my great-grandmother kill my best frenemy

[Tinkerbell]

“Did you not hear me, Miss Mercer?” the Vandy said, twisting the rope in her fist. “I said come forward.”

“Actually, Ms. Vanderlyden,” I said, trying not to sound as nervous as I felt, “see this?” I gestured to my mass of curly hair. “This is a perm, and I just got it done the other day, so . . . yeah, probably shouldn’t get it wet.”

I heard a few muffled giggles, and next to me, my roommate Jenna muttered, “Nice one.”

When I first came to Hecate, I would’ve been too terrified of the Vandy to talk back to her like that. But by the end of last semester, I’d watched my great-grandmother kill my best frenemy, and the boy I loved had pulled a knife on me.

I was a little tougher now.

I’d watched my great-grandmother kill my best frenemy, and the boy I loved had pulled a knife on me. ??

 

[bhaisahab]

“Did you not hear me, Miss Mercer?” the Vandy said, twisting the rope in her fist. “I said come forward.”

“Actually, Ms. Vanderlyden,” I said, trying not to sound as nervous as I felt, “see this?” I gestured to my mass of curly hair. “This is a perm, and I just got it done the other day, so . . . yeah, probably shouldn’t get it wet.”

I heard a few muffled giggles, and next to me, my roommate Jenna muttered, “Nice one.”

When I first came to Hecate, I would’ve been too terrified of the Vandy to talk back to her like that. But by the end of last semester, I’d watched my great-grandmother kill my best frenemy, and the boy I loved had pulled a knife on me.

I was a little tougher now.

I’d watched my great-grandmother kill my best frenemy, and the boy I loved had pulled a knife on me. ??

"To pull a knife on someone" is to threaten that person with a knife. I don't know what the writer means by "best frenemy" it looks like a play on the words "friend" and "enemy".

 

[Tullia]

A "frenemy" (or I've seen it "frienemy") is indeed a portmanteau word, or "mash-up word" made out of friend and enemy.

It's basically a friend who is also a rival, or an enemy disguised as a friend - it reminds me of the saying "Keep your friends close but your enemies closer" I think.

I don't know how far back the word could be traced but it's certainly very common teenage slang nowadays. It might be more American than English, I'm not sure.

 

[BobK]

"To pull a knife on someone" is to threaten that person with a knife. I don't know what the writer means by "best frenemy" it looks like a play on the words "friend" and "enemy".

I've only met it in American TV Shows. My sister had a notable one of these, and she was called a 'scratching friend'. (I'm not suggesting it's better; and Br English is full of portmanteau words like 'frenemy' [look, for example, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky ] - just not this one yet.)

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