Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Emily uncrumpled the pink slip that was given to her by the teacher. She sighed, ripping the stupid pastel print in frustration.

‘Principal’s office. Don’t be late.’

Swinging the door open, Emily stomped into the room, pulling a chair over and practically sagging her whole weight into it. She crossed her arms and glared up at the principal, who pushed her glasses up, not even bothering to glance from her papers.

“Emily Stone.” Ms. Lynn drawled in a clipped tone. She pushed a stack of papers towards the girl. “It appears that you have to pay financial damages for the incident that you caused directly to the school’s property.”

Emily scoffed. “Oh, like you haven’t even renovated in the past eleven years.”

“I’ll have you know that you have been crossing a tight line lately-”

Emily banged her fists against the table. “And so what if I am? It’s not like I have any plans after college.”

Ms. Lynn’s jaw dropped. She stood up abruptly. “Goodness.”

Emily let out a short huff. “Oh my god. Goodness.”

Ms. Lynn began to anxiously pace back and forth. “You have a whole future ahead of you. You cannot-you seriously cannot-”

Emily abruptly stood up, anger flashing with defiance in her features. Her shoulders drew up tall, her neck snapped straight back. “I don’t need your pity. I don’t need your excuses. I am perfectly capable of handling this on my own. Just tell me how much money I owe and I’ll be on my way-got it?”

“Absolutely not. We are going to have to direct you towards a better life.”

Emily stepped dangerously close to the principal, her hot breath close. “Listen cunt. I don’t need the school administration in my business. I don’t need another one of you degenerates to give another reason that you care more about your shitty reputation rather than my own.” She shouldered her backpack around herself. “Now if you excuse me.”

The blonde stormed out, ignoring the pounding in her chest. Oh fuck, she’s going to kill me, she thought.

It’s fine. She was always the type to get into trouble. This was nothing new. It wasn’t like anyone cared.

She stuffed the papers in her back pocket, stalking towards her next class. Ms. Ames was probably yapping on how to do haikus, but anything was a good distraction. She quickly slid into the nearest seat at the back, fingers trembling. She felt like something massive was lodged up her throat, her breath quickly accelerating. She dug her fingernails into the bark of the wooden desk to at least give herself some grip on reality.

The day drifted through; something about getting essays turned in before next week. The alt girl only sighed-she knew that sooner or later, she’d get a yell that she didn’t even start the essay. It was all a haze. Assignment after assignment, putting her head down on the table between classes, implementing the repetitive tick of the clock as a singular sound, watching the arrow turn..

His words felt like a cold death grip on her shoulder, a crude reminder that they would always linger even when he wasn’t there.

Emily only flipped through the thriller magazine, using her chipped nails to easily turn over the pages. Even thinking about him made her nauseous.

‘Aw, don’t be like that Emi. If you really loved me, you would do this for me.’

‘If you leave, you’ll regret it. No one else will put up with you.’

‘You made me do this.’

‘I gave you everything you needed-don’t throw it all away.’

Some scars would never heal.

“Emily.” The blonde’s head rose up, her heavy gaze resting on that of a familiar redhead. Next to Ari, Emily looked frail in her current sitting position.

Ari awkwardly cleared her throat. “Ms. Ames noticed that you had left the class early. She wanted me to help fetch you this.” She handed Emily a sheet-a neatly, printed out set of instructions.

Emily only stared at the paper, glancing from Ari to the paper and back. Clearly the redhead was instructed to write out constricted, detailed notes for anything that she might have missed-Ari’s neat, cursive handwriting was lined up along the paper, the lavender-scented pen unmistakably noticeable amongst the lines.

Ari, whose arm was starting to get tired, grew annoyed by Emily's antics. “Well?” She snapped.

Emily took it, her gaze never pulling away from Ari. “Why did you even bother?”

Ari glared at Emily. “You could at least say thank you.”

“Yeah, yeah, thank you.”

Ari pulled her hands away from the wooden table, picking up her library book. “Whatever.”

Emily watched the girl disappear behind the corridors before hugging her knees to herself. Like the rest of her assignments, she anxiously stuffed it into her backpack before walking outside, the chilly wind buffeting against her hair. She often took the long route home, narrowly avoiding the streets.

Arriving, she dropped her bookbag on the floor, nudging it softly on the floor with her foot. Upstairs, she could only hear the sounds of her drunkard father sleeping soundly. Tiptoeing to her room, she locked the door softly behind her.

Pulling out her lighter, she drew a long puff, kneeling against the wall with her legs tucked in. Her bag was tossed lazily against the floor, its zipper hanging down loose. The assignment, raked against the edges, menacingly glared at her.

“Shut up.” Emily growled, giving a couple more flicks to the end of her stub. She kicked the bag away. Ari’s notes plopped pitifully, letting out a thick thump.

Emily blinked, turning down her music to scooch closer towards her bookbag. Were her English assignments always this heavy?

Pulling out Ari’s crumpled notes, she uncrinkled it to see a lavender envelope that was stapled at its corner.

That bitch really loved lavender, didn’t she? Emily shook the envelope, the heavy stuff inside clattering about. Pawing at the glue holding it together, Emily opened it up to find an immense amount of money.

Emily’s eyes widened, going to her bed to quickly count up the dollars. They had to be ranging in the thousands at least, judging from the thick quantity. She shook out its contents, using her scratchy thumbs to skim through it-there was a large amount, and a couple coins.

All together it equated to about…two thousand. Exactly the needed amount in order to repair the school property.

Holy shit. Emily sat back, combing her hands through her hair. Which didn’t make sense at all. Why would Ari-shy, timid Ari who Emily had threatened to stab in the past take the time to gather the supplies needed for this? Emily shook out her hair, biting her lip nervously. Surely this had to be a mistake, right? She slid the money back in, her fingernails leaving sharp stains on the envelope at hand.

Nah, this was too good to be true. Ari wouldn’t-she was the last person to-absolutely not.

