Stephoné sat in one of the chairs overlooking the pool where Will was practicing swimming with his teammates.

It was one of the places she could be and knew no one would bother her, especially Sabrina. She had always complained about the chlorine doing something to her hair or some lame excuse to avoid the pool.

She slouched down in the chair and tipped her head back. Inhaling deeply, the chlorine-filled air tickled her nose, casting her arm to fly over her face as she sneezed.

She looked up at the ceilings and focused on one of the lights above her. 'I can't believe I'm running for prom queen . . . that wasn't even on my list of goals - not that I had any. '

'I just wanted to get through the rest of the school year invisible and that's not going to happen now. With Cooper trying his best to talk to me for reasons beyond my wildest dreams - I can continue to try and avoid him . . . he's persistent. I wish he wasn't. It makes things harder.'

'Speaking of harder: I haven't even told my mom yet. I'm sure she'll be thrilled for me but I don't know if I should tell her. I don't want her to get her hopes up again on me only to be disappointed by the outcome. She doesn't deserve more disappointment from me, she deserves to be proud of me.'

'The chances of winning are slim, anyway, and it's not exactly something I wanted to run for anyway. If only Ariana hadn't gone behind my back and entered me, I wouldn't be in this mess! She'd make a great prom queen, I wouldn't, I wouldn't deserve it no matter how I won.'

'It's anonymous, so, no one would find out I'm running, or if I dropped out. I don't deserve to run and I couldn't take it away from someone else who is more deserving of it. Like Sabrina, her whole family has been prom queens or kings for decades, for anything. Even though she doesn't deserve it based on personality, she does have popularity and beauty, something I lack.'

'She'd be furious if she somehow found out I was running. And, not that I'd win, but if I did, she'd probably pull a Carrie on me and I couldn't stand that humiliation. In front of the whole school, probably being recorded and then posted on every social media for the whole world to see.' She pulled her legs up to her chest and rested her feet on the edge of the seat.

She heard the sound of footsteps approaching but didn't pay much mind. Everyone was busy with the varsity sports so the chances of it being anyone of importance was slim.

She ignored the presence until they plopped down beside her. It was probably just someone coming to watch the swim or probably Ariana had come to find her best friend and rope her into doing something fun during varsity sports.

"I don't know how you can stand the chlorine. It's pugnat and it burns my nose."

Stephoné froze, recognizing that voice all too well. Her breathing hitched as she slowly opened her eyes and sat up straight. "S-Sabrina," She weakly said her name as she began to tug at her sleeve.

Sabrina crossed her legs at the same time as she crossed her arms. Her eyes trailed from the pool to Stephoné. "You look like you're scared half to death." She flashed a snarky grin, bouncing her foot in the air. "I don't bite."

Stephoné had come here to get away from Sabrina and somehow she had come here to bother her. 'What does she want . . .' She thought as tightness welled in her chest and her mouth grew dry.

Sabrina frowned seeing her reaction, annoying to say the least. "Oh come on, you can't be serious?" She asked as if Stephoné had a clue what she was talking about. "Isn't this like old times?"

Stephoné slowly shook her head, raising her hand and nibbling on the cuff of her shirt. 'Old times? What is she even talking about?' She asked herself, not exactly like where this is going.

Sabrina took her silence as the answer she needed and explained what she meant. "When we were younger, we'd sit by each other to wait for our parents to pick us up. I'd sit behind you and you'd sit in front?" She asked, hoping that would resurface a memory.

Stephoné continued to nibble on her sleeve as she thought back. 'She's bringing up that memory? The one where she'd pinch my back and twist it causing me to flinch . . .' That particular memory was hard to forget. She should feel the phantom pains.

"And?" She took a deep breath and continued. "What do you want?" She meekly asked, having mustered all the courage she could. "Why are you bringing up those memories?"

Sabrina sighed softly, flipping her hair to her back. "For old time's sake. We haven't had time like this since the third grade. I wonder what happened?" She mused, her tone a bit condescending.

'She's never approached me. She's never had pure intentions before. She probably wants something or -' Stephone's thoughts were cut off as Sabrina continued when she was met with silence.

"It's clear I've never liked you. You somehow annoyed me without doing anything. You were like an annoying katydid, just kinda like there but unseen and you're like a cockroach, hard to kill and somehow you always come back," Sabrina paused to snort, snapping her fingers. "Hey, like the many times you tried to take your own life."

Stephoné sucked in a deep breath and held it. 'I don't like where this is going . . .' She let her traits trail off as her eyes flickered around her. She was still completely alone with Sabrina and Will was still busy swimming by the whistles and commands of the coach.

Sabrina bounced her foot in the air after crossing her legs. "Back to our grade school memory, why didn't you just get up and move, why endured it?" She asked, her voice haughty.

Stephoné continued to nibble on her sleeve cuff, turning it soggy. "Does there have to be a reason?" She mumbled, keeping her eyes focused on her dingy sky-blue sneakers.

