(red flames)

BRIE CARMEN HAS ALWAYS HAD A SHOPPING PROBLEM. Go to the Carmen house, it's full of her absolute bullshit items, most of which have no use. Her brother, Ben, had virtually begged all of her friends to never bring her to a store after Brie showered him with shirts he would never wear.

But Livia seriously needed decorations for her house and room, as well as some new clothes, so the three girls (Livia, Brie and Lila) showed up at the mall, fully prepared to shop till they drop.

Briarville malls always had one thing in common, and that was an astounding amount of designer shops and it wasn't hard to see why. Everyone you look, you're able to see some kind of celebrity (followed by the occasional paparazzi) or someone holding bags and bags of clothes with designer emblems stamped on the paper. Livia often wondered why. It never lasted, so why bother in first place?

But she wasn't one to talk. Her closet was just as expensive anyways.

Five seconds in, Brie had already found something that caught her interest. A necklace, in some ridiculously lavish jewellery shop, though a look could tell Livia that Brie would never wear it. Carmen didn't seem to care a lot about that, however, as the girl almost instantly paid for it without a second thought. Livia chose to stay silent.

"So what exactly are we looking for today?"

"Some decorations, new clothes, the usual," Brie shrugged.

Lila narrowed her eyes. "You'll have to elaborate. Your usual usually requires us to call your brother to help us haul your damn bags back." Sounds like Lila has fallen to Brie's shopping traps more than once. Unsurprising, to say the least.

"For the love of god," Livia mumbled, grabbing the price tag of a nice dress. "I do not remember things being this expensive last time I was here."

"They weren't," Brie replied, and that seemed to be the end of that.

By the time the trio were halfway through their shopping, Livia felt like she was about to be crushed under the weight of the bags (mostly Brie's. Brie needs help, and Livia wasn't sure where she could get it).

"Hey, is Selena's Smoothies still open?"

Selena's Smoothies served what Livia felt like was the best drinks in the entire damn world. The best thing was that one of the girls working there, Irene, is (was) a close friend of hers, so she often got discounts. She used to go there for drinks weekly.

"Yeah, you want to grab a drink?"

"Is Irene still working there?"

"Irene left for college a few months ago, unfortunately. She hasn't come back since."

Unsurprising. Despite her father being a world-renown musician, Irene Dumont had always hated the spotlight. Her father wanted to groom her into the next him, all Irene wanted was to be away from the "stuck-up assholes and fake bitches" of the industry. Her relationship with her father had always been strained. Livia wondered if her father had anything to do with her refusal to return to Briarville.

"So, no discounts?"

"I have a membership card, so yes discounts," Lila grinned. It seemed rather dumb, a band of rich heiresses discussing whether or not they'd get discounts for drinks, but, well, Selena's Smoothies were expensive, like almost everything else in the city. Still, Livia felt like it was worth the money.

"Can we grab some? I'm hungry and thirsty," said Livia. "Also, my feet hurt. In case you haven't noticed, I'm in heels. My feet are screaming in agony and the shopping bags are crushing my spine."

"All three of us are in heels, you're just weak, Liv."

Livia stuck her tongue out at Brie. Without another word, she was led towards the shop. It didn't look any different from what she remembered, as they walked in and took a seat (Brie's shopping bags basically occupied their entire couch). Of course, Brie volunteered to buy the drinks for them. Both girls asked for their regulars.

"Lila, your mom's Helena Portman, right?" The girl gave a small nod. Almost unwillingly.

"Why ask?"

Yeah, definitely a touchy subject. Livia shrugged, trying her best to smile. "No reason. Just thought it's pretty cool."

Lila snorted, avoiding her gaze. "Not really. Everyone else's life seems like a fairytale until you live them, I guess."

"Not everyone."

Lila's eyes jumped back to Livia, with a hint of guilt. "Sorry. I...I just want to say that I think you're one of the strongest people I've ever met. I don't think I know anyone else who could go through what you did and survive."

"Brie did. You probably can," Livia smiled, shrugging. "It's ok, let's just drop the subject."

It was then Brie came back with their drinks. Did she have a fast pass to get them so quickly? There was a huge line at the counter, but Livia didn't question it as she took a sip from her smoothie. "This tastes just as I remember. Well, even better, actually."

"Have you tasted their tarts?" Brie asked, mixing her drink. "It tastes delicious, though I wish it wasn't as sweet."

Well, Brie was a health nut who thinks that eating anything except salad for snacks was unhealthy. She's even worse than Livia's dad, and he thinks that adding sugar to anything makes it tastes disgusting. More than half of any argument Livia's mother and father has is about his terrible tastebuds.

Lila was about to say something, but then, the two girls' gaze snapped to the entrance. Brie waved, and Livia slowly followed their gaze, her eyes narrowed.

The nightmare herself.

Sarah Hepburn had always been a pretty girl. Red hair like fire, her skin as pale as Christmas snow. Significantly shorter than anyone in her (ex) friend group, petite but flexible.

Sarah was one of those girls who refuses to forgive you for the slightest mistake. A perfectionist. Once upon a time, Livia had admired that about her. While Sarah spent hours a day studying, Livia slacked and slacked and slacked. Sarah was always #1, Livia was always #2. That was always the way. Livia would be lying if she said that she wasn't envious of the redhead.

Sarah waved back, a small cheeky smile on her face. Then, her eyes moved to Livia and all Livia could see was a mirror.

The sheer hate in her eyes made Livia want to shiver.

