"Hey, Madeline," Skye greeted, spotting Madeline entering the cafeteria on a Monday afternoon and walking towards the table.
"Hey, Skye," she greeted, sitting down in her spot of the table bench and laying her lunch bag on the table. "Hey, girls."
The other girls greeted back.
"Still wearing pants?" asked Lizzie.
"Yeah," Madeline replied. "My scabs won't go away."
"It's been, like, a week," Skye noted.
"Well, scabs should go away in two days," Madeline responded. "But I guess I got to wait a month."
"So, Andrea..." Skye said softly. "How was your weekend?"
Andrea rolled her lips in. She paused for a while but then spit out, "Me and Ricardo broke up."
Madeline gasped. "What?"
"It wasn't working out," Andrea continued.
"Andy, I hope this has nothing to do with me," said Debra. "Because I wasn't trying to break you guys up."
"I know. I started to think and now I know."
"So I didn't break you guys up?"
"No."
"Whoa. Well, praise Jesus."
"Why did you guys break up?" asked Lizzie.
"He told me if I was going to continue to date him, I had to stop being friends with you all," answered Andrea.
"What?" Skye's eyes widened.
Madeline dug through her lunch bag. "Where are my matches?"
"He gave you a choice?" asked Debra.
"Pretty much," Andrea replied.
"I am so sorry."
"It's okay. I thought we would last but stuff like this happens."
"I just started to remember: I don't carry my matches with me," said Madeline.
"Why do you have matches?" Lizzie questioned.
"My mother gave them to me for 'an emergency'."
"What would be the emergency be?" asked Skye. "To light some fireworks on the fourth of July?"
Andrea giggled, making all of the girls giggle.
"That is a true emergency," Andrea said through her giggles, "to use your matches for."
Madeline's giggles turned into loud laughs. "Aw, you're smiling."
"I guess I am."
"When there are bad days, you just need to laugh," said Debra.
"Thank you, Mohandas Gandhi."
"Welcome back!"
"I never left."
"Well, if you were to, then... welcome back."
"I just can't believe Ricardo would say that to you," said Lizzie to Andrea. "That jerk on a stick."
Andrea giggled again. "Oh, he was about to be."
"What?"
"After he told me to stop being friends with you guys, I threaten to hurt him with my grandfather's cane then broke up with him."
"You threatened him?"
"Actually, I did it. I did hurt him. If I say it, I'll do it."
"Classic Andrea," said Madeline. "That's why I love you."
"Debra, I am sorry for shouting at you a couple days ago. I guess I was a little blinded by love."
"No, you were a lot blinded by love," said Debra. "You were a lot blinded."
"Okay, don't rub it in my face."
"We're sorry for that we even got pestered by your excessive chattering about your boyfriend."
"We just want to let you know that we were happy for you," said Lizzie.
"I know," said Andrea. "Y'all my girls and you were being honest. I'm sorry for the way I acted when I was with him."
"Sorry things didn't work out between you and Ricardo," said Madeline.
"That's okay. I'll find someone new."
"Promise not to talk about him so much?" Skye recommended.
Andrea glared at Skye playfully. "I'll try."
"As long as we have each other, that is all what matters," said Madeline. "Plus, you can date Ricardo's drug-using friend to get back at him."
"Okay, that sounds like a plan."
Madeline stared at her in a serious way. "Dude, I was kidding. Don't do that."
"I thought Ricardo said his friend used to do drugs," Lizzie said.
"So you're agreeing with him?"
"No, I--"
"Don't agree with the enemy. Enemies lie and wear pants that are too tight."
"Ricardo did wear small jeans, didn't he?" Andrea questioned.
"A thing you actually don't like about him," Skye commented.
"Actually, I don't really--"
"No!"
Debra snickered a bit.
"Whatever," Andrea responded. "I pick good friends over bad boyfriends anyway. I can't date someone who insults my amigas."
"Wait, he insulted us, too?" asked Lizzie.
"Yeah, he called you nappy."
"Nappy?" said Madeline. "I'll have you know that I use an InStyler. Nothing nappy about that."
"His face is nappy," Skye muttered to herself.
"So, guys, I have a question," said Andrea.
"And that is?" Madeline responded.
"You guys weren't really annoyed with me talking about Ricardo, were you?"
The girls answered the question at once with comments, all agreeing that they were annoyed.
"I wanted to cut my ears off like Van Gogh," Debra had the last word.
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