Nicole's POV

Today's class was more tiring than usual. I enjoy psychology but sometimes it's too much.

I sigh as I walk back to my dormitory.

My previous plans to have fun and mess around during college aren't working as I thought it would, the parties are dull, the men are idiots and not enough interesting to be with once. I should stick to self-love and alone time for now.

I don't think there isn't a single day I don't think about James.

It's low, even for me, I know. I can't see myself with anyone else, and not because I want James back, but because he was the only thing I knew. He was my first everything.

When I get close to my dormitory, I hear a deep voice—which could be Alex—but considering how he ignored Veronica, I doubt that. Plus Alex's voice is a bit higher.

Then I recognize Irène's psychotic laugh and I almost think of leaving. But it's my room too.

Irène with a man in our room? Not a surprise.

Should I walk in? Are they getting it on?

I place my right ear against the door and I listen carefully. Hopefully, no one sees me or they don't open the door right at this moment.

"They really let everyone out, huh?" Irène says and laughs after. Her laughter is the most annoying crap ever.

"They let you out of the psychiatric ward?" The man says.

I get further away from the door as I try to process the shock of the revelation. It's Derek. That man has to be Derek. It's his voice.

What is he doing here? Is he here for Veronica? Oh my God, I need to find her! She is going to be so happy.

The door opens and I pretend to do something else, like check my phone, but I bet I still look strange.

"Stop eavesdropping and get in," Irène says as she grabs my arm and pulls me inside.

"W- what, how did you know?"

She is so strange.

"I know everything."

I roll my eyes and I place my phone in my backpack.

When I make eye contact with Derek, the least I can say is how shocked I am. He looks miserable, maybe still attractive—although I'm more into blondes—but still miserable.

"Hey..." I mutter timidly.

"Oh, this is interesting. So, Derek what has brought your boring ass here?"

He smiles and holds her gaze without getting intimated or annoyed as most people would.

He walks closer to her and she seems startled for a second, she knows she pushes people's buttons and she always has to be on the offense and defense, of course, it feels like everyone is out to get her, so she becomes the perpetrator first. Men rarely seem to try to physically hurt her and they only use words but she knows she doesn't know Derek after one year of prison and two weeks of solitary confinement, for one second she looks afraid.

I know what she did to him, and I have no idea how he survived that. Solitary confinement is the lowest and most disgusting form of punishment, not even the scum pedophiles get that most of the time unless they misbehaved in prison. And Derek stayed there for two non-interrupted weeks. I'd expect that to drive someone crazy, but he looks composed. Miserable but composed.

He doesn't go close to her, he was just trying to get to Veronica's shelf. He stops for a few seconds and he looks at the framed images.

My heart sinks for both Veronica and Derek.

I knew Veronica has framed pictures of them together, a few of them are with me or her mom, but two of them are with Derek. In the first one, they are kissing at a party and the second one is a selfie where they are both making weird faces.

Irène sees him and glances towards me as his eyes travel on the pictures. He still cares about her, I refuse to believe he doesn't.

James is proof of that, he never cared about me. He gave up on me, if he loved me as he said, he would have come back to make it up to me after our last fight and break up. He would have changed into a better person and he wouldn't have given up on me.

But perhaps it's better he didn't come back, because he is a truly horrible person, and some people never change.

Derek turns around towards us and looks at me for a second.

I try to read his expression but it's empty.

"Why am I here?" He paces around the room. "Your constant torture because I didn't want to see you, or are we forgetting that?"

"You should have talked to me then. Not now." Irène says a bit taken back. "I was just trying to help you, Veronica-"

He fixes his eyes on Irène for a second, I don't think he wants to hear Ronny's name.

"You can't really take a sign, can't you? Weren't the first five no's enough? What exactly made you think I'd want to talk to you?"

She smiles. "Well, you're here now."

Derek walks closer to her. He has never looked more intimidating but I guess that's what prison does to you. Especially when everyone is trying to ruin you.

"You thought I'd talk to you simply because your daddy is above everyone else and you will throw me in that cell for weeks?" He stops close to her and I just observe without saying a word, hopefully, they don't even realize I'm still here.

"Yes." She laughs.

Her expressions change quickly, she is either scared a few moments before or brave one second later. She is unpredictable, you never know what crosses her mind, it's like she always has a mask on.

Her body language is confident, laid back, but I don't think it's really because she is brave, perhaps she doesn't care about her persona. She looks like she's been through a lot but most of it was caused by her.

I stop my body language analysis—thanks to a few behavioral science classes—and I move my eyes on Derek.

"Relax. I won't do anything to you. Listen to me carefully, your majesty," his mocking tone is full of bitterness and Irène stops smiling as she waits for what he is going to say.

They are a few inches away and he isn't considerably taller than her because she is pretty tall and she is always wearing heels.

"I don't give a shit who your daddy is, if you continue bothering us, I will treat you like everyone else."

I don't know how he treats everyone else, especially now that I haven't seen him in a year but Irène seems to understand.

