Question Jello and Heartbreaker

I've been rereading Ayla and the Networks (phase 5). So... I'm just curious, because I can't find an older topic on it. Jello and Heartbreaker. Friends forever? From long ago? One sided crush? secretly sisters? Genuinely in love with each other? or is Heartbreaker just way nicer than she seems and genuinely cares about Eleanor like friends do?

What's ya'lls opinions on that, and when do you supposed one of the authors is gonna decide to dig out the masterminds and have some fun?

Maybe in R and R4?

My take is that Heartbreaker is nicer than she projects.
She used to be the ugly, bullied one. Now she is one of the pretties.
Some people who were bullying victims become bullies themselves when they improve their position.
Some become defenders of the bullied.
Some... fall somewhere in the middle. Heartbreaker won't become part of the Bully Busters, but Jello is her teammate and friend, so HB protects her.

I get that, but I think that makes it sound way simpler than it always feels. Heartbreaker literally defines her interactions with other people by how well they treat Jello, at least to some extent.

She sides with Phase purely because Jello likes Phase.

That feels like a step past just "protecting my friend from bullies." Not necessarily a romantic step, but a still a step past just bully protection.

My impression is that she's like a less evil version of Tansy, but perhaps with an even more isolated childhood. Even ugly-Tansy had friends. Sure, she betrayed them once she got pretty, but she had people to connect with when she was young, like Jadis.

The vibe Heartbreaker gives off is that she never had anyone until she manifested and went to Whateley.

My guess is that Jello isn't just her best friend, she's her first friend. That's why she compares others to Jello, that's why she judges them on how they treat her. Instead of becoming a bully, she became a manipulator, because she found a friend who probably wouldn't accept her if she was a bully. A friend she protects like her most prized item in the world.

That's a really good interpretation. I like it.

It makes plenty of sense to me as well. Jello is the first friend Heartbreaker made. So she feels the need to be worthy of the first person who ever considered her worthy of them... so she judges most things in relation to how Jello views it.

Too bad that neither of them will ever find the gumption to break free of the Master Minds...

Anne wrote: Too bad that neither of them will ever find the gumption to break free of the Master Minds...

Well, a life of crime may be unfortunate to some of u, but I'm not sure it's about Gumption here. I think it's about skill. They're actually quite good. Mostly.