𝑨 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴 𝑰𝑺 𝑨 𝑾𝑰𝑺𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑴𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑺

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝟑𝟐

Delphina barreled through the doors to the dining hall and managed to navigate her way to the bathroom through her tear-blurred vision before stumbling into the first empty stall she saw, barely managing to lock the door before she crumbled into a heap in the corner of the small area, sobbing into her knees.

She held a hand to her chest, silently begging for the crushing weight on it to lift, only to get nothing in return. Her head continued to pound the way it had been all morning and Delphina winced through her tears. She cradled her head in her hands, praying to anyone who would listen to just make everything stop.

At that moment, the bathroom door creaked open and Delphina instantly clamped a hand over her mouth again, muffling her cries. She could hear two people whisper-arguing back and forth and closed her eyes, anticipating any outcome imaginable. The darkest parts of her mind told her it was Audrey, coming to completely sever ties with her on behalf of Chad and Ben. The small, broken part of her prayed it was just a couple of freshman that came in to trash their classmates.

One of the voices huffed and a pair of footsteps slowly entered the bathroom. Somehow, Delphina could tell they were checking the stalls for feet and curled in closer to herself, squeezing her eyes shut and finally forcing her tears to stop.

Please just leave.

Please leave.

Just leave and let me sit here until–

A gentle knock on her stall door interrupted Delphina's thoughts and she leaned her head back against the wall, groaning softly and dropping her hand.

"Um...Delphina?"

At the sound of Evie's voice, Delphina scoffed while sniffling. How did she always have the worst luck with avoiding the people she hated?

On second thought, she'd take Audrey and the cutting of ties.

"Jesus fucking Christ, of course it's you." She muttered to herself, shaking her head. "What?" She raised her voice so Evie could hear her, spitting out the word venomously.

Evie hesitated, before sighing softly. "We all kind of saw what happened with you and Ben. Mal is about to come in and...I just wanted to see if you were OK beforehand." She murmured.

Delphina couldn't help it. She barked out a crude, bitter laugh, wiping the wet streaks off her face. "Oh, that is such bullshit." She sighed, standing up and throwing open the stall door, coming face to face with a nervous Evie. At the sight of her, Delphina's despair and heartbreak took a brief backseat to the detestation she held for the girl in front of her. "You are the same person that called me a 'homewrecking slut' and told me I was unlovable because I tried to tell you that your new boyfriend didn't give a damn about you." Evie winced at the reminder as Delphina harshly shoved past her, making her way to the bathroom sink.

"Get off your fucking high horse and tell me why you're really in here."

There was a beat of silence after the demand. Finally, Evie huffed, folding her arms and glancing at Delphina through the mirror, then at her feet. "Fine. Mal knew you were crying and told me to 'get in there and make sure you were decent'." She scoffed incredulously as she recalled her best friend's words with air quotes. "Apparently, she 'doesn't feel like dealing with all that emotional bullshit.'"

Delphina only snorted humorlessly, looking down for a moment. "Yeah, of course she doesn't." She muttered to herself before looking in the mirror again. She stared at her reflection for a long while. Emotional bullshit, indeed.

Ben was tired of her.

He didn't care about her apology.

In fact, she had probably made things worse by crying in front of him.