Rainbow walked out of the cafeteria angrily. How could Barry just order them around like that? And why couldn't she be friends talk to Gary? Who gave him the power to dictate who she could or couldn't be friend with? She scuffed her trainers on the hallway letting out a loud huff.
"Hey! RB! Wait up!" Linda was calling her. She stopped and spun around, seeing her best friend running to catch up to her. She was panting and her long brown hair was swaying in her effort to reach her. She caught up and panted for a moment placing her hands on her knees. "For someone so short, you're unreasonably fast!" She huffed out, poking fun at Rainbow and making her scoff. She caught her breath and stood up, suddenly hugging her small friend.
"What? Why did you catch up to me? And why are you hugging me?!" Rainbow questioned, peeling herself away from Linda, who was in no mind to let go. She realised that it came out as more harsh than she'd anticipated but Linda was touching her… without Rainbow inciting it.
"Oh… sorry!" Linda exclaimed, pulling back from her annoyed hug victim. "I just… I'm so happy! I mean you actually stood up for me! Against Barry! Like… Who does that?!" She exclaimed excitedly. Gushing over Rainbow's supposed protection of her. Rainbow took a step back from the excitable teen.
"What about Teddy?" Rainbow asked hesitantly, worried that Linda might lose the happiness she'd just acquired. Linda's smile dropped and she stared at the floor for a moment, making guilt flood over Rainbow. Why did she always have to ruin the moment?! She nervously pushed some of her hair behind her ear, playing with the tips of it.
"Well… I don't need him! We didn't really connect that much anyway!" She answered eventually, forcing a smile back onto her face. Rainbow's hands dropped to the sides again in relief, although she knew Linda was lying. They never really ever talked about anything deep, just surface level stuff with their fronts up. The truth was Rainbow was scared of dropping the mask even around her best friend… Maybe that was how Linda felt too…
"But… It's okay to be hurt… Y'know, by him just running away like that…" Rainbow mumbled, staring down at the floor. Every bone in her body wanted to reach out to her best friend, but all the voices corrupted the idea entirely. Linda watched her for a moment.
"H-how can h-he just do that?!" She cried out, suddenly. Hands rising to her eyes, to comfort the threatening tears. Rainbow's head snapped up and she frowned unsure of what to do now that the flood gate was open. Dimond usually handled this type of thing. What should she do?! Rainbow stood there paralysed, unsure of how to comfort her. She slowly reached out and placed a hand on Linda's shoulder, cautiously.
"Rainbow!" Someone suddenly shouted angrily, causing her to flinch. She spun around only to find Dimond standing right in front of her. "I just got Linda to calm down! What did you do?!" She exclaimed, pushing past her cousin to hug Linda. Rainbow stood awkwardly next to them, unsure how to answer Dimond's question, deciding to keep quiet instead.
"It's okay Dimond… RB just…" Linda's voice trailed off into more sobs and Dimond sent a glare to Rainbow who averted her gaze. This was all her fault. Linda was happy, so why did she have to go ruin it like that?
She walked away from the others, deciding it was better if she wasn't there. She had no idea how to comfort people anyway. All she did seemed to make things worse.
Rainbow got back to the dorm, being the first one back from dinner, and got ready for bed. She came out of the bathroom and slipped into her cold bed, feeling a shiver run up her spine. It wouldn't stop her from sleeping though as she was used to freezing to sleep. She pulled her knees up to her chest tightly, squeezing them to try and get warmer in a way that she'd done many times before. As she thought about how she'd messed up with Linda she found herself falling quickly asleep.