"There is always a reason for every action." Sabrina quipped, looking at her nails just for the heck of it. She glanced over at Stephoné and pressed her lips into a thin line, keeping herself from smirking at her demeanor.

Stephoné's eyes continued to focus on the floor at her feet. "If I moved, you'd just move too, like you did many times before. I couldn't escape from you, you made that pretty clear." She mumbled, her voice being barely heard.

Sabrina rolled her eyes, straining to hear the light brown-haired girl. "Pitiful excuse. You could have dug deep and mustered up some courage to tell me to stop or tell a teacher - oh wait the teachers thought I was an angel and could do no wrong in their eyes." She smirked, leaning forward, and rested her elbow on her leg.

Stephoné sucked in another deep breath as she moved her hands to her legs and gripped them tightly. "What do you want, Sabrina?" She forced out weakly, bouncing her leg anxiously.

Sabrina mockingly put her hand to her forehead and gasped. "My ploy was seen through, oh well." She shrugged her shoulders before leaning forward and turning serious. "I want you to stay away from Cooper, his brother, and his friend." She straightforwardly told her, looking at her nails.

Stephoné's head snapped up as soon as those words left Sabrina's mouth. She whipped her head towards her and quickly defended herself. "I didn't even talk to him -"

Sabrina cut her off, waving her hand in the arm. "That's a flat-out lie. You have talked to him." She jabbed her finger at Stephoné. "You were talking to him before Ariana came in and seemed pretty chummy."

Stephoné looked back down at the floor, fighting with her fingers. "He talked to me, not the other way around." She clarified, not understanding why Sabrina was so uptight about this.

"And that makes a difference?" Sabrina asked, giving her eyes a roll and leaning back in the chair. "At the end of the day you two still conversed with each other, whether you instigated it or not."

Steohoné shook her head, slumping her shoulders forward and hunching over. "I don't like talking to people. You know that I hate attention." She added, starting to chew on her lip hard enough to draw blood.

Sabrina scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "You say you hate attention, but you come into school every day depressed or act like you're facing a big scary animal. People take notice and then they ask, you say it's nothing, then they notice the dark cloud hanging over you, and people look and talk, giving you attention. The attention is being taken away from me -"

"Grace." Stephoné suddenly spoke up, cutting Sabrina off. "Grace was the only one who always asks. Everyone else ignores me, specifically because you ask them to." She side-eyed the girl beside her for a brief moment.

Sabrina mockingly laughed at her comment. "You made it sound like I rule the school. It's true, I have asked them to ignore you, but that's what you want, isn't it? You can't have it both ways." She commented, shaking her head.

Stephoné inwardly was growing annoyed but on the outside she seemed anxious, anxiously waiting for Sabrina to leave her alone. "But you do rule the school." She quipped softly, nibbling back on her sleeve.

Sabrina felt a sense of pride filling her chest at the mousy girl's words. "I am feared, adored, and admired because of my beauty, popularity, and philanthropy. I do enjoy the attention, especially when I get it from fresh faces, ones who haven't been tainted with your sad history."

"In speaking of the new, fresh faces, they'll never be friends with you, do you know why?" When she was met by silence she continued. "You're too depressing, pathetic, attention-seeking whore - despite your denial - and a bore that sucks the joy and life out of everything you touch. I'm surprised Will and Ariana have stuck by you for this long. They probably only do it because they feel sorry for you." She looked Stephoné up and down with disgust written on her face.

Stephoné felt a sharp pain in her chest at her words. Too depressing. Pathetic. A bore that sucks the joy and life out of everything. An attention-seeking whore. She had heard that quite a few times. It was true, at times her depression could eat away at her and cause a cloud to shadow her, sometimes affecting others.

Sabrina continued. "You do realize he's only trying to talk to you because he pities you. Quite and mousy, sulking off in a corner while being a little wallflower. It's not because he cares. To people like him and me, we don't care about people who don't walk in our inner circle, unless they're too pathetic to ignore and are deemed a charity case."

Stephoné felt a lump form in her throat as Sabrina took small jabs at her. To anyone else, they wouldn't take any heed to them, but Stephoné, they felt like a thousand rocks piling on top of her with every word said.

Tears spilled from her eyes and down her cheeks, dripping onto her jeans. She took a shaky breath as she squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fight them, trying to hold them back. Sabrina saw her tears as a weakness and she was right, they were a weakness she couldn't control.

Sabrina frowned and scoffed, a common thing she did when speaking to Stephoné. "Oh come on, don't do that. Don't cry. You're what? Seventeen and you're still a crybaby? Good grief. Grow up, Stephoné. It's no wonder why your whole life is miserable, you allow yourself to be affected by every little thing."

Stephoné wiped her tears away and clenched her jaw. She took a shaky breath and sniffled, wiping her nose on her sleeve but never letting her eyes flicker to Sabrina. If she did, she'd burst into tears again, she couldn't afford that.

