VALENTINA AND KLAUDEEE

EPHEMERAL

WARNING - SEXUAL HARASSMENT

The person ushered Klaude and Valentina into the home, Valentina looked around. The place was crowded, red solo cups littering the floor and some decorations had already been torn down. Valentina felt immediately claustrophobic. She made sure to stay close to Klaude's side. Klaude looked back at her and felt her concern, he grabbed her hand and held it tight as he navigated her through the party. They eventually reached the kitchen where Klaude let go of her hand and began talking to his friends. They talked for one hour with Valentina occasionally getting some points into the conversion.

"I'm gonna go to the bathroom," Klaude said to the group,

Everyone nodded and as Klaude made his way to the bathroom Valentina stayed where she was. She picked up a red solo cup and dipped it into the large glass of fruit punch. She took a sip as she scanned the room.

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By the time Valentina finished her drink she looked around for Klaude, she searched the whole house and realized that she had lost Klaude. Her heart started to beat rapidly as she came to terms with this fact.

"What's with the long face..." Said an unknown voice, Valentina looked over and saw it was the guy from her History class. The one who was always on his phone and never participated in conversations. Valentina frowned, having to talk with this guy immediately ruined her mood.

"Hey Shawn..." She said unenthusiastically. Shawn stepped closer, Valentina tried to take a step back but realized that she had been pinned on the wall. Her eyes widened as Shawn took another step closer.

"I've been noticing you eyeing me in class," Shawn said with a smirk on his face.

"Not for the reasons you think-" Valentina sharply said back.

"Woah! You're lucky I like girls with flair," He said as he leaned closer.

Valentina felt her heart beat, almost as if it was going to beat out of her chest, "Get closer to me and I'll punch you in the fucking face."

Shawn chuckled as he firmly grabbed her wrist and put it against the wall, Valentina's eyes widened as she realized her situation was looking dim. Luckily she had seen some videos on how to get out of these situations and elbowed Shawn's arm. He screamed in pain as she ran to go find Klaude. After 30 minutes of running around the house, she finally finds him, talking to his friends, she runs up to him and says, "Where have you been!? Do you know what just happened to me??" Klaude looked at her blankly, his group went silent for a minute before they all bursted out laughing. Once their laugh session was done Klaude looked at Valentina and said, "Look- I think you should just calm down and get a drink." Valentina's eyes widened and her voice cracked when she yelled, "What the fuck!? Calm down!?"

"Yo is your friend ok Klaude-" One friend interjected.

"Eh- I think she's just a bit on edge." Klaude said as he nudged off Valentina. Valentina could feel her eyes start to fill with tears as she said her final sentence, "Fuck you Klaude." Klaude looked at her, puzzled, but Valentina was too hurt to explain, she sniffled and wiped her nose as she ran out the front door. A breeze of harsh air hit her like a brick when she looked around the pitch-dark neighborhood. Valentina remembered that Angelle was just 1 block away from this home, she ran to the town with her mascara streaming down her face. She didn't care about this, she didn't care about anything anymore, she only cared about getting home.

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Once she had reached Angelle she looked frantically for the road that led to her home. The streetlights guided her as she continued her search. After around 15 minutes Valentina had found the road, she wiped her nose and rubbed off her mascara before continuing her run back home.

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Once she got to her house she knocked on the door, hoping someone was awake to let her in. Her mother was the one to open the door, and upon seeing her mother's face Valentina immediately leapt into her arms.

"Oh Valentina! What happened?" Asked her Mother in a shaken tone. Valentina proceeded to tell her everything that had happened through a streamline of tears and sniffling. Once Valentina had finished telling her story, her mother hugged her harder and said, "It's ok Valentina, I'll never let this happen again." Valentina nodded and the two hugged in silence. It was a blissful silence, the one that couldn't be described. All that was known between the two was that they'd have each other's backs, even when it seemed the world didn't have theirs.

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Monday had come, and even though Klaude had tried multiple times to talk to Valentina, she ignored him every time. Valentina had told her friends what happened over text and when she arrived at their lunch table, she was bomb-barded with hugs and threats towards Klaude. While those 30 minutes brought her temporary happiness, when she had to see Klaude in art it immediately made her angry. Once the teacher had sent them off to work on their new painting, Valentina left swiftly, she jumped into the crowd of people and quickly got her supplies and painting. Klaude was confused, this wasn't a usual thing for her to be doing. She'd usually wait until things calmed down before she got her supplies. Though he questioned it, he decided it would be best just to not ask her about it. Valentina and Klaude went the whole period in silence, Valentina only focusing on her painting and Klaude only focusing on Valentina. The bell had rung at it's usual time, Valentina didn't realize this bell ring. She was deeply focused, trying to finish the background of her painting. Klaude waited for her to finish, wanting to ask her why she was acting so weird. It was a few minutes until Valentina had finished the background, but when she did she put away her supplies and painting, not acknowledging that Klaude had waited for her. She made her way to the door swiftly, but Klaude stopped her.

"Valentina! Wait-" He said as he grabbed her arm.

Valentina looked back at him, her expression cold but her eyes had a fire in them he had not seen. Klaude pressed on.

"Why have you been ignoring me all day? I don't know what I could've done to make you this mad." He said.

Valentina laughed before she asked, "You really wanna know why I'm mad?"

"Yes!" Klaude exclaimed.

Valentina breathed out slowly, trying to control her anger, "First, you left me by myself for two hours. Within those two hours I was almost sexually assaulted and what did you do when I told you that? You and friends fucking laughed at me and you told me to calm down! And now you want to know why I'm mad at you," Valentina's eyes swelled with tears and she breathed out again before she continued, "So fuck you Klaude, fuck you. I fucking hate you, fuck our promises, fuck your fencing lessons, fuck the thought that I held so dearly. The thought that you'd be true to your second promise. That you'd protect me forever. Honestly, fuck me! Fuck me for believing you wouldn't be such a fucking asshole!"

Valentina broke away from his grasp and ran towards the outside of the school. Klaude quickly followed after her.

"Your bus is already gone Valentina! How will you get home!?" He yelled out to her.

Through tears Valentina screamed, "I'll run home! Just like what I did when you FUCKING left me!"

Klaude stopped running after her, his mouth widened, he sighed and ran his hand down his face. His brows furrowed as he realized how badly he fucked up. The only way he could truly let out his anger was by screaming out as loud as he could. Valentina was too far away to hear this but she knew, she knew how deeply what she said had impacted him. But she didn't care. He didn't care when he left her for those two hours, he didn't care when she had to run home. So why should she care now? Valentina stopped running once she had reached her street. She held her head high to the sky as she tried to hold back tears. 

She didn't know what would happen in the future, but she knew that there was no going back from this.