The following morning, I woke up to a text from Miguel:

'Hey, really sorry for having to leave you like that. When are you free? Lemme take you out.'

I rolled my eyes, murmuring, "So you can ditch me again? No thanks."

I opened an unread text that Angelo had sent. It read:

'Call me a bitch again, and I'll remind you who's the bitch in our dynamic next time I see you 😈.'

I smiled, biting my bottom lip as I replied, 'Whatever you say, bitch'.

. . .

Nabila kept her word: the next afternoon, she came knocking at my door, calling, "Aimee! I'm ready if you are!"

I had just gotten back from grocery shopping then. I groaned, then replied, "Not now, Bila! I've got some stuff I gotta do at the moment."

"Okay! When would be a better time for you?"

"Um...this evening? Six pm?"

"Sounds good; I'll set an alarm."

"I don't doubt that," I murmured before replying, "Okay!"

Shortly after, I went to the kitchen to make myself pasta. As it was boiling, Precious walked into the kitchen, smiling when she saw me. "Hey, good thing I caught you here!"

I looked away from my phone, replying, "What's up?"

"We have a club meeting set for this Friday, but I'm not sure how many people will be around for it since break starts then: will you be around?"

I nodded.

"Great! I'll confirm with the others and let you know if there's any change in plans. Later!"

. . .

Honestly, I had forgotten that I had scheduled plans with Nabila by the time evening rolled around. Luckily, I didn't feel like exercising, so I got back from the gym earlier than I would have otherwise. I took a shower after arriving at my dorms.

Barely a minute after I'd finished and gone back to my room, there was a knock on my door. Nabila sang, "It's time!"

Shit!

"Alright, gimme a few minutes."

Might as well get this over with.

I quickly made myself look presentable, then walked out of my room. Nabila was standing in front of my door, grinning broadly.

She clapped her hands together. "I've already set up my Xbox in the rec room: let's get going! By the way, do you mind if I livestream on Twitch as we play?"

I frowned. "Nabila, I'm not going to suck in front of your thousands of followers!"

"Oh, come on, you're not going to suck. I'll explain the game to you."

"No audience." I crossed my arms. "That's non-negotiable."

She sighed. "Alright. In that case, lucky you: we have the rec room all to ourselves."

. . .

Sadly, Nabila was wrong about that. We found Amelia and Emma in their bras and shorts in there, making out on the couch. Their shirts lay on the floor beside them. Nabila and I stopped in our tracks the moment we saw them. My nose crinkled.

They both looked at us. Amelia shot us a glare, then went back to making out with Emma.

Nabila mumbled to me, "Maybe we should come back later."

"No," I mumbled back firmly. "We're here to play, so we'll play; they don't own the room."

I marched to the TV and switched it on. Nabila followed cautiously behind me.

I looked at her console, then asked her, "How do you switch it on?"

She did so. The screen flickered to life.

The couch rustled as Amelia and Emma shifted. Amelia's murmurs floated into my ears: "The fuck...such a bitch..."

My heart rate picked up. I looked back at her and Emma, who had both sat up, and smiled. "If you have something you want to say to us, speak loudly and clearly."

Amelia's eyes flashed to mine. She growled, "I wasn't talking to you."

"I didn't say you were. I'm just saying: if you have a problem, speak up so we can sort it out."

"Well, you both can see that we clearly want some private time." She gestured at herself and Emma.

"And you can see that I clearly don't care." I crossed my arms. "If you want some private time, use your room."

"It's occupied."

"That's not my problem."

Amelia bared her teeth. "What the fuck is your problem?"

Emma tugged her arm. "Chill, it's okay-"

"No, it's not." Amelia snarled at me, "For once, can you not be a fucking bitch and just mind your business?"

My fists clenched. "Excuse me? The only person who's being a bitch, and always has been a bitch, is you!"

"I'm the bitch?" She leaped up, shrugging Emma off and jabbing her finger at me. "You blow up over every little thing! Someone leaves dishes in the sink for a bit? You run to Camila and bitch about it! Honestly, I wasn't surprised when I heard that you blew up at Jack for nothing the other day; no wonder no one likes you!"

"Excuse me? No one likes me?" I laughed, although my blood was roaring in my ears. "And you think anyone likes you and your stupid glaring face? Also, I didn't blow up at Jack for nothing; I blew up at him 'cause he was acting like an immature idiot, just as you are now!"

"Woah, chill out!" Emma stood, frowning at me.

I snapped at her, "Give that advice to your fucking girlfriend before I knock some sense into her."

Amelia scoffed, "Wait, who the fuck are you going to 'knock some sense into'?"

Nabila tugged at my arm. "Aimee, let's just-"

I tugged my arm away from her, then growled at Amelia, "Did I fucking stutter?"

"Do it then." She marched up to me. "Hit-"

I punched her in the nose.

She fell to the ground, screaming. Emma rushed forward, shoving me. "The fuck is wrong with you?"

I stumbled backward. Barely after I regained my balance, Amelia launched herself, her fists flailing at me. I blocked most of her punches, then grabbed her hair and use it to throw her on the ground.

Before I could punch her again, a fist connected with my face, disorienting me. Emma followed her punch with a barrage of blows: most fell flat, but a few connected, 'causing me to cry out.

I was going to focus my attacks on her, but before I was able to, Camila burst into the room, shouting, "What the fuck are you all doing? Stop!"

Emma and I broke apart, breathing heavily as we faced Camila.

Wide-eyed, Camila stared at us for a few seconds, then breathed, "What the fuck is going on in here?"

Amelia burst out crying.

I looked at her: she was clutching at her nose, blood seeping through her fingers. Camila rushed to her side.

As Camila inspected her bleeding nose, Amelia jabbed a finger in my direction. "Fuck you!"

I flipped her off. "Oh, stop playing the victim! Next time, don't start shit if you can't back it up."

Emma yelled, "She didn't start any-"

Camila cut in. "Enough!"

We all shut up. Both Emma and Amelia kept shooting me murderous looks.

As the adrenaline wore off me, my face began throbbing - the result of Emma's blows. My fists clenched, shaking as I struggled to keep myself from retaliating.

As if reading my thoughts, Camila said to me, "Aimee, I think you should go cool off somewhere else."

Not bothering to reply, I stormed out of the room. I met Nabila standing outside it.

I glared at her, growling, "Where the fuck were you?"

Her eyes dropped to my feet. She replied, "I - I went to get Camila-"

"Wow!" I scoffed, "So as I was getting ganged up on, you abandoned me? Some friend you are!"

"I - I didn't know what else to do-"

"You could have fucking helped me out! Defended me! I wouldn't have been in this stupid situation if it wasn't for the fact that you pressured me into gaming with you!"

Tears spilled out of her eyes. "I'm sorry-"

I brushed past her roughly, storming into my room and slamming the door. I ran my hands through my hair as I paced around, looking for an outlet for my frustration.

My eyes landed on my phone, which was lying on my bed. I grabbed it, then called Angelo. No reply. I called a few more times, cursing as my efforts went to shit.

Finally, I settled for a voice note instead: I narrated the events that had taken place, venting out my frustrations. I spent nearly ten minutes ranting.

I stared at the chat after I'd finished, hoping for Angelo to come online so I could get some form of validation, some relief from my pain.

After time passed with no reply, my bubble burst, and my chest tightened even more. I tossed away my phone, burying my head into my pillow and screaming for as long as my voice allowed me to.

.   .   .

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