I vaguely knew the blonde girl sitting near my friend Warwick. Everyone's a friend in this town, so I tried to start a conversation. I told her I liked her shirt and mentioned seeing her around uni sometimes.

'Yeah, thanks.' She said. 'I'm not sure I - oh, wait. You were in that class with that lecturer, weren't you? I'm a friend of that other person.'*

'Oh, yeah.' I hated that class. I had no respect for the lecturer, and spent just as much time bitching about it with my manic, friendly, equally bitchy cohorts. So I asked her what I asked everyone in that class. 'What did you think of her?'

She paused. 'I remember you. You came up to me and my friend in a cafe and told us you hated the lecturer, like, how she showed us her neck or something like that.'

'Yeah, I really didn't-'

'No, you really, really hated her. You kept telling us how you couldn't stand her. It was random. Like, I couldn't understand it.'

I knew her friend much better than I knew this girl. The friend and I used to hang around with this group of sarcastic, faintly superior, forever wise-cracking people. I don't remember the cafe, and I don't remember the blonde girl being around when I bitched, as always, to her friend. Maybe I should have explained that. Instead...

'Yeah, I really didn't like her. I mean, she kept making mistakes and glossing over things and, I don't know, she really massacred it. What did you think?'

She pursed her lips and looked away for a few long seconds. Warwick had gone to the bathroom and I stared fretfully at the door for him to come back.

'She made a mistake about Valerie Solanas, but, I mean, God...'

She trailed off and looked away again. I should have changed the subject, talked about music, asked the guy sitting next to me if bleaching his hair like that hurt, but I felt like a toad pinned out for dissection. I felt excessive, overly dramatic, painfully arrogant. I was suddenly deeply ashamed for what I was wearing, how loud I was talking, for ever complaining, whining, bitching or badmouthing anyone.

She looked up. 'Your necklace is broken.'

'Oh, it's not broken, it's got these magnetic bits, and... I'm going to try and find, uhm, I need a cigarette but, uh, have a good night. It was nice talking to you.'

She smiled tightly. I glanced over my shoulder as I hurried away to catch her rolling her eyes. And I just kept going, growing smaller and smaller with each step.

*ham-fisted attempt at not flinging too many personal details around the internet