Russo's p.o.v
I was confused. "Where did you hear this, there must be a mistake."
He showed me his phone screen with the event poster. "They are marketing it everywhere."
Indeed the school was marketing the festival on the same date as ours. But..
"Look, I asked the student body president to either cancel theirs or change the date. We haven't published our date yet so they might not have done this on purpose. I'll talk to the president and fix this, don't worry."
The guy was still worried. "I don't know Russo. This doesn't seem good."
I tapped his shoulder to comfort him and then excused myself by going outside to make a phone call.
The all-girl school and all-boy school had honored their promise. So this must be a mistake right?
I called the student body president who was signed on my phone as miss problem, for a good reason.
"Hello." She answered.
"Hey it's Russo. I'm calling to check with you about the Christmas festival. I see you booked it on the 22nd like us and while we still haven't published our date I'm pretty sure we agreed you won't do a festival and if you do it will be on a different date. "
"I decided to go against that."
My vision went blank the moment she said that. "But we agreed on something else.."
"Eh, I changed my mind."
I bit my lower lip. This bitch. Where did she get the courage for this? I decided to save it while I could. "this is not what we agree upon and.."
"If you're thinking of changing the date before ours forget it. Whatever date you choose, I'll still find it out and move it to that date."
Anger and panic attacked my body at the same time. "I told you once that it's important we have different dates because we're doing a big event and this is for your sake.."
She seemed completely unbothered. Like she knew I was bluffing. "Yeah, I think you're the one who should cancel your event since we just booked this popular band to play in our school and we already sold a lot of tickets. I doubt anyone will come to your school's event since I found out you have nothing."
"This is backstabbing." I told her angrily. "I don't get why you changed your mind." Who the fuck told her I was bluffing?
"That's your problem not mine. I have to go now. Merry Christmas." She said and then hung up.
Un-fucking-believable.
How the fuck did she know which date our festival was gonna be held? And what changed her mind?
I had only one answer coming up in my head.
Bradberry.
She was way too calm about this whole thing from the start that it made me wary, but I never imagined she'd do something like this. This was too mean even for her.
Would she really sacrifice her own school just to beat me? To spite me? And what would she gain out of this?
I had no solid proof, only a gut feeling.
I texted Sabrina if she knew where Bradberry was and she texted back to check in our meeting room for the student council.
As I made my way towards the classroom a lot more people stopped me by to ask me about the event that the other school didn't cancel. It was spreading in the school faster than fire. They were worried.
I reached the classroom and found Bradberry typing something on her laptop.
"I have only one question for you." I closed the door behind me. "Did you talk to the other president to sabotage this festival?"
Deny it god damn it. Say that I'm making it up.
"What makes you think that?" She asked casually.
I did not like that tone one bit.
"Because no one else had her contact except you and their school didn't know what date we would book the festival since I hadn't sent out any official invitations or marketed it. Not to mention she knew I was bluffing at the meeting . There must have been a snitch from our school and all I could come up with was you. It's a big school and I could be wrong but tell me you didn't sabotage this on purpose to spite me."
She closed the laptop and got up circling around the desk and then leaned on it.
"Surprise. It's my Christmas present to you." She gave me a happy grin. One that only the Grinch would. "Do you like it? I put a lot of thought into it."
I waved my arms completely baffled. "Why would you sabotage your own school? If they throw the festival it lowers our chances of success. Didn't you have an issue with that president too since you couldn't hold the Christmas festival because of her."
Bradberry crossed her arms. "Sure I don't like her. But she wasn't relevant here. She never was. Whether I hold the festival or not, it didn't change anything for me. Why ruin myself unnecessarily? You on the other hand with your constant dramas and putting your nose in my business needed a harsh lesson in reality."
She took a step towards me. "Don't think you're something special just because you got in the student council. You went ahead forcing your ideas about this festival when I had spent years avoiding it for a good reason. So now when it fails at least you'll learn that not everyone can and should, make decisions like they're a student body president when they're just a wannabe."
I couldn't believe what I just heard. "This is your own school we're talking about. So many students are going to be crushed and disappointed after putting in so much time and effort into this. And it will be your fault."
"No. It will be your fault." She tilted her head. "As far as everyone else knows you're the one who organized this and you're the one who fucked it up. Their disappointment and this school's failure is on you."
"I'm.."
She elaborated. "You can cancel this festival or you can go through with it and fail, either way, the whole school will hate you for it."
The whole school hating me .. I didn't even want to think about that possibility.
I stood my ground squeezing my fists. "You don't want to mess with me Bradberry, I will..."
