Page 29 of Virgin Sacrifice

“Well, why don’t you just ask your—‍” Autumn cut herself off abruptly. “Shit, Luz, I am the worst. I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up your mom.”

“It’s fine,” I said, waving her off.

Autumn knew that my mom passed away unexpectedly last year and that it had been hard for me to go off to college on my own.

“Shit, I’m like the worst friend ever,” she mumbled, concern weighing heavy in her eyes.

Something in my subconscious caught my attention, and suddenly I was back at the party with Autumn’s so-called friends, Hester and Jade. We had never spoken about what happened after that night, even though I had made a promise to myself to bring it up with her when I was ready.

Might as well rip off the Band-Aid since we were apparently going all-in on this friendship thing now.

“You’re actually a pretty great friend.” I paused to take one last gulp of my smoothie. “Which is why I wanted to talk to you about something,” I continued, working to keep my expression and tone friendly even if my palms were sweating on my lap under the table.

“Of course,” Autumn replied, looking back up from her phone. “You can talk to me about anything.”

Swallowing nervously, I forced myself to push on.

“The party that we went to, that first week of school, where we met your friends, Jade and Hester,” I began.

Her face instantly fell, and she turned ashen. The temptation to sweep it under the rug and avoid another round of conflict between us was there. But if I protected her feelings at the expense of my own over this, it would forever be a toxic undercurrent in our friendship.

“They said really horrible things to me, racist things,” I went on, my voice soft yet strong despite the shaking of my jaw. “And you just let them.” Tears were welling up in my eyes again in earnest.

Did friendship always involve so much crying?

“That wasn’t okay.” I finally laid it out there. Hanging out with Aaron was one thing, but I refused to spend any of my time with the Hesters and Jades of the world.

For a moment, Autumn sat with a slightly slacked jaw as she processed what I said before she bit down on her lip, looking at me with watery but determined eyes.

“I’m really sorry, Luz,” she started. “What Hester and Jade said was disgusting and racist. I should have said something to them, and I should have said something to you.” She picked at her napkin before continuing. “I didn’t because I’m a coward, and selfishly I didn’t even consider how awful it must have made you feel.”

Her voice was more hushed now, and I could see the tears forming in her eyes as well. “I don’t agree with anything they said or did. And I should have done something or said something to them.”

“Why are you friends with them?”

“I’m not, not really,” she said, wiping away an errant tear. “Like they said, I’d been avoiding them all summer. I only took us to that party because I wanted to show you that I knew people on campus and knew how to, like, have fun. I haven’t seen either of them since.” She paused, sniffling, before adding firmly, “And I don’t want to.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly.

“Jade has texted me a couple of times since the party, but I haven’t responded.”

“Mmm, probably for the best,” I said, considering the woman’s behavior at the party.

“Their families have been doing a major PR scramble since the videos surfaced from the party,” she added with a small smile. “I guess some clips found their way into some Karen videos on TikTok.”

“It’s not justice but I’m not mad about it,” I replied, making Autumn chuckle as we finished up our smoothies.

I officially had my first real friend.

We entered the building of Jackson College House, and I remembered that I needed to check my student mailbox. I didn’t get a lot of mail, but I was expecting some documents regarding my mother’s estate. She hadn’t left much behind, but what was left had needed to be sorted out, and a year later I was still tying up loose ends.

“Do you mind if we swing by the mail room real fast?” I asked Autumn.

She shook her head, following behind me.

While I didn’t need Aaron to walk me around campus, I was wary about being caught alone in an isolated corner, and I needed to take the stairs to the basement where the mail room was located. It was late Saturday night, meaning most students were either already out for the night or safely tucked away in their rooms, and the basement was completely void of other people.

“Ugh.” Autumn shuddered as we entered the mail room. “It’s creepy down here alone. Hurry up, Luz.”

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