Iolanthe by Margaret Fortune

Author:Margaret Fortune [Fortune, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Astra Publishing House
Published: 2022-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

32The fallout from Vida and Jovan’s bust-up is near instantaneous. Within the span of a day, we go from a fledging army mostly unified against a common enemy to a house divided against itself. Sides are taken and daggers drawn as students flock to one banner or the other, driven by prevailing friendships, established loyalties, and old resentments.

I eye the deepening divide with growing alarm, watching as old groups splinter and new ones quickly form. While at first it appears to be a simple split down the middle, with Vida and her supporters on one side and Jovan and his on the other, as time wears on, the situation proves to be fraught with far more complexities than that, as evidenced at lunch a few days after the breakup.

“Hey, Trey! Over here!” Jovan yells, while at the same time, on the other side of the kitchen tree next to Vida, Xylla calls, “I’m right here, Trey!”

Bowl in hand, Trey pauses, a panicked look on his face as he swivels his head between the two groups. On one side of the divide is his girlfriend, and on the other is his best buddy. If he sits with Xylla, Jovan will feel betrayed; if he chooses Jovan, Xylla will never talk to him again. Either way, he’s slag out of luck, and judging from the look on his face, he knows it.

“Uh . . . I just have to . . . finish . . . the thing,” he stammers quickly before grabbing a fork and fleeing the scene.

Though not unsympathetic to his situation, I can’t help snorting at his conspicuous exit. Smooth, Trey. Real smooth.

He’s not the only one caught in a tricky situation. Many find themselves caught in the middle, with friends on both sides and no way to choose between them, but even the ones who prefer to stay out of it unwittingly find themselves drawn in as they’re confronted by the others and forced to take sides. Public opinion on the whole debacle is completely split, some sympathizing with Vida after the way Jovan cheated on her while others say the overbearing Queen B just got what she deserved. Djen’s new status as Jovan’s girlfriend only complicates things more, as there are any number of people who like Djen but hate Jovan, or hate Djen but like Jovan, or like Vida and Djen but hate Jovan, or hate Vida and Jovan but like Djen. The list goes on, and even I can’t keep up with it.

I do my best to stay above it all, refusing to engage on the subject and immediately shifting the conversation back to the war anytime someone tries to bring it up. Most take the hint, but anyone who persists inevitably find themselves on latrine duty when the next chore roster comes out, and the offender gets the message soon enough.

Social cataclysm notwithstanding, there’s still a war to be fought, and I refuse to allow any amount of high school drama to get in the way.

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