No Good Witches | ONC √

Acts of Cruelty

"All I ever do is try to be a good girlfriend for him and you'd think he'd try to put in a bit of effort as well. But does he? No. Of course he doesn't. And then he has the audacity to tell me that he'd rather be hanging out with his gross friends or running around a field with that riDIculous stick in his hand than spend Valentine's Day—that's right, fucking Valentine's Day—together. Can you believe that? I couldn't when he told me. But, you know, I have no one to blame but myself. Honestly, what else was I expecting from such a teenage cliche?"

"Uh huh."

"Anyways, I'm over it. I'm pretty sure he's been trying to break up with me, so I've got to make sure to do it before he has the chance. I'm thinking something big, public. Nothing smites a man like public humiliation, right?"

"Yup."

"But then I was thinking that was a little evil? He's a nice guy, just kind of clueless sometimes...but I've got a reputation to maintain. Girl, I don't know...What do you think?"

"Totally."

"Cass?" Her grip tightened around my shoulders. "Are you even listening to me?"

I sniffed. "Not...really?"

"That is. So rude?"

I rolled my eyes and pedaled faster. "What? Like you're the poster child for politeness?"

"Whatever, Cassandra..."

I stretched as best I could in the position that we rode in. My back was starting to ache. It was probably due to how rigidly I was sitting on the bike. It may have been because the reality of the situation—the fact that we were going to a gang leader's house to buy a highly illegal necromancy spell— was beginning to dawn on me. Maybe it was because we were very clearly no longer in Summerton Heights, and in tow I had two of the most likely people to say the wrong thing to the wrong people.

But I was betting it was due to the fact that Mallory would not stop talking.

"No, no, I got the gist." I said, at last fed up with her long winded rendition of The Woeful Tale of a Hot Teenaged Girl. "Max was being inconsiderate, Max was being annoying, Max is the root of all evil—y'know, it's not exactly a hard story to follow."

"Okay, alright. I didn't realize that my life paled in comparison the the rich, lived—in tapestry of Cassandra Landry."

Did she really have to pull my government name like that?

"If my boy drama is so boring," she continued, "let's hear yours."

I smiled back at her. "Uh, sorry to disappoint your highness, but I'm kind of immune?"

She frowned at me. "What do you mean?"

"...Uh...I'm gay?"

She looked up and outwards. After a moment, "Shit."

I too looked back in that direction. "What? Do you have a problem with that?" Though I'm not proud to admit it, I wouldn't have been too upset if she was. Maybe that would be the final push it took to get her off of my bike.

"Oh, I literally don't care." She said. "I just remembered that I'm probably going to miss the party tonight. Jess is going to try something with Max, one hundred percent. The whore."

My eyes widened. "You can't call her that!"

"What?" She asked incredulously. "It's true."

"Wha...Calling other women words like that is very toxic behavior."