She only exhaled another huff, sitting cross-legged and watching the glitchy MTV play a cheesy romance song.
—

Stubborn brat. Ari could only kick the trash can angrily. Of course she wouldn’t even bother to thank her. The blonde junkie was absolutely horrid at mannerisms, not to mention something as simple as a thank you.

She crossed the street, approaching her grandma. When her grandma offered to keep her backpack in the backseat, Ari instantly declined, hopping in the front seat of the car while her uncle started up the wheel.

Ari did nothing as much as not bothering to address either of her relatives, instead only staring out the car window.

Ari’s grandmother applied a giant portion of lipstick. “So Ari, how’s school going for you lately?”

“It’s cool.” Ari said distantly. Her legs itched to slam open the car door and bolt out.

“What are you daydreaming about? A boyfriend?”

Ari’s whole body stood on end. She clenched her fists, doing everything she could to maintain her anger. Her voice shook with rage, steeling herself. “For the last time, grandma, I have no interest in dating a man. Ever.”

“You’ll change your mind in college. I was able to whip your uncle into shape in his fifties-look, he has a girlfriend right now, don’t you honey?”

Ari seethed through her teeth. Leave it to being of Korean descent for your grandparents to yap on and on about shit like their ethnicity has the lowest birthrate and how they must ‘protect the ancestral bloodline’ when they should really be talking about the conundrum of other issues that are going on in that country right now.

Breathe, Ari, honorifics are important.

“Sure.” Ari muttered.

The car rolled to a stop in front of Ari’s house. “Thanks for the ride, but I’ll be driving myself home next time. I’m not a kid anymore, you know.” Ari pointed out.

Her grandma only looked lost. “Child, I only wanted to spend more time with you. Tell your mother that the kimchi needs to be fermented, got it?”

“I…” Ari trailed off. Right. She doesn’t have that much time left. “Alright.”

Ari bowed before watching the car roll off. She instantly collapsed on the couch. Dad would probably be late renting out some sort of cheap K-drama.

She wondered if Emily had received the message. She stared at the ceiling.

God, why did she even help her out?

She vividly remembered ducking behind the wall as Emily rambled about some sort of money deal. Which normally wouldn’t be a problem, yet Ari was pretty sure that Emily was running low on drug businesses. She had stopped on the way to the restroom.

Which was why Ari said ‘fuck it’ and used the lottery money she had snagged from her dad’s back pocket to hand over to the junkie.

Maybe it was partially out of the fact knowing that Dad got a salary raise and wouldn’t think of it as big of a deal. At least, that’s what she wanted to tell herself. She draped the covers over her head, wrapping herself up in a ball. She could get yelled at later.

For now, all she needed was a nap.

—

Emily pulled on her trench coat. Rain began to seep through the water, squelching her boots on her way to school.

Shutting the door behind her, Emily pulled her hoodie off, marching up to Ari. The bitch was shuffling through her assignments, the oblivious idiot.

“Hey.” Ari glanced up.

“I thought you said you didn’t want to talk to me.”

Emily only stuffed her hands in her pockets, wearing an unreadable expression that Ari found unable to decode.

Ari shut her folder. “If you are wondering about where I got it from, I can’t tell you.”

Emily bit her lip. “No it’s just…” She shifted from foot to foot. “...why?”

“Cash is cash. It’s not a charity business.” Ari responded curtly.

Emily glared at her. “This better not be a prank.” She better not be laughing at me. I can’t be the one admitting that I screwed up.

Lavender eyes met steel blue ones. Ari tilted her head, the red hair making a small curtain. “It’s not.”

Emily tore her gaze away from her. “We’ll see if you are really playing me or not.” She mumbled, walking off without a word.

Ari watched her, the fat droplets of rain practically dripping down from her coat. God, could a bitch even slightly consider bringing in an umbrella? She busily scanned her notes again. Dammit, she was already going to have to retake three tests this week…

—

Emily returned to the principal’s office without so much as a second glance, only dunking the mail in her grasp.

Ms. Lynn pushed her glasses up to her face. “Already? How?”

“I have my ways.” Emily didn’t want to tell the principal that she had received help from a girl like Ari. Or any implication that she had a weak inkling; otherwise Ms. Lynn just might make her do the assignment all over again.

Ms. Lynn only gave her a look of suspicion, but leafed through the neat stack, her eyes widening. “Goodness. I didn’t expect this much money coming from you.”

Emily tilted her head back. “If that’s all I’m needed for, I’ll be on my way. See ya later, boss.” Emily waved the principal off, descending down the stairs for a quick detour at the bathroom.

Henley Stone: I heard that you got some sort of school property damage thing going on
Znarky1itt13zhit: Don’t worry I fixed it

Sending it after a few taps, Emily knelt against the cold floor. Nicole was probably off doing something with Jecka, and Kelly…? Yeah, that slut was dead to her.

For now, she could only enjoy her small victory that was luckily handed to her on a silver platter.

Chapter Text

Her dad yelling downstairs was the worst. Something about how his boss was being a shitty individual. Ari grasped onto the bars, listening to her parents snap at each other in hushed tones.

On days like these were times where the redhead would be normally helping her dad out; hovering over his desk where she was his personal translator while her dad typed in any local news coverage. Ari’s desk proved exactly that; her father’s drabbles with Ari’s own revisions.

Eh, he could read them later.

She pulled down on the lever, swinging open the garage door. It let out a loud rattle, the chains hissing. She sidestepped out, yanking on a pair of combat boots before tugging down on the handle.

TotallyNotAri: I’ll be home by 8
아빠: 5412

—

Washing her hands in the shower, Ari glanced up to view herself. She touched the red streaks which were beginning to fade. Her heart sank to her stomach, knowing that she would have to once again fetch another pair of some cheap box hair dye.

Ari clutched a hand up to the hint of black swooping down her shoulder. Well, so long as nobody saw…

She quickly tucked her hair behind her ear, two familiar faces trotting in, one clearly more amused than the other.

