"𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐞..."
"...𝐛𝐮𝐭 𝐈 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧'𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲 𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮."
For as long as anyone could remember, Aspen Greenwood and Cara Jasper had been at odds with each other. Whether it was for a spelling bee o...
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I am unbelievably upset. How dare she?
Getting through my classes is a little easier knowing I have seething rage ready to take over as soon as I get back to the dorm, so the day goes by quicker than usual. And when I get home and see Aspen sitting at her desk with a burrito bowl and a YouTube video playing, I can't contain myself any longer.
"Every time I think we're getting over this stupid rivalry, you just have to do or say something to upset me," I announce accusatively, dropping my bag straight on the floor without taking my eyes off of her.
But she just finishes her bite of food and pauses the video. "What?"
"Why didn't you tell me about you and Theo?"
Suddenly, her soul seems to leave her body as she processes my words. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb with me, I know about your date. Ambrose told me."
She furrows her eyebrows and fully turns to look at me. After clearing her throat, she says, "Well, I didn't tell you because, frankly, that's none of your business."
None of my business?
"Okay, well, my date with Sasha was none of your business but I still told you about her!"
"Yeah, by your own free will." She crosses her arms. "I don't owe you any details."
"But why Theo? Why my friend?" I persist. "You couldn't have gone after anyone else?"
Her eyes narrow at me and turn stone cold. "Are you forgetting that he's also my friend? In fact, he was my friend first, so I don't know why you're so upset about us hanging out."
"You're trying to pull him away from me," I accuse her in the heat of the moment.
"I'm not trying to do anything, Jasper. We were just hanging out. Are you crushing on him or something? Is that why you're so upset?"
"What? I—"
"I thought you had a thing for Sasha? Or are you just using her as an experiment?"
"This isn't about Sasha! This is about you trying to come between my friendships."
Instead of taking me seriously, Aspen just lets out a laugh. "I don't know what kind of narrative you're trying to spin about me but that's not what's happening. The truth is that you just can't handle sharing anything with me."
"I've been forced to share everything with you for the last four years of my life!" I blurt out without stopping to think. It kills me to know I'm yelling at her for something she can't control now but that resentment hasn't calmed down since the moment I moved here. And every second she's around me—sleeping in the bed next to me, dating people I want to be friends with—it only grows worse.
"I'm sorry," Aspen says after a moment. Tears sting at my eyes but I look away, refusing to let her see me cry. "But I don't think you realize I'm always competing with you too. Not just the other way around."
