"L A B E L S"

Episode 81

He gives Joe a slight look of surprise. "You haven't heard?"

"Heard what?" Joe asks before taking his seat on the opposite side of Jake.

He takes a breath before speaking quietly. "I kissed Mia."

It takes Joe a minute to process before giving Jake a bewildered expression. "You made out with your girlfriends best friend?!"

Jake rolls his eyes and glances down at his book. "We didn't 'make out' it was a mistake but now the whole school hates my guts."

"With good reason. Everybody loves Scarlett, dude...including me and at the moment you're an ass in my book."

"Yeah...I know. I'm an ass in my own damn book."

~~~

Logan's walking down the hall as people give him strange looks. He glares at a few of them, knowing one small glare from him could send the whole school running in the opposite direction. He sees Scarlett standing a ways down the hall and walks towards her with a smile. "Hey." 

She turns around to face him and his eyes widen as he looks over her disheveled hair and make-up-less face. He had always known Scarlett to be completely perfect looking at all times, it was surprising to see her so...less than perfect. "Have you seen Mia? I haven't seen her since yesterday and I'm worried something's wrong."

Her face contorts into disgust as her words fly like flaming torches. "Why the hell would you want to talk to that two faced bitch?"

His eyes widen at her anger towards Mia. "Excuse me?"

She suddenly feels her heart drop for his sake. "You haven't heard?"

He stares at her, still clearly in shock and begins slowly shaking his head.

"Of course Mia wouldn't even do you the courtesy of telling you to your face." She spats bitterly before glancing at the ground.

"Tell me what? Scarlett, what the hell are you talking about?"

She quickly looks up from the ground and practically shouts the next few words. "She cheated on you, Logan!"

His face goes white as he stares at her in disbelief. "Mia wouldn't do that."

"Yeah. Well, I used to think there were a lot of things my best friend wouldn't do and kissing my boyfriend was on the top of that list."

"You think she kissed Jake?"

She nods as he rolls his eyes with a small smirk. "Scar, you know you can't just trust the stupid school rumor mill. You know as well as I do that Mia would NEVER do something like that and I doubt Jake would either, he's totally crazy ab-"

She takes a deep breath and closes her eyes not wanting to hear anymore and opens her eyes to shout at him, interrupting his pointless spiel. "I saw them, Logan! I saw them in the coffee shop, with their arms around each other...lip. to. lip."

His voice catches in his throat and he stares at her in shock. How was he supposed to deny something she claimed to have seen with her own two eyes?

Her expression softens as she whispers quietly. "I'm sorry." She turns and slowly walks down the hall, leaving Logan to stand there with a face void of any color and a pain in his chest he had never experienced before this very moment.

~~~

Chelsea's leaned against one of the lockers and smirks at Jake as he walks down the hall past her. She pushes herself off the locker and follows behind him. "I'm impressed. I mean seriously, how in the world did you manage such perfect timing?" She laughs softly in delight.

Jake stops abruptly and whips around with anger. "You got what you wanted. Now leave me the hell alone!" He turns back around and walks down the hall.

"Au contraire, Mr. Cameron. You managed a mighty fine kiss and slightly 'scarred' your little sluts heart but you didn't make good on your deal..." She smirks and steps in front of Jake. "...I guess that means you're still at my mercy." She tugs at the collar of his shirt and gives him one devious wink before turning and walking down the hall.

~~~

Mia finishes packing up the last of her things in a daze; partly from crying and partly from the drugs now flooding her system. 

She closes her suitcase and slowly walks over to Scarlett's bedroom door as tears stream down her face. 

She looks back at the room one last time wondering how she had managed to destroy everything good in her life. 

She didn't see a reason for her existence. 

Her life was falling deeper and deeper into a vicious black hole and the only option she saw was to run.

Running was safe.

The ground beneath your feet didn't care where you had been or what you've done and the faster you ran...the more you could leave behind.  

She had reached the point where she felt her life was hopeless and once she closed that door...there was no coming back.

~~~

"You really fucked things up." Nick says suddenly while standing above Jake in the locker room after football practice.

Jake looks up at Nick from his position on the bench and gives him a glare.

Nick snickers sourly and shakes his head. "Looks like we're not that different after all." He throws his towel over his shoulder and walks off.

Jake glares at him as he walks away and kicks the locker in front of him before standing up and walking out of the locker room.

~~~

Scarlett walks into her room after school with dark circles beneath her eyes and red eyes from her constant crying. She opens the door, expecting to see Mia but instead opens the door to stare at the emptiness that now inhabits her room. Mia was gone and everything she owned had disappeared right along with her. The only thing that remained was one small object lying in the corner of her room....an empty pill bottle.