“Yeah, and those middle schoolers proceeded to parade around the whole school. ‘Look, Emily gave us free crack!’”

“It’s like they’re so desperate for attention, it’s not even considered a new thing anymore.”

Ari didn’t even need to peek out from the corner of her eye to hear the obnoxious voices. She hunched herself over, thankful for her hair which was getting longer that covered her eyes.

Nicole, who already took sight of the redhead, rolled her eyes. “Now look who it is.”

Ari tilted her head back just enough so she didn’t have to turn around. She shook out her hands, the droplets flicking out. “You two are skipping remedial classes, that’s a new low bar.”

Emily crossed her arms. “Wouldn’t you like to know.” Her tone was less sharp than usual, speaking with hesitant snark.

Ari only played along. “Sure, sure. How’s that English project going?”

Emily twirled her hair. “Decent.”

Now whatever was going on had Ari’s full attention. So decent that they were snooping around in the bathroom?

Nicole looked from Emily to Ari back to Emily once again. She butted the blonde’s shoulder. “You’re not going to threaten her? Again?”

Emily glanced at the girl over for a split second before tossing her head. “Nah, I’ve got better things to do than toy around with the Asian kid. Come on, Nicole, let's ditch school.”

Nicole’s gaze flitted over, those empty cold-blue eyes having a moment's worth of brief hesitation, but not before Emily was already swinging open the door.

Nicole rolled her eyes and trotted after Emily. “Wow, way to declare yourself loyal.”

The loud slam echoed behind the two girls, and Ari flinched hearing the pound. She tugged on the black streak.

How useless to even consider getting into character.

—

If Emily were to sum up Ari’s character, it would be dumbed down to well, everything she wasn’t.

Quiet, timid, logical.
Yet a spark of defiance whenever you happen to catch her at the right moment.

She and Ari went way back. When her parents still got along and Ari was still rocking her natural hair color.

A twelve year old Emily raced down the avenue, pedaling on her dad’s old bike, knees scraped and bandages peeling off from scoring the bike successfully after hard-launching it off a ramp (and miserably failing repeatedly).

A loud car horn blared, swerving out of the way of the girl who was pumping her legs way past the speed limit. Ignoring the curses flying her way, Emily locked her eyes dead on her target-a wooden platform that was slanted upwards, the sun’s rays shining just enough to see the dew glistening on it.

Emily only accelerated, the bumps rolling against the dirt. Her heart pounded in anticipation. If she could only land this, then she’d be able to walk home with success. Zooming, the world became a blur, the ramp tilting under the weight of the bike.

Emily tumbled in the air, briefly soaring, smiling to herself. God, she finally did it-

CRASH. Her legs gave out from under her, her elbows flying out to prevent herself from hitting her face. The bike rolled off and over the wooden ledge.

Emily shrieked, narrowly avoiding the plank that nearly squashed her. She groaned, rubbing yet the newest bruise that was added to her collection.

“DAMMIT!” She yelled, tearing the grass in frustration. She buried her head in her hands.

“...what are you doing?” A voice spoke up. Emily snarled, turning to a perplexed face.

The teen looked no more than the same age as her, round almond-shaped eyes blinking in curiosity.

Violet eyes? How rare…

Emily sighed. “In case you haven’t noticed, I am trying to set a record.”

“What for?”

“Have you ever even heard of a world record?”

The other teen stepped back, innocent eyes quickly deflating to annoyance. “Geez, talk about just asking.”

Emily grabbed her bike by the scruff, already on her way to stomp back to her checkpoint. “You wanted a conversation, you’ve got one, genius. Now scram, I have a task to do.”

Purple-eyed bitch only watched Emily slowly stumble to her feet, with notable ‘ows’ and ‘fuck’ before ascending the large hill. How amusing to watch an unfriendly interaction turn into a performative display.

—

To her annoyance, Grape-Eyes was in three of her classes. Emily knew that the nosy one would at least be attending the same middle school-they both lived in the same area.

No problem, a simple task. Bitch at anyone and everyone, as per usual.

But oh, this girl had a spine.

Ari’s blank stare only seemed to bore in annoyance watching Emily try to drill a hole in the table with her pencil. She snapped her fingers. “Can you at least do me a favor and try to contribute to this project?”

Without even as much as a brief moment of hesitation Emily replied, “no.”

Ari’s eye twitched. Her hands slammed down on the thick textbook, glowering at her distracted teammate. “I don’t know why I even bother with you! You procrastinate too much! You probably procrastinated in the womb!”

Emily, who (finally) made eye contact, defensively drew line marks on the surface, the utensil scraping all over the desk. “Well ACTUALLY, I came out EARLY so I did the exact opposite of that!”

Ari huffed. “So you only lock in to jumpscare people? How very in character of you.”

Emily rose up from her chair angrily. Who was this cockroach? At least when the average common thirteen year old was told to back off, people did so. And yet this one didn’t know when to quit.

Other people were beginning to ogle. “I bet I can jumpscare better than you ever will!”

“Name five times you have, bitch!”

“IF YOU FUCKING INSIST. THIS ONE TIME-”

The librarian took off his spectacles, watching the two fight, their voices becoming louder. He chuckled wryly to himself.

“What a nice pair that acts like an old married couple.”

—

A classmate stormed into the lunchroom, covering his ears. “Oh. My fucking god.”

“What?” Another asked.

“I can’t even focus on my work anymore because of them.”

“Them?”

“Ari and Emily. It’s like they can never find something that they mutually agree on.”

The routine was normal. Both girls would be calm and complacent,at least on Ari’s end before the moment they caught themselves within a three mile radius they would throw down a series of arguing. Emily would initiate, Ari would come back with her own set of comebacks.

And believe them, students have tried to put them on a leash.

“Hey, Emily?”

Emily glanced up, beaming at the two that approached. “Oh, hey~!”

One of the classmates dropped down beside Emily. “So about you and Ari.”

Emily tilted her head. “Yeah?”

“Why don’t you two just…not interact with each other?”

