November 29th, 2019

The quarantine ended right before I went insane. I NEEDED human interaction. It was right up there with food, water, and shelter.

Since the isolation ended on Friday, Che was throwing a Friday night celebration party. I was beyond excited to go to her mansion and live it up like we did before everything went wrong.

I was also excited to see a certain boy...

"Martha isn't my friend anymore. Why would I invite her?" Che asked, struggling to pull on a trendy moon boot. She had gone on an online shopping spree during the quarantine and now had a wealth of new clothes.

"What?" I was shocked. Martha and Che had been thick as thieves since our first year at Foxcroft, just like Tomlin and I. And I could never imagine unfriending Tomlin.

Che rolled her dark, icy eyes. "I can't be seen with her. Not with all her ugly burn scars."

"But... but she must be so hurt right now-"

"Ugh, that's not my problem. Geez, stop being such a baby. You know I never associate myself with anyone lower than me." Che sighed. "I'm surprised you didn't expect this. A little... disappointed... to be honest."

Tears welled up in my eyes, but I didn't want to ruin my mascara.

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ

Even though it was Che's houseparty, she was one of the latest to arrive. We had picked up some random hockey player, Che's date, and so I third-wheeled the entire drive.

When we arrived, people were scattered all over the house. It seemed like the entire school had come. I loved being around people, and yet I wished I was anywhere else. Che not inviting Martha had left a bad taste in my mouth, and my stomach rolled everything I thought about it.

Ugh. I wished Harvey was here. But, I knew that he hated parties.

"Hey," she whispered to me. "Let's split, okay? You go over there, that guy is single and looking. You two would be cute together."

I turned my gaze to where her chin was pointed. A guy, most likely a senior like me, was chatting in a large group of friends. He was holding a regular water bottle, a good sign.

To humor Che, I walked over to the group and made my way beside him. Clearly, most of the group was too drunk to notice me, the newcomer, so I blended right in.

"Hi," I tried to say to the guy, but the group erupted with laughter and my attempt to converse was drowned out.

What would Che do? What would Che do?

"That's it, I'm inviting Martha," one of the girls said. My heart lifted.

"No way," the guy beside me said. "Don't make her more miserable than she already is."

"Wait, you guys were making fun of her?" I asked, trying to cool my voice.

"Yeah," a girl said matter of factly. "She's literally never looked worse."

"Guys, quit. It's not her fault," the guy beside me said.

"Stop acting like you care about her, Lucas. You dated her for a month and then she dumped you."

The group erupted with laughter. What did they find so funny about this? I couldn't say.

Lucas turned and grabbed my arm. He hardly looked at me as he dragged me away from the room. We left the room and we passed rooms with closed doors. Climbing up the stairs, I wondered if the water he was drinking wasn't really water...

"Where are we going?" I asked, right before Lucas opened the door to a room and pulled me inside. We passed through the room and out to the balcony.

I finally caught glimpse of the craze in his eyes. "Martha..." He tugged at my hair and pulled me into an embrace. My head nearly smashed to pieces against his hard chest.

"No- What?"

"Martha, did I ever tell you how much I loved your hair..." Lucas's hand creeped up my neck and his finger began tangling my hair.

"I'm not Martha. What were you drinking? It couldn't have been water-" My words came out fast and rushed and tried to untangle myself from Lucas.

"Oh yeah... I got water from the tap. Gross, I know." Lucas wouldn't let me go. "But the vodka I put in the bottle was out and I was thirsty."

Lucas' lips were on mine. His tongue was a sword, jabbing through my lips and into my mouth. Out of shock, I screamed, but it was muffled.

"Martha," he moaned.

"My name is not Martha!" I yelled, finally being able to shove him off me. Lucas fell to the floor with shock in his freshly cleared eyes. He must have just come to his senses.

Practically tripping down the stairs, I just wanted to leave. I could feel myself about to burst out in tears as I walked towards the door.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" Che hissed at me when I reached the door. Without even thinking, I shoved past her. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I just wanted to go back to my dorm and cry myself to sleep.

"Slow down!" someone yelled but I just continued on my path.

Just as I was descending the steps of the mansion, a palm clamped down on my shoulder. "Hey-"

My words were cut as I turned to see Harvey.

"What are you doing here? You hate parties," I said, wiping my tears off my face.

"I could ask you the same thing," Harvey said, his words cold. "What the hell were you thinking? Coming here?"

"I can do whatever I want!" Shoving his hand off my shoulder, I turned and began moving back down the stairs.

"Florrie! Get back here!"

"Shut up, Harvey!" Turning back around, I faced him. He was still near the middle of steps, lit by the moon, right where I left him. "You're not my mom! I don't need your input!"

"I just don't want you going to parties where you'll be kissing other guys, okay?" Harvey began descending the steps.

"What-?"

Harvey's face fell. "I thought there was something here, but I clearly misread it." He laughed a bitter laugh. "Stupid me, coming all the way to this stupid party full of stupid kids only to see you kissing some stupid guy on the balcony."

"No, no... That's not what happened at all."

This was a disaster. Not only had Lucas dragged me away to kiss him, but the one guy who I'd actually want to kiss saw him do it.

Harvey sighed, his warm breath fogging up the cold air. "You know, I keep giving you the benefit of the doubt. I keep letting myself think you might be more than a dumb blonde. Urgh, I hate being wrong."

"Harv-"

"No, no. You got one chance to give a reason why I should listen to anything you say," Harvey snapped. "One chance to tell me exactly what happened there. No lies or fabrication."

"I will, but can we go back to campus? To my room?" It was cold out there, and depending on how this went I could need a good place to cry. What if he didn't believe me? What if he was angry anyway, or blamed me?

Plus, a part of me knew that Che could walk outside at any moment and catch me with Harvey. Anyone could walk out and watch this moment unfold. I didn't want that.

"Fine. Let me guess, you need me to drive you there?" Harvey sneered.

"Yeah." I choked out. Why did I feel like crying again? He hadn't said anything mean.

"Of course you do." He said glaring at me. His look made me want to melt away in shame. I hadn't even done anything wrong. Had I? Was it really my fault?

Maybe Harvey should be mad at me...

"No." I whipped around, right before we got into the car. "No. You can't act like I cheated on you when we aren't even dating. You aren't my boyfriend." I felt like laughing. "You aren't my boyfriend!" The tears were melting down my cheeks.

"Then what is this?" Harvey motioned to himself and me. "Just a fun fling before winter break?"

"You're the one that treated me like mud when I was trying to show interest in you. That wasn't my fault, and neither was that stupid kiss!" I cried out. "You can't get mad at me over these things! Every time you've either assumed the worst, or did not have all the information! That isn't my fault!"

Harvey looked shocked at my outburst. His eyes widened and he fell silent. Then his eyes fell to the floor and he looked ashamed.

"I'm sorry; I shouldn't have yelled at you. I was angry and jealous when I saw you two like that. How about I drive us to the dorms, and you can explain what happened? I promise I won't yell or make assumptions this time," Harvey said quietly. He wasn't looking at me with anger anymore... he wasn't looking at me at all.

"Okay."