I may like love, but I do not like Lanie.

Lanie leaves on Thursday. I wanted to get this over with. Its been lurking in the back of my mind ever since she came, to confront her. But I kept pushing the scary thought away.. I was extremely nervous about it - what if Lanie had a secret past in some painful sport like football, karate or wrestling that I didn't know about, and she could somehow beat me up if I told her off?

But Kristy expected me to wallow and go off into a deeper depression because of her hurtful ways. And no way, no how, am I giving Kristy that satisfaction.

I peeked out the window to see Lanie sitting among the garden, as if she was the most innocent thing you've ever seen. Pshh, as if. I'll believe that when Taylor Swift stops writing songs. I took a deep breath and crept out the front door, around the house, and behind the garden, into a thorn bush where Lanie couldn't see me. Panic was building up in my stomach when a thorn nudged me in the arm. "Ow!" I said. But then there came more stabs of pain at my thighs, forehead, wrists, and the bare patches of skin on my feet... And they were NOT thorns giving me pain, I tell you that. I shrieked in terror and fell into some thorns. When I looked up a hornet had landed on my nose.

God no.
I screamed as I saw hornets on my hips, feet, cheeks, arms ... They were attacking me! By now Lanie had noticed the commotion in the thorn bush, so she ran over and with her super-tough garden gloves she peeked through the front and saw me rolling over in thorns on the inside, with probably a swollen nose and hornets crawling over me. Lanie gasped, clutched her hand over her mouth and screamed with me.
"DO SOMETHING!!!" I managed to scream while swatting away the hornets, who just kept coming and coming.

Lanie got a blank look in her eyes for a second, then she ran back to her garden, picked up the bottle of bug repellent, then rushed back, told me to close my eyes, and sprayed the whole bush with it. Most of a hornets hurried away, but a select few remained and were buzzing like crazy.
"Oh...my...god..." I mumbled.

Then everything went black.


When I woke up, I was in my bed inside with a pot of tea next to me. Lanie was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at me with pity in her eyes.
"Why are you looking at me like that?" I snapped grouchily.
"You might want to take a look at yourself..." She said gently, averting her eyes.
I grabbed the hand mirror on my nightstand and took a good look at my face - and god I was a horror of a sight.
I had swollen bumps all over my cheeks, forehead, and nose, and no doubt I probably had some on my arms and legs. Probably even on my back, too. My lips had enlarged to the size of garlic fingers and my cheeks were puffy like heck. I gasped in horror.

"Sonali..." Lanie said, looking back at me. "Why were you in that thorn bush, anyway?"
I gulped. This was the moment I'd been waiting for, except I didn't make Lanie look as weak and vulnerable as I had initially hoped.
"I was there to tell you I know what you're doing." I said.
Lanie's mouth dropped open, and it looked like she was going to say something but her mouth didn't even make a squeak.
I went on. "You shouldn't obey Kristy, Lanie. I thought you, of all people, would know that." My voice was particularly harsh and icy cold. "I needed a friend, oh god yes I did, and I had all my hopes set on you, but you smashed them down. I can't believe such a person would do such a thing. How in the world do you have such a heart?!" I rambled on and on until Lanie looked like she wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

And. I. Was. Glad.

-Sonali