Emily giggled. “It’s fun!”

The classmate only gawked. “It’s…fun?”

Emily waved off the girl. “It’s all in the name of friendly rivalry.”

The person who asked looked like she was doing mental gymnastics. “Wait, hold up. Are you two friends or enemies?”
Emily smiled. “I don’t know! I’m just here for the ride.”

The classmate only walked away, feeling like someone had dented large screws in her noggin.

—

Ari tore through the steak with her teeth, the wild wolf showing her canines. “Does it really matter?”

The girl looked more lost than ever. “Do either of you seriously not know the status of your relationship?”

Ari rolled her eyes. “She yelled at me for how stupid I was that I didn’t know where they sold steak. She then dunked a batch of steak at my doorstep as a gift.”

“And…you are eating the steak she gave to you.”

“What do you expect me to do? I can’t just waste this.”

“...I see…”

“And then I’m going to chuck a water bottle in her face later for the fact she even considered I was stupid.”

“...there it is.”

“She’s even dumber than me, have you seen her grades?”

“She’s…pretty elusive…”

“I’m actually going to annihilate that slut.”

“Well it’s not like I can stop either of you…again…see you in class, I guess.”

—

Emily chuckled to herself, recalling the memory of the two. Sure, Ari was a little hotheaded. But there was an air of thrill for every fight the two had-their first detention together, the one time Emily let Ari win an argument, when Ari thought the best way to solve their old ‘Steak war’ was by impulse buying ten more steaks (it’s complicated).

Ari was a gamble. A fun, rollercoaster of a gamble who made Emily keep coming back for more. It made Emily rage but also feel lighter than any dose of adderall or morphine. Was this why old men were addicted to casinos?

If Emily wasn’t about to suggest the craziest plan to Nicole, she’d possibly wouldn’t mind bickering with Ari for the rest of her high school days.

Ari… Emily thought back to the money that was given to her. She wasn’t sure if the redhead actually appreciated her enough to hand over some cash. Their alliance-feud stemmed all the way to this day.

She supposed Ari decided to raise a white flag on that day.

She smiled. Classic Ari.

“What do we do?” Nicole was sitting on the edge of the bed, her perfectly polished nails resting comfortably on the mattress. Her silky smooth voice only made the blonde shiver.

In a tremorous voice, Emily said, “Okay, we go to the front of class…”

Chapter Text

Maybe life was a game after all. Whatever was the ‘right’ option didn’t matter at all-so long as you did what you had to in order to survive was what counted.

That day Emily crept through the living room to stash herself a quick drink. Her long nails slowly flicked open the can, nudging it in quick grasps. She took a long sip, her eyes darting back and forth before beginning her stalk back upstairs, like a mountain cat.

“Emily.”

The alt girl inwardly groaned, slowly turning around to face Him. “Hey dad.” She said, keeping her voice devoid of any skepticism. She never took her gaze away from him. “Did you have a shitty day at work?”

“What’s it to you?” He responded in his gruff voice. Emily stuffed her hands in her pockets, squeezing on her Monster tightly.

She watched her father stomp around the kitchen, each step making itself abundantly clear with its tremendous roar. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. Wordlessly, he started dunking in the dishes, scrubbing on the hard glass surface.

Emily only stood by, watching. The drink she was holding didn’t loosen in her grip. Her shoulders snapped back, making herself look as tall as possible.

“You ain’t still in that gang no more, are ya?” Her dad spat. His saliva smacked onto Emily’s face.
The blonde didn’t even bother to wipe it off, acting of mild disinterest. “I told you. To never mention that name ever again.”

The father laughed, his roar shouting off the ceiling. “You think I’m going to believe my daughter hanging out with those goons would ever make me feel any less sorry about myself?” The odor of wine hung in the air. Emily’s knuckles turned white.

“I left him and there is nothing-NOTHING that you can do about it, got it?” Her voice shrieked, bouncing off the kitchen ceiling.

‘Aw, don’t be like that Emi. If you really loved me, you would do this for me.’

“I am not weak. I just needed something to-to hold onto-”

‘You made me do this.’

“It wasn’t my fault! I wouldn’t have done it if you weren’t an asshole!”

‘I can give you everything your parents didn’t give you. Love, kindness…’

“I didn’t mean to…”

‘Dangerous individuals like us don’t need anyone else.’

Her dad only looked at her with a tired expression. “Get out.”

Emily glanced back, the liquid oozing from her palm onto the floor. Her dad reached out to yank her out-

“Don’t touch me.” Emily snapped, jerking her arm away. Wordlessly, she ran up the stairs, not bothering to look back at the mess she made.

—

Depending on her mood, Emily would be either spending as much time outside as possible or locked up in her room blaring whatever music in which she could find.

She turned off her air-pod, feeling once again another wave of gross pile up in her stomach. Fuck, did she need to throw up again?

Her world was practically spiraling. She clutched her forehead. God, she needed someone, SOMEONE. She scrolled through her contacts with haste, settling on the one friend that found her cool.

Nicole. Nicole was cool, right? She might be even cooler than her. Emily let out a sigh of relief, allowing her tensed shoulders to relax. She waited for the number to ring for a couple of seconds, before a sleepy voice droned on from the other end. “...Hello?”

Emily giggled to herself. “Nicole! Hi! Did you just wake up?” She kept the spiraling voice out of her head. Everything was okay. Everything was going to be okay.

Nicole groaned. “Bitch, was that literally all you texted me for?”

Emily shrugged her shoulders. Please don’t hang up. “Relax, can’t a girl just talk to you?”

“This is literally such a waste of my time.”

Emily huffed. “Well don’t end the call just yet! We have a presentation to go over in a couple days!” Her heart pounded wildly. Oh, to hear that voice till the end of time.

“Did you literally not say that you had it covered a couple days ago?”

Emily rocket launched herself off the bed. “Well yeah, it’s just that you are always hanging out with Jeck-ass and leave me bored hanging here!”