It didn't seem like Brie or Lila noticed the loathing in either girls' eyes, or if they did, they chose not to comment on it. Livia gulped and turned back to her drink.

Livia Wong and Sarah Hepburn had always been two sides of the same coin. Both were monsters, but donning different skins. Livia wondered what would happen if the two of them were able to get along.

They never did, however. Even as kids, there was an unspoken rivalry between them. Sarah was #1 and Livia was #2. Sarah was perfect, Livia was flawed. Both girls, however, had never actually acted on their mutual hate, preferring a false appearance of sunny joy and friendship.

Until now.

Which is why Livia was rather shocked when Sarah slid into their booth, sitting down right beside her. She almost flinched, but managed to stop herself. Livia's hair formed a small shield between the two girls, carefully avoiding Sarah's sturdy gaze.

"How are we on this fine day?"

There was saccharine dripping from her words, the false deposition of a good relationship between two enemies.

"We're good!"

Was Brie dumb? The animosity between the two girls was obvious. Livia looked so uncomfortable, giving Sarah the temporary pride of getting under Livia's skin. Another chance Sarah comes first. Livia hated it.

But, though, in Carmen's defence, she had never really been a good people reader. When they were kids, Brie would always say the wrong things at the wrong moment.

"That's nice. I love the drinks here."

Lila arched her brow. She definitely saw it.

"I need to head to the lavatory. Sarah, do you mind moving?" It was a bad lie, and Sarah immediately saw through it. Her expression hardened, almost as if she was about to spit her acidic poison-

But she collected herself at the last second, forcing a smile. "Sure! I'll go as well." Livia almost froze, but she forced herself to stay normal as the two girls moved out of the booth, rushing out of the store. The moment they were out of sight, Sarah's hand had found themselves wrapped around Livia's arm. The redhead yanked back, her mask dropped.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Eating, Hepburn. Are you blind?"

"No. What are you doing in Briarville?"

"Oh," Livia laughed, yanking her arm back. Sarah stumbled but quickly found her balance. "Am I not allowed to come to this damned city again?"

"You think that you can just come back and pretend like nothing ever damn happened in the past two years. If no one will remind you of it- I'll do it!" Sarah's face was as red as a cherry tomato, and it seemed as if steam was sprouting out of her ear. Hepburn's rage was endless. Livia always knew that.

"And you think you can stop me from coming back to the place where I was born, raised and grew up in? Hepburn, you're delusional. You're not the queen of this town, you're just an angry teenager screaming at her peers in the mall. What did I ever do to you to warrant this?"

"Oh, so it's my fault now? You abandoned us, Livia. That's what you did. The moment it seemed like things were about to get tough, boom. Bags packed, disappeared off the damn planet. We called, we texted, you either didn't respond or gave us some half-assed reply. You decided to move on, embracing some new life, leaving us to suffer and deal with the mess you helped make. How can I not be angry?" Sarah screeched in rage, her fists clenched.

"Oh, so it's my fault that my entire family had to move back? It's my fault that Melody's now gone? It's all my fault that I don't have magic to make moving and settling down quicker?" Livia snorted, her expression mirroring the ginger's. "You're talking out of your ass, Hepburn. Get some help, maybe some therapy."

"At this point, I'm going to have to admit myself to a psych ward before I smother all of you in your sleep!" Sarah screamed, attracting a few glances. Apparently, teenagers screaming at each other must be normal at the mall, because they immediately turned away. That, or they were too scared to interfere.

By this point, Livia was fighting back the urge to settle this the violent way. Sarah, as fast as she was, was no match for Livia, who had been learning Muay Thai since she was 7. Athletics was one place Sarah could never best her.

This encounter was the result of years and years of hiding their true feelings. It was of jealousy, rage and sadness. Jealous, because in their eyes, the other girl always had it better. Rage, that the other seemed to be so unreasonable, and sadness, that it had to come down to this. At that moment, both girls felt like monsters. The guilt, however, went away as quickly as it came, and within a second, they were yelling again.

"I cannot believe what you're saying-"

"And I can't believe you had the damn nerves to come back-"

"Were you always this dumb, Hepburn? I don't remember you being so-"

"Were you always this psychotic, Wong? I actually remembered you as the calmest of us all!"

Livia sucked in a deep breath. Calmness, girl, calm. You don't want to make this any bigger of a scene than it already is. The next thing you need is for everyone at school to start gossiping- "one day back and Livia Wong already had a catfight with Sarah Hepburn?".

"I'm done," Livia finally snarled to a startled Sarah. "You can bring your bullshit elsewhere, sprout it to someone else. Stop trying to make me the bad guy. I've done almost nothing to you except a little something called life, and you can stop making a scene."

"Me make a scene? Look at you. Only seventeen, acting like your a goddess on Earth. Pretending like you're practically perfect in every way, trying to make yourself flawless by pushing the blame on everyone else. Livia, get a reality check. You're not the good guy here. None of us are. So stop trying to act like you are the hero, the victim, you aren't."

Livia gave Sarah a long and hard look. "I'm leaving. I'll head back and grab my bags. I'm done trying to defend yourself from your liars. You are no friend of mines, Sarah Hepburn. I don't know who you are anymore. Get out of my life."

Then, soundlessly, Livia walked past Sarah, slamming her shoulders into the other girl for good measure. Sarah stumbled again, grabbing onto a rail to catch her balance, wordlessly watching as Livia went back to the shop.

Sarah still hadn't moved from the spot when Livia left.