Pushed Off the Cliff by My Best Friend

One face pinched into fake, wounded guilt; the other snapping at me in irritation.

I looked at the two of them calmly and spoke, slow and even.

"I fell by accident while I was doing my exercises. The doctor says my legs are showing signs of recovery. If I keep at it, I'll be walking again soon."

May's tears stopped. What sat under them was resentment.

Godfrey looked almost let down.

Bitterness soaked into the root of my tongue. I pulled the corners of my mouth into something like a smile.

"Godfrey, let's break up."

There was a soft plop. The insulated bag in Godfrey's hand hit the floor, and a clear plastic box rolled out of it.

Inside was a blueberry cake, crushed.

Godfrey's brows drew together, as if he needed to be sure he'd heard me right.

Before he could say anything, May got to her feet.

"Nelly, don't say things you don't mean. I only watched that movie with Godfrey to help him relax."

"He squeezes into the cafeteria line every day to bring you food. He carries your wheelchair up and down the stairs."

"It hurts me just to watch. So don't take it out on him with these little moods, okay?"

I looked at May.

We'd grown up together, best friends who told each other everything.

When someone bullied her, I fought them for her.

When her parents divorced and neither wanted her, I brought her home to eat with us, and split my own parents' love with her.

When her grades slipped, I stayed up nights tutoring her.

When she said she wanted a graduation trip, I took her on one with three years of saved-up allowance.

And now she wanted to take my boyfriend too.

A sharp ache pulled tight across my chest.

She reached out her hand, and I shoved it away hard.

Godfrey lunged and caught her before she fell. May's raised foot kicked my wheelchair over.

"Cornelia, one movie, and you'd actually put your hands on May?"

"May gave up the university and the major she dreamed of just to take care of you. Do you have any conscience at all?"

I hit the floor.

I stared up at the hair tie around Godfrey's wrist.

My hair is short. I have no use for it. So that hair tie was meant for May.

Something in my head went off like a blast, and the string called reason finally snapped clean through.

I pointed at them and screamed.

"I have no conscience?"

"May, you used taking care of me as your cover while you went behind my back and threw yourself at my boyfriend. Have you no shame!"

"Godfrey, do you really enjoy the sneaking around so much—"

"Enough!"

Godfrey snatched the cake off the floor and threw it in my face.

He glared down at me.

"Why didn't that fall off the cliff just kill you!"

The moment the words were out, Godfrey froze.

I blinked, and the tears fell.

He panicked.

He fumbled at my face, wiping away the cream mixed with my tears.

"Nelly, that's not what I meant just now—"

He lifted me and set me back in the wheelchair.

May bit her lip and tugged at Godfrey's arm, her voice pressed thin with grievance.

"Nelly, I'm sorry. I won't contact Godfrey anymore, I promise."

She wiped her tears and ran off.

Watching her go, Godfrey clenched his fists.

"Cornelia, let's both just calm down."

Then he chased off after May.

Leaving me alone, a wreck in the wheelchair.

A nurse passing by couldn't help herself.

"What's the deal with your friend and her boyfriend? Dumping you alone at the hospital in the pouring rain."

To anyone on the outside, they were the couple.

The rain outside came down harder and harder.

I couldn't get a cab anywhere at the hospital entrance.

I waited until the middle of the night before I finally flagged down an unlicensed cab passing by.

The driver braved the rain to help me into the car, then folded up the wheelchair for me.