She chews on the inside of her cheek until the pain begins to settle her nerves and she's not crying anymore.
The cup in Marianne's hands is too hot to hold, but instead of placing it down again she just lets the pain seep into her fingers, down into her flesh.
Her back is turned but she feels her shoulders jerk upwards in a horrible involuntary spasm.
"Do I still have pupils?"
Oh well. They get like that when I see you anyway.
"If you cannot handle a little sibling rivalry, I don't know how you're going to manage adult life."
Marianne likes to be singled out as her special friend, even when this expresses itself as a tendency to take up vast amount of her leisure time.