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They hated her. “They must hate me,” thought Shelly as she tucked her head into her knees, tears in her eyes, alone in a forgotten corner of the floor - her floor. Not that it mattered; no one had cared to visit for years, but it felt special, and that was all she really had.
At first, Shelly didn’t mind it too much. A friend wouldn’t invite her for lunch, but that was okay, because they had other friends to hang out with!
Then it started to feel more personal. She’d heard from Tisha that the other mains were having a movie night! But she… wasn’t invited?
At a certain point, Shelly couldn’t make excuses anymore. She had to be doing something wrong. She had to be. Why else would they be ignoring her? And so she began to silently loathe herself - not that she could ever show it publicly. She had an image to uphold, being a main character and all. Shelly worried that if she ever spoke about the way she felt, everyone else would only hate her more. She didn’t want to bring down the mood.
And so she cried in her room, and on her floor, the only things that had ever really been hers.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Meanwhile…
Vee sighed as she walked through to the Gardenview dining center. In truth, she would rather be anywhere else except for here. But, she did need a break from managing her game show, and maybe she could catch up with Astro or Shelly. She would probably just stay for half an hour or so, then make up some excuse to go back to her work.
Vee sat down at the table, an annoyed look on her screen. She was sitting next to Astro, with Sprout and Dandy (holding Pebble) across from them.
“Heya there, Vee!” Dandy exclaimed with a cheery smile as Vee sat.
“Hello, Dandy,” Vee muttered before turning to face Astro and Sprout, “Hello, you two.”
“Hey,” replied Sprout.
“Hi…” Astro said quietly, almost a whisper.
There was an awkward silence for a moment, before Sprout said, “Cosmo is taking our orders, so you don’t have to worry about-“
“I don’t need anything,” Vee interrupted him. Sprout hesitated for a moment before turning away. There was another awkward pause before Vee spoke up again, “Where’s Shelly?”
Everyone looked around for a few moments, and then Vee continued, “Dandy. You sent her an invitation, right?”
“…”
“…”
“Well - you see - I think-“
“Dandy!”
“I forgot, okay! I don’t think about her that much.”
“Well fine, then! I’ll go find her.” Vee promptly sat up and stormed away, leaving the rest of them shocked and concerned.
Well, that was one way to leave early.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Every warning alarm in Vee’s head was going off. She didn’t really know why - those were only programmed to sound when she felt threatened, but despite that, she was in full panic mode.
No one knew where Shelly was. Her room was the first place Vee checked, but she was nowhere to be found. Vee had asked around, but most people didn’t even notice Shelly was missing. It made Vee angry how little people cared. …Why did she care so much? Shelly was one of her friends, yes, but Vee knew she wouldn’t go this far for anyone else. She nearly overheated thinking about it, but she put the thought out of her mind and kept looking. She would think about that later.
The next person Vee asked was Shelly’s best friend, Tisha, and her response had been, “Even if I did know, I wouldn’t tell you.” Vee almost considered giving up, but she couldn’t stop now - this was too important.
There was only one other place Vee could think to look.
She made sure no one was watching, then snuck into the elevator and pushed the button for 15 - Shelly’s floor. It was kind of funny how things worked out, with Vee’s floor being number 16. The two of them had always been close. Sure, Vee had other friends, but she had always had a soft spot for Shelly. Shelly was so passionate about the things she liked, and always so caring for other people - and she just made Vee feel so happy, like a part of her she had always been missing.
But this was no time to think about that.
The elevator door rose open and Vee was greeted by a large stegosaurus fossil and the sound of someone… crying? Vee’s sensors told her that the crying belonged to Shelly. Something was very, very wrong.
Vee followed the sound until she turned a corner into one of the floor’s multiple small side rooms to find Shelly, curled up on the floor, crying into her knees.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Shelly couldn’t say she didn’t expect anyone to come looking for her. There were one or two people who she could say in good faith actually cared.
She did not expect Vee to be one of those people.
When Shelly heard footsteps entering the room, she took a moment to turn around and see who it was, tears still in her eyes.
“…Vee?”
“Shelly?”
“…”
“Are you okay?”
Shelly thought for a moment but looked down again without responding. Vee sat down next to her, and paused slightly before continuing, “I know I’m not the best at handling emotions, but… if you need someone to talk to, I’ll listen.”
Shelly looked at Vee again before looking back down and whispering “…I’m sorry.”
“…What? Why?”
“For wasting your time. I know I can be a bit of a burden sometimes.”
“Shelly, you know that’s not at all what I think.”
“But why? I’m always bothering you, and-“
“Because I CARE about you, Shelly!” Vee interrupted her, almost yelling before calming down again, “I really do. I know I don’t always show it, but you mean a lot to me. And I’m sorry if I ever made you feel like I don’t .” Vee was blushing.
“…even though you don’t invite me to anything?” Shelly asked cautiously.
“Oh, that?” Vee scoffed, “I’ll be having a loooong talk with Dandy about that after today.
Shelly chuckled. “Thank you.”
“Now come on, Vee said while standing up, “Let’s get something from the dining section. You deserve it.” She reached out a hand towards Shelly. Shelly took it and sat up as well.
“You can tell me all of your dinosaur facts if you want,” Vee offered as they walked back towards the elevator, holding hands.
“Even though you know them all?”
“If it means spending more time with you…
…I’ll be happy to hear them all again.”