“What—”
“We’re going to be late.” She rises from her seat and walks off without another word, and I look over at the girls.
“Okay, what is going on?”
Royal speaks up. “She’s upset about the Moore event. She wanted to go.” She rolls her eyes, and instead of responding, I follow after Helena.
“Hey.”
She doesn’t stop, but I keep up with her fast pace.
“Lena, what’s wrong?”
She still has her back to me as she shakes her head. “You’re seriously asking me that?” Her tone alone tells me she’s more upset than I thought, but I’m so confused.
“Did I do something?”
She turns on her heels so fast I almost bump into her.
“Why did you inviteMelto go with you to the Moore event?”
I open my mouth, but she doesn’t let me get a word in.
“Of all people, you take the girl youjustmet to one of the biggest opportunities of our lives?”
“Helena, I would have invited you, but you had a photo shoot? You said–”
“I would’ve canceled for Vincent Moore, Sage.”
“You said you didn’t want to cancel?!”I am beyond lost right now.“And I called you that day to invite you as my plus one, but you declined my call and said you were busy?”
“And you inviteMel?”
“You said it yourself, that event was a huge opportunity, and if I could let all of the girls tag along, I would’ve, but the rest of The Eight were busy with the Angels and Elaine's photo shoot. It was great for Mel, so what’s wrong?”
Helena shakes her head as if I’m the crazy one who’s not understanding, but I genuinely don’t see the problem and none of the other girls seemed upset, if anything, they were the opposite. They were only being weird oncesheentered.
“We started this together, Sage.”
“I–”
“We’ve always talked about being Moore Girls, and now that you have Vincent’s attention, it’s like you completely tossed me aside.” She sounds so… betrayed, and it hurts that she even thinks that.
“Helena, that’s not what I’m doing. You know I want to see usbothat the top, no matter who gets there first. I swear you were the first person I called when I saw I could bring a plus one.”
She lets out a sigh, and I grab a hold of her hand. “You’re my best friend, Lena. I wouldn’t intentionallynotinvite you to anything, and for you to think that of me hurts.”
She shakes her head and pulls her hand away. “I just need some space.”
I keep my gaze on her as she walks off without another word. I decide to just leave her alone, and the rest of the girls descend from Quinn’s room. I, of course, fill them in, but they only roll their eyes and tell me not to overthink it. I guess they’re used to Helena’s random attitude and fits.
“I can’t believe she really thinks that low of me.”
“Oh, girl, please. We all know you’re an amazing friend,” Royal starts, “Ibeentold you I noticed sneaky hater vibes from her,” she voices as she ties her braids in a high bun.
“Yeah…” Stel goes on. “I didn’t want to say it since you two are besties and have been here longer than me, but she’s also really mean to—well, every new girl. It’s weird,” Stel adds, and she’s right, but I never sensed Helena being jealous of me.
Someone is sent over to get us and we get started with our group pictures. Royal unfortunately needs to sit out on these since she’s on probation for missing the Moore runway show. Thankfully, she gets to stay and watch, vlogging for me off to the side, and it isn’t too awkward as we take our group pictures with Helena.
