Crown

*12*

It was a calm not so sunny Wednesday. 6th of February. The day was an infant. 9am and while people had begun their day, Jayda Jace was lazily on her couch, in her barbie pajamas, watching Don't Worry Darling over a large bowl of ice cream.

Rachel had been staying over since the day of the hospital runs — two days ago. So, she had been helping Jayda with Joedi and the 12 year old was happy to have double attention. She hadn't gone to school the previous day but Rachel had taken her today on her way to college.
But Jayda had barely woken up when it happened cause she was feeling like jelly. She just wanted to stay in bed all day, eating, sleeping and watching romcoms or anything her Netflix recommended and it had recommended the paranormal, romance movie playing on the TV.

She shoved a spoon full of her melted ice cream into her mouth.
"Jack is just an idiot," she said to herself, her mouth full.
She had never done this before — being lazy on a Wednesday, skipping 2 classes intentionally. Well, she would obviously read.
One thing she loved about Professor Alina was that she always have them a preview of the next class giving students the leverage to skip classes even though they'd miss some key points for exams. And there was a time she intentionally introduced a whole new topic in a class which she didn't mention in the previous class.
She was the youngest professor at Drexson College, fun but very sly. Her exams were hard to ace but Jayda did that, thus making her Professor Alina's favorite student and course rep.
And probably her absence would make the 37 year old woman wonder  concerned and therefore, won't pull he cunning stunt.
But if she did, she always had Bella. Her dearest study partner, friend, fashion adviser, OG and backup.

She groaned and stretched for the fifth time in 30 minutes and changed positions.
"I don't even know what's going on anymore," she whined and rewinded it. Her phone pinged. She paused the movie, hoping that it wasn't that bitch calling.
... Star.
The girlfriend that practically almost killed her sister and had disappeared since that day. All calls went to voicemail, text unanswered and consequently...phone switched off. Meaning the bitch knew what she was doing.
How could she!
Normally Jayda would worry about her girlfriend's whereabouts but what she did was unacceptable and there was no way she was going to forgive her now that she'd ran away or something...
It didn't even matter if Jayda was misunderstanding cause even though Star came back and Jayda asked, she'd never tell her so what was the point?
They had hit rock bottom and Jayda knew this.
Lovey duvey, hearts and flowers, rainbow and sunshine was over. They frankly all existed behind dark clouds and a bomb waiting to explode. And right now, it had exploded. And all in her face.
She thought they'd be okay after the whole quarell and settlement, but wrong was she. So wrong. And they never settled. It was all Star gaslighting her.
Looking back on all Star had done made her realize how petty and desperate she'd been for attention, made her realize how much she had overlooked being under her influence.

Her disappearances.
Her possessive words..."there can be no happy ever after us...you can only be happy with me..."
Her dominance and control...

"I wanna wear the black dress,it suits me more."

"Jayda you don't know what suits you. Wear the pink."

"But I prefer the black."

"Have I ever lied to you Jay? Don't you trust me? The pink is better. I like you better in the pink. The black's not nice. Believe me."

Jayda had looked at her with a pout. "But ..."

"Jayda. I said wear the black. Don't argue. You're beautiful."

God, had she been such a puppet. A toy! How didn't she see this before. How did it take her sister's life for her to open her eyes?
She hated that she had exposed herself so much to Star. Her body, her heart... every single thing.
If she could go back in time...what wouldn't she change?