Sabine's eyes met Gloria's. "But Connie didn't want it to end that way. She wanted to destroy you."
"Destroy me?" Gloria's eyes grew wide. "What do you mean?"
"She wanted to finish the fight with you, to completely destroy you," Sabine explained, "Connie was winning. She was more popular than you. Your nasty attitude got everyone hating you. You had money, though. I guess she was always envious of that.
"Everything had gone well for her until you stopped fighting back," Sabine concluded.
"How did she plan to 'destroy' me?" Gloria asked.
"I thought it was just making you drink," Sabine said, "Getting you drunk and making a fool of yourself. Connie had more planned, though."
Sabine threw herself at Gloria. "I'm so sorry, Annie," she sobbed on her friend's shoulder, "I didn't know. I wouldn't have done it if I knew what she wanted to do."
Gloria patted her friend reassuringly. "What did she do?" Dread crept into her heart even as she asked that question.
"Connie knew someone, that cab driver." Sabine sniffed. "She wanted your red dress. She wanted to humiliate you. But she couldn't be there and do it herself. People would know if she'd been away from the dinner. So she had those photos of you taken so she could see you... um..."
Gloria shivered. Connie was truly a frightening person.
They separated so Sabine could wipe her nose. "I'm sorry, Annie," the plump girl apologized again, "She made me keep that photo of you, saying it will protect me from the nasty you. I should have hid it better, I..."
She should not have had it in the first place! Although the photos probably helped lead the police to those responsible for Gloria's torment.
"I can't believe Connie's capable of such a thing," Gloria said.
Sabine gave her a strange look. "Annie, she was just doing what you would do. She wanted to destroy you using one of your tricks."
"Mine?" Annie's?
Her plump friend nodded.
"Have I done such a thing before?" Gloria asked.
"You've it tried before," Sabine replied, "I heard people saying it in school."
"On her?"
"On someone else - I don't know who."
"Did I... really do it?"
Sabine shook her head. "I don't know. I heard you tried something but didn't hear what actually happened."
Annie had been in a war with Connie. A really ugly war with nasty tricks. And Connie was winning. Was that why Annie had tried to kill herself? Was that also why Annie had refused to return? Was it because she was losing the war and was unwilling to face the consequences, consequences that Gloria had suffered instead?
Ironically, Gloria had inadvertently ended the war by simply refusing to play, all because she had not known of the conflict. But the war had its cost. Sabine had been crushed in the fight between the two girls.
Gloria was truly glad that she had found out that she and Annie were two different people. If she had not known, if Annie's past had been revealed to her as it just had through Sabine, Gloria was sure she would not be able to bear the guilt.
Still, Gloria had inherited the consequences of Annie's past. Now she had to set it right again for Sabine. She should support Sabine. She should help her friend pick up the pieces. She should help her friend get on with life.
She took Sabine's hands in between her own and squeezed encouragement into them. "It's okay," Gloria said, "Things will be okay."
Sabine's shoulders slumped. "I hope so," she said quietly, "Connie's trying to put the blame on me. But it was her idea. She did all those things to you."
"Don't worry," Gloria consoled her, "you didn't have anything to do with my kidnapping. They'll prove it."
Over her friend's shoulder, Gloria caught a glimpse of Connie. The redhead stared at her with eyes burning with hatred. Then she turned and walked away, accompanied by her parents. Gloria had not dared to look at Mr Baker's expression for fear of what she would see.
There was not anything Gloria could do about Connie. But now with the private war over, hopefully Sabine could put herself back together.
***
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