Present
THE TENSION IN the air was thicker than the slab of granite on which Ariel's hand remained clasped a top, her eyes burning a hole through her father's head. Harry leaned back in his chair, unwilling to let his gaze falter as the two fell into an intense staring match. Adele and Janet fumbled nervously with their hands, watching the scene go down, but before either of them could say a word, Janet stepped in.
"Can you two cut it out, please? We're trying to have a civilized conversation about what happened today and I feel like you both are on the verge of murdering each other. My job is hard enough, I don't want to personally transport one of you to the ER." Harry turned his attention towards his wife, "two weeks, she got suspended for two weeks for breaking someone's nose. How do you want me to feel, Janet? I think we should really call up Doctor Julian, you haven't seen her in years."
"I don't need a freaking appointment! You said yourself that I wouldn't attack someone without a reason and I had one. Theo is a pig and he had what was coming for him. A broken nose? That's nothing compared to the shit he and that baseball team has done to the girls at our school!" Harry slammed his hand onto the table, shutting Ariel up swiftly. His eyes bore into hers, "so you're a vigilante now?"
Ariel lowered the fork she had been grasping in her hand tightly down onto the table and through her gritted teeth she said: "not all heroes wear capes, dad. Sometimes they're just a redhead girl tired of seeing others be treated like shit. So go ahead and paint me as the villain, but most villains are truly just anti-heroes." Without waiting to hear a response, Ariel shot up from her seat and stormed out of the kitchen, leaving her parents and sister in a flustered state.
"Mom, Dad, do you think Tobias getting arrested has made her revert? She was making progress, even Doctor Julian said so. Now she's snappy just like before as if all the sessions she had meant nothing. Do you think it's because of–"
"Adele, don't." Her mother interjected, "we don't discuss that at the dinner table, just drop it. If we see Ariel's anger progressing then we'll contact Doctor Julian and book her an appointment. For now, let's just wait it out." Harry chuckled humorlessly under his breath and discarded the remnants of his food. "Wait it out? She broke someone's nose, Janet. There is no waiting this out. Our daughter is spiralling and I blame it on that boy."
~~~
Ariel pushed the cafeteria's door open and stepped inside, her eyes immediately swivelling towards Theo who was perched upon one of the school's lunch table. His eyes narrowed to slits at the sight of Ariel and as if it were now a reflex, he touched his bandaged nose, his gaze growing darker. Ariel ignored him and waited in silence until Principal Brick came into view, the school's janitor following in suit behind him.
"Perfect, you both made it on time! Ariel, today you'll clean all the tables. I want you to wash and dry them down until it's sparkling clean. Theo you'll attend to the kitchen. I want you to clean all the counters, sweep the floor and mop. Ariel, you'll sweep the cafeteria and Theo will mop there as well. This is me being lenient since it's your first day. Tomorrow, however, come prepared because the kitchen won't be the only place that'll see you kids sweet faces. Janitor Glen will accompany you to make sure you don't make a mess of things. When you're done make sure to stop by my office so I can dismiss you. Happy cleaning."
Janitor Glen motioned towards the cleaning supplies and smiled, "let's get started, kids."
Past
"Wait for me here, I'll be back, mkay!?" He chirped giddily as he slung his bat over his shoulder. Ariel leaned towards him and brushed a strand of his hair away from his eyes. He swallowed hard and chuckled but despite him trying to act confident, Ariel could see right through his act.
She wondered when he would tell her himself what was going on, but one thing Ariel hated was pushing someone beyond their point of comfort. She liked to willingly gain information on someone. It felt more authentic that way. "Okay," she responded with a sweet smile.
As Ariel retreated towards the bleachers once he was out of view, the sound of her name halted her movement. Standing on the opposite end of the Baseball field was Evelyn, her blonde hair wrapped in a messy bun, her side bag dangling unevenly from her shoulders, hands fumbling with one another as she shifted on her feet nervously. "Can I talk to you?" Ariel stared back in confusion. Why now of all times when they've had the entire day to speak?
"Right now?" Ariel inquired. Without responding, Evelyn sauntered towards her with her face hard as stone, trying but failing to appear stoic when she was crumbling inside. She inhaled deeply when she finally stood at Ariel's feet, "let's get this over with. You have things to say, I have things to say." Ariel fought the urge to roll her eyes. She did want to resolve this issue between herself and Evelyn but she couldn't wrap her finger around why Evelyn chose this time to do it.
Annoyed, Ariel said: "I have plans with Tobias, Evelyn. If you truly wanted to have a long and open conversation with me you wouldn't choose a time when I'm busy to do it." Evelyn fought to bite back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes and instead took a step back in disbelief, "seriously?" She chuckled breathlessly, "we're in the middle of a confrontation and the person you're thinking about now is Tobias? I kissed you, Ariel and you kissed back. We've been friends since 9th grade, you're my best friend and you wanna ditch me for someone you met five minutes ago!? I just–I just wanna know why you kissed back!"
Ariel's eyes narrowed to slits as Evelyn's words began to register in her mind. Without properly pondering on her words before speaking, she took a threatening step forward and scoffed sharply as her finger jutted towards Evelyn, "you're such a selfish person, Evelyn. I tried to talk to you for days and you just kept ignoring me and when you were finally ready you just expect me to bow down, drop all my plans and do things on your term? I was already with Tobias, that's the whole reason I stayed for the game. If anything, he should be pissed that you're here because you're trying to take away the time we're spending together.