She stares at him for a few seconds and we both realize how Derek doesn't have anything to lose. He doesn't care much about what is going to happen to him... but there are a few people he cares about, and that's his weakness.

"This tough persona doesn't work on you, I mean, let's be honest. Just a year ago you were Veronica's puppy."

I gasp, and they both hear it but don't bother to turn towards me. Derek looks livid for once, her words sting.

If you want to hurt Derek Forster, you just have to mention Veronica, he can't even stand the sound of her name.

Irène smirks brightly as she sees how pissed off he is. She leans closer to his ear but I can hear what she doesn't bother to whisper, "she is fucking everyone around campus... and don't you wish you were one of them?"

My face falls to the ground, Irène's laughter fills the room but she winces when Derek grabs her wrist abruptly , which catches both of us off guard.

His previous offended expression is replaced by anger and disgust of the person he has in front of him.

"Words are your only weapon, you know you are weak otherwise. Don't worry, princess, I know some stuff about you too. And the reason why you are like this."

She doesn't pull away, he is holding her wrist tightly but he releases it when she notices how silent she has gone. His expression is back to emotionless.

I have no idea what he knows about her and if Irène even has a secret she doesn't care if it gets out. The reason she acts like this? What does that exactly mean?

He walks to the door, before he closes it, Irène reaches it and we go out with him in the hall.

Derek suddenly stops and looks to our left, at Alexander kissing someone.

The person moves a bit and I notice her hair. Veronica.

I gasp again. I might have a heart attack soon if this day keeps being so shocking.

Alexander stops and he turns towards us, his smile is demeaning and proud.

How... how can she kiss him? There is no way.

But Derek believes it, he tries to compose his face but the line expressions formed around his furrowed eyebrows say otherwise.

"Woah, I didn't expect this at all," Irenè jokes as if she believes this bullshit. No way, we both saw Veronica suffering... but maybe, it's her way of getting over Derek.

"Sorry guys, we got carried away-"

To say that Derek is upset is not enough, he is absolutely pissed off.

"What are you saying?! It's not true. We didn't kiss-" Veronica tries to talk but she suddenly stops and changes the subject, "what are you even doing here... with Irène and Nicole?"

I believe she didn't willingly kiss him. Alexander is too weird, there is something wrong with this guy.

And I feel guilty I was caught here with those two idiots who keep poking fire at each other.

"I just came here and I saw Irène and Derek talking," I defend myself but she seems hurt, not by me, but that he came here to talk to Irène.

Derek looks away, he doesn't believe Veronica at all, or it's just easier to not believe her. For some reason he cares about her and hates that, he wants to be as far as possible from her.

"Why would you do that, Alex?" Veronica's trembling voice gives away that she is crying, although I can't see her face that close.

"Do what? What we've been doing every day for a year?" He smirks and I look at him in shock, that's a fucking lie. I don't usually swear but he is a piece of crap, there is no way he would lie like that to our faces, especially when he knows Irène, Veronica, and I know the truth. "Are you upset you just got caught?"

Veronica scoffs exasperated and Irène laughs loudly. Derek looks even more disappointed and I sigh annoyed that they don't believe her. I know she slept with him once or maybe twice but I don't think she would do it again, especially not the whole year she has been crying over Derek.

"You liar!" she yells at Alex. "Why would you say this? It's not fucking true and you know it."

Veronica runs towards the stairs and I sprint towards her as I call out her name. "Veronica, wait!"

I let her go and I turn towards Derek, fully convinced about what I'm going to say.

"You have to trust me, she wouldn't do that, we've been close for a year, I know how much she-"

"I don't really care," he mutters. Irène seems amused. She really doesn't care about anyone. I still don't understand how Veronica even hangs out with her.

"Of course you don't."

He gives me the side look and I know he knows I don't believe him.

What I don't understand is... why aren't they together if they both like each other? What is keeping him from being honest to himself and others?

We all leave towards the parking lot, Derek is going to his car that is different from the one he had before prison and he doesn't look around to check if Veronica is still here.

Her car is gone too.

"Shouldn't we go after her?" I ask the blonde bitch after Derek leaves.

I don't hate blondes, but Irène deserves it.

She shrugs and walks back to the dormitory.

"What a bitch," I mutter under my breath. I realize I've been holding my backpack for twenty minutes and my back already hurts, but at least I have my phone on me.

I take it out and dial Veronica, it rings till the end and I expected her to at least hang up.

I call it again and she picks up.

"Stop calling, Ronnie's phone sound is annoying," Irène whines and I look around the campus confused. It's late, around 11 pm, a few people on bikes pass by me and I try to give them space.

"She left the phone in the room," Irène explains and I sigh, hanging up the call.

I'm worried for Veronica, I know she can be unpredictable in scary times and I have no idea where to search for her. I know she is supposedly getting suspended so maybe she is better off campus. I feel like I haven't been there for her enough, the classes are too much and I'm always studying. I love how it keeps my mind busy and I don't have to think about bad things.

