"The greatest pretenders, forget to remember their lies." —Alex & Sierra.

••

"We had sex, Harmony."

She glares at him wordlessly, cold tears bleeding from her devastated eyes. Her brain is a tangled knot of bemusement as she struggles to interpret the sentence he just uttered.

They had sex? No, no, there is no way that could be true. She refuses to believe that.

Kite searches her face quietly, waiting for her to say something, but she's just staring at him in a trance. As if her mind has taken a trip to a faraway place.

He sighs at her unresponsiveness and shifts closer to her on the bed. This is enough to trigger a reaction from her as she moves away from him, keeping her knees up to her chest but not breaking eye-contact. Her body is trembling unrestrainedly, and Kite releases another soft exhale.

"Talk to me, Harmony."

"You're lying." She whispers. "You're lying to me, aren't you?"

His orbs soften as he lowers his head, hesitating for a second before finally responding. "No, I'm not. Why would I lie to you? We did have sex; don't tell me you can't remember anything."

His tone sounds sincere and convincing, and this scares her even further.

"No." She laments, shaking her head repeatedly. "You did something to me, Kite; what did you do to me?"

He looks away and blows his cheeks out before meeting her wild eyes again. His eyes are now narrowed to slits, taking offense to her last phrase. "Harmony, are you saying I raped you?"

Answering this, she hugs herself as her bottom lip trembles, and Kite scoffs in disbelief.

"I didn't, okay? We were both sure of what we were doing; I didn't force you. You wanted it too."

"You're lying! You're a liar." She snivels. "That's impossible. I don't believe you. I don't believe any of this, where are my clothes? I need to leave; I won't listen to this anymore."

Her eyes frantically dart around to locate her sweater and jeans, but her mind isn't focused at all. She cannot believe he just said that they slept together. That can't be true. She would never do that.

Her thoughts traverse back to that last time she was drunk at his house party and ended up dancing with him. She knows she isn't herself when she is intoxicated but sleeping with Kite is something she wouldn't do even in a drunken state.

This whole situation scares her, and the fact that she's half-naked makes his statement more believable. But she won't crumble. They did not have sex, and she is sticking to that belief.

Melancholy covers Kite's face while he watches her search for her clothes, clutching the sheet to her chest while her eyes desperately scan the room.

She needs to find her belongings, she needs to get out of here, and she needs to forget that this entire situation ever happened.

His brows pull together in a tight frown. "Is the thought of us sleeping together so detestable?"

She looks at him with wide eyes. She is so close to having an anxiety attack. "Yes, yes it is, Kite. How could you ask that? You know who I am in love with; you know Blaze will hate me if whatever you just said was true."

She shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath. Saying his name makes her realize the severity of the situation. He would never forgive her.

"Blaze will be finished with me, and I can't lose him. I can't be without him." Her voice breaks as her eyes sting with fresh tears.

For her, losing him would be something that she would never recover from. He'd be this cold that wouldn't leave her system; no matter how much medication she takes, no matter how much sleep she gets, she'd still feel sick. She would still be broken.

"Why can't you?" Kite grips her shoulders and stares at her with pain in his eyes. "He never loved you; he doesn't feel the way I do. Last night you said you wanted me and that no-one can touch you the way I can."

Her eyes are even wider now, and she shoves his hands away as if she had just been touched by a slimy slug. What? She would never say that.

"Don't look at me like that, Harmony, what we did—"

"Stop it, Kite. Stop lying to me, please!"

He clenches his jaw. "I am not...there is evidence."

She narrows her eyes at him. "Wh-what?"

He scratches his forehead and closes his eyes. "There is blood...from when I...took your virginity."

She had no idea she could panic further. To punctuate this, Kite points to a small red blotch on the bed beside her, and she almost has a heart attack. She feels her throat tightening up, and she clutches onto the sheet, her knuckles bleached as she's now struggling to breathe.

"Is that enough, Harmony?"

She cannot hear him anymore. Blood has clogged her eardrums, and she is just staring at the red stain in a painful trance as if looking at it will make it go away.

