Wednesday, midday

     Jenna couldn't help but stare at the conversation Daniel had fabricated with Frey Sanders. She felt both impressed and a bit... disgusted.

Daniel had used some of his own hobbies and interests to keep the conversations going, and Frey had somewhat shown interest in it, probably simply trying to impress the girl he thought he was texting with.

If only he knew he was trying to impress a group of revengeful friends, not succeeding in the least.

Although, she got the impression Daniel was enjoying this a little too much, which was why Lacy and Jenna had taken his phone away from him. He had been unfocused during most of his classes—according to Lacy—and even almost got in trouble for chatting with Frey in class, almost caught by a teacher. He had been like that ever since Frey started actively replying in their chat last Monday, and Lacy voiced her worry not too long ago, right before Daniel walked up to them to tell them about the date that was now planned for tonight.

She knew she had to give it back soon, because she had to go to ballet-practise and Daniel would probably go to the bar they were luring Frey to, to film the whole ordeal.

"What time are you guys meeting again? Or..." Lacy laughed out a little. "What time is Frey expecting to meet Vicky?"

"At ten because I have to work first." Daniel explained with a shrug, snatching the phone away from Jenna's hold again.

"Damn, guess we'll miss the fun." Lacy grumbled, and Jenna nodded since practise ended at 9:30 p.m. and along with showering and driving that way, they wouldn't be able to be there at exactly ten o'clock.

"We'll just hurry over. He'll probably wait for a little while, right?" Jenna asked unsurely. "He isn't leaving as soon as it's ten and she isn't there."

"I guess he'll wait for a little while." Daniel shrugged, and smirked as Frey sent him an innocent text to tell him he was looking forward to meeting 'her'.

"Danny!" Jenna groaned, again snatching the phone away. "Don't tell me you actually like talking to him."

"I'm not!" He called out in defence. "You guys told me to act flirty and suggestive. It's what I did, Jenna."

"And you did perfectly, but that smile, Danny..." Jenna rolled her eyes at her friend, shaking her head in disapproval.

"Don't tell me you like flirting with Frey." Lacy crossed her arms, sending him an unimpressed look.

"I like messing with him." Daniel hastily replied, but Jenna didn't buy it. She knew that smile on his face, and it was the same smile he always showed when he still was enchanted by Mitchel—despite Mitchel treating him like shit. What was it with Daniel and his attraction to assholes like Mitchel and Frey? "It's not about the conversations. I just did what I had to, to get him to ask me—"

"Vicky." Lacy corrected him with a sigh.

"—Vicky out on a date."

"Whatever," Jenna grumbled. "Just don't fall for him. He's an asshole that has no manners whatsoever."

"I'm not falling for him."

"And the date is tonight." Jenna changed subjects, knowing there was no use in trying to get Daniel to admit he already liked Frey from the first day he met the boy. She knew her friends well enough.

It wasn't as much as an issue, as long as his hatred for Frey was bigger than his interest in him. But Jenna did not want her friend to end up in another situation like he had been in with Mitchel.

One in which he was the one that was constantly upset, trying to get the other's attention, doing everything for them—including kissing the ground Mitchel walked on.

Hopefully, after tonight—and tomorrow's premiere of the video-footage—Frey would tone his attitude down for a while, fall off his pedestal and leave them alone.

Knowing not to mess with them.

"So, Sam's gonna start filming as soon as the clock strikes 10?" Lacy wondered, as they were still waiting for Michelle to show up to head over to practise.

"Yeah, he said he'll edit it tonight, pick out the best parts, do some zooming in on Frey's face as soon as he realizes his date isn't coming. Stuff like that." Daniel shrugged, while he stared at the phone, mumbling something incomprehensible.

Jenna saw he still had the conversation with Frey open, and she actually felt annoyed because Daniel was putting in way too much effort. Frey had asked Vicky out on a date, there was no need to be more charming or flirty. Frey just wanted a cheap fuck and now that he thought he was getting exactly that, there was no need to continue their conversation.

But then why was Frey continuing their conversation?

For as far as Daniel told them on Saturday, Frey usually didn't have much conversation after a date was set.

Did Daniel actually succeed in getting Frey interested in a fake girl?

That would be even worse to Frey, once he found out said girl didn't exist in the first place.

This would be golden as soon as he would realise the one girl he was actually interested in, wasn't even real. Maybe they would even succeed on stomping on his heart a bit, like he did to Michelle.

This could work out even better than she expected it to.

     While warming up her muscles, stretching them in preparation of another ballet-practise, Jenna usually minded her own business while Lacy and Michelle would usually chat away about things.

But ever since Michelle slept with Frey, she hardly spoke a word, and tonight, she wasn't even present.

