Ashlinn's POV

With so many things that are happening right now, I still don't know if I'm ready enough to bear with the pressure of facing that little brat. I mean, I could just choose to run way, but this is not what I want to do at all. Instead, I want to face my fears. I want to prove everyone wrong, no matter what other people may think. Even though Kellie and Braylee have always been by my side, the same can't be said about anyone else. I mean, what's the problem with them? Why can't they just recognize they should be more helpful?

Never mind. I'm just used to that feeling. I can bear with it. Anyway, my friends and I have just come up with a good plan to stop that little brat from ever approaching us. We're not even interested in making friends with her. She's so pushy and clingy, but also fake. Every time, it looks like her answers and statements are rehearsed as well as unnatural. Plus, she tends to be very rude, which wouldn't sit well with anybody.

Oh, as if it's not enough, she has also just sent a message. 'You'd better tell me the truth, 'cause I'm fed up of being called a liar and a deceiver. What do you actually want from me?'

She may either look hurt or just pretend to be sorry in order to gain what she truly wants. She won't have her fifteen minutes of glory, sorry not sorry. She'll learn that friendships can't be bought, and she'll do so the hard way. We won't talk to her and, if she really does, we'll ignore her or shut her up bluntly. That's what people like her truly deserve.

I decide to delete the message, after Kellie and Braylee both give me some strange looks, which could mean that they actually understand my intentions. Nonetheless, there's still something I can't understand, but why? If only I knew, then I wouldn't have to worry about anything at all.

"Maybe you should tell us what's your problem," suggests Kellie, who thinks she's fitting into her new role as the "wise friend"; still, I'm not very convinced. What if actually her advice is misleading?

"Oh, come on, Ashlinn. You can't keep everything for yourself." She is insisting, which doesn't sit very well with me. I wish she and Braylee could let me be for a while.

Even though I have those thoughts, I end up speaking, hoping not to regret what I'm doing. That would mean even talking about her, as well as her lame attempt to approach guys, especially Alex. He's not the typical hot-looking popular bad boy, he's just straight mean - as well as unattractive and asocial. I mean, what is there in him she finds good? The answer is easy: nothing. She's just a popularity seeker.

"Ash, I don't think you should keep struggling with these thoughts at all," advises Braylee. "They're just making you suffer more than anything else. Please, voice your thoughts and get rid of them once for all." Now, she's literally begging me to talk, which I don't really seem to want to do. What if she actually heard us? She would probably use that to point her finger at us every time something worth of suspiction happens.

"Okay. If you really think that talking would relieve me, I'll talk. Though, no comments. I'm not ready to face them yet," I comment, causing my friends to frown. Wow. How little respect of me have they! No, no, Ash. Don't say anything you could regret for the rest of your days.

"It all started with a couple of text messages. I thought they were nothing serious, so I ignored them. However, she, instead of getting pissed off like anyone else in the world would do, just keep sending me texts. Naturally, I kept ignoring them. That caused her to keep sending me some strange ones, with one of them even containing an explicit threat..." Without even realizing that, I cut myself off, leaving my friends confused.

"What do you mean with threat?" asks Kellie, who doesn't really believe that I've been threatened by that bitch. Well, she's my friend, so she's supposed to believe me, otherwise what kind of friend would she be?

"Threat as in this." I immediately shove my phone on her face, showing her the message the little brat has just sent me as well as another one. Needless to say, my friends are both petrified. They're actually wishing those would just be a bad joke. However, nothing's a joke when it comes to her. Wow, my life is nowhere near being good, with her threats ruining it. She needs to stop, or else we'll stop her the hard way.

"Any ideas on what to do?" asks Kellie, much to my confusion. I thought we already had a plan, but, clearly, things happen and make people change their perspective. Why can't we just have a definitive one? Why do we have to rethink constantly of a new one, wasting a lot of precious time we could use to stop her instead? This is as frustrating as hell. If we can't do anything, she'll win and, as well, get what she wants.

"There must be something we can do, though we can't always just rely on plans. There'll be a time when we're forced to confront her, face to face," states Braylee, irritating me. I don't want a face-to-face with that brat. I want her to disappear, that's it.

"I think we'll just wait, hoping that she shows around, like you suggested, am I wrong, Braylee?" intervenes Kellie, trying to make both me and my other friend come up with a consensus. Well, if it involves dealing with her only if she wants to talk to us face-to-face, then the idea is very likeable. Wow, I really know what to do.

Braylee and I, at the end, decide to stick with what Kellie has just said. After all, she's right, we can't just chase the little midge away hoping to have her feel mortified till she disappears. That would be very mean and disrespectful of us, not even mentioning how much damage it would cause to our friendship.