This is a special oneshot for xdaisy264x / xxxdaisy264xxx who is an incredibly talented writer, so go check out some of their work!
Veronica's POV:
I'm so fucking fed up with this.
Tia's the closest friend I have in this competition, but the way the other girls here treat her make me sick.
Awhora's the biggest culprit. When we were in Untucked, she said horrible things about Tia. Calling her "desperate" "not funny" and that she was "bored" of her. It wouldn't take a genius to see that Awhora loved to pick on Tia. And that infuriated me. And for good reason.
Tia was one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She's a perfectly nice and funny person and Awhora treats her like garbage. I wasn't about to let all that slide, but today something happened. Something really fucking bad had happened.
Today was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was getting ready to go back to the hotel when I heard crying. It wasn't loud, actually. It was really quiet. So quiet, that at first, I thought I had imagined it. I thought nothing of it at first, until I heard it again, louder. I recognized that voice.
It was Tia. I turned in the direction of the sound and made my way towards the source of the heart wrenching sobs, and found Tia hiding in the corner of the Werk Room, sobbing into her hands. I immediately gasped and knelt down next to her, pulling her into a hug.
"W-Who's there?" Tia muttered. She must not have seen me come over. I smooth her hair out of her face and she opens her eyes, which were red and swollen. She must've been crying for quite a while. That hurt my heart. She tilts her head slightly.
"Ronnie?" She whispered. I nod and hug her tightly. She latched onto me like a scared koala and just bawls her eyes out. I pull her onto my lap and let her curl up against me and I rub her back, trying to offer any sort of comfort I can.
"You're safe. I got you." I spoke quietly so I wouldn't scare her. I ask if she can hear me and she nods. I smile and she nuzzles up to me, tears still running down her cheeks. Her face is all red. Her eyes are all puffy, like golf balls.
"Can you tell me what's wrong sweetheart? I wanna help, but you need to tell me what happened." I requested. She hiccups ever so quietly and starts fiddling with my hair. I let her, if it'll help get her even remotely calm, then I'm going to let her do it.
"R-Rora... S-Said that I-I shouldn't b-be here, th-that amazing p-people h-have gone each week, b-but I'm still here..." Tia sobbed uncontrollably. I immediately gasp and I stand up. Tia wraps her legs around my waist and tilts her head. I look for Awhora.
She's, unsurprisingly, talking with Tayce. Of course she is. If there's one thing I know about Awhora, it's that she and Tayce are inseparable. I make my way over to them with a scowl on my face. I tap Awhora's shoulder and glare daggers at her. She just smirks.
"Hey Veronica. I see you brought Baroness Basic with you." Awhora chuckled. That makes Tia cry even more and hide her face in my shoulder. I glare at Awhora and Tayce goes to step in, Tayce is always there to rein her in, even if she's too late at times.
"Can you just leave her alone, Rora? Please?" Tayce is doing her best, she really is trying, but I don't think it's working. I grit my teeth. Awhora's making Tia upset and that's infuriating me. I set Tia down and Awhora slithers over to her like a snake.
"Aw, what's wrong? You gonna cry?" Awhora teases. That sets me over the edge and I snarl. I march over to Awhora and force her to look at me. She's immediately taken aback by my actions, but I don't care all that much. Tayce tilts her head and Tia whimpers.
"Listen here and listen good, Awhora, cause I'm only gonna say this once. You have been nothing but mean to Tia this entire competition. You're making everyone upset just because you're too insecure to let Tia be happy. Tia more than deserves to be here, and if you can't see that, then you obviously must have coral wedged in your frontal lobe! Now, I can only kindly request that you treat Tia with the respect she deserves. Got it?" I monologue, Awhora looks intimidated. She nods and I smile. Tia grabs onto me, trembling and I make one more request.
"Now, apologize to Tia and, respectfully, knock it off." I demand. Awhora pouts, but another glare from me and Tayce bring her back to her senses. Apologizing is a hard thing to do if you're Awhora, but I'm not gonna back down. Awhora sighs rather dramatically before she speaks again.
"Okay. I'm sorry, Tia." Awhora sighs. It sounded sincere enough and I smile. Tia does too. She looks a lot less upset. Tayce smiled a little bit too. Hopefully this means Awhora will at least tolerate Tia moving forward. Tia's still tightly holding on to my arm, like a koala.
"Good! Glad to hear it." I state, and with that, I lead Tia back to where all her stuff is. I ask her if she needs anything else before we head back to the hotel and she shakes her head in the negative. I smile and hand over her stuff.
As we make our way to the vans to go back to the hotel, Tia lays her head on my shoulder and I smile. She holds onto my arm before she speaks to me.
"Thank you for sticking up for me, Ronnie." She mumbles quietly. I smile again.
"You're welcome, Tia."