"I don't regret it, so I hope you don't."

The room is suddenly spinning, and her body is shaking like a leaf. Her breathing is labored, and she feels herself becoming detached from her surroundings and reality.

Kite notices her disoriented state and waves a hand in front of her face. "Harmony."

A loud cry echoes throughout the room, and she buries her hands in her hair, rocking back and forth.

What the hell did she do? No, she didn't sleep with Kite. That's not her. It must be him, right? He did something to her. But she cannot prove it because she cannot remember anything at all.

He rests a hand on her trembling shoulder. "Harmony, look at me."

"Give me my clothes." She sobs softly, pressing her palms over her eyes.

Watching her body quakes at each whimper, his eyes flash with misery. "I am so sorry that—"

"Give me my clothes, Kite!" She screams at him, shoving him away by his bare chest. "Give me my clothes now! I fucking hate you! You hear me? I fucking hate you, you asshole! I hate you! Give me my clothes!"

He sighs and runs a hand over his face. He gets up and grabs her stuff from under the bed and stretch it toward her. She snatches it from his hand, and his forehead wrinkles at the way her fingers are shaking as she covers her entire body under the duvet.

She slips on her clothes, crying in the process while Kite runs his hand through his hair, seeming stressed. However, his pain is little compared to hers because if what he said was true, if they did sleep together, she and Blaze will be over.

She gets off the bed with tears streaming down her face. Unable to feel her legs, she almost topples over.

Kite grabs onto her arm. "I am sorry, Harmony."

His apology won't make the pain go away; nothing he says will make her forgive him or herself for whatever it is that happened last night—if something did happen.

She frees herself from his grasp and storms out of the room, bumping into Maddie as soon as she enters the hallway. She swallows and takes a step back, hanging her head.

"Oh. Sorry." Maddie smiles. "Harmony, good morning."

She keeps her gaze on the floor, hugging an arm around herself, and Maddie smiles in satisfaction.

"Are you okay?" She asks, bending her head to catch sight of her eyes, but Harmony turns her face in the opposite direction.

"Did you get to talk to Kite about what you wanted to? I mean, you borrowed my room last night saying you needed to be alone with him. How did it go?"

Harmony finally looks up at her, making out the sly gleam in the girl's eyes. Maddie is pleased to see her red swollen eyes while she waits for a reply, but Harmony chooses not to give one as she passes her and hurries to her room.

She cannot delay any longer. Her skin is itching, and she feels dirty and disgusting.

Luckily, her roommate isn't present, and Harmony can hardly wait to get to the bathroom to strip out of her clothes. She climbs into the bathtub and turns the faucet on, allowing the cold water to fall on her back while she cries and screams. Scrubbing and clawing painfully at her skin as if she was touched by someone with an incurable disease.

She doesn't believe it. It is not true. That red stain on the sheet could just be ketchup or something, but it wasn't her blood. It could never be.

She wants to check if her hymen is still intact, but it is impossible to see it for herself even if she uses a mirror or flashlight. Examinations by gynecologists have also proven to produce inaccurate results, being that a person's hymen can be broken due to other factors besides sex. Some women are even born without it, but despite these elements, she still wants to visit an expert to see if they could help her solve this predicament. She has no other choice, and nothing beats a try.

Luckily, she isn't feeling any form of discomfort between her thighs, but that isn't enough validation to hold onto.

After an hour, she finally gets out of the shower. Her skin is red and wrinkled, but somehow, she still feels unclean. It's an internal issue, so she resists the urge to get back in and shower for another hour.

She stares at her reflection in the mirror, and the girl staring back at her feels so different than who she was yesterday. If what Kite said was true, Blaze will hate her forever.

She wishes she didn't have to be at Homewood today; her mind is in torment. But she has a history assignment to submit, and her math lecturer had said he would start a new topic today, which will be on the 'end of semester' exams. Hence, leaving is not an option. Her life is already chaotic as is; she cannot fail college too.

