A. C. Meyer - Under Pressure

He made an expression of displeasure, but she ignored it. She liked him, they had been part of the same group of friends since they were kids, but Sean had a fixation on Mandy that went over a little of what she considered reasonable. She knew that her friend had no romantic interest in him and that the two had already talked about it. But although he said that he understood and that he would like them to remain friends, May found the feeling of possession he displayed to be quite strange.

"So, May, how was the history class?" - Yoshi asked and the conversation about the terrible class distracted her.

A few moments later, a buzz began to form at the table to her left, where the basketball team and the cheerleaders stood, in their short white and blue uniforms. Although they were not part of that group, they were sitting very close to them.

"Ryyyyy-aaannnn!" - Ashley Walters's thin voice rang in her ears.

Ashley was the captain of the basketball team's cheerleaders. She was beautiful, had a perfect body, shiny blond hair and incredibly blue eyes. She was the perfect stereotype of the college cheerleader. But, as sick as her voice, Ashley was not what could be considered good company. May had had the displeasure of attending the first class of the day with her - which had been terrible - but largely because of the girl. Boring, rude and prejudiced, Ashley only treated well who was part of her group and the strangest thing is that most of the people she got along with, did not see it. She was very popular and admired by most of the students: the boys were crazy to go out with her and the girls wanted to be like her.

" Ryann-annn ," - she called again, as if she were singing his name. May didn't know how anyone there at that table could tolerate Ashley. May had only known her for five minutes and already hated her.

"What is it, Ash?" - Ryan asked, looking impatient.

"Are you doing charity now, giving attention to the needy?"

He raised his eyebrow, looking quite surprised by the question.

"What are you talking about?" - He asked, his blue eyes showing confusion.

Her face showed a smug expression. She raised an eyebrow and said:

"I saw you in the hall, making out with a little chick, earlier."

He frowned, while the other girls who were next to her smiled mischievously when they heard the mean nickname.

May looked at Sean and Yoshi, who looked as surprised as she did. The girl looked back at the table and her eyes strayed from Ryan to Ashley, as if she were watching an exciting tennis match. She looked back at Ryan, who looked a little uncomfortable. Who was he clinging to? He was always harassed at school, so May had no doubt that at university he should be much more.

"What is it, Ashley?" - The expression on Ryan's face was quite boring. - "I don't give you the freedom to talk to me like that!"

"I'm not saying anything too much, Ry. Everyone saw that you went after that skinny girl in literature class after the meeting in the hall." - Ash made an innocent expression and continued. - "You used to have a better taste for girls, dear."

She pouted and laughed, accompanied by friends who looked more like imitation monkeys.

"I don't understand your comment, Ashley. You have no right to talk to me like that,” - he replied. - "In addition, you need to learn to respect people in order to be respected. Mandy has a name, she's an amazing girl and doesn't deserve to be treated that way by anyone. And nothing much happened. I bumped into her in the hall and went to apologize in class. That’s it."

Mandy? Did he say Mandy? Was Ryan referring to my Mandy ? , May wondered and looked at Sean and Yoshi, who were staring at each other with their mouths open, just like her.

"May, is he talking about Mandy ?" - Yoshi asked quietly.

"I think so," - she replied. Something happened and Mandy didn't tell me !, May thought to herself, but was awakened from her rambling by Ashley's irritating voice.

" I have every right to say what I want, Ryan! Besides, you know you should be with me , don't you? I am the cheerleader of the basketball team!" - She leaned against him, running a hand on his arm. Ryan took her hand and pushed it away. He laughed, but it didn't look like fun.

"Ash, don't make me laugh. I. Have. Already. Said. I. Don't. Want. Anything. With. You - he punctuated each word, pointing a finger at her. - "Don't be ridiculous. Your insistence on these ridiculous clichés is pathetic."

At this point, the entire cafeteria fell silent and everyone was looking at them. The silence was so deep that May could almost hear the sound of Ryan's breathing, which was accelerating. Ashley's mouth fell open at the boy's outburst, who stood up, almost knocking over the chair on the floor, and left the cafeteria, throwing the backpack on his back. Nobody dared to say a word during that moment.

May looked away at Ashley who looked angry. She hoped she wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Guys, I'm going after Mandy. I need to find out what's going on" - the girl spoke softly, when the cafeteria came to life. She stood up and Sean did the same.

"I'm going with you, May" - Sean offered, but the girl refused. If something had happened, Sean's presence would be more of a hindrance than a help.

"No, Sean. I'll go. We don't even know what's going on."

"But, May..." he tried again, but she didn't budge.

"She won't tell me anything if you're together, Sean. She's my best friend. Let me talk to her” - she said, needing to be tough on him.

Sean agreed, having no other option. When May started picking up her things to get up, the trio of cheerleaders - Ashley, Hannah and Cheryl - passed by their table and she felt herself shiver. She hoped they wouldn't start picking on Mandy. She knew that type of girl very well. Spoiled preppies who thought the world revolved around their navel. The last thing they needed was to get in trouble with that kind of person.

She waited for the three of them to leave the cafeteria. She put the backpack on her shoulder and went to the library after Mandy.

***

As she passed the reception, Polly smiled at May. The librarian already knew the little redhead, who always showed up looking for her friend.

"Is she here?" - May asked quietly.

"Yes, in the back, with Miss Austen and Sir Shakespeare " - she replied, laughing.

The young woman thanked her and went on to the classics of world literature class. It was no surprise that she was in that area of the library, since Pride and Prejudice was her favorite book. May went through a multitude of bookcases, until a noise caught her eye and she ran towards the sound. Finally, she found Mandy, who was sitting on the floor, with her hair messed up and several books lying around her.

"Mandy?" - She raised her head and looked scared to her friend. Her eyes were full of tears. - "Sweetie, what happened?"

"Ah, May..." - she murmured and the tears she was holding began to fall.

May knelt beside her and pulled her into a hug, feeling helpless.

"Calm down sweetie. It's okay ... don't cry" - she murmured, trying to calm her down. - "Wanna tell me what's going on?"

"I can't explain for sure why I'm like this." - she replied, trying to wipe away the tears.

"Talk to me, friend. You know you can trust me."

Mandy then started talking and told everything: the bump in Ryan in the hall, the partnership in the literature project, the disturbing dream.

"I know it sounds silly, May, but I was very nervous," - she said, wiping away her tears. - "You know I have no experience with boys. And Ryan ... well, I have to be honest ... he shakes me a lot. I never found myself in a situation like this and I didn't know how to act. Worse is that I was rude to him and we still have to do the project together."