Lacy was softly humming a song—knowing Jenna didn't want to be bothered too much during practise—while she bent over to stretch some more.

Hanging upside down, she noticed a pair of feet dragging themselves into the classroom, and when she stood back up, she witnessed Julia with red eyes and a messy bun on her head entering the room in a way that told her she wanted to be anywhere but there.

She looked miserable, and Jenna frowned at the sight.

Lacy didn't even notice, still humming a tune, while keeping her eyes closed, stretching her legs.

She took place in the far corner of the room, far away from the rest, and sat down, hugging her knees close to her chest while eyeing Jenna suspiciously.

Jenna bit her lip, and returned to her own business, trying not to stare at Julia too much.

She wasn't preparing for class much, and during class, she wasn't really participating either. She was constantly walking back to her bag to check her phone, and it annoyed miss Simone a bit.

Julia ignored her protests and showed an average performance the rest of the night. It was getting awkward when miss Simone asked her to help Julia out, and Jenna—in silence—showed Julia the steps.

Jenna expected Julia to ignore her since she did the same to her last week, but Julia timidly repeated her movements, gracefully, but not nowhere as clean and professional as Jenna knew she could. Something about Julia was off that night.

When class had ended, and Julia went to grab her bag, Jenna looked back and forth between Lacy and Julia, before she carefully made her way over to the miserable looking girl.

"I'm not in the mood for your rudeness." Julia mumbled, turning away from Jenna a bit, sitting down on the floor.

"What's going on? Are you okay?"

Julia huffed in response, and Jenna realised it was a bit weird for her to show worry, but she did feel worried nonetheless.

She didn't have a good feeling about the girl's current state.

"As if you care." Julia whispered, voice broken. "Just go back to your friends and gossip about my family, of which you know nothing about, might I add."

"I..." Jenna stared at her, her face heating up a bit. So, Julia heard their gossip last week? Was that why she hadn't been here last Saturday? Was that why she looked like she didn't want to be here? "Is that's what's bothering you? I can explain..."

"Than please, explain," Julia snapped, pulling her head up to send Jenna an angry look.

"Your brother, Frey? He's been a real jerk to my friend Michelle and we were trying to cheer her up..."

"By name-shaming my entire family? And you know nothing about Frey and what he's dealing with."

"Do you even know how he behaves to others?"

"Do you even know how he feels half of the time?" Julia bit back. "Do you even know our family is anything but a happy one? And that Frey ran away from home and that your stupid trivial fight with him is the least of his problems? Stop acting as if your stupid problems are bigger than others'."

Jenna stared at Julia, shocked a bit at the waterfall of words that left the angry girl's mouth.

She even blinked a couple of times, not knowing how to respond. So, their happy little family wasn't as happy as she thought? Frey was a troubled teen, so him running away from home didn't surprise her that much.

"Just, please leave Frey alone, okay? He's... not doing okay and I'm worried sick about him."

"Michelle isn't really doing okay either."

"Michelle isn't as depressed as Frey is, and she isn't as close to a mental breakdown either." Julia muttered.

"Frey's depressed? Have you seen him when he goes out?"

"What, that act of his? The one he pulls off all the time?" Julia snorted, shook her head and let her shoulders slump down further. "Jenna, if you knew everything, you wouldn't hate him as much as you do. Michelle doesn't, because she actually listened to Frey when he was drunk."

"Listened to what?"

"He gets talkative when he's drunk, and Michelle told me he started talking the second night. After they slept together again, he spilled everything that was bothering him, and he apologized to her for how he treated her." Julia shortly looked to the door. "Michelle accepted it, but it made her think he actually liked her. He doesn't, she knows that much now."

Jenna stared at Julia, feeling surprised, shocked because Michelle hadn't told them any of that.

"If that would be true, then why didn't Michelle tell us?"

"Because Frey begged her not to tell anyone."

Jenna sucked in her breath and bit her lip. That was typically Michelle. She wouldn't break a promise to anyone, not even Frey. Especially not Frey, since she was head over heels in love with him.

But if Julia was telling the truth, and she meant the warning to leave Frey alone, Jenna figured it was already too late. In less than half an hour, Frey was expecting to meet a girl he had shown more interest in than in any of his former victims. A girl who wouldn't show, because she didn't exist.

"How bad would he respond to being publicly humiliated right now?" Jenna asked quickly, sending Lacy a panicky look.

Julia looked at her weirdly, confused. "Why?"

"How bad?"

"Bad... He's... about to break down?" Julia hesitantly whispered, while Lacy joined their little group. "What's going on?"

"We made a mistake." Jenna grabbed Lacy's arm. "We need to get to Jimmy's, now."

Words: +/- 1915