Sabrina shrugged her shoulders, looking down at her hand and fixing the rings on her fingers. "Sometimes the truth hurts. That's what my dad has always said, and he's right. The truth does hurt sometimes, but it only hurts people if someone is offended that it's true and not whatever they want to believe."

Stephoné was beyond upset with Sabrina the more she spoke. 'Please just go away. Leave me alone.' She begged, her lower lip trembling as she squeezed her eyes shut.

Sabrina stood up and put her hands on her hips. "It's probably a good thing your father abandoned you before you were born, he'd be disappointed in you." She turned on her heels and glanced back. "Oh, by the way, tell your grandparents hi - oh wait, you can't. They cut your mother off when she chose not to abort you because you ruined her life. My mistake. Forget I ever said anything." She passive-aggressively said, throwing a wave over her shoulder as she left Stephoné.

Will grabbed his towel from his bag near him and looked towards the door. 'Sabrina?' He asked himself, watching her walk out the door. 'What's she doing here? She never comes to watch the swim team -' He cut his thoughts off as his eyes grew wide.

His eyes panned up to where she had come from and sure enough, his sister was there. 'Stephoné?' Worry began to bubble in his chest, only able to see the top of her head from where he was.

"Oh no -" Dropped his towel and dashed up the stairs up to where his sister was. He dodged others who were watching and his fellow teammates who were going towards the locker room.

"Steph?" He asked, calling out to her to let her know he was there. Worry laced in his face as he jumped over the chairs like he was doing parkour. He ignored the shouts from his coach telling him to keep his feet off the chairs, it wasn't a jungle gym.

He approached her, noticing first she was trembling. Her hands gripped the front of the seat, her head was hung down, her ankles crossed and tears dripped onto her jeans.

"Oh Steph," He sat down beside her, reached his hand out, and placed it on her shoulder. He had seen his sister like this plenty of times whenever Sabrina had cornered her.

Stephoné turned towards him and suddenly wrapped her arms around him, bursting into tears. Sobs wracked her body as she cringed onto her brother, burying her face into his wet chest.

Will tightly wrapped his arms around his sister. "Shh, I'm here, Steph," He soothingly whispered, rubbing his hands up and down her back. He knew she just needed to be comforted, not have any words said.

His blood boiled as his mind swarmed with questions about why Sabrina was visiting his sister and what she said to make her cry. 'I'm going to give Sabrina a piece of my mind after I get Steph to calm down.' He thought to himself, continuing to rub his sister's back.

Stephoné, after a few minutes, called down. The trembling had stopped and she simply sniffled as she pulled away from her brother. "Sorry," She hoarsely apologized, wiping her tear-stained face with her sleeve.

Will gently patted her back, his eyes darting around her face with a soft expression. "You don't need to apologize. Sabrina should be apologizing for whatever she said to you that made you cry." He gently told her, moving his hands to hers.

Stephoné reached into her backpack and pulled out her tissue package, pulling one out she blew her nose. "It's just Sabrina being Sabrina, it's nothing. You don't need to worry, Will." She shook her head, grabbing another tissue.

Will frowned, not buying a single thing his sister said. It was never Sabrina just being Sabrina. "Steph," He began, his voice still as soft as his expression. "I will always worry about you, you're my sister, it's my job."

Stephoné looked down at the floor and blew her nose again. "Please don't say anything or confront her," She begged, glancing up at her brother with pleading eyes. "It's nothing."

Will certainly wasn't going to just let it go, no matter how much she begged. Sabrina needed to be called out, and he sure hoped she was around the new kids when he did it. "How are you feeling? Physically, not mentally." He asked gently, lacing his fingers with hers.

Stephoné put her free hand on her head, lacing her fingers in her hair. "My head hurts from all the crying and I feel like I'm going to throw up." She said, her stomach knotting up tightly.

Will stood up and offered her a hand. "Let me shower, and change, then I'll take you to the nurse's office," He said as she got to her feet and grabbed her backpack, slinging it over her shoulder.

He led her down the stairs and told her to wait while he went into the locker room to take a quick shower. 'After I take Stephoné to the nurse's office I'm going to find Sabrina and stick it to her.' He vowed, feeling the overwhelming need to protect his sister.

〰️♛〰♛〰♛〰♛〰♛〰♛〰

A/N:
So sorry, I've had writer's block for this book. Plus I've I've busy and we took in a new kitten so I've been busy with that. I haven't forgotten and I do plan on finishing this book.

Any ideas you have or want to see would mean a lot, I want your thoughts on the plot so far, what I can improve or add. Even my silent readers, don't be shy, I am so honored that you're here. You mean the world to me.

Chapter Talk:
Now, I tried to keep things realistic by incorporating some things I was told growing up by former friends or people who were bullies. It may seem like Sabrina's ideology isn't exactly understandable, but that's how it is supposed to be. Not everyone can understand why someone chooses to say something or do something they do. I tried my best to make it clear but I will polish it up later.

Thanks for reading!