Chapter Text
Despite all the effort her teachers and the school had gone through to prepare her for her first day back, Janis ‘Imi’ike was still nervous. Due to the severity of her injuries following getting hit by a bus, she was limited to navigating most of her school hours in a wheelchair, and working on her physical therapy after school. Her pain management was in the hands of Mr. Duvall, with the assistance of the school nurse, to ensure her own safety. She was not feeling pain in that moment, at least, as she stared up at the school’s familiar entrance.
All she felt was a burning, clawing anxiety.
While trapped in the hospital, every day felt like a tiny, contained eternity. For a long stretch, she felt like she would never leave it. In fact, she believed that, at the darkest moments. It was strangely a bright, pink light that brought her away from those gloomy ideas, and made her believe that she could return to some kind of normal. This was not it, not yet, but she had only just started. Maybe Regina George was right, for the first time in her life.
Janis was unsure she was prepared to admit that just yet. What she needed was to psyche herself up, to get the courage to wheel herself past the threshold of the large, open front doors, and begin her first day back at high school. The fact that she had immediately turned to thoughts of her once best friend, then hated rival, and now… complicated fellow survivor made it at once strangely easier and far more difficult. Taking a shaking breath, hearing her mother wishing her all the love and feeling those warm arms around her neck one last time, she pushed herself forward and took the disabled ramp up the side of the normal stairway.
At least the school had one of those.
She was expecting everyone to be in their first class as she wheeled herself into the school. That was what she was told, an assurance by Principal Duvall, who was standing just inside the door and waiting for her with the biggest grin on his face. As she entered the main lobby, however, she knew she had been lied to. And not just because, suddenly, hundreds of people were yelling at her.
Though, mostly it was that.
“Welcome back, Janis!!!” Most of the school yelled at her, and almost in sync. She smiled, laughing as some of the teachers she missed quite badly while in the hospital came over to her to personally welcome her back. Her art teacher draped a lei around her neck, which she took with grace, and Ms. Norbury gave her a tight hug that she quickly let go of before Janis could really enjoy and apologized for, thinking she might have caused Janis pain. The injured artist did her best to take it in stride, knowing it was just as strange for everyone else as it was for her.
Not everyone would know how to handle how different things were. At least not right away.
There were banners hung up from the ceiling, emblazoned with the words ‘welcome back Janis’, all in caps. They had gone with shades of dark, olive green and black, which she found she did not mind. She was trying to focus on these small details to keep herself from getting as overwhelmed as she knew she should be, emotions just waiting to be set free pushing against all the walls she had hastily thrown up in her mind from the moment she left her house. She could almost hear them all creaking and groaning, threatening to break, and it only added to the cacophony of voices and clapping crashing down on her.
And then, there was one clear, deep voice.
“Janis!”
“Damian…” She saw them standing at the head of the throng of people, Damian and Cady holding a large banner with the words ‘you’re our hero’ on it. Beside them, holding her own ornately decorated sign, was Regina, who chose to make her sign say ‘you’re my hero’ instead. Janis smiled at the sight of them, excusing herself from the teachers and wheeling over. They dropped the banner, Damian throwing his arms around her and hugging her in the exact opposite way Norbury had. If he was worried she might break, he had already silently accepted it and was probably counting on finding a way to put her back together again.
Cady hugged her next, though she was far more careful. Janis caught her hand as she pulled back, holding it tightly and giving her an apologetic look. Though she and Cady had a few heartfelt conversations of their own while she was in hospital, Janis still felt there was some tension and awkwardness left in the air between them. She wanted the other to now only know how sorry Janis was for using her to get back at Regina, but that she forgave her for all of her own bad choices.
Regina stepped forward and the room fell oddly silent, considering how many people were still gathered there. Even the teachers were holding their collective breath, Norbury reaching to grab on to Duvall’s hand.
“You look pretty,” Regina said softly, noting Janis had done her hair in a similar style to the one Regina gave her while they were in hospital together. “Your make up needs a little work.”
“Thanks,” Janis rolled her eyes, then held up her arms for a hug. There was a trembling murmur that moved through the entire school. Regina rolled her eyes and handed her sign to Gretchen, who took it while looking like she had no idea where she was. Regina hugged Janis tightly, just like Damian, except one hand cradled the back of her head in a distinctly intimate way. Janis sank her fingers into Regina’s fashionable coat, hugging her just as tightly as relief flooded through her and chased off most of that cloying anxiety that had been quickly building with all of the attention.
Norbury grabbed Duvall’s hand, fighting tears, while he muttered, “since when are they friends?”
