The four of them, Girl1, Girl2, Girl3, and Girl4, are peacefully eating lunch outside.
The sun is glaring down at them.
TwoFriends walk over to join them, arm in arm, stepping in sync with each other.
Girl1 makes exasperated eye contact with Girl2, and Girl2 dramatically rolls her eyes.
Do they not want TwoFriends to eat with them? Girl4 guesses not.
Girl4 continues to eat her lunch as TwoFriends sit down. There are six of them now.
Later, Girl3 starts telling a story from math class.
It takes about five seconds before Girl1 and Girl2 start whispering to each other.
Girl4 tries to listen to the murmurs, but all she can hear is “Blah blah, Ms. Math Teacher, blah blah.”
She smiles and nods from time to time, pretending that she understands, but Girl4’s mind is elsewhere.
Are they talking about her? She hopes not.
Girl1 asks Girl2 if she wants to go on a walk.
That’s code for: Do you want to go gossip about our friends to make ourselves feel better?
Girl4 wants to throw up. This is the fourth time they’ve gone on a walk this week.
When they come back, she asks what they were talking about.
They say, “Oh, just life.”
And that’s code for: We’re not going to tell you.
Girl3 pulls out her phone and starts giggling.
She shows her screen to everyone except Girl4.
Everyone else laughs and laughs and laughs.
Girl4 asks them, “What’s so funny?”
“Oh, are you not in this group chat?”
And that’s code for: We excluded you purposefully and waited until you found out so we could pretend we hadn’t realized you weren’t in the group chat until this very moment.
Girl4 pulls a cookie out of her lunch box and silently munches on it until the bell rings.