Dedicated to shrishti_shubha

, squirt it into the eyes of a bitch, watch the bitch suffer and run away," Melanie read aloud from her phone as she reapplied her lip-gloss.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, propping my elbows on the lunch table.

Thanksgiving break was over and we were back at school. I still hadn't told anyone about the night with drunk Caelum in his room, and he still didn't seem to remember. Things weren't perfect, but they could be worse.

"You know that bitch, Lisa?" Melanie asked, glancing between me and a bored-looking Clara.

Emery didn't come to lunch today, and she had been distant ever since her date with Cole. I tried using some tricks I'd found on google to get her to open up, but she wasn't budging. I didn't want to pressurize her into talking, but that was the only option I had left. She rarely ever talked about her feelings and I felt bad because she was always there to listen to my unnecessary rants.

"No," I replied while Clara muttered some incoherent words.

"The popular cheerleader with brown skin," Melanie explained, pursing her lips. "She's tall, mean, and thinks she's better than everyone else."

"Lisa Gretchen?" I asked.

"Yes!" I knew the girl Melanie was talking about but I never knew she was a 'mean girl.' Lisa and I were friends back in elementary school but after dad died, things happened and I lost my best friend.

My dad's death was a hit and run case. When he was coming home from work, his car collided with another car, and he died on the spot. The other driver escaped even though they were both involved in the accident. I was confused as to how he or she managed to escape even though their car had supposedly collided with Dad's.

Mr. Gretchen, Lisa's dad, was my father's friend and they were both Lawyers. He decided to take up the case, but as Mother had said, there was no evidence to trace the suspect or continue the case. I could still remember mum coming late at night and making several calls during that period but nothing changed.

The Gretchen's sent their condolences and even attended Dad's funeral but Lisa stopped talking to me after then. I was the one supposed to end our friendship, not her.

I eventually accepted the fact that Dad was gone for good and the person who killed him was not going to be found. I also accepted the fact that Mr. Gretchen didn't put enough effort to fight my dad's case.

"The Lisa I know isn't mean Melanie," I said.

It was true. The Lisa I grew up with wasn't mean. We used to laugh at our lame jokes together, sit together at lunch and she was the first and only person I ever had sleepovers with—before Emery. But again, people change over time so maybe she changed.

"She is!" Melanie countered. "How do you even know if she's mean or not?"

I shrugged, looking around the cafeteria for Emery. "I just know."

Melanie narrowed her eyes but thankfully dropped the subject. "You know what she did?"

I bit my cheeks, diverting my attention back to her. "No, Melanie," I said. "I just asked you what she did, didn't I?"

"Yeah so, there's this guy I like—"

"Caelum?" I asked.

"No," she said. "So, this guy—"

"I thought you liked Caelum," I cut in while Clara snickered, putting a fork of spaghetti in her mouth.

"Yes, I like Caelum," she said, glaring at me. "But can you at least let me speak without any form of interruption? Please?"

Grinning sheepishly, I ignored the jealousy burning in the pit of my stomach and gave her a go-ahead.

"So yeah," she continued. "There's this guy I like dated one time, I broke it off with him even though he still liked me."

"What happened?" I asked, slowly losing interest in the conversation.

She glanced down at her phone before continuing. "So apparently, he asked Lisa out!"

"And?"

"And what?" Melanie asked and Clara let out loud shrieks of laughter. Was I out of the loop or something?

"Is that the end of the story?" I blinked repeatedly, trying to make sense of what she had just told me.

She went back to scrolling through her phone. "Yes."

I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "Then why did you call Lisa mean?"

"Don't you see it?" she asked. "He asked Lisa out even if he still liked me."

Shaking my head at her, I picked my bag up from the floor and turned to Clara. "Can you make her understand that whatever story she told me now didn't make sense in the slightest?"

Clara bobbed her head slowly, puffing her cheeks out. "I already did that, but she still believes Lisa is a bitch."

"She probably has feelings for the guy and she's just jealous that he's moving on without her," I muttered loud enough for Melanie to hear before returning my attention to Clara. "I'm going to look for Emery, talk to you later."

I could feel Melanie's glare at the back of my head as I stood from the lunch table, but Clara's annoying laughter made me crack a smile regardless. Those girls were something else.

Walking down the deserted hallways, I listened for voices or anything related to Emery or even Caelum. When I didn't hear anything, I turned towards the direction of the bathroom in hopes of finding Emery. Stepping into the bathroom, I didn't see anybody or hear anything, but as I turned to leave, I heard a small sniff. The sound was so small, it felt like my head was playing tricks with me.

I quietly moved away from the door and stood in the middle. This time, I heard the sniff loud and clear. At that point, I was deliberating on minding my business and not minding my business. Choosing the latter, I walked back to the door to continue my search for the Jensen's, but I froze in my tracks.

Emery Jensen was the one in the bathroom.

How did I come up with the conclusion in less than a minute if I was no CIA or FBI? She said, "Caelum don't do it, please."

I didn't have the hearing ability of a werewolf since I was a human being and not some animal, but her soft voice was pretty loud and it echoed throughout the empty bathroom. Without wasting more time, I ran towards the direction of the stall, banging on it repeatedly.

"Em," I called desperately. "Emery, I know you're in there. Please open the door!"

"Shit," she muttered. "Shit, shit, shit."

"Uh, are you taking a shit or something?" I asked awkwardly.

"Yes," she croaked after clearing her throat. "I'll be out soon."

I nodded. "So, you cry when taking a dump? And even talk to Caelum?"

It was pretty obvious. I had already caught up on her lie. "Please, talk to me Em."

