Mary Piper had a good life. It wasn't a great life, but it was certainly a good one. As a straight A student, she had few worries about getting the grades required to attend her university of choice. Outside of school her days were spent joyfully filling her time with the things she loved; reading, hiking, arts and crafts. It was a peaceful life, and one with which Mary was very content.
Her social life however was a rather different story. Being a total introvert, she struggled to make friends and spent most of her time alone or in the company of her mother. Mary didn't mind too much, but sometimes she would look longingly at the other girls laughing and joking together, or walking arm in arm down the street with their boyfriends, and desperately wish she could have that kind of bond with someone of her own age.
So it came as something of a surprise when one lunchtime, as Mary sat alone eating the lunch her mother had packed for her, someone slid into the chair beside her and proceeded to strike up a conversation. Not just anyone either, but Jasmine Summers; The hottest, most popular girl in school!
Jasmine was pretty much Mary's polar opposite. The two girls had both turned 18 within a week or so of each other, but that was where the similarities ended. Where Mary was shy and retiring, Jasmine was bubbly and outgoing. While Mary hadn't a friend in the world, Jasmine seemed to collect them like stamps. Where Mary was smart and driven, Jasmine was lazy and barely scraped a D in most classes.
"Hey hun, how you doing?" Jasmine asked with a wolfish grin, chomping on a bright pink stick of bubble-gum.
Mary stared back in a state of shock. Jasmine had never said so much as a word to her, aside from the usual mocking comments and cruel tricks she played on anyone she and her gaggle of sycophantic friends deemed an easy target. Mary had spent many a lunch hour hunting for her gym kit or textbooks that Jasmine or one of her followers had hidden for their own amusement.
"Er, well I guess I'm doing alr..."
"Great," Jasmine interrupted, nonchalantly blowing a bubble with her tongue. "Hey, are you doing anything after school tomorrow?"
Again, Mary's brain struggled to form a response. How was it that being this close to someone so beautiful could be so intimidating! It wasn't that Mary was ugly. Sure, her thighs were maybe a tad thicker than she'd have liked, her chubby ass wobbled when she walked and her slight belly was certainly more flab than toned muscle; but she had a pretty face, luscious brown hair and a pair of breasts that often had the boys staring! Still compared to the beautiful Jasmine Summers, Mary felt unworthy of even breathing the same air.
"N-no, I mean, no I erm, I don't think I've got any plans," Mary stammered.
"Perfect, you can come to my house after school then and help with that big Geography project we got set last week. I'm really struggling to get it finished and I need someone to help me out."
Mary couldn't believe her ears! How could someone who had spent the last seven years either ignoring or outright bullying her just presume she'd go out of her way to help with her work? Mary wanted to tell her where to go, yet somehow under Jasmine's intense gaze she couldn't quite get the words out. Maybe it was because helping others was in her nature, or maybe deep down she just really wanted to finally make a friend. Either way Mary felt utterly unable to refuse her.
All the while these conflicting emotions played out in Mary's head, Jasmine simply looked on expectantly, twirling a strand of her jet black hair between her fingers as her eyes sparkled with amusement. When Mary finally replied, her answer surprised neither of them.
"Yeah, alright then. I've already finished the project, so it shouldn't be too hard to give you a hand with yours."
"Okay good, but make sure to do some more reading, I don't want anyone to think I just copied you."
With that Jasmine pushed out her chair and made as if to leave, but at the last minute paused thoughtfully, spat the wad of gum she'd been chewing into her hand and held it out to the dumbfounded Mary.
"Actually, one more quick thing, I'm in a bit of a hurry, can you find a bin and get rid of this for me?" She asked, as though it was a perfectly reasonable request.
Mary looked at the saliva coated ball of gum with pure revulsion. She wanted nothing more than to slap away Jasmine's hand and tell her in no uncertain terms that just because she agreed to help with her homework, that didn't mean she could be ordered around or treated like some kind of serving girl.
Yet that's not what Mary did at all. Instead, for some inexplicable reason she didn't quite understand, Mary had nodded, reached out and plucked the chewed-up gum from her new 'friends' hand. Jasmine had grinned down at her with a twinkle of victory in her eye.
"Thanks, see you tomorrow then!"
Jasmine had left her clutching the ball of used bubble-gum and staring dumbly at her half-eaten lunch, trying to make sense of what the hell had just happened. Not only had Mary agreed to go out of her way to help someone who'd shown nothing but disdain for her, but she'd been thanked firstly with a demand to do more research, and then by having her hand used as Jasmine's personal dustbin. What the hell was wrong with her? Mary didn't know it yet, but that was a question she would be asking herself a lot over the coming weeks and months, as her life descended into chaos.
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Despite her earlier doubts, Mary awoke the next morning filled with a fresh sense of optimism. Today might be the day she finally made a friend! As much as she loved her peaceful little life, she had to admit it could get a bit lonely. All the girls in the books she read seemed to go on the most amazing adventures with their friends, now maybe it was her turn.
Mary pulled herself out of bed, enjoyed a lovely hot shower and slipped on her favourite dress; a lovely yellow blouse with white polka-dots that her Mother had bought her to celebrate her 18th birthday. Perhaps it was because Jasmine always looked so glamorous, but today Mary felt an unusual urge to dress to impress.
As Mary headed downstairs to make herself some breakfast, she was stopped in her tracks by a sudden knock at the door. That was odd, she thought, who could possibly be calling at this early hour? Tentatively, she paced across and opened the door revealing to her surprise, a grinning Jasmine, looking if anything more stunning than ever.
The raven-haired beauty wore the most brilliant pair of white knee-high socks, which stretched from her black stiletto shoes, right up the lengths of her shapely legs to the top of her thighs. There was then a tantalising flash of skin between them and a very short tartan skirt, above which a ridiculously low cut, white shirt struggled to contain her bulging cleavage. Her face, with its perfect features and mesmerising green eyes, could have belonged to an angel; were it not smiling down at Mary in a similar fashion to which a cat might a cornered mouse.
"Morning sleepyhead," Jasmine chirped cheerfully.
"Er, morning," Mary stammered, confused and unsure what was happening. "W-what are you doing here?"
"I'm here to collect you silly," Jasmine said as though she were speaking to a child. "You promised to come and help with my Geography project, remember?"
"Well yeah I remember, you asked if I could come round after school."
"Did I? Oh well, I meant all day. There's a lot of work and you really need to get started."
Mary couldn't believe what she was hearing! Surely Jasmine must realise other people have lives and commitments? That people can't just drop everything to help her at a moment's notice?
"Okay well I'm really sorry, but I can't come right now, I've got school all morning. This afternoon is just a study period though, so I guess I could leave and come round at lunchtime if that helps?"
"No, I'm going to need you to come round right away," Jasmine said sharply. For a moment she looked annoyed, but within seconds that sickly sweet smile was back on her face. "Don't worry about school, you can just skip it."
From the way Jasmine spoke, you'd have thought she was asking for a small favour, something trivial that wouldn't really be any inconvenience to her. But Mary had never skipped school in her life! She'd never so much as forgotten a piece of homework, so the idea of doing something as serious as bunking off was unthinkable.
