AFTER Mal made sure Felix was peacefully sitting with Hyunjin and Han in the library, she went on her spree to find Griffin Gluck.

She walked through the familiar corridor, where Griffin's locker was located and found him talking aggressively with Diego.

"I told you to stop doing things like that! You know that article is not true. That's not how we read it either!"

"Shut up, Diego! You have no say about that anyway, considering that you sided with them and didn't return last night! You-"

Mal walked up to them, making sure they heard her heels clicking against the ceramic. They turned to her direction, and Griffin allowed a smirk filled with smugness to plaster over his face.

"Oh, look who's here. The traitor." he began, taking a step towards his ex-girlfriend, and leaning towards the locker with his arms crossed to his chest.

"Oh, yes. I'm the traitor, totally."

Diego shook his head in pure guilt, taking another step towards his friend.

"Mal, listen, I-"

"I don't want to hear it." she interrupted, then turned to Griffin once again.

Unexpectedly, she slammed her fist against the metal locker behind him, causing him to flinch and close his eyes. He tried to recover from the sudden fear by smirking once again, noticing how only inches could tell them apart at that point.

"Wow. I didn't know you wanted me so bad."

She let out an unreadable laugh, removing her fist from the locker. Griffin thought she was finally letting go of the grudge and was becoming easy to befriend again.

To his dismay and surprise whatsoever, he felt a sudden, sharp blow against his right cheek, which made him close his eyes and lift his hand up to grab his face in an attempt to lighten the pain, his head turning briefly to his left from the force of the hit.

She slapped him.

"W-What? Did you just hit me?" he questioned, his voice stuck in his throat, his heart beating loudly in his chest. God, his face hurt.

She smirked. A smirk that was so bitter and full of hatred.

"I promise you if you come after Felix, or my friends, again I won't go so nice on you."

She stepped away from her ex-boyfriend and turned to Diego, who had wide eyes and a taken aback expression.

"Mal, wait... I-"

"You what?! Tell me what do you want to say because I'm honestly done with you both!" she screamed, causing them to flinch and back away slightly.

Her nice attitude, her sweet personality, her delightful, cheerful self was gone.

Griffin glanced at her bitterly, the same thought repeating into his mind until the words lost their meaning.

This was all Felix's fault.

And now he hated him more than before.

All he could see was the face of his ex-girlfriend staring down at him and sneering in disgust.

"What did they do to you?" he questioned in a small, cracked voice.

"What did they do to me?" she repeated in a bitter, angry tone, "What did you do to yourself?! What did you turn yourself into? Bullying someone and giving them an anxiety attack, and then posting an article about how it was their fault that some accident happened in the past?! This is not the Griffin I used to know! This is not the Griffin I started to go out, and eventually fall in love with! Never in a million years would I have imagined that you wouldn't want me to be happy..." she exclaimed the last part in a slower, more gentle voice.

And it made his aching heart fall into his stomach.

"Mal, of course I want you to be happy..." he began in a soft voice, taking an occasional glance at Diego for support.

"Liar!" she screamed again, a stray tear streaming down her face.

Then, she stepped closer towards him, which caused him to back a step away.

"You just made me your enemy, Griffin. And you have no way of fixing that. So whenever you look at me, or whenever you look at Felix, you will remember that this was all your fault."

She turned to Diego once again, stepping closer to him as he gulped.

"And you... I'm so disappointed in you."

"I'm sorry-" he apologized, only for her to interrupt him again.

"Cut the bullshit! You're not sorry, Diego. You're just upset that I don't want to hang out with you anymore. You don't care that Griffin turned you into a bully or an asshole who doesn't care about other people's feelings! I don't even recognize you anymore..."

She whispered the last sentence in a heartbreaking tone as she glanced at him up and down.

"Hell, even your style is turning just like him."

He bit his lower lip in guilt while he took a glance at his outfit. A black leather jacket with a black turtleneck underneath, along with tight, black jeans, and shiny white sneakers. The outfit was a lot similar to what Griffin wore most of the time.

"I'm done being your friend. Just leave me and Felix alone!"

She said finally before she spun her heels to walk away.

Griffin watched her as she went out of sight, a sad, broken expression planted over his face. His heart ached at the sight of the friend next to him.

"I'm sorry, Diego," he muttered before he walked away, leaving Diego to stand in the middle of the corridor, alone.

He hurried towards the boys' bathroom and entered. Making sure no one was there, he stopped by one of the sinks and stared at himself in the mirror, a small, almost unnoticeable tear streamed down his face. He wiped it away quickly, then glanced at his reflection, and the image of his father flashed through his mind.

Mal was right.

He was turning into someone else. A bully. Or more like his father.

And it only seemed like he couldn't fix that.

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