After the ball, I accompanied William and Dante back to the academy. My parents said goodbye and promised to visit soon. However, I didn't pay this much attention because I was still livid from the previous event.

As we went back, I stared straight ahead fuming with anger. I gripped my seat, imprinting a dent from my fingernails. Dante looked out the window with an indifferent expression, but occasionally he would glance at me to make sure I was alright. William had a nervous expression on his face and fidgeted from the tense atmosphere.

Finally William spoke, "Seri... A-Are you feeling sick or anything?"

"Yes." I muttered through clenched teeth.

William gulped, "Ah... I see." He fidgeted some more feeling uncomfortable by the atmosphere. He chuckled trying to lighten it up, "You know.. I always thought I would prefer it if you talked less."

"Uhuh." I said still glaring at nothing.

He continued with a serious expression, "But now that you are quiet, it's actually quite terrifying. I think it's better when you're not silent."

A moment of silence passed and William grew restless again from it. He spoke, "Are you upset that Penelope ruined your dress?"

I huffed in anger and kicked the floor, "I don't care about the dress! I just can't stand being sticky!"

William looked at me in confusion, "I've always wondered why you are so averse to it. I understand it's not a pleasant feeling, but you have a serious melt down over it. Why do you hate it to that degree?"

I recalled my previous memories at the orphanage and crossed my arms, "It's nothing."

Dante glanced at me and spoke cryptically, "Before?"

I gave a nod in agreement. He looked back out to the window and said nothing else. William looked between us in confusion. Then he continued, "Well, what are you going to do about what happened?"

I forced a smile, "I'm going to destroy her and her family."

William sighed, "You know she's a distant cousin of mine, right?"

I shrugged, "I will only destroy her immediate family. Arrogance is a disease and I need to stomp it out."

William chuckled at this, "That's funny coming from you. You're the most arrogant person I know."

I answered defensively, "I'm arrogant because my skills are worth bragging over. My arrogance doesn't come from rich parents."

He nodded, "Yeah, yeah. Well if you really want to get revenge, I could speak to my parents about it. I'm sure they would take action against her and her parents for dumping wine on you. I know my mother adores you so she would probably want to get involved." He muttered to himself, "If she didn't get involved already."

I shook my head, "No. I need to destroy her myself."

"Yourself?"

I shrugged, "Well, myself as in all the connections I have."

He chuckled, "Just what connections do you have other than me?" The carriage grew quiet. William looked startled, "Wait. What other connections do you have?!"

I ignored him, "I'm not just angry about that though."

William looked surprise, "Then what else is wrong?"

Even Dante looked at me in curiosity. I spoke with a glum expression, "It's Millie."

"Millie?" William asked.

I nodded and sighed, "While you two were busy fighting over me, I noticed Millie speak to Penelope."

Dante and William glanced at each other and then looked away quickly. They were surprised I brought up their unsightly argument so casually. William was ashamed to have fought with Dante, but he was still determined to win. Dante didn't care about the argument because he had a rather strong possessive side to him.

I continued, "After Millie whispered something into her ear, Penelope looked at me clearly wanting to rip me apart. Just what do you think she said to her?"

William shrugged, "To be honest, I don't know what most women say to each other."

"Well that's pretty obvious. You seem pretty out of touch with women."

One word: Virgin.

His face twitched, "Oi."

I spoke ignoring him, "But she had to have said something to her to make her immediately turn to look at me. But I don't understand why. Do you two know anything? Was she acting suspiciously before?"

William thought back, "Actually, before the Ball she did ask me if I intended to dance with you. She even tried encouraging me. I did think it was a bit weird, but I was too busy thinking about..." He shook his head, "I was too distracted to think deeply about it."

Dante spoke, "She was also the one who told me William intended to dance with you."

I sighed, "So she really has been trying to start things."

What was Millie trying to accomplish? Did she really hate me for being so close to William that she was trying to ruin the relationships around me? She also pushed the bookcase over and allowed me to be blamed for it. There were so many things she had done before that seemed a bit strange.

Could she have taken Ilene's place as the bully in the novel?

But what even happened to Ilene?! Could she be behind these schemes still? No. There's no way. Ilene was annoying, but she was at least annoying to your face. You always knew she was behind the schemes because she didn't try hard to hide it.

My head hurts from trying to figure out what is actually happening. This story has changed too much from the original novel. I don't even know what's happening anymore.

I looked at the floor with a saddened expression, "Do you think she was purposely trying to sabotage me? Maybe she actually wants to see me alone and unhappy...."

William and Dante noticed my downturned expression and looked at each other with worried expressions. Originally they wanted to say that they thought Millie was acting suspiciously, but seeing my expression they didn't have the heart to say anything.

Dante had noticed Millie acting strangely before. He had caught her several times trying to make trouble for Seri. But she would never state her intent behind it. She also denied it heavily. He had tried to discover what she was up to, but he had so far been unsuccessful.

I sniffled, "Maybe she doesn't even think of me as her friend. Do you think she hates me?"

