Rivalry

11. Authentic Admissions

"And then she followed me to the corridor, trying to explain herself, but I flipped her off"

Monica ended with a sigh as she gulped down the last sip of her black coffee, letting the bitter taste calm her senses and appease her mind,momentarily. She had been narrating the previous day's entire ordeal with utmost intricacy and detail to her gang, so that they don't have any confusion later. Every time she remembered the incident, it somehow formed a lump in her throat and her speech would automatically quiver due to the sensitivity of the topic. It was probably the one memory Monica would like to wash away from her mind, heart, and soul.

Betrayal, violation of a person's trust or confidence, of a moral standard. It was gruesome. The most inhumane way to hurt someone without practically any effort but have more than the desired outcome. No one gets away from the wrath and exasperation that a betrayal brings and Monica was no exception to this fact. But she was determined to stand strong, and not be swayed by fickle emotions such as fury, no matter what the cause or whoever the person may be.

The coffee, the calm facade, the nonchalant aura that she now portrayed was that insincere skin that Monica wore to fool her friends, however did little to her favour. She wanted them to believe that she was okay, and not affected at all. She even did all that was in her power to make them trust her staged persona. But no. They weren't dunce. They had practically seen Monica grow out of her diapers. They could see through every freaking facade that she wore and know the turbulence that tortured her soul.

"I'm going to beat her ass" deadpanned Sienna

"Oh no you're not! " Monica protested almost immediately.

"Oh darling, watch me. "

"Sin, I've been through enough, give this a break now. No group feuds will be entertained. It was the rule. I don't want to be dragged me into this ruckus anymore" Monica said with a very exhausted sigh. It was clear that these swirling thoughts had been eating her up since the previous night, and that she barely managed a few minutes of sleep-but alas, Sienna Reynolds did not care.

She was fuming and seething with contempt and was determined to take revenge. It was not solely about Monica, was her reason. All four of their projects were involved. And if Monica wasn't going to step up, she would have to take matters into her hands. Fuck the rules, Emily Rhodes could eat dust.

As the two mates continued going back and forth and proving each of their points whilst disagreeing with the others, there was an interruption.

"Umm...hey, guys...." came the hesitant voice of Aria Meadows.

"Could we talk" she questioned again, still unsure and awkward, as if a deer caught in headlights.

"Oh sure sure, Aria, come join us. " It was Anastasia who spoke up this time as she smild at Aria, greeting her. Angelina too smiled, welcoming the guest as she pulled out the chair next to her and ushered Aria to sit there. Aria returned a grateful smile at this gesture as she settled down among us, as Sienna and Monica had calmed down by now.

"I.... I wanted to apologize to you guys. On be-behalf of all of them. I'm sorry. What they did was terrible. Is there anything that I could do to make y'all feel any better? Anything would be okay" Aria Meadows said in one breath as if she was finally relieved to get the load off her chest and could breath again.

The remaining four girls looked at each other bewildered. Never quite experienced such a situation, neither of them knew how to react, let alone respond.

" It's all -" Aria began again, unsure, at the lack of any appropriate response but was interrupted.

"Hey, it's not your fault at all. We appreciate it Aria. Atleast you are one angel among those demons. " Angelina hissed referring to Emily, Meredith and Adeline sitting across the hall, in the cafeteria.