You Owe Me

Chapter 2 - People Are Rude After 10:00 pm.

"YOU. What are you doing here?" I exclaimed angrily as all the blood rushed to my face. I could barely believe my eyes.

Right in front of me, was my ex best friend, Brooke Hilton. Now let me explain the wonderful story of Brooke and I's past.

In preschool, she moved next door to me. We attended the same school. Naturally, we grew close. By first grade we were best friends. Forever. I could picture our future together. We would have matching beach houses and the same amount of kids. We were inseparable. That is until we got to freshman year of high school. There was this girl, Tiffany. She had hated me all my life for some reason and I honestly don't know why. So she decided to steal Brooke and make her into one of Tiffany's infamous queen bees. For the next 3 years of high school the two bullied, harassed and tormented me, making sure that my life was a living hell. Luckily, senior year, I met Isabella and Kaitlyn, who defended me and became my new best friends. Brooke moved away shortly after that, and I haven't heard from her since.

Now, 3 months later, she returns. And she's standing right in front of me with Tiffany at her side. I can not believe my predicament right now.

The two of them side by side looked like they just stepped out of a magazine. Their blonde hair was too blonde, their spray-on tan was too orange and their push up bras made their entire demeanor look fake. Which it was.

"Oh, what do we have here? It's sad little Bethany trying to earn a couple dollars working at a depressing little Café." Tiffany says, laughing evilly. The sound hurt my ears. It was so high pitched, I'm surprised she didn't double over coughing.

Brooke looked me up and down judgmentally, while cringing. "Honey you look terrible." She says. "Then again you always did." Her sneer so bitchy, she deserved an award.

I balled my fists up behind me to keep myself from punching both of them. I turn to Tiffany first. "Sweetie, this Café only became depressing when you got here." Her smile dropped and I smiled in satisfaction.

Tiffany flares her nostrils in anger. She taps Brooke on the shoulder. "Brookie, come on, let's get out of this loser hole." Tiffany says while looking around the Café with a disgusted look on her plastic face.

"Wait," says Brooke putting up a finger. She looks at me. "I was too smart for all the other universities so I moved back here to attend UofT." Brooke says with a smirk of pride on her face. But I wasn't buying it.

"Are you sure you just didn't get accepted anywhere else, Brooke?" I say with a sweet smile. The colour from Brooke's face drained, but she kept that stupid smirk on her face.

Brooke grinds her teeth, "Whatever. Let's go Tiffany." And with that, the two sluts walk out of the Café. Thank god.

I turned to the next customer and smiled kindly. There were no more fake barbies that came through the door so I got through my shift without any problems. I made coffee after coffee and baked cake after cake but my mind couldn't forget what had happened with Brooke and Tiffany. I can't believe they're back. And I was so ready to have some amazing university years without those two. They probably got in because Tiffany's father funds the university. It couldn't possibly be because of their grades. I'm pretty sure they've skipped more classes than they've attended...

I finished up my shift at 10:00 pm. I closed up the Café, took off my apron and name tag, and packed up my things.

It was pitch dark by now, and unfortunately my sweet car went to the mechanics to get fixed. So I had to walk. At 10:00 pm. Cue the horror movie music.

I tried to move as fast and efficiently as possible. I doubt anyone would be out this late, especially the route I had to take to get to my house. I lived in a quiet neighbourhood, separate from the busy Downtown, Toronto streets.

As I walked, my thoughts went back to Tiffany and Brooke. My blood automatically boiled.

I contemplated how I could avoid them for as long as possible. Maybe I could bribe someone that works at the University to not have them in my classes.

I was so caught up in my thoughts I didn't see that I've walked straight into a hard chest. I fell back from the impact onto the concrete. My tailbone was throbbing from the pain, as my hands scratched my rocky cement to keep the back of my head from hitting the ground.

"Watch where you're going, idiot. You have eyes, use them." A deep voice said angrily as he stepped over me and continued walking.

I got up and dusted myself off. People at 10:00 pm are so rude. But for some reason, I felt like I've heard that voice before somewhere...

I made it back to my house without further incident. I walked up the front steps and unlocked the front door, looking at my adorable unicorn keychain. I took off my battered old black hightop converse and climbed the stairs to my room quietly so I wouldn't wake my parents if they were already sleeping. I passed their bedroom and the door was slightly ajar. I peeked my head in to see my mom and dad fast asleep, a big lump under the blankets. A small smile came to my face as I watched their insync breathing and closed the door quietly, walking to my room at the end of the hall. I was the only child so I don't have a younger sibling that I could make sure was home and safe as well. Although sometimes it did get lonely.

Closing my plain white door quietly, I turned around and took a look at my bedroom. There was a queen sized bed standing in the middle of the room, with its headboard against the back wall. The dark blue sheets were neatly tucked in, with my cat, Shadow, curled up in a ball and sleeping on them.

Shadow was the cat my parents got me last year for Christmas. She is still pretty young at only one year old.

Next to my bed was my cream coloured nightstand, with only a dark blue lamp on it to match my sheets, as well as my carpet, and curtains. As you can tell I like blue, especially dark blue. It
reminds me of the sea.

Opposite from my bed was my desk, with my MacBook laptop and books lying on it. Next to that was a door that connected to my small walk-in closet, and then a door that lead to my bathroom.

It was a pretty typical room, nothing special. I walked over to my bed and layed down beside Shadow, careful not to wake her up. I took out my phone from my back pocket and started scrolling through Instagram. I came across an artsy picture that Isabella made me take of her this morning. I smiled at her cute self, gave it a like and commented some hearts.

I went to my own notifications to notice I had a bunch of new followers and likes on my recent picture I posted a few hours ago. I noticed I reached 6,004 followers. I made a mental note to reply to some comments tomorrow.

Then my phone vibrated, which shocked me, and my shock caused it to fall out of my hands and onto my face. Ouch.

New message from Kaitlyn:
"Hey Beth, you want me to pick you up tomorrow at 9:00 am to start moving our boxes to the University?"

Me:
"What about Izzy?"

Kaitlyn:
"She said her parents were going to drive her."

Me:
"Oh okay then sure."

Kaitlyn:
"Ok, see you tomo. Night, ly. ❤️"

Me:
"Ly2."

I put my phone down and glanced at the Michael Kors watch on my wrist. It read 12:00 AM. Ugh. If I was going to get up in a couple hours before nine, then I have to get to some sleep.

I quickly slipped out of my dark blue skinny jeans and took off my plain red t-shirt, and started getting ready for bed. Once my white pjs were on, I quickly brushed my teeth and my hair. I slipped under the covers and wrapped a hand around Shadow as I submerged into deep slumber.