ɴᴇᴍᴇꜱɪꜱ ║ ᴛᴏᴍᴍʏɪɴɴɪᴛ

Chapter 13 : Regret

Sitting down on the bleachers, Ray was still in a state of shock. She was hunched over, face buried in her palms as she tried to make sense of her chaotic thoughts.

"Did I really just do that?"
She thought, biting her bottom lip as she immediately felt the regret and embarrassment washing over her. 

"What was that about?" A voice asked and she heard someone taking a seat to her left.

"Don't start this off like that! Ray, hun, are you okay?" The other, much livelier voice asked but Ray could just sigh.

Celine gently took her hands, helping the girl slide them off her face to reveal her pale face.

"I... I don't know what came over me." Ray muttered whilst looking down into her lap. "I r-really didn't mean to lash out at him, but I-" 

"Something happened at home again, didn't it." Diana interrupted, immediately receiving a slap on the thigh from Celine.

"Diana!"

"Yeah. It did." Ray hummed with a simple nod. She inhaled a deep breath, trying to keep herself from shedding tears. "I don't really want to talk about it."

"It's alright, don't worry about it. We've already told the teacher you're feeling sick, so you can just rest here on the bleachers, okay? Just sort out your thoughts. Maybe then you can go apologize to that guy." Celine let pass one of her extremely kind and charming smiles.

The tips of Ray's lips came up slightly, feeling comforted. "Thanks."

"You're very welcome. Now, we have to go do the useless training that Mr.Becker wants us to do. Let's go for some drinks after school, my treat!" Celine exclaimed excitedly, letting go of her best friend's hands and then turning towards the back door where the lesson was taking place. "Diana, you coming?" 

"Just give me a minute." Diana muttered, and Celine simply nodded before walking out of the huge gym.

There was a short, tension-filled silence before the latter finally decided to speak.

"Listen, I'm really worried about you." Diana began with a heavy sigh. "And I don't want to hurt you because I understand that you're under a lot of pressure, especially from home. I could tell all day that you were on edge. But you should really try to control your temper, or you'll keep lashing out at innocent people."

"I know and I'm sorry. I'm really trying though." Ray relaxed her muscles, letting herself lean against the bleacher behind her. "I regret it."

"Understandably so. You cursed out that guy like there was no tomorrow."

"Diana!" The other girl whined defensively. "You don't have to phrase it like that! I'll make sure to find him and apologize."

"Yeah, I'll force you to do it, don't you worry." Diana grimaced. "Anyways, gotta blast. See you in like 45 minutes!" 

And then she also walked out the door.

After sitting down for a couple of more minutes, Ray decided that she really needed some water to be able to think things through. Upon realizing that there was no water in her water bottle, she stood up and began walking.

Stepping out of the gym, she walked up to the nearby water fountain and began filling her water up.

Ray frankly had no idea what to do. She would apologize to Tommy, no doubt about it. But there was another question boggling her.

Would she come clean about her identity to him?

I mean, she knew she'd have to at some point. He'd probably figure it out himself. But what would it lead to? Tommy already hated her online persona, and is probably feeling hostile towards her in real life as well after what happened earlier. Probably coming clean wouldn't do their shitty relationship any good. 

As she had a small existential crisis, she then felt the freezing water drip down onto her hand.

Suddenly brought out of thought, she realized her water bottle was overflowing. Quickly turning off the stream, she wiped her hand against the side of her school sports shirt.

"Shit." She muttered, staring at her hand with distaste.

With a small sigh, she took a sip from her water bottle and shivered at how icy and fresh it felt. 

What could she do?