Spring ? 7 ? 1 Icecream

  Pondy didn’t know what to do.

  She sat across from Elly, whose handsome face was wet with tears; the slender girl's shoulders hunched while she shook with silent sobs. They huddled together on the seating space in front of one of the bay windows in Elly’s spacious room, each cradling a pillow for comfort. Elly’s home was a big house, filled with beautiful furnishings chosen with loving care by her mother. It showed an overall understated opulence that Pondy couldn’t find the right words for. Still, she could appreciate the masterful balance of paintings, precious carpets, and antique heirloom furniture, all in perfect harmony with the spacious rooms. Pondy was always impressed by the refined elegance when she was visiting her friend. Her own home, while still quite nice in its own way as it was new and had been built in recent years, didn’t convey the history of her family as much as the Ellinger Estate did. She was way too well-behaved to ever say something or ask about it, but the house even smelled luxurious. Although Pondy did have a faint recollection of Elly mentioning that her mother had a fondness for jasmine-scented candles. Maybe they were the source of the delicate scent?

  The one thing here which always put her off was the absence of any and all background sounds. There was no music, no white noise from a TV, no amiable household banter, and apart from the ticking of the large grandfather clock in Elly’s living room, the house was eerily quiet at all times. Pondy loved her parents, of course, and while she had to admit that both could be a bit loud and even chaotic at times, she didn’t really mind. It was her family’s way, and she was used to it, but it also made their home lively - a stark contrast to Elly’s house. As all families, the Ellingers, too, had lived through their own fair share of dark times. A stark reminder of one of their tragedies were the framed pictures of Elly’s father, who had passed away when she was very young. Pondy always felt uncomfortable about the topic and preferred to ignore those mementos. This didn’t mean that she didn’t feel for her friend, though. Pondy would always try to invite her when she was about to spend time with her own Dad, and so Elly accompanied them to most of their activities. Be it a day at the zoo, seeing a movie at the cinema, or just a trip to the mall - they would ask Elly to tag along. Her father never declined her requests to include her, and Pondy was grateful for it. He seemed to understand her intentions and had never asked questions or made Elly feel unwelcome.

  Mrs. Ellinger, though, was far less accommodating. She kept very close tabs on her daughter and was unrelentingly strict at all times. She demanded exact information about where Elly had been, was at the current moment, and was going to be - and with whom. Letting her spend time with people she wasn’t familiar with, or worse, didn’t approve of, was out of the question. Pondy wasn’t sure if the woman had always been that way, but she had been like this as long as she was able to remember. Despite her young age, she understood instinctively that this was just a symptom of Mrs. Ellinger's protectiveness about her daughter, and not that she was cruel. Nonetheless, for Pondy, it made life with her friend very regulated and complicated at the same time, to say the least.

  Another problem was that one of the persons Mrs. Ellinger didn’t approve of was Lany. Their mothers had grown up together and had been close for decades, so they still spent a lot of time together - but always as a trio. Elly was never alone with Lany; her mother simply forbade her to see her on her own. Pondy wasn’t sure what the Langermore girl had done to have fallen out of the woman’s grace, but then, Lany wasn’t always the easiest to deal with, wasn’t she? Today was another very good example, and Pondy had to - yet again - deal with the fallout. Today’s incident at the store in Brigspeel had way more consequences than Pondy, Elly, and Lany had anticipated.

  Most of the time, neither Pondy nor Elly were keen on teasing Josie as much as Lany was inclined to, but they had realized long ago that joining in was way easier for them than standing up to her. Although feeling uncomfortable about the way they treated the other girl, both went along with almost anything Lany instigated. Pondy knew that Elly shared her feelings about the topic. Even if they had never talked about it with each other, they often exchanged pained glances when they realized Lany was up to another one of her “Nosy Josie” phases. People who had been friends as long as they didn’t always need words; reading each other's expressions was more than enough. Both girls thought Josie was an oddball, sure. For example, she never joined in when the girls at school were playing together, instead, she was always scribbling something or nose deep in a book. At least whenever she wasn’t running around like a whirlwind. All she ever wore were unfashionable, boring clothes, and she never contributed to the girl’s conversations - at least not in a normal way. That she lived in that strange and spooky old house out of town didn’t help Josie’s image at school, either. Elly and Pondy just couldn’t understand how a girl could be so - ungirly, but despite their obvious differences, they would have been content to just let Josie be.