Regina pulled back and Janis slid her arms down from around her shoulders. They ended up catching each other’s hands as if it were planned, Regina smiling down at her confidently. “Need an escort to class?”
“Oh, nuh uh, that’s my job,” Damian put his hands on the back of Janis’ wheelchair for emphasis, just daring Regina to try and get him to move. From the way they looked at each other, Janis realized they had also forged some kind of understanding. Nothing was the same at North Shore High.
“Fine, whatever. I’ll see you at lunch.” Regina waved her hand over her shoulder and turned away. She still seemed to hold all the power, as once she left, the crowd broke up and the teachers ushered their classes back toward their rooms. Damian pushed Janis as he intended, Cady walking quietly beside them. While Damian and Janis shared most of the same classes, Cady had a few schedule disruptions mostly due to her math and AP course choices.
The rest of the morning passed reasonably well, though Janis found herself almost constantly the center of attention. Even the teachers were interested in her story, asking if she would be okay with answering questions, since the other students were so curious and worried. She ended up answering a lot of the same things over and over, but she did so with as much patience as she could and only a small amount of sarcasm. At least, she felt it was a small amount.
Maybe most of the others would not agree with her there.
It was a relief to be in the cafeteria, despite how many voices filled the space and how many eyes were on her as she let Damian push her across the space. They went to their usual table, where Cady was waiting with what looked to be a banquet.
“My mom was really excited it was your first day back, so she insisted she make food for us and that I bring it. I couldn’t really say no… so…” Cady smiled sheepishly, and Janis felt her chest tighten. It was a kind gesture, one of many that she had experienced that day, but for some reason it struck her as uniquely sweet. She nodded, then looked up at Damian.
“Help me up. I can sit at the table. It’s a little easier.”
Damian nodded, putting the brakes on the wheelchair and moving to offer his arm to Janis like a footman helping a princess out of a cart. She took it carefully, using her own muscles and strength to stand and cross to the table. Her medication was wearing out, so she felt some pain, but it was nothing compared to what she had experienced leading up to this point. Her physical therapy was paying off, but she was warned not to push it too much at school at first. There was a murmur around them. Despite all the questions, it seemed some students had not gotten the note that she was not, in fact, paralyzed.
She took a few careful steps on her own, then let Damian help her to sit down. Almost as soon as she was settled and thanking him, Regina slid into the bench beside her and set her own food tray down. She was all but purring as she regarded Janis, who was staring at her like she had forgotten to put her skin on the right way.
“What? I can’t sit here?”
“Well. I guess you can, technically.”
“What Janis means is we have always been open to accepting all kinds,” Damian cut in, sitting on the other side of the table, with Cady, “including Plastics. But what about the rest of your pride?”
Gretchen and Karen were sitting at the usual Plastics table, staring at Regina in a mixture of horror and confusion. The latter more exclusively confusion than the former.
“They’ll survive,” she waved Damian off, looking at Janis and leaning toward her. Janis tensed, feeling like her shoulders were going to collapse into each other as she leaned away from Regina on instinct. There was heat rising in her cheeks, and she found herself staring at the table instead of her piercing blue eyes currently seeking her gaze. “I was thinking about what you said. Your goal.”
“U-uh huh,” Janis breathed, looking across the table at Damian and Cady and immediately regretting it. She looked back down before their questioning glances had too long to explore her expression.
“Are you still thinking about it, too?”
“I guess,” she mumbled. Silence fell, but Regina did not look away. If anything, she somehow made her stare even more powerful. Janis trembled. “Yes.”
“Good. Well. I told you, I won’t make it easy for you. And Spring Fling doesn’t count. We both have to go to that, anyway.” Across the table, in the gray area atop her blurring vision that Janis refused to look at, Damian coughed. Regina laughed musically, the sound compelling without its usual malice, and then got up to return to her regular table. Gretchen was almost on top of her the second she arrived, asking her what she was doing. She was still under the willful impression that Regina had done it on purpose
Janis did her very best to slip into her usually cool and funny attitude. She slouched, taking a breath and daring to look across the table at her friends with a prepared shrug and the intention of making a face. Two deadpan stares stopped her.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing,” Damian said, sitting up straight with his chest out and pretending to be the dainty, beautiful Regina George. He leaned forward, fixing her his best approximation of the glare Regina had just given her. It was far less intimidating, for a variety of reasons. “You’re just going to tell us exactly what every single word she just said to you means.”
“How am I supposed to know what she–”
“Nuh uh,” Cady interrupted, pushing a paper plate of food she had assembled for Janis toward her. “Spill.”