Survival

13. Strike One

Stephanie headed down the hallway out of the changing room. Gym had been pretty uneventful, but she had managed to work out some of her energy.

“Hey!” Caroline called.

Stephanie knew that, somehow, Angry Girlfriend was talking to her. Even a couple of metres away, with her back to Caroline, Stephanie had a feeling that the newly-single girl was calling her out. After all, whom else could she be talking to?

Stephanie was tempted to just keep walking down the hallway, to avoid the whole thing. In actual fact, that’s what she did.

“Hey, look at me, I’m talking to you!”

For some strange reason, Stephanie did what she said. By the tone in her voice, Stephanie knew Caroline was angry about something. The only person she could justify bullying was the new girl. Instead of angering her further, Stephanie stopped in her tracks and forced herself to turn and look at Caroline.

No one had forgotten Aaron and Caroline’s relationship status. By the same principle, no one had forgotten whom to blame for that. Stephanie still wasn’t sure why it was such a big deal that she’d talked to the guy. Caroline’s dramatics were bringing attention to the both of them.

“Yes?” Stephanie managed to keep the strain out of her voice and the attitude to a minimum too.

For goodness sake, it was the hardest thing she’d had to do in a while. Humoring Caroline was not on her list of things to do that day. She stalked down the hallway, out for blood. Stephanie fought the urge to scream. What had she done to this girl to get her to hate her so much?

Caroline came to a stop directly in front of Stephanie, fuming about everything and nothing all at the same time.

“Hey, Caroline.” Stephanie wanted to try to keep up her avoidance of confrontations, but she knew her exterior would start to crack sometime in the future. Hopefully, today was not that day. “What’s up?”

“You ruined my relationship.”

This again? Stephanie sighed. “Caroline, I had nothing to d-”

“Stop lying!” She shrieked.

Stephanie was stunned into taking a step back. Her heart had dropped into her stomach. The distinct feeling that she needed to just take whatever Caroline was going to throw at her crossed her mind once more. Caroline’s words exuded the command of someone totally in charge. Stephanie’s pack instincts urged her to step down.

“Stop lying to me,” she repeated, bringing the hysteria down a notch.

People were outright staring now, and Stephanie couldn’t fight the scarlet spreading across her cheeks. “Caroline…”

“Don’t try to convince me,” she warned again.

Stephanie couldn’t fathom why she chose now to pounce, to bring this out into the open. Whatever this was supposed to be. Stephanie felt cornered and threatened, but couldn’t find the words to talk Caroline down from where she was.

“Caroline-”

“Stop saying my name!” She screeched, angry crimson creeping up her neck and into her face. “I’m not your friend, I don’t want you here!”

“Just lis-”

“Don’t you get it?” Caroline seethed. “No one wants you here.”

It shouldn’t have gotten to Stephanie, but it did. Those words only reminded her how out of place she really was here. Stunned into silence and taken aback, Stephanie just listened.