Divorce Followed By A Break Up

(It is morning, before school starts. My group of friends and I usually meet in a specific hallway and hang out since most of us arrive well before the first bell. Three of us in this story have known each other since we were very young and are incredibly close. One of the three is a guy and he acts as a big brother to us girls. It’s just accepted that we are, essentially, siblings, and all of our significant others are made aware of this fact. I, Friend #1, his girlfriend (a more recent addition to our group of friends; they had been dating for several months by this point), and a couple of others are sitting around talking, reading, and being our usual geeky selves when Friend #2 arrives, in tears.)

Friend #1: “[Friend #2]! What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

Me: *pulling her down between me and Friend #1* “Was someone bullying you again?”

Friend #2: “N-no. No. I just, I just found out—” *starts sobbing too hard to speak*

Friend #1: *puts his arms around her* Hey, it’s gonna be okay. Shhh, it’s okay. What’s wrong?”

Friend #2: “My parents… They’re getting divorced!”

Girlfriend: *rolling her eyes* “Jeez, is that all? Why are you being such a drama queen? It’s not like someone’s dying.” *tugs at Friend #1, clearly irked that he’s hugging Friend #2*

Friend #1: *shrugs his girlfriend off* “[Girlfriend], be nice. This is hard on her, okay?”

Girlfriend: “It’s just a divorce! She’ll live.”

Friend #1: “[Girlfriend], look. It’s not my place to tell you this stuff, so I won’t go into details. But because of stuff that happened when she was little, as far as [Friend #2] is concerned her world is pretty much falling apart right now. She needs us right now. I’m sorry, but you and I can hang out later. Okay?”

Girlfriend: “Oh, just let her go kill herself, then, if she’s gonna be this dramatic about a stupid divorce! We were talking!”

(All of us go quiet, and stare at the girlfriend in shock.)

Friend #1: “What?”

Girlfriend: “She. Can. Go. Kill. Herself. If it’s so bad that she has to hang all over you, she can just do us all a favor and go slit her wrists or something and stop being an attention whore.”

(Friend #2 is crying even harder by this point, and I’m about to go after Friend #1’s girlfriend. I hadn’t much liked her before that, but respected the fact that Friend #1 did and so never said anything. However, as she had just made my ‘little sister’ cry I don’t care any more how much Friend #1 likes her.)

Friend #1: “We’re done. No one talks about my friends like that.”

Girlfriend: *stares in stunned silence for a moment before exploding* “You can’t just dump me like that!” *turns to the rest of us* “He can’t just do that!”

Friend #1: “I just did.”

(None of us jump to her defense, as she had apparently been expecting.)

Friend #1: “I don’t wanna talk to you again, and you’d better stay away from [Friend #2].”

Girlfriend: *sputters a bit before getting her stuff and storming off*

(We don’t see her again; apparently no one else in the group wanted anything to do with her after what she said. Friend #2, with the support of all of us, managed to get through her parents’ divorce.)