War in Broadway High

14. The Point of No Return

Chapter 14: The Point of No Return

Cady.

It hurt. It wasn't the kind of pain she was used to. In Kenya, she'd accidentally injured herself plenty of times, anywhere from scraping her elbows to breaking her leg falling off an elephant. No matter what it was, the procedure was always the same, clean the wounds to avoid infection, take painkillers, follow a specific treatment that would guarantee you're healed within a certain, specific window of time.

But what about the pain in her heart? What were you supposed to do about that, where was the rule book to make it better? She didn't know. All she really knew was that the sadness of betrayal was quickly leaving room for anger.

She walked away, needing some distance from everything, and soon realized Veronica was following her.

"Cady! Hold up! God I really can't run in these stupid heels-"

She didn't stop. She reached the end of the hallway and went through the first door on her way, ending up in the laundry room. There were no other exits, so it became impossible to avoid Veronica as the other girl went in as well, closing the door behind her.

"Look, it's not what it looked like, I needed to say those things but didn't mean them..."

Cady had her back to her, and felt small tears form around her eyes.

"It was exactly what it looked like." The blonde turned around to finally face Veronica, scowling at her. "I know I'm weird, a foreign loser, but I'm trying. But you...you talk like you're different than them, and you know what, you're right: because you're worse. At least they know what they are. You convince yourself and everyone else that you're better, good, but you're not."

Veronica seemed at a loss for words after hearing that, her eyes widened with surprise and hurt, but there was a lot Cady felt bubbling up to the surface, and she had more to tell her.

"I've done similar things I admit, but I would have never done that to you! I thought you were my friend, but all you've done is use me. Admit it! Ever since we met you have just treated me like a tool to go after the Plastics. And at least they're nice, they get me, they are true friends."

"Cady...you're right, I know I've been a bad friend, but you can't trust them."

"I can't trust you." She just wanted to cry, but she swallowed the lump in her throat and gave Veronica a hateful look. "I'm done with this, our little group, the 'mission', getting the book, and most of all I'm done with you."

She went past the other girl to leave the room, and Veronica tried to lightly grab her arm, but she ripped it away.

"Leave me alone!" she snapped, and Veronica stepped back.

With that, Cady left the laundry room, practically running to find Regina, Gretchen, and Karen, she needed their comfort, their friendship, the feeling of belonging.

And that's exactly what she found...or so she thought.

She saw Regina talking to Aaron, putting a good word for her. They both turned to look at her for a moment, and she smiled and waved at them. She knew Regina would come through for her.

But then, before she knew it, they were inching closer to each other, and Regina grasped Aaron's collar and kissed his lips. Aaron didn't pull away, he kissed back, and Cady felt like what was left of her world was shattering right in front of her.

But Regina knew she liked Aaron! That's not what friends did. Despite how fiercely she'd defended them in front of Veronica...the plastics weren't her friends either, she realized. No one was.