  Well, it didn’t matter much, because Lany would have none of that and used every possibility to get one over the other girl. She could be very intimidating when someone angered her, and Pondy really wanted to avoid seeing their friend furious - no, thank you very much. Lany had never let on the exact reasons behind her deep dislike for the strange girl, but there was no question whatsoever about her contempt. Besides Elly, Lany was her oldest and closest friend, and Pondy knew that getting to know Lany could be challenging. But if she let someone close enough to find out, it was obvious that she could be very generous, of almost breathtaking charm, and an absolute riot. They had spent many an hour laughing themselves silly over Lany’s jokes, and both Elly and Pondy loved their friend, each aware of her wonderful qualities. But as much fun as spending time with her could be, as much grief could she cause for her friends - because if Lany wanted something, no matter the cost, she’d get it. You could bet your behind on that, as Pondy’s Mom had once put it.

  In Brigspeel, their quaint little home town, everyone knew one another - if not by name, then at least by sight. Due to the town’s location in a rural area, this included even the neighbouring villages and towns, and encountering an unfamiliar face was rare. In tight-knit communities like these, it wasn’t surprising that Pondy’s family and those of her friends had some ties to the Legrands and Faulkners. Not only moved their parents in about the same social circles as some of them had been in school together, but Mr. Langermore was employed at the same firm as Mr. Legrand. Even Danny’s Dad seemed to be working there now, but as it was of no interest to her, Pondy didn’t know any details. She knew Caleb’s father was high up in the workplace hierarchy, and that he had been the one to bring Mr. Faulkner into the firm, but only because her Dad had mentioned it in a conversation with her Mom. Of course, the trio themselves had grown up with Caleb and Danny since kindergarten and thus knew each other quite well. They had spent many a barbecue or party playing together, and Pondy had always like Caleb and Danny. She considered them friends, even if they weren’t that close - but it was one of the reasons why she felt so miserable about this whole mess. When they had met Josie at the store today, Lany had yet again decided to use the opportunity to go after her. Caleb and Danny stepping in had been unexpected, to say the least, and rather unfortunate, as Lany nurtured a very consuming crush on Caleb and had in fact liked him for a while now. Even more unfortunate was that Elly was quite smitten with Danny - but both boys seemed to have befriended the peculiar girl and were more interested in her than anyone else. The girls had no clue as to when that could have happened, but the boys had defended Josie quite vigorously and left no questions about their view of the trio and their actions.

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  Caleb had been convinced from the start that someone had snitched to the teachers about the group text, and to Pondy’s great regret, he had been right. Yesterday, Lany had wasted no time to tell Mr. Groveny - the principal himself, of all people - first thing in the morning. Both Elly and Pondy had been very uncomfortable while joining their friend at Old Grumbly’s office, but Lany had been adamant and almost dragged them along by force. Well, Lany’s plan - whatever it might have been - had been unfruitful, and now it had also backfired quite badly because Caleb and Danny had figured them out. Not only mad about the girls’ tattling, but also fuming because of the stint in detention, the two had given them an earful - and then just left them standing to run after Josie.