“You drain my energy too much.”

“How so?”

“Where do you even start.”

Ouch.

The alt girl rolled her eyes. “Look, all I wanted to do was talk to my best friend. And instead of helping me out, when I came up with the plan for the group presentation, when I hung out with the mall with you on that day, and when I told Jeffrey to back off for you, all you do is mope around.”

“What do you expect me to do I’m at home-”

“Did you even bother to ask why I’m calling you?”

Nicole stayed silent on the other end of the line. “It’s because my shitty father doesn’t care about me!”

“Wow, tough crowd, like I’ve never been in the same boat.”

Emily snarled, dropping her phone. “Just-just end this call already.”
Nicole hung up, leaving Emily to be sitting on the edge of the bed with her head buried in her hands.

Sick, sick, son of a bitch.

—

“Thanks for coming!” Ari responded cheerfully to the next group of customers that were leaving the plaza. She stuffed the bills in with a satisfied clunk, resting her head on the wood.

On weekdays, Hot Topic was generally a place where the area was almost vacant, which gave Ari some time to reorganize the shelves and place new items in stock. Making sure a Gir plushie was safely secured on the back cabinet, she smiled towards her boss.

“I’ll be heading home soon.” She said to her boss, who only nodded from his dozing position. She placed her car keys in her pockets, walking towards the parking lot.

The low lamps at dusk were slightly dimmed from repairs going slowly. It was contrary to the blaring streaks of color that lit up in Seoul. She scooched in her car, slowly turning on the engine.

It didn’t matter that she moved here when she was eight. She would never get used to how dark it got at night. Unlike her hometown, which was like a glowing lightstick, where you could so vividly see which street you wanted to turn towards. She squinted, slowly backdriving out of the parking lot before slowly swerving towards the next road.

Driving on, careful to duck out of the way of bigger cars, Ari bypassed a group of laughing teenagers who were currently taking pictures for their MySpace account. Stopping in front of a red light, she paused to look at the young teens, their knees slightly bent to pose in what looked like a worn-down shopping cart.

Which made it funny and wishing Ari could wipe the memory from her head. When Ari and Emily were still freshmen, they had somehow gotten into yet another competition of who took the best photos. Emily was doing that exact same pose before the doofus realized the cart was sliding backwards and plummeted way down south. Ari had to run up to Emily in order to grasp the handle.

“This doesn’t mean we’re even.” Ari added, dragging a stunned Emily in a cart all the way back up the hill.

Emily gave Ari a couple of finger guns. “Aw, did you really miss me that much?”

“Shut up.” Ari glared. “I’ll hold the cart steady for you while you take the picture, and THEN I’ll upload an even better version myself.”
“Oh, it’s on.” Emily chirped.

—

“Mom, I’m home.” Ari called, dropping her keys to the side.

Her mom was waiting for her at the doorway, pinching her cheeks. “Aw, look at you. Dinner’s on the table.”

Ari nodded to herself, taking off her shoes and dragging herself to the dinner table. Her dad looked up from reading the newspaper. He gave her daughter a weary smile. “Ari! I’m glad you could make it. Your revisions were excellent.”

Ari dropped her bag. “Did the boss say anything?”

Her father’s smile drooped slightly. “No, not so far but…it’s going about as well as we would like it to be.”

Ari’s eyes flicked downwards. “Oh…cool.”

Her mother eyed the black ends of her hair which were beginning to form. “Why don’t you just let your roots grow out? Dyed black hair is slowly becoming a trend.”

“I…” Ari glanced between either parent. “I like it better this way.” She tucked the dark parts behind her ear, nibbling on a bit of rice.

Her mother only looked slightly disappointed, but only watched Ari clean up after herself. “Don’t stay up too late, I know you’re busy lately.”

Ari nodded, trailing to her room and automatically plopping her head on the pillow. She couldn’t even bring herself to move her legs, they felt like noodles.

She turned on and flipped through her phone; there were a couple of missed messages from her grandma (which she couldn’t even bring herself to open), her group partner wondering if she was done with her part for the English project and her Dad wondering when she got home, which now that she thought about it, Ari really needed to get on the grind for driving home faster with the oncoming traffic.

She smirked, seeing a familiar contact on the other side. Opening it, she nestled into bed and shot her friend a quick text;

아리아님: 안녕~ (hi)

다해: 안자? (oh wow, you’re still up?)
아리아님: 여기는 여덟씨 ㅋㅋㅋ (It’s 8PM here, LOL)

다해: 아 알았어. (Oh okay)

다해: 씨발. 동생이 또 나랑 싸워 (Shit, my brother’s yelling at me again)

Ari rolled her eyes. Oh, of course her brother would be yelling at her about something.

다해: 학교가 어때? (How’s school)

아리아님: 괜찮아 (It’s okay)

다해:.....

아리아님: …이상해. 엄청 이상해. (...It’s weird. It’s really weird)

다해: ???

아리아님: 어덯게 설명할지도 몰으겠어. 남자들이 이상하고 선생님들도 이상해. (I don’t even know how to explain it. The men are weird, the teachers are weird…)

다해: 뭐 했어? (What did they do?)

아리아님: 한 사람이 총 가지고 학교 안에 들어왔어. (one person brought a gun to school)

대해: 헐… (omg)

다해: 너 조심해. 따른 한국 사람들도 만났어? (You be careful. Do you know any other Korean people?)

아리아님: 아니. (No)

다해: 찾아봐. 우리를 싫어 할거야 (Find them. They probably hate people like us)

아리아님: ???

다해: 니 아빠봐, 돈을 잘 안 밭잖아! (Look at your dad, he doesn’t even get paid that well!)

아리아님: …ㅇㅋ. (okay)

다해: 이제 나 학교로 가야해, 안녕! 여름때 일로 와! (I have to go soon, see you! And come visit during the summer!)

아리아님: 알았어, 잘가-보고싶어 (Okay, I hear you. Miss you)
Ari frowned seeing her friend vanish off into god knows whatever classroom she had to go towards.

