Love and Family | Port Orthos 4

chapter 4: harlow's enemy

chapter 4: harlow's enemy

~harlow~

       Kiro told me that a few days ago, Fern and Charity bumped into each other, causing Charity to spill her coffee all over herself. Even though she also wasn't paying attention to where she was going, she decided to fully blame Fern.

       And apparently, Charity keeps trying to tell Fern that she owes her dry cleaning money for it. Charity hasn't exactly been nice to Fern for a while now. It's obvious that Charity likes Kiro romantically, but Kiro turned her down. On multiple occassions.

       Charity is convinced it's because Fern is one of those clingy best friends who won't like her best friend dating anyone, which is far from the truth. Sure, Kiro would always put Fern first, but Fern will never use that to her advantage. I know for a fact if Kiro were busy with a significant other and Fern needed comfort, she would likely come to me or one of our dads instead.

       Charity is just too self-involved to see that it's possible for someone not to like her.

       And, of course, Charity constantly targeting Fern makes me hate her guts. Fern is one of the sweetest people ever, and she always just keeps to herself. There's no way someone should be able to hate her. If someone does, it's likely they don't have a heart.

       I see Charity and her best friend standing at her locker, and because of what Kiro told me, I kind of want to mess with her head a bit. 

       I walk over to her and before I can even say anything, Charity scoffs and asks, "What do you want?"

       "I just realized I never properly apologized to you for bumping into you and causing you to spill coffee on yourself a few days ago," I say. "So I'm sorry."

       Charity glares at me. "I know that wasn't you, Harlow. It was Fern."

       "No, I'm pretty sure it was me," I say. "Fern was sick so she stayed home from school that day. I really am sorry."

       "Stop acting like I'm stupid," Charity says. "I can tell the difference between you and Fern. You're fraternal twins, not identical, and Fern has pink in her hair. You clearly don't."

       "Oh, that's because I got rid of the pink yesterday," I say. "I decided to just go back to full blonde."

       "You're annoying." Charity closes her locker before gesturing to her friend to leave. They walk off, both looking clearly annoyed, though Charity is more so annoyed. Exactly what I was going for.

       "You shouldn't be going around annoying people,"  a sudden voice says behind me. I jump before turning around to see my brother standing behind me.

       "She was mean to Fern a few days ago," I say. "I had to get revenge."

       "Your version of revenge is annoying people?" Forest asks.

       I nod. "It's the best way to get revenge. I'm not physically hurting anyone."

       "What if they lash out at you in retaliation?" Forest asks.

       "Don't worry." I pat Forest's shoulder. "I can handle myself." I'm someone who can always stand up for myself and even when someone is getting under my skin, I don't show it. I know never to show it.

       It's a good thing too because it's clear throughout the rest of the school day that Charity is very annoyed with me. She's either glaring at me or trying her best to avoid me. If only she would avoid Fern instead of trying to tear her down.

       During the last period of the day, we're told to get into pairs to work on an assignment together. I pair up with Kaylee, the head cheerleader of this school. She's also probably the most popular girl in school, but in a good way, not because she thinks she's better than everyone else kind of way. She's a very sweet person and always tries her best to help out with everyone. 

       But once you get on her bad side, you better start praying, because it's very rare for someone to get on her bad side. She tries sees the good in everyone so when she doesn't, it's not a good thing.

       Charity is one of those people slowly getting onto her bad side. I don't blame Kaylee for that at all.

       Charity, unfortunately, is working with her friend close to me and Kaylee so as we're trying to work on our assignment, all we can hear is Charity and her friend gossiping about the most random stuff.

       I don't want to engage with her, so I have to try my best to ignore her. I look at the question on the worksheet that Kaylee and I are on, trying to figure out the answer, but I didn't get it. It's not like I'm bad at school, but there are some subjects I'm not great at. Science is one of them.

       "I really don't get this question," I say.

       Before Kaylee could even try to explain it to me, I hear Charity snicker before saying to her friend, "Cheerleaders are so dumb." I'm sure she tried to say in quietly enough for me not to hear, but I'm sitting too close to her for her to be able to whisper quietly.

       "You know, I can kick high enough to break your nose," I say.

       "Are you threatening me?" Charity asks.

       "I would never," I say.

       Kaylee leans over to take a look at Charity's worksheet. "Girl, you're still on the first question. You don't get to judge Harlow for not understanding something."

       Charity moves the sheet out of Kaylee's view. "Mind your business."

       "Sure, as long as you mind yours," Kaylee says. This is what I like about Kaylee. She's always willing to stand up for other people. Even though I could have stood up for myself, I do appreciate Kaylee's input. It did get Charity to shut up after all.

       Kaylee turns back to the assignment and proceeds to explain the question for me. She takes her time, making sure I fully understand it before we work on the answer together. I actually appreciate it. Even though I'm not fond of science, I would rather understand why we got an answer than to have Kaylee just do the work for me.

       Besides, even if I wanted Kaylee to do the work for me, there's no way she would do it. She's not dumb. She can tell when someone is trying to get them to do the work for her.

       We finish the assignment before class ends, though it does take a bit of time because she's explaining the questions I don't understand. Charity and her friend doesn't finish in time and as much as I want to say something, I don't. I know when to keep quiet at times and not start an argument as much as I want to.

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harlow definitely takes the blame for things fern accidentally does all the time even though everyone can tell them apart lmao.

also one thing i love doing is breaking certain stereotypes in my books, which is why kaylee isn't the stereotypical mean head cheerleader. i mean, there's nothing wrong with using that trope in a book if you want to, but it's nice not to have it, you know?