  The joys of the day hadn’t ended there, though. Someone must have told the parents about the incidents, because both Pondy and Elly had received harsh scolds to from their respective families after returning home from the store. Apparently, Mr. Legrand himself had called both houses to inform the families about what had been going on, which was why Pondy was trying her best to console her friend right now. Mrs. Ellinger had been mortified, because of reasons unknown to Pondy, no one in and around Brigspeel wanted to lose Mr. Legrand’s favour. Naturally, his calling to complain about the girls’ actions tempted the woman to place Elly under house arrest until she was fifty. She was also inclined to disallow any contact whatsoever between her daughter and Lany, whom she seemed to blame for the entirety of the affair. Elly’s fragile little world lay shattered, and she had texted a desperate message before her Mom had taken her phone. Pondy had begged her parents to let her visit, and despite being angry and disappointed with her, she’d been allowed to go over to Elly’s for a few hours. Of course they had told her that they, too, would consider house arrest if she were to step even the slightest bit out of line again.

  Getting past Mr. Ellinger had been another story altogether - and the two had barely managed to convince her under the pretence of a homework assignment. Pondy really hoped that they wouldn’t be found out; they were in enough trouble as it was - but Elly had wanted her here, and she had welcomed the idea of getting away from her own parents’ glares as well.

  “I just can’t wrap my head around why Lany hates Josie so much. I wish she’d just stop. And I wish we had never gone to Grumbly. Or, better yet, that she had never taken the picture and sent it to the group text in the first place.” Pondy aired her thoughts.

  “I… don’t care,” sobbed Elly. “Not right now. I just want to fix this. What if Danny hates us now?”

  “Ah, don’t be silly. I know he doesn’t. I’m way more scared of your Mom. Do you really think she’s that mad at Lany?”

  “You should’ve seen her. I swear, if Lany had been here, my Mom would’ve totally ripped her head off.”

  “Wow. Okay. But what’s gonna happen now?”

  “Don’t know, honestly. What about all the plans we made? Lany’s birthday is next month - I already got her a present,” Elly mumbled defeatedly.

  "Here’s the deal. Let’s just keep our heads down for a bit until our parents chill again. I mean, I totally get that they’re angry, but it wasn’t that big of a deal, right? And once they see we can stay out of trouble, your Mom will come round, too. I’m sure!"

  Hope lit up Elly’s pretty dark brown eyes, while tears still glistened in the fringes of her long and curly lashes.

  “You’re right.” The girl blew her nose and sat up a bit straighter. “And we have to get Danny to forgive us. Caleb, too.”

  “Sure,” Pondy appeased her. “We’ll think of something.”

  “We have another half hour until you have to leave. I totally need some ice cream. You want some, too?”

  “You know I’m not allowed. My Mom says I’m still not at my ideal weight, and really I don’t want to spend the summer at sports camp again,” sighed Pondy, a deep frown clouding her face. “But you have some; I’ll just watch and pretend I’m eating with you.”

  “Ah, no. If you can’t have some, I won’t either. It would suck to rub it in your face,” Elly waved the notion off and shared a smile with her friend.

  For a moment, everything seemed a bit better, but then Elly’s brow furrowed, and she took a deep breath.

  “Uhm. I need to tell you something, though,” the girl said slowly, and Pondy perked up. What now?

  “Remember when Lany swiped the mascara from that store in Brigspeel?” Elly whispered, the hushed question so low that Pondy had to listen closely. She nodded.

  “And then, when her Mom started selling make-up, how she would sometimes nab some of the samples?”

  Pondy nodded again, a small knot forming in her gut. She knew all too well, as neither Elly nor herself had been okay with Lany’s actions. The girl had given them some of the stolen cosmetic samples, although she must have been aware that neither were allowed to use make-up just yet. They had, in fact, been quite afraid to be found out, and both girls avoided talking about the entire topic. Not only because of their shared discomfort, but also because Lany had a tendency for erratic and, in some cases, even wrong behaviour. Pondy feared to already know where this was going.

  “While the boys were outside, I saw Lany at the backdoor of the store. You know, where you can go to the Wolfe’s rooms.” Elly gulped, and the worried look had returned to her dark eyes. Pondy’s heart picked up a pace at her friend’s fearful expression.

  “Danny’s backpack was there - and, well... everyone was busy, so no one else saw, I think. But I saw Lany taking something out of it. I was too far away to really see it, but I think it was some kind of picture…”