"NO!" Dante shouted quickly even making William jump. It was no secret that Dante didn't like Millie. He hated her most of all, but although he wanted to take advantage of the situation to have Seri discard Millie, he also knew that Millie was too important to her.

I looked up at him and rubbed my eyes with a pitiful expression, "Really?"

They both nodded quickly. William spoke fast, "I'm sure it was just a misunderstanding."

Dante agreed, "Yes, don't worry about it."

I sighed, "I hope so... But I will know more once I ask her about it."

Their faces turned pale. They looked at each other with uncertainty. William whispered to Dante, "Should we do something?"

He whispered back, "I'm not sure."

William whispered, "But Millie has definitely tried to alienate Seri before."

"I know."

"What if she tells Seri the truth? Won't she be upset?"

I looked at the two of them and frowned, "What are you two whispering about?"

"Nothing." They said simultaneously.

I narrowed my eyes at them, "Suspicious."

______

The next day at school, I walked with Millie and Mary to class. I looked at Millie with a serious face, "Do you think we could talk really quick?"

Millie looked at me in surprise, "Sure. We can talk. What's on your mind?"

Mary smiled at me with an innocent expression.

I glanced at Mary and frowned, "Millie. Let's go talk somewhere else." She nodded and we started to walk to a more secluded part of the hallway. Mary followed with a skip in her step. I glared at Mary, "ALONE."

Mary's eyes widened, "Oh! Right. I'm sorry. I will let you two have some privacy."

Mary pretended to walk away, then jumped behind a column to eavesdrop. Artie suddenly appeared behind her, "What are you doing?" She went to shriek, but he covered her mouth, "Shush!"

He pulled back his hand and she answered him, "Seri wanted to talk to Millie privately."

"Why?"

"I have no idea."

Artie nodded and looked ahead, "Then I shall join you."

I looked at Millie completely unaware of the two idiots hiding, "I want to talk to you about what happened at the Debutante ball."

She tilted her head, "The Debutante ball?"

"Yes. Just what did you say to Penelope?"

Her smile never faltered, "What do you mean? I don't think I said anything to Penelope."

I frowned, "Don't lie to me Millie. I saw you talk to her. After you whispered something in her ear, she looked right at me with a hateful expression. I know you spoke to her."

She shook her head and spoke convincingly, "I don't know what you're talking about. Are you sure you saw it correctly? Maybe you confused me with someone else. You were drinking so it's possible you couldn't tell."

"STOP LYING!"

Millie flinched at my sudden shout. Originally I may have believed her. She lied so convincingly, even I could have been fooled if I wasn't paying close enough attention. However, I was purposely observing her micro expressions and I knew immediately that she was lying.

She looked at me with a trembling lip, "Y-You don't believe me?"

I glared at her while ignoring her false sense of mistreatment, "I know what I saw Millie."

She grabbed my sleeve with a pitiful expression, "Seri..."

I pulled my hand away from her grip, "NO!" I shouted angrily, "If you won't tell me what you said to her, then I can only assume that you said something terrible."

"Seri. I-"

I interrupted, "I don't want to hear it! If you won't tell me, then consider this friendship over!"

Mary and Artie gasped in their hiding spot. Even Millie looked like she had been dealt a fatal blow. She blinked as if she had just been slapped in the face. Her eye twitched, "W-What."

My voice was cold, "I don't want a friend who will stab me in the back."

She spoke quickly, "But Seri! I would never do such a thing to you!"

"How would I know that?! You won't even tell me the truth! Instead you are lying to me! Maybe when you feel like telling me the truth, I might consider being your friend again."

I waited for Millie to tell me the truth, but instead her mouth just opened and closed wordlessly. I clicked my tongue seeing she had no intention to tell the truth, "Fine."

I stomped away and walked past Artie and Mary who were hiding so obviously. However, I was too angry to comment. The rest of the day Millie kept trying to speak to me, but I ignored her blatantly. As I walked to the student council room with Mary and Artie, I ignored Millie who was walking behind me trying to speak.

We entered the room and I slammed the door on Millie. Millie knocked on the door and spoke in a depressed tone, "Seri... Please don't ignore me... I don't care if you yell or shout at me, but please don't ignore me."

I shouted in anger, "Why would I care what you want?! Just get lost! I don't want to see you ever again!"

"S-Seri.. But.. I-"

"Just get out of here!"

She pleaded to me in a desperate tone, "Seri please! Don't ignore me! I can't lose you again like I did those three years! I... I won't be able to handle it..."

There was something off with her voice, but I was too angry to care. "Well you have lost me! This time it will be much longer than three years! It will be forever!"

The other side of the door grew quiet. I waited until I heard her walk away. Then I turned and sat in my seat. I began to angrily stab the papers with my pen. Everyone watched the scene with astonished faces.

Lucius spoke, "Uhhh. What happened? Weren't those two joined at the hip just a few days ago?"

Artie answered, "Millie and Seri are fighting. Seri seems pretty angry about it too because she's not giving in at all."

Lucius frowned, "Why do I have such a bad feeling about this?"