Magnetic Collision

Chapter 8

Long breaks between lectures weren't an uncommon phenomenon in university, certainly not in Candice's experience. She was never too upset by them, she lived close enough to campus that she could walk home, and have a snack there if she so pleased, the trip was barely a nuisance. Still, she usually opted to sit outside on a bench while she had whatever lunch she had bought from the nearby bakery. Whenever the weather was nice, taking a break from the stuffy air and the uncomfortably low desks of the facility was a nice change of pace. Most of the time at least.
Even from a distance, she had no doubt that the group of girl heading towards her were approaching with a reason. A reason that could only come from malicious intent. She wouldn't have recognized them were it not for Melody quietly trailing behind them. With that in mind, she had no doubt that those girls were nothing but the herd of entitled, spoiled chicks that had 'befriended' the blonde girl. Candice had always wondered if those disliked her as much as her former friend did. And from the looks of it, she was going to find that out very soon.

"Alone again?" a brunette girl asked as they stopped only a couple meters from her, the tone of her voice condescending, as if she talking to a child, or a dog. "Has Aaron finally gotten bored of his personal toy?" she smirked maliciously as the others hardly stifled their snickers. Candice just sighed. She had been expecting something of this nature to happen. It had become quite normal to see her hanging out with Lucas, at least for a little bit during the day. And considering he had refused to show up to school for multiple consecutive days, it was only a matter of time before someone took note of his absence, and start drilling her on it.

Him missing school by itself was nothing to be alarmed by, he wasn't exactly known for his stellar attendance and diligence. Instead of coming to the lectures, he usually charmed his way into some unfortunate soul's notebook, and reaped the fruit of their hard work that way. He wasn't quite dumb enough to not study at all, but he was just the perfect amount of lazy to refuse to take notes on his own. But on top of not seeing as much as a glimpse of him, Candice didn't hear anything. No calls, or texts, he didn't even answer when she tried to make the initiative. That was almost unprecedented, if he ever failed to respond immediately, he always got back to her within a couple of hours max. If anyone was curious about his whereabouts, it was her. But momentarily, she had more urgent matters to handle.

"So you've spent days observing me, and making sure I was definitely on my own before coming up to me as a whole pack. How courageous." Candice noted with a deadpan tone. "You're grown women. Quit acting like high school mean girls."

"Says the bitch who stole her best friend's man. Isn't that right, Mel?" the girl, who must have had the most gut in her as she was the only one talking, looked back at the blonde. Candice couldn't decide if the nickname was just part of the weak facade of friendship they were putting on to disguise the exploitation, or if she simply couldn't be bothered to remember more than 3 letters of her name. Both sounded equally plausible.

"... Y-Yeah..." Melody nodded meekly, unable to look the brunette in the eyes. This little confrontation was almost certainly not her idea. Not only did she have practically no power in the group, surely she would have gotten tired of being shut down regarding this topic by then. She didn't look like she wanted to participate in any of what was happening... And yet, there she was. Unwilling to do anything against it. She never grew a backbone after all. Always clutching onto whoever tolerated her presence. That was the type of person she had always been.

"That sounds an awful lot like something that's none of your business." Candice shrugged, taking another bite from her food. "We all know you don't actually care anyway. Why would you care about the emotions of your little pet? She's just a tool to you. If you want to get pissed at me for fucking the guy you have been aching for, go for it. But don't pretend there's some grand purpose behind it. Just admit that you're jealous. You wish you were his personal toy instead of me. Am I wrong?" she provoked, and from the look of fury that covered her opponents' face, she had clearly hit a nerve.