feed into this very obvious diversion.
“I’m sorry,” I say instead. And I mean it. “I swear to God I’m sorry.”
“It was a misunderstanding.”
“It still hurt you.”
She finally looks at me properly and there’s no game in her eyes now. I feel something twist in my chest.
“Another way I messed something up for you,” I mutter, more to myself than her.
“Hmph…” She steps closer. I don’t move away as she examines me. I don’t know if it’s forgiveness or if she decided the whole conversation wasn’t worth having anymore but she relaxes from her earlier defensiveness and I silently hope she believes my explanation.
“…You know,” she says softly, “now that I think about it… I guess I don’t mind you calling me Jelly.”
I search her face. “Swear down?”
She nods. “Just… don’t overdo it.”