I need to talk to Dominic, she might go to his apartment. I've been barely seeing him lately, even if we now go to the same college, he doesn't attend all his classes and he is in the third year while Shanice is in the fourth and final year, yet she finds so much time to stress out Veronica.

I sit on a bench and wait for a bit then I ring up Dominic.

He picks up the phone and I talk, "hey, were you sleeping?" I chuckle. He never sleeps.

"Of course, all day long. Good morning."

"I should have imagined that you were doing your morning routine right now," I joke and I can hear him walking around his apartment, then he closes a window.

"What do you want, annoying fake sis?"

"I'm not your fake sis, I'm your cousin."

"Get to the point, I need to do some yoga and drink a green smoothie." I laugh louder than I should have and a person walking to the dorm looks at me.

"I need to see that, let's switch to video call." I say jokingly but I get surprised when he switches to video and he shows me his legs in short pants.

"Ew, Dom, not this. They're hairy."

"What about this?" He then lowers the camera to his feet and I look away, laughing harder than I should have. I suddenly forget what I was calling for.

I switch back the video call to only voice. "I didn't remember you were so horrible, how could I forget that?" I ask him.

"Come on, I'm really funny, handsome and smart. What else do you want?" He clears out his throat. "I'm pretty sure you didn't call me to see my toes."

"You are in fact correct, you horrible human being. I might be traumatized for ages now."

"Might not be as traumatizing as sleeping with Irène in the same dorm." He reminds me and I roll my eyes, I told him a month ago how much I despise her and I'm scared she will stab me in my sleep.

"Luckily, Veronica is with us, otherwise I would have changed college." I remember that was the reason why I called.

He doesn't say anything when I mention her name, he always does that. I know they haven't been talking like they used to,, and he feels uncomfortable around her. I want to ask him about that but maybe it's not the right moment now.

"Oh, I wanted to ask you. Has Ronny called you or stepped by?" I try to hide the worry in my voice but he knows me too well.

"No? What happened?" He seems actually concerned which throws me off guard.

"I guess you know that Derek came here-"

"What?! I didn't know that, I mean, we talk but he doesn't tell me everything."

Of course they keep in contact.

"Long story... Derek came to talk to Irène about her bothering Shanice and him and then we saw that Alexander was kind of kissing Veronica and Derek got pretty upset. Then Ronny was disappointed that we didn't believe her and that Derek came to talk to Irène." I chuckle embarrassed. "I honestly don't really understand what was going on. It's been a long day."

"Kind of? You know you are either kissing someone or you're not." The coldness in his tone is nerve-racking, he is always mad when she fucks up but this time I'm with her, I believe that Alex kissed her and he is jealous of Derek.

"No, he kissed her. I don't think she kissed him back-"

"Doesn't seem that unbelievable to me, weren't you there?"

"I was and she was livid, and upset no one believed her." The way he talks about her makes me angry. "Why are you so passive aggressive with her now?!"

"I am not, I just-"

"No, you are. You, Shanice and Derek have been continuously torturing her for a year." I raise my tone and I stand up from the bench, too agitated to sit still.

"What Shanice did was shitty-"

"What you did was shitty too. I know everything," I retort.

He sighs. "You don't know everything, Nicole, I don't have anything against her, I just had to do it."

"What? Why? What do you mean?" I ask confused.

"Leave it. I will talk to her again. Do you have any idea where she would go?"

I take a deep and shaky breath, trying to think of where she could be.

Home.

It's not far and it's just the most likely probability, she would stay home at her mom until Wednesday when they decide her suspension.

"You know she is about to get suspended, you should really talk to Shanice about that. It was her fault too," I explain.

"I did, and so did De-"

My eyes widen in surprise, and a small smile forms on my lips. "Derek talked to Shanice about that fight?"

"I hate talking to you, you always make me say stuff I shouldn't say." We both laugh. "I'm done, I will hang up, sis. Don't worry, I will look for our troubled friend."

"I think she went home," I finally explain and he agrees.

I smile. At least Dom still considers her a friend and Derek cared enough to not have her suspended from college.

I hang up and put my phone in the backpack, which is absolutely killing my lower back.

I look around one last time, hoping to see Veronica parking her car, but it doesn't happen so I just go back to the dormitory halls.

I spot Antonia coming towards me and my face lightens up as I smile brightly. She mimics my expression and runs to me as she wraps her arms around my waist.

"Hey," I exclaim.

"You are so small, eat more, oh my God."

I don't think my smile ever dropped off that fast before, I shift uncomfortably and luckily she doesn't notice when I change the subject.

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"Oh, just seeing a friend."

"At night?" I smile and she returns the smile.

"Well, hopefully soon, maybe more than a friend." She puts her long hair over the shoulder and plays with a strand shyly, and I understand what she means exactly.

"May I know who this mysterious person is?"

She walks by me and turns around at the last second. "Not yet." She smirks.

I walk back to my dorm, fully expecting to see Irène here, maybe peacefully sleeping or elaborating her usual diabolical plans.

But she is gone.