Whatever Ari was going through was probably an average Tuesday to Dahae’s ears. She knew that a bullying culture had heightened since she left. She could only hope that her friend wasn’t cracking under the academic pressure. She knew that she was.

—

Ari stood in front of the large board that was looming in front of her. In bold chalk, the chart read;

Subin: 1st place
Jin: 2nd place
Mira: Third place…

Ari’s eyes trailed down to her own name.

Okay, so out of the 500 students in her grade, 213th probably wasn’t so bad. Yet for someone who used to be the queen bee of her school, it felt draining to have her name be dropped down to that level. Her heart sank to her stomach, hearing her peers snort with laughter behind her.

“야, 아리, 그 점수 밖에 못 받았어?” (Hey Ari, you only got that much of a score?) A girl cried out behind her.

Ari tugged on her uniform, looking away. She pushed through the throng of students who were jeering at her score. She wanted nothing more than to tuck herself in, curl up into a ball and cry. She ran out the school hallway, panting to herself.

Stupid 97 percent. If she could have gotten one less question wrong, she might have jumped ahead a couple places.

—

Her teachers weren’t that interested in her as much as they used to either. All the girls were frolicking up to Subin, preening and gnarfing her down for compliments. The teachers gave her head pats on the head, and whenever Ari walked past them, they looked at her with scorn.

Ari brushed past Subin, who sniffed-then proceeded to squirt a can of juice. It dripped down her uniform, the floor becoming a muddled mess.

“미얀, 쓰레기를 못 봤네.” (Sorry, I didn’t see the pile of trash that was in my way.) Subin laughed, her goons shouldering past the timid girl. Ari glowered as they walked away. Her teachers stared yet said nothing.

Ari only knew that they were going to tell her to work harder.

—

Crying in front of her desk, with at least five workbooks she needed to complete by the next day, Ari sniffed.

Her mom walked in. “아리?” (Ari?)

Ari clutched her pencil. She couldn’t…she couldn’t…

Her mother pulled her daughter in for a hug. “아리, 괜찮아.” (Oh Ari, it’s okay.)

Ari snapped. “안 괜찮아!” (It’s not okay!)

(The author got tired from switching between Korean and English)

Pulling herself away from her mom, she yelled, “I’m supposed to be the smart one, and I’m supposed to be the one who should be on top of the leaderboard. Me, not Subin! I’m trying so hard to focus, but I’m exhausted! I’m exhausted, I can’t sleep enough anymore, and I feel like-” tears blurred her vision. “I feel like everyone else is ahead of me, and I’m falling behind. If I had just enough motivation I could make it, but I’m just so numb right now, and cram school isn’t helping.”

She sniffled. “All my friends ditched me the moment Subin came out in first place. I’m scared-I’m scared that Dahae’s going to leave me too.”

Her mother only ran her fingers through Ari’s hair. “Hey, if Dahae didn’t leave you by now, she won’t ever leave you.”

You don’t know that.

You don’t know anything.

—

Ari approached the gates of her new middle school. The tiled down, dull building was really different from her own shiny old school.

For starters, there wasn’t a Jesus statue at the center, and Ari didn’t know if that made her feel any better or worse.

—-

Emily jeered at Ari. “Don’t you ever know how to quit?”

Ari zipped up her backpack. “The only reason I don’t know how to quit is because you’re buffering.”

Emily blinked as Ari stood to face her. “You know the one thing I despise about people like you in America? It’s that your popularity isn’t determined by something as mediocre as a score. Your advantages and disadvantages aren’t determined by something as mediocre as a score. Your whole LIFE isn't the fate of some exam. The fact that you somehow have a shit ton of friends despite the fact that you are clinging to that D+ by a thread is beyond absurd.”

She drew herself up. “So knock me out all you want. Let you, Jecka, even Nicole for all I care come at me. But read my lips; you cross the line with our feud and I’m ending whatever squabble we have-got it?”

Ari stalked off. Emily’s eyes widened. She quickly reached out to grab Ari by the wrist.

“Ari, wait.”

Ari glared back at Emily. “What is it now?”

“I…” Emily gulped. “Okay, I don’t know if we even get along at this point but…” She sighed. “You win this one, okay?”

Ari blinked. “What?”

“Perfect score, I promise. 100%, you name it. I swear, I thought that we were just having fun.”

Ari considered her options. At most, their rivalry was just a series of bickering-if a forearm was really the length of your foot, who could climb the fastest, one even involved a death metal screaming competition.

Ari sighed, caving in. “Okay.”

Emily cheered, tackling Ari in a hug.

Ari just stood there with her arms stiff at her sides. She wasn’t used to Americans being this…open with their emotions, but she let it slide. A hint of a blush was creeping up on her cheeks.

Emily pulled back. “Are you…crying?”

Ari wiped a tear away. “Shut up.”

—

Ari was running late. Fuck, she promised her mom that she would sleep more now that America had a lot less schoolwork but old habits died hard.

TotallyNotAri: DUDE IM SO SORRY I FORGOT I HAD TO BE THERE TO PRESENT THE PROJECT ILL BE THERE STAT

Ari stopped at the bicycle racks, barely stopping just long enough to tie the chain to her skateboard before throwing herself headfirst into the doors of LHS.

Shit, why were there so many stairs to the English room?

She sprinted up the stairs three at a time. There was a buzz from her back pocket, but she didn’t care enough to ask. Gripping onto the steel railing so that she wouldn’t trip, her converses slightly slipping on the floor, she dug her heels in, banking right at full speed.

She burst the door open. “Hey Sean, sorry I’m late-”

An ear-splitting scream cut through the air. Ari’s eyes widened in fear at the spectacle that unfolded before her eyes.

On one end of the floor stood a familiar brunette, her hair drooped to the side.

On the other, knocked out cold, was Emily.

Chapter Text

BUZZZZZ.