"We'll talk later Daesyn," she responded. "Lunch break is almost over. Go to class!"

"The class can go fuck itself!" I said. "Why won't you speak to me? I kept calling you all through the weekend but you kept sending these shitty texts about you being fine. Emery, you are my best friend, and best friends support each other. I don't care if this is blackmail or not, but if you don't open this fucking door now, we're done. Me and you: Daesyn and Emery are fucking done. Make your fucking decision."

I heard her giggle as she opened the door. "You swear a lot and you're violent but I wouldn't want you any other way. I'm sorry for being distant and all, it's just—"

I didn't let her finish speaking before pulling her into a hug. Her fair skin was makeup-free and there were black lines and bags underneath her eyes. This wasn't my prim and proper Emery. Something was wrong. "Emery, you don't have to talk if you don't want to," I said. "I just feel bad because you're always there to listen to my miserable rants and complaints but you never talk about yourself. Just know that I'll be here to listen to you no matter what happens."

Emery was crying. I could feel my uniform getting wet and it broke my heart that this was the only thing I could do to help her.

"Shh." I tapped her back repeatedly just the way Caelum did on thanksgiving and as time went by, her cries turned to sobs, then hiccups before she finally stopped crying.

"Daesyn!" Emery suddenly yelled, running a hand repeatedly through her hair. "We need to go!"

"Go where?" I asked.

"Caelum and Cole!" she said, dragging me out of the stall. "We need to look for them."

"Calm down." I pulled her back. "What's going on?"

"Let's just go look for Caelum," she said. "I don't want him to get into any fights, Daesyn."

Things were getting complicated around here but I nodded regardless and let her pull me to wherever Caelum was. Now, I wasn't all that surprised to see Cole on the football field seeing as he was a jock and whatnot, but I was extremely surprised to see Caelum with him.

"Emery," I called out in frustration. "What's happening? Why is Caelum with Cole?"

"I'll tell you," she promised, dragging me down the bleachers. "But we have to go to Caelum! He's really mad at Cole."

Nodding my head, I chased after her as she let go of my arm and ran to where the boys stood. It felt awkward standing there since I didn't know what was happening but I didn't let my awkwardness show.

"Leave him alone," Emery pleaded, pulling Caelum away. She had been doing a lot of pulling and dragging lately but it was not the time to point that out.

Caelum barely spared me a glance as he turned to leave but Cole the jerk spoke. The asshole had a smug smile on his face when he told Caelum to come back and fight like a man. We all knew how aggressive Caelum was, but maybe Cole hadn't seen that side of Caelum yet.

It was hilarious to watch when Caelum freed himself from the grasp of Emery and sent a punch directly to Cole's nose. The chance of Cole winning this fight was pretty high, though. I mean I was being realistic here. Cole was a football player who tackled other players in the field, while Caelum was...he was not. And even though Caelum worked out and had some really good muscles, he was just an average extremely gorgeous seventeen-year-old.

I'd always known getting in the middle of fights never ended well, but whatever pushed me to let out a war cry as I jumped on Cole's back when he was about to return the punch to Caelum remained a mystery to me.

Well, at least I didn't put my face to collect the punch for Caelum. I wasn't that stupid.

"What the fuck?!" Cole let out a high-pitched squeal and tried to pull me off. It was practically impossible to do so since my hand was gripping his blonde hair.

"Get her away from me!" Cole yelled out to Caelum. "Get the fuck away from my back, Daesyn!"

Oh, he knew my name after all.

"No," I screamed, tightening my legs around his waist. "What did you do to Emery?"

"Let's talk about it like mature individuals," he compromised. "Please, come down?"

I glanced at Emery who had a hand clamped over her mouth which was wide opened, but I could see the amusement clear in her eyes. Caelum wasn't any less surprised. He was full-on grinning. I could see his pearly white teeth and his hand wasn't clamped on his mouth to hide his grin. At least they both found this hilarious.

"Cole!" I heard a teacher yell from a distance.

I quickly jumped down from Cole's back just as the teacher's voice drew closer. I recognized the voice as Mr. Finn, our vice-principal.

"What is all of this about?" he asked, his rheumy eyes suspiciously darting at all four of us over his glasses. I quickly averted my gaze to my feet, clutching my bag tightly between my fingers.

When nobody answered, he said, "Mr. Adler, to my office."

Cole groaned and sent a glare my way before walking away. I was trying to get my head around something. Did Cole think I was scared of him? I shook my head at his retreating back before turning to Emery. "Let's go."

Mr. Finn tusked, straightening the jacket of his grey suit. "Not so fast Ms. McCready," he said. "The three of you didn't go to your classes after lunch, meaning you skipped. Plus, it looked like a fight was about to take place if I hadn't interfered."

Emery opened her mouth to speak but Mr. Finn held a hand up. "You know the rules, Jensen. Skip a class, and get detention for a whole week."

"But," he continued. "I haven't gotten any bad reports from any of the teachers. So, you only have detention today. If this repeats itself, I will not hesitate to keep you after school for two weeks. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir," we muttered in unison.

He nodded, looking at the watch on his wrist. "Go to the detention room when school is over."

-

Author's note:

First things first, I published this chapter just as I finished writing just to keep up with my updating schedule, but whatever.

Secondly, Caelum's no longer 16, he's now 17. And in the first chapter, I added some stuff about Emery wanting to become friends with Daesyn earlier before Cole's party. And, I honestly can't remember saying stuff about Daesyn never having friends all through her childhood, I only emphasized on her finding it hard to make friends.

Finally, let's welcome Lisa Gretchen into the family lmao.

Please don't forget to leave your votes and comments :) See you next week bubbas!