She scoffed. "You only sound more pathetic now with empty threats. Don't you think you should give up now? You have no way out of this."
I didn't even know what to reply to that. She was right. The whole blame falls on me. I pushed everyone, I motivated them and I was sure this festival was going to be a hit. If this fails..is on me.
Bradberry was sure she had won. "For the sake of the school, tomorrow I'll tell everyone that the event is canceled. I'll do damage control and save the day as I always do while you can go home now and come up with excuses to tell them tomorrow."
"You will regret doing this!" I threatened her.
She took one more step and got irritated. "You think you're some badass bitch talking back to me. I know everything about you after a little research. Your pathetic middle school life. You got a bit popular and think you can just disrupt the student council like it was a toy? This is not a drama in which you're the main character who gets to succeed after her loser life. In reality, I'll always have better odds than you. So stop getting in my way."
I could feel the tears burning in my eyes. I will not show her any weakness. "You're right..I might turn into the main character, but you better believe I'd be one hell of a villain who pays back double for everything done to me."
She went back to her desk. "There's no point in trying hard. When it comes to public humiliation- No one comes back from that. "She opened her laptop to continue working.
I left the classroom slamming the door behind me. How did she even find out about my past?
My whole body was shaking with anger.
Few students stopped me down the hall. "Russo what are we going to do.."
"Russo about the festival.."
So many people were stopping me in the hallways with the same concern. I avoided them saying I was busy and went straight to the exit of the school. Damyan was in front of the gym building.
When he saw me he headed my way a bit worried. "What happened? Did you manage to..whoah whoah.." He saw my face. "What's wrong?"
The moment he placed his arms around me I could feel the tears streaming down my face even though I tried my best not to cry.
"Get..get me out of here.. Please.." I asked him
People were exiting from the gym."Russo what happened with the.."
"Please.." I begged him really wanting to avoid this topic.
"Come on." Damyan pulled me. "Sorry guys, I have to steal her." We walked outside the school gates.
"Russo what happened? Why are you crying?" He asked.
When he put it into words that I was crying, reality hit me. I was ruined. The school will hate me. The festival will be canceled.
My life was ruined. Just what the hell am I going to do tomorrow?
***
Damyan's p.o.v
She just wouldn't stop crying. The more I tried to talk to her the more she cried. Not even hugging her helped. At this point we were attracting the attention of random people who passed by.
"Wanna go home?"I asked her.
She panicked. "I can't go home like this."
"Okay okay." I calmed her down. "But we can't stay here."
She was shaking in the cold without her coat or things. Going back to get them meant dealing with everyone's questions and it seemed like that's not something she could handle now.
My guess was something happened with the festival.
Luckily my phone and wallet were with me so we just grabbed a taxi and we went straight to my place.
I texted Luca to get Russo's things and texted Mateo to get mine.
She cried all the way to my house without a break. The taxi guy luckily didn't feel nosy enough to ask why she was crying.
I pulled her out of the taxi and pulled her towards my house. She wasn't sobbing anymore but she was silent and tears kept sliding down her face. Since it was still early, the twins were in kindergarten, parents at work and Maziah.. Did she have classes today?
I unlocked the door pushing Russo inside. She was freezing.
"I'll get you something warm okay." I rubbed her shoulders.
"What the.." Marziah showed up in the hall. "Why are you home so early..um..why is she crying?"
Russo wiped her tears trying to calm down.
"She wouldn't stop crying so I brought her here." I explained gesturing to her to help me out.
"Come here." Marziah walked over hugging her. "Poor thing you're freezing."
Russo hugged her back.
I gave Marziah a thumbs up and rushed upstairs to get something for her to wear.
I grabbed a clean hoodie from my closet and rushed back down.
They were sitting in the living room and Marziah was helping Russo take her makeup off.
"Here. I got you this." I handed her the hoodie.
"I'll make her some tea." Marzia got up and went behind the counter.
Russo tossed the used tissue and sniffled. "Thank you."
She put on the hoodie and brushed her hair down.
Russo kept bringing her sleeves over her fingers nervously. Her eyes were always down.
Just what the hell happened? I got angry just by thinking someone said something to her that made her like this. But she wasn't a weak person so why did this happen? Why is she crying?
The questions were making my head hurt. I was dying to ask her directly but I didn't want to make her cry again when she just calmed down.
Marziah handed her the cup of tea.
"You're not in school?" I asked her.
"My classes start around 11 today." Marziah looked at the time. "I have time." She took Russo's hand in hers making her look up at us.
