#by huskydaisy

[petty-revenge-stories]

Consider your travel arrangements before you ruin our friendship.

This was a long time ago now but a recent post I was reading reminded me of this event and I felt it belonged here. Towards the end of sixth form (relative to 'senior year'), I had two 'friends' who I spent most of my time with. Let's call them Becky and Michelle. Michelle was very quiet and generally a nice person but Becky had a mean streak when she wanted to, although it had never been directed at me. I'd known them both for 8-10 years through school so I liked to think we were close.

One day, Becky and Michelle asked me what I wanted to do for my birthday. At the time I really, really wanted to see the new Harry Potter film but I was pretty sure it wasn't their thing, so while I suggested it, I also made it clear we could do something else if they wanted to, no big deal. But much to my surprise, they both agreed on the spot. Awesome. We made the plans - I was going to drive because I had just passed my test (the cinema is a 20 miles/30 mins drive in the next town over), we'd grab food and then see the late showing.

I cannot tell you just how excited I was about this. I absolutely loved Harry Potter (still do) and I was thrilled to bits that my friends had taken an interest. I banged on about it for the two weeks coming up to the day, and all the way during the drive there, and all through when we were eating before the film. We're talking about supernerd-level excitement.

Then we got to the box office.

Becky turns to me and says she and Michelle think Harry Potter is a bit crap so "we" (as in dictating all three of us) were going to see 'latest shitty romcom' instead. Turns out, Becky had got her dad to buy their tickets earlier in the week when he was in town and it dawns on me that this must have been their plan all along. They had every chance to tell me this before we made plans but didn't. They knew I had my heart set on seeing this film and didn't care. They had sat through me rabbiting on about dementors, brooms and hippogryphs for hours and said absolutely nothing.

I am crestfallen. Not only at the thought of not seeing Harry Potter, or even at the way they had deceived me, but at the sudden and very clear realisation that these people who I have sat with at school and shared my life with every day for years were not my friends. It all clicks into place. Past events, little actions and comments here and there all make sense. How could I be so stupid?. I accept the reality, say OK and head to the ticket counter.

To this day, I am certain that Michelle and Becky 100% expected me to fall in line and buy a ticket to their film. You can imagine their surprise when I bought one for Harry Potter. I'll be damned if I'm letting them take Harry Potter away from me too. I tell them that I am watching the film I came here to see and that they should go since their film is starting soon, this earns me a beautifully confused reaction from both of them as I walk off to go buy popcorn.

The film was awesome and I was feeling increasingly better about my decision throughout. It ended at just gone 11pm and on my way out of the cinema I saw Becky and Michelle waiting for me in the lobby. Since my film started later and was longer than theirs, they must have been waiting for roughly an hour which, as it turns out, was just long enough to miss the last bus back to our hometown. Spectacularly, they somehow imagined that I would still be giving them a lift back. I didn't plan it at all but before I knew it, I was amongst the droves of other Harry Potter fans leaving the screening and it worked just as well as the invisibility cloak. I had gotten past them without being seen. I 'forgot' to turn my phone back on and then I drove home and went to bed.

The next morning I turned on my phone to several voicemails and texts. From what I could gather, Becky and Michelle waited until the cinema literally kicked them out to close up and Michelle eventually managed to wake up her dad to come get them. I decided to send back a marvelously petty reply along the lines of "Oops. Thought you had made other plans". I received no response.

Thankfully, we were now on study leave for our final exams so I didn't have to see them. There was no confrontation. I worked through summer then went on to a university across the country and made new friends. Michelle and I got back in touch five or so years later. Becky generally treated her the way she treated me, it just took Michelle a lot longer to see it. We're not the shithead kids we used to be 14 odd years ago and we're genuinely good friends now.

TL;DR So called 'friends' arrange to go see the late showing of a Harry Potter film for my birthday and they know how excited I am about this. Turns out that they were planning to see another film all along and just used me for a free ride. So I watched Harry Potter anyway then went home, leaving them stranded in a different town 20 miles away.

(source) (story by deleted)