I told you once and I'll tell you again, I kissed back by reflex! I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to hurt you, you know I'd never do that intentionally so stop trying to create more drama than there already is! Stop playing the bloody victim, Evelyn! I never asked you to kiss me, okay? You did that all by yourself." Taking in each word one by one, Evelyn nodded her head vigorously, no longer able to hold the tears that pricked and prodded at her eyes.
"Fine, if that's how you feel I'll leave you alone. Just know that you asked for it," she spun on her heels and ambled her way towards the school's parking lot, disappearing behind the wall. Ariel ran her fingers through her hair and prepared to sit down once again before a crunching sound caught her attention. She snapped her head towards the sound only to find Parker approaching her, a smirk plastered on his lips. "Does Tobias know you're a lesbian?" He teased. "Fuck you, Parker."
No longer able to contain his laughter, he doubled over, his hands cupping his stomach as his contagious laugh echoed around Ariel. She folded her arms over her chest and waited patiently until he sobered up. "Is something funny?" She clipped, earning yet another round of laughter from the curly-haired boy. "Geez Campbell, calm down. I'm only joking, I know you're straight." Ariel tore her eyes away from him, "well it wasn't funny."
"Oh come on," he drawled out dramatically as he slumped down beside her, "forgive me? I promise to be a good boy from now on." Ariel sighed, "you know you're an ass right? I don't know how you're friends with Tobias." Parker ignored her clear insult and leaned back against the bleachers as his eyes narrowed up to the sky, "well I learnt from the best."
Ariel cocked her head to the side, "who, your mother?" Expecting him to be offended, Ariel smirked, only to be met by the third round of laughter. Now unable to control her growing frustration around him, she hiked her bag onto her shoulders and descended the bleachers, hoping that tonight her patience wouldn't finally run thin.
Present
"You know that's not exactly working." A voice exclaimed from behind her. Ariel released her grip around the damp towel and slumped against the seat, "oh thank you for the observation captain obvious." She clipped as her eyes followed his every movement. Theo hoisted himself up onto the stage, "you know you're the biggest bitch I've ever met right?" Instead of taking offence, Ariel smiled, "and you know you're the bravest prick I've ever met right? You're just itching for another broken bone, aren't you?"
"Oh please!" He scoffed, "that was luck, you were angry and when you're angry you get stronger plus it caught me off guard so what do you expect?" He said. Although she hated to admit it, he was partly right. When in rage, the adrenaline and lack of common sense shoves the body into a superhuman-like state. In this case, Ariel was able to catch him off guard and use that anger to smash his face so hard into the table that his nose broke.
"What do you want from me?" Ariel sighed as she peeled away her chipping nail polish. Theo touched his broken nose once more, "I thought you were smarter than this, Ariel. You're always on the honour roll at school, getting all the certificates and prizes and shit but you're a lot more gullible than I gave you credit for. You're just book smart, but otherwise, you're nothing more." Now she became offended. Insulting her with generic textbook name-calling was one thing, but insulting her intelligence was another.
"The hell are you rambling about, Theo? You're starting to piss me off again." Theo laughed softly, unmoved by her threats, "if you can't see what's right under your nose then you truly are stupid. You have no reason to be defensive if I'm only telling the truth." He slipped off the stage and shoved his gloves back over his hands. However, Ariel couldn't let him get off without elaborating first.
"I swear to god if you don't tell me what's going on Theo I'll–" he cocked his head sideways, his eyes narrowing, "do what?" He interjected sharply. "You're just like them all, Ariel. I'd be surprised if you weren't a part of it. You're crazy enough to break my nose for a simple joke, no normal person reacts that way. You're like him, like them: so unmoving, so cold I sometimes wonder if you guys are even humans. You wanna know what it is? You're fucking crazy. That's what you are. Crazy like all of them."
She didn't know what time it happened, but between those few seconds of his speech, Theo had found himself standing at Ariel's feet, his pupils dilated to a point where she could barely see his once brown irises. The look on his face was that of a person who appeared as if they just saw a ghost. He looked angry and scared, confusing Ariel all the more. "If I'm wrong about you, Ariel then you need to stay far away from people like that, you're too pretty to be lingering around crazy mofo's."
"Say's the person who sounds like a fanatic." She clipped. Theo didn't budge by her insult but instead, he leaned closer until his face hovered over hers, his ulzzang eyes penetrating through her solemn gaze. "You were quick to call me a woman-hater when your boyfriend is in prison for murdering two girls. You're either stupid and gullible or you're smarter than I think you are and you just don't care. But whether any of that is true or not I can tell by just taking one look at you that you don't know half the truth."
"Stop talking in parables and just tell me what I need to know, Theo. You know something about the night Maria and Kayla were murdered, don't you? I can see it written all over your face. You aren't the only one good at reading between the lines and observing others. Why are you so persistent on the idea that Tobias killed them? This isn't because the media said so, it's because you know something that I don't. It's why you got so offended when I called you a sexual objectifier because you feel like you can't be compared to what you say Tobias did. What is going on, Theo?"
The colour from his face suddenly drained and all the confidence which he had within him seemed to disperse as Ariel connected dots he truly had not expected her to. He was right, she is smarter than he gave her credit for, but perhaps not smart enough to figure out what he truly meant. "Just–" he hesitated, no longer willing to share any more information, knowing that he had already dug himself too deeply, "just don't trust anyone, Campbell. Not your boyfriend, not your friends, not me and not even yourself. People aren't who they say they are. Mark my words."
~~~