"So you wanna tell us what happened?"
"I have to cancel the festival." She bit her lower lip trying not to cry. "The other school who is a lot better than us when it comes to the Christmas festival keeps booking it on the same date as us. I thought I had it covered but Bradberry...I don't know how she did it but I think she told them the dates we were doing the festival and they changed their minds. So now If we hold the festival we are ruined." Tears started streaming down her face again." The whole school is going to hate me."
"So what if they do..." Marziah started but Russo broke into even bigger tears.
"I don't want them to hate me."
Knowing where this fear came from I got involved. "You said you want to crush Bradberry. Don't give up yet. There might be a solution."
"You want to crush someone." Marziah got curious. "Who? Tell me."
Russo touched the corner of her eyes and blinked away the tears. She told Marziah about her school domination plans. I guess now that she knew what sort of person Marziah was, she felt comfortable enough telling her.
"So you're just going to give up?" Mariah yelled at her. "You have to stop crying and come up with a plan. You can't let her win like this. You have to find her weakness and humiliate her. Crush her."
"What would you do?" She asked Marziah.
"Um.." Marziah leaned back awkwardly. "Well.. I used to beat people up but I guess that's not everyone's style. I mean um.. you shouldn't hit people."
There was an awkward silence again.
"I don't want to be an outcast again." Russo whispered.
"You're only an outcast with that mentality." Marziah grabbed her shoulders. "You did the right thing becoming a badass girl who wants to rule the world.Go after the strongest opponents. I support that. But being a victim, crying and feeling sorry for yourself, that I can't support. People will always push you down. Circumstances will push you down too- All your life. And it's easy giving up and feeling bad for yourself. However, no one supports that and no one will help you if you're like that. But if you fight for your life and keep pushing against all odds there will be people crazy enough to support you and give you a hand."
Marziah pointed at me. "He was like that too. When I met him I thought he was going to be a pushover." She smiled. "You probably think he was always cool like this but he was a pathetic, gloomy waste of a human. Didn't talk to anyone or smile and he was always wearing these creepy art hoodies."
Russo sniffled. "The blue one with the skull and centipede, that was too big for him?"
Marziah nodded. "Yes yes that one and there was ..." She paused. "How do you know that?"
Russo looked at her confused. "Didn't he tell you? We went to the same middle school together."
Marziah looked at me. "Is she for real?"
I crossed my arms. "Yes. And that gloomy kid you're talking trash about was her crush."
Marziah furrowed her brows looking at Russo. "Ew really?"
Russo smiled. "He was cute."
"You were cute." I pinched her cheek.
Marziah got up. "Okay. I wasted enough time with you two. Get out of my sight.. Go shoo, ugh I hate adorable couples." She murmured.
I took Russo's hand and walked her upstairs before Marziah started stabbing us out from jealousy.
Russo casually sat on my bed and sighed like the world was ending. "What am I going to do Damyan?"
Shit.
Sitting on my bed, wearing my hoodie that is too big for her and making that adorable face. Sure she was sulking, but this scene here.. ahh.
My whole body shuddered. This was not good for my heart.
"I need to call Luca to get my stuff." She took out her phone.
"I already covered it." I sat next to her.
She tossed herself in my hug at the same moment, making my heart squeeze. I did not see this attack coming.
She was clinging onto this hug for dear life.
I tried to pull her away to see her face, but she only gripped me tighter. I pushed her on the bed with all my strength, but we ended up just laying there.
The fact that we were laying down kind of made me forget why we were here in the first place.
"Are you going to keep sulking?" I asked her.
"Yes."
"Tell me the full story then. What exactly happened at school? I know you gave Marziah a short summary but I'd like to hear everything."
"Well.." She started talking.
She explained how Bradberry had played innocent all this time just so she can look in front of everyone like she was right all along when everything fails. Russo also told me she had found out about her past and Bradberry hit her on her worst weakness.
It took her by surprise and she couldn't even reply back with anything concrete.
"It hurt me." Russo said. "It was like she punched me in the gut. It physically hurt to have everything I worked so hard on thrown in my face like it was just a pointless wish."
"You don't think you can steal her position?" I asked.
"I used to think I can but now..." Russo looked at me confused and moved to be more comfortable laying on my arm. "How? I depended on the school's support for that."
"Who says you'll lose it. We just have to think of a way to counter that tomorrow. We'll call over Luca and Shay and see if they have any ideas on the way we can handle this tomorrow. You're not alone."
She blinked like it was the first time she was realizing it.
I smiled, caressing her hair. "Russo you have many friends who'll stick by you no matter what everyone says you don't have to shy away or never leave the house again."
She was contemplating that like she was unsure she could open her heart and believe that.
I sighed. "Okay.. Let's do this..What would you tell your old self right now if you can? What's changed? What is something you could tell your old self?"
"You first." She said stubbornly.
Ahh.. " Okay well let's see. I'd tell my old self that I won't be gloomy for long after we moved. That feeling lonely doesn't last forever. That the house I'm living in now is always noisy and I have two younger siblings that look up to me. I'd tell myself that I'm really good at sports and have many friends and I'm dating a girl I'm in love with. Now you."
She came even closer, still laying over my arm. "I guess I'd tell myself that I'm no longer afraid to speak out. I don't get scared telling jokes in front of people wondering if anyone is going to laugh. And there are tons of people who would pair up with me in gym class. I would tell my old self that I no longer cry because someone was mean to me without thinking."
She paused trying to blink away tears in her eyes. "I'd tell her that I'm liked by many people and I have lots of fun every day in school and people are jealous of me because I'm pretty."
Her voice changed as she tried her best not to cry. "And I'll tell her that I'm dating my crush who is also really popular in school but also has the kindest, most protective heart and I can lean on him on bad days."
I smiled and touched her nose. "See you have changed so much since then. You can take Bradberry on and win. And I'll help you."
She brushed her fingers gently through my hair. "I.. I wish that back then.. In middle school. There was someone to talk to me even when I was quiet. It bothered me that just because I didn't have something interesting to say, people didn't want to talk to me. It was so tiresome hearing the question "why are you so quet" all the time. If there was someone pushy enough with me that would give me the courage to speak up and do more things then I could have conveyed what I was feeling properly. I really needed someone by my side to make me comfortable enough to be myself."
She paused and took a breath, but she didn't break eye contact. "Shay came along in highschool and taught me how to be strong and stand up for myself because no one else would. That was the moment I realized I was alone and when I made the resolution to change- my innocence died. I buried my vulnerability deep down and never brought it out again."
I could feel my heart clenching in pain. " I'm sorry I wasn't braver back then. If I was more sure of myself and hadn't rushed and doubted, then maybe I could have been there for you."
She smiled. "It's okay. We were booth cowards back then."
"But.." I cleared my throat. "If you didn't change then you wouldn't have been able to relate to me in the future and I'd be someone too scary for you to approach. When you became fearless, you gave us both a chance to talk again."
She suddenly broke into a smile. "You're right." She rose up on her elbows. "You're totally right. I am fearless. I'm crazy enough to do that." She raised her brow. "And maybe there's hope for tomorrow too."
"Of course.." I pushed her to lay back down on my arm. "We'll think of something later..."I looked at her lips. Now I had other things in mind.
She gave me the cutest smile and then glanced down at the bed "What the hell are we doing in your bed?"
I smirked and my hand dropped down to her waist. "Making my fantasies come true." I slipped my hand underneath the hoodie and she grabbed my hand.
"Whoa whoa. Yan um..This is um.. Not.. "
"Not what?" I pressed a kiss on her lips, moving my hand even under her shirt touching her skin.
"I mean.." She hesitantly let go of my hand and I continued caressing her back deepening the kiss.
She kissed me back letting me slide my tongue in her mouth. I climbed on top of her.
"Yan.." She complained over my lips.
"Mm..?"
"We're just going to kiss right?" She asked worriedly.
"If that's what you want.." I kissed her cheek. "But.." I kissed her nose. "I thought you were more into this..." I kissed her other cheek. I was just going to tease her a bit.
"Um..it's just that. I don't want to..today.. I can't remember what kind of underwear I wore."
I burst out laughing. I did not expect to hear that.
"Hey.." She rose up, poking my chest. "Don't laugh.I'm being serious."
I almost did a flip backwards, laughing.
She pouted. "Plus I have other things on my mind now."
I calmed down and ruffled her hair until she was a mess. "Call Shay and Luca and tell them to come over so we can come up with a plan for tomorrow. I won't do anything to you today."
She tried to fix her hair looking down embarrassed. I looked at her face. She was way too cute. I flicked her forehead playfully and she faced me again.
"Wanna hear what I have in mind for tomorrow?"
She nodded excitedly.
"It's not going to be pretty." I warned her.
"If it doesn't have the bathing in the blood of my enemy vibe, I don't wanna hear it." She smirked.
I gave her a devilish grin back. "Well then..There is only one way to go about this tomorrow."