A subtle, loud ringing filled Emily’s ears. She stumbled on her feet, the expression of Ms. Ame’s outstretched hand out to grab her. She fell backwards, letting a small smile rest on her face, a sharp THUMP hitting the floor.

And the world went pitch black…

—

The scream that appeared as both girls collapsed resulted in a chain of sequences.

Or rather, a jumble.

Students were launching out of their seats, someone yelling at one of them to call an ambulance. There was someone barging in with a large AED, crouching down beside Nicole and automatically pressing the button to set up the sign.

Ari tore her gaze from Nicole, resting her focus onto Emily. She wrestled with her emotions. Should I actually try to…?

She shook her head. No, she wasn’t that petty. She rushed towards Emily, kneeling on one leg. Turning her over on her stomach, she snapped her fingers towards a distraught Ms. Ames. “Don’t just stand there, get me an AED!”

Ms. Ames, who was briefly in a trance, clicked to attention. “R-right,” she stammered, pushing her way out of the classroom.

Ari focused her attention back on the unconscious girl, resting two fingers against her wrist for any sign of a pulse.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

She blew out a sigh of relief. Good. That was a good sign. With her free hand, she dialed 911. Panic seeped in; she blew out a sigh of relief after approximately three rings.

“Hello?”

Ari drew out a sigh of relief. “Hi! My…er… acquaintance passed out.”

“Okay ma’am. Please stay on the line. Is your friend on a flat surface?”

Ari pushed some of Emily’s hair out of the way. “We’re not-fine, yes.”

“Is your friend responsive? Have you called out to them?”

“Judging from how Ms. Ames has been screaming at both of them, no.”

“Alright. Now tilt the head back.”

“...how do I do that?”

“Place one hand directly on top of the t-zone and swoop the other underneath the chin.”

The pain of being a scene kid was that your bangs were so shaggy that it was unconventional for dire situations such as this. Ari’s hands slipped in Emily’s clearly unkempt hair, managing to push back her noggin with slight difficulty.

“Ma’am, are you still there?”

“Er, yes.”

“Wonderful-now be sure to be within reach of her shoulders, and interlock your fingers. You should do 30 compressions every two seconds.”

“I-sure.”

Wordlessly, Ari straightened her elbows and began pushing straight down on Emily’s chest.

She didn’t know how many seconds, minutes or even hours had passed. She gave the unconscious girl a weak smile.

“You’re such an idiot.”

Maybe treating her like she’s alive might as well help my palms to stop sweating so much.

Ari looked back at the other students.

“You know, it would be REALLY useful right now if someone made sure Ms. Ames got that AED for me!”

One student was pacing the floor. Half the students had already on their way to alert…at least somebody. Ms. Lynn walked in, her head rested to the side from holding a phone up to her ear whilst carrying a box of water bottles, Jecka at her heels.

“Nicole!?” She yelled, peering through the doorway.

Ms. Lynn blocked her. “Stay out of this, Jessica.”

Jecka grappled her hand on the edge of the doorway. “But Nicole-”

The principal glared at Jecka, who visibly squirmed away from the older authority figure. Ms. Lynn sat down beside Ari, who rested a hand on her shoulder.

“You’ve done well. I’ll take it from here.”

“I…” Ari stammered, examining the blonde closely for any sign of shallow breathing or coughing.

“That’s an order, Ari.”

Ari hesitated, drawing out a long breath before handing her principal her phone. “Don’t hang up.” She told the principal, standing up on sore knees. She walked slowly out of the classroom, the last of her classmates having already been evacuated out.

Jecka was anxiously waiting outside, chewing on her fingernails. She automatically stuffed her hands in her pockets, glowering at Ari like she was some sort of she-demon.

At long last, Ari spoke; “The medics are coming soon.”

Jecka continued to look away. “You and Emily are close-did you know she was in on this?”

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

Jecka stepped closer, the dripping mascara visible in the tilted angle of the sun streaks. “Please. You of all people can’t even resist an interaction with that matted mutt every chance you get.” She yanked onto the front of Ari’s shirt, digging her nails into its edges. “You knew about this. Didn’t you?”

Ari flinched. “N-no, Emily never mentioned anything about this.”

Jecka pulled back, releasing her grip on Ari. “If you say so,” she responded, her face still twisted in an expression of doubt.

Throughout the rest of the day, the school was abuzz; rumors of a ‘suicide pact’...some sort of rebellion against the English teacher.

People were walking up to Ari, demanding for an answer, asking if she knew anything about their agenda.

Ari tiredly clutched a hand to her forehead. “I don’t know, guys.”

“Did you know why they took it?”

Kelly approached the ring of students with her hands on her hips. “Okay, that’s enough. Ari needs space.”

“But-”

Kelly shot the nearest schoolboy a glare, who ducked out of the way and scampered off.

Ari sighed. “Thanks.”

Kelly’s eyes brightened. “No prob!” She scooted in beside Ari with her own sack of lunch.

Ari sniffed on the school’s expired milk with disgust. “They were never this bad.”

Kelly munched on her sandwich. “I know, right? I heard that the elementary schools have it better.”

“Well, I was talking about today’s fiasco, but…that too.” Ari looked up at the taller blonde from where she was plucking out the lettuce from her sandwich. “Do you at least know what I missed?”

Kelly tapped a finger against her chin. “Erm…I heard it from Kyle, who heard it from Crispin, who then heard it from Megan, but it was seroquel, which was mixed with percocet, which was then mixed with something her ex-boyfriend gave her-” Kelly stopped mid sentence with Ari slowly lifting her head up.

“...elaborate.”

Kelly twiddled with her fingers. “...you’ve at least heard of what happened.”

Ari looked away. “I can only imagine.”

Kelly tried to sound upbeat with Ari, who was clearly looking away. “But hey! Knowing that the ambulance came right on cue, they’re bound to be okay!” She searched Ari’s face for any sign of emotion. Joy? Relief? Worry?

Ari stood up. “I’m going to go to my next class.”

Kelly awkwardly waved at Ari disappearing into the left corridor. “Er, bye! See you later!”