Lacking the drive for classes, she gets dressed in a floral skirt and the oversize sweater that belongs to her dad. She needs one of his gigantic hugs today more than anything, and hopefully, his imprinted scent will help keep her sanity. She leaves her hair down in case she may need it as a curtain if she should bump into Blaze. Her eyes will snitch on her, and she knows he reads facial expressions well.

She is zoned out in her AP history class, her mind constantly flashing back to the fact that she woke up half-naked in a room with Kite, the guy who Blaze hates being around her more than anything. And the scariest part is, she can't remember anything.

Kite could have raped her, and she has no recollection of it. It's enough to drive her insane.

She grabs her bag as soon as class ends, slipping through the glass door hurriedly. It's lunch hour, and she plans to escape to the back of the school. She doesn't want to eat lunch in the Cafeteria today, and April and Blaze will find her at the dorm if she stays there.

Trying to block out the painful racing thoughts, she steps out into the hall, but her strides come to an immediate halt and her body goes numb when Blaze leans off the wall in front of her.

She swallows hard and fights to keep her emotions in check as he moves toward her.

Keep it together Harmony, keep it together.

She is so fearful and scared that he knows something already, but Kite wouldn't say anything now, would he?

"Good morning." He gives her a half-smile, and she forces one back, feeling her eyes burning at the guilt that rips through her chest.

He catches on to the strange look and narrows his eyes in curiosity. "You alright?"

She nods quickly and lifts her bag strap higher onto her shoulder. "Y-yeah...I am."

He crosses his arms over his chest, and his face reveals that he does not believe her. It is hard attempting to fool a Sociopath with the instincts of a killer.

He senses fear, lies, and panic. She cannot make the mistake of being transparent, or she may lose the guy she loves forever.

"You texted me saying you were at your dorm last night. When I came by, you weren't there. I mean no one was, and I tried calling but apparently, you left your cell behind," he begins, and she feels her pulse begins to race. "Why's that? Where were you?"

"I-I was, um...my mom called. And she...she needed my help with something, and she came by the school so...I went back with her and came back this morning."

Blaze glares at her for a while, and she prays he just lets it go. She just needs him to not catch on to anything, not until she gets to a gynecologist and find out what took place last night.

He nods. "Oh. I was worried about you; I called nonstop."

"Yeah...I saw the messages." She shifts from one foot to the next.

"Well, let's have lunch in the Caf." He smiles, taking her hand in his. "April and everyone else are already there."

The feel of his warm palm against hers makes her relax a bit.

She tries to smile, but it is hard to give a genuine one with a heavyweight of guilt on your back. "Yeah... okay."

••

They get to the Cafeteria and join April and everyone else at their usual back table. Blaze keeps their hands adjoined as he crashes in his normal spot. He pulls up a chair for Harmony and she sits next to him, swinging a smile his way and ignoring the painful feeling in her chest.

She just wants it to go away so bad.

"Harmony, where were you last night?" April asks as she grabs a French fry from her tray.

She swallows the nervous knot in her throat while Blaze unwraps his burger and takes a bite, not caring much about April's question.

"I...went back with my mom." She finally says, ensuring the lie matches up with the one she told Blaze earlier. "She needed my help with something."

"Oh." She smiles.

"We went to a party last night, and we wanted you to come along," Yuna tells her.

"Yeah, it was fun." Tia grins. "And we met some cool people from Jaxton University."

"Good day to the craziest crew of Homewood!"

Harmony looks up from her lunch to see a smiling Dustin, and to her absolute terror, Kite is standing next to him.

Their eyes immediately connect, but she looks away uneasily, fidgeting in her seat. Oh God, What is he doing here? Why won't he just stay far away from me? He's killing me by showing up here after everything. He should just leave me alone; I am already suffering as is. Her thoughts begin to run wild as she keeps her eyes on her untouched sandwich, her limbs shaking once again.

Kite goes to find a seat around the table. Not beside her this time but beside Yuna while Dustin sits next to Tia.

Blaze rolls his eyes, his appetite completely broken as he wraps up his half-eaten lunch and leans back in his chair. "Starting to think you both attend Homewood."

Kite opens his mouth to say something, but at that very moment, Maddie appears around the lunch table to everyone's terrific surprise.

"Hey, guys." She beams, holding her tray of food in her hand. "Can I join you?"

Mal is standing behind his stubborn sister with a face of displeasure, and even a blind man would be able to see that she was the one who forced him to come over. If it were up to him, he would steer far from Blaze and his friends. He didn't like them much. But Maddie thinks otherwise.

Kite looks uneasy all of a sudden, and he glares at her for longer than necessary. She gives him a weird smile and shifts her eyes to Blaze before pulling up a chair. The table is already full, and she can barely find room, but that doesn't stop her.

Her brother frowns quietly and sits on a chair behind her. He runs a hand over his face and takes his cellphone from his pocket, obviously uncomfortable to be in this position.

He isn't the only one.

Everyone is now feeling uneasy. April and the girls exchange awkward glances, and James is tensely ruffling his hair, an agitated expression on his face since the psychotic girl is now sitting right beside him.

The table is suddenly quiet, but Blaze speaks up in an annoyed tone.

"The Cafeteria has enough fucking room. Why is it everyone wants to sit here? I hate the crowd."

"Blaze, I missed you at the concert yesterday," Maddie says, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear with a smile. "I didn't see you around."

Blaze ignores her as if she is nonexistent and looks at Harmony instead. "You want us to eat lunch and watch a movie at your dorm, Harmony?"

She nods her head, wanting to get away so badly. Being around a table with Kite and Maddie is dangerous, and the anxiety is eating her alive.

"Yeah, I'd love that Blaze."

"Good." He grabs her hand, but Maddie hastily speaks before they can even stand up.

"Harmony, it was a good talk last night."

Blaze pauses, and his grip on her hand loosens.

Harmony's breathing quickens while Kite shoots the unstable girl a warning gaze. She ignores it and continues mercilessly. "The talk at your dorm room last night was really fun. Wasn't it?"

Blaze narrows his eyes in confusion and looks over at Harmony, who desperately wishes she could just run away and hide. This is all too much. "Didn't you say you were at your mom's last night?"

Everyone around the table is now looking at her and she wants nothing more than to melt into the floor or vanish, or whatever it takes to escape this devastating situation she is currently in.

Her mouth opens to answer, to tell another white lie, but Kite jumps in. "Blaze the concert was interesting yesterday; I heard you're the brilliant mastermind behind it all. I'm impressed you could plan such a thrilling event."

Maddie glares at Kite with squinted eyes, knowing exactly what he just did. He effortlessly changed the topic, slacking up the mission, and she plans to tackle him about it later.

Blaze tears his confused eyes away from Harmony and darkly glowers at Kite. "Yeah. But you weren't fucking invited, so." He shrugs and grips her hand, pulling her up with him.

Kite clenches his jaw, and Maddie taps her nails against the table in a bid to keep her composure, the sight of the couples interlaced fingers stirring up resentment in her.

"Enjoy your lunch," Blaze says to everyone at the table before he takes Harmony with him out of the Cafeteria.

"This table is full of so much tension," Yuna mutters. "I can hardly eat anything."

Maddie can't withhold her anger any longer. She sinks her teeth in her bottom lip as she pushes her chair back, impulsively storming out behind Blaze and Harmony. Kite curses under his breath and immediately gets up, chasing after her.

As soon as she's outside the lunchroom, he grips her arm and pulls her toward him. His eyes dart behind her as he waits for the two people to break the corner before bringing his glare back to her.

"Where the fuck are you going?"

She yanks her arm from his grasp. "I am going to tell Blaze. I am going to ruin that little bitch, and when I am done with her, she'll be the one cutting her wrists next. It sicks me to see them together!"

She motions to walk off again, but Kite furiously drags her back. "That's not the way to do it, Maddie!"

She scoffs and shrugs his hand away. "Then what's the way? Huh? Tell me, scaredy-cat. What's the way? You had your reign, and now it's my turn! So you better not intervene in my part of the plan! Stay out of it!"