—

Ari slowly trailed back to the English room, the sharp clack of loud boots indicating that the cops had arrived.

A sharp jingle was sounded. “You can’t be here, ma’am.”

Ari raised an eyebrow. “I just need to find my principal.”

“And why would you need to do that?”

“She used my phone to call an ambulance in the first place. I at least need it back.”

The two cops glanced at one another.

“She’s being interviewed, but she’s out in the back.”
Ari wordlessly nodded, approaching the small teacher’s workroom.

“Thank you for the insight, Ms. Lynn. We will be sure to hear from you shortly.” A muffled voice came from the doorway. An officer stepped out.

Ari slipped in the doorway, shutting it softly behind her.

Ms. Lynn looked disheveled, the tight, neat bun on her hair being slowly come undone in ragged wisps. She took a long, draining sip of her cup. Without glancing up, she hissed,

“If you could do me a favor, Ari. Never speak of this situation to me ever again.”

She rustled around in her pocket, long, red fingernails grasping onto the gray phonecase. She slid it forward, the model scraping against the wooden desk.

Ari slowly took her phone in her grip. “...What’s going to happen to the both of them?”

Ms. Lynn cleared her throat. “Not sure. What we can do though…is ensure that any…infractions are out of the way.” She stood up and faced the window. “You may be dismissed.”

A police officer opened the door. “Times up, kid.”

Ari slowly rose from her seat, allowing herself to be shepherded out of the small room. The last glimpse she caught of her principal were two hands that were balled into fists.

—

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“You’re going to leave again, Emily? Run away from your problems?”

“And so what if I am? You of all people would know that this wasn’t meant to last forever!”

His arm was draped lazily over his shoulder. “I offered you a home when you didn’t have one. I gave you food to eat and drink for every time your own father threatened to kick you out on the streets.”

Emily grabbed onto the jacket that was resting on the coffee table. “I made my choice.”

Her acquaintance blew on a bit of smoke. “Keep it that way. You’ll be crawling back to me soon. You always do.”

—

Emily slowly cracked open one eyelid, then the other. “H-huh?”

The nurse sighed with relief. “Oh, thank god!” She rushed out of the hospital, her long flowing hair a blur amidst the foggy shapes and colors that were darting around the room.

Emily reached a hand out to slowly sit up, falling back into her bed. Her lips felt dry and cracked, the room around her felt a little hazy. She waved a hand in front of her.

Huh. She almost thought it would work.

The doctor rushed in with a clipboard. He beamed slightly. “Looks like you made it out alive after all, kid.”

Emily shrunk away from the older figure, wishing she could disappear into the shadows.

“Well, now that you are alive and well-”

“Ask me why I did it and I’ll kill you.”

The doctor stumbled over his words. “...alright. We will just need to alert your parents and-”

Whatever loss of energy Emily had from earlier was quickly diminished. She threw the covers off, the doctor stumbling back as the blonde raised a single, chipped nail towards him.

“You will never call them. You won’t even pick up the phone line.”

“Miss. Stone-”

“DON’T YOU ATTEMPT TO CALL MY DAD OVER THIS, YOU BASTARD!”

The doctor opened and closed his mouth. “...do you have any extended family in this area?”

“What’s it to you?”

The doctor began to grow agitated. The nurse stepped forward. “Sweetie, we need to call someone over this and-”

“NO.”

The nurse’s mouth snapped shut. Emily’s eyes seemed to almost bulge out of her skull.

“I don’t want to talk to anyone. Get out.”

The nurse was about to bark back a retort, but the doctor grasped a hand on her shoulder.
“Come on, let’s leave.” He said quietly.

The nurse stormed out, but not before muttering a word, “rude.”

Emily crossed her arms, not bothering to relax her shoulders until the door was slammed shut.

It wasn’t until she was completely sure of the footsteps fading away that she buried her hands into her face and allowed herself to cry.

—

Ari’s car let out a short beep. Despite all of LHS becoming some sort of interview hub for her, today had gone relatively normal…as can be.

For starters, she was asked to be interviewed by the local newspaper, where the school’s principal had quickly declined and had badgered the girl into saying no. Being dragged through three flights of stairs and around the halls was an experience (Ari had no idea Ms. Lynn could run so fast in high heels) but it was the least eventful out of all the happenings at this school, so Ari took it.

There were at least five police cars parked in the driveway parallel to the area where Ari was, their recognizable blue and red flaring as a crude, permanent reminder of the stain that had left LHS.

Pressing the key into the ignition, Ari dunked her bookbag into the side of the passenger seat and slammed her head against the steering wheel.

What a day.

‘All we can do is ensure that any…infractions are out of the way.’

Ari furrowed her brow. Something about that phrase made her hair stand on end.

The fact that Emily was still a student within this school building was honestly a miracle. There had been countless vandalisms, school skippings, trespassing, substance abuse…it made people wonder why Ari would even bother to hang out with Emily.

The junkie puzzled Ari. She never seemed to be a stickler for the rules, always brash and outspoken. She never fought with her brain, but with her fists.

Her grandma had once sat her down at the dinner table and explained that America was just one, big ol’ joke.

“You see, what sets that country apart from everyone else is how they act and think. Koreans believe in the freedom to avoid doing things. Americans believe in the freedom to do things.”

Ari looked up from where she was twirling her spoon in her cup. “You can’t generalize.”

Her grandma chuckled. “Oh, but there are rules, child. I abide by the rules of three types of people; the do-gooder, the one who obeys only when someone’s watching, and the ones that disobey regardless of law.” She leaned forward. “Why don’t you guess which one is the one I come across most often?”

“The second one.” Ari said without hesitation.

Her grandmother bonked her on the head. “Wrong. It’s the third.” She picked up the rook. Lazily swirled it around. “Trust no three…checkmate.”

Ari rested on fingertip on her king. “She nudged it one space back. “And tell me what is to happen for…the ones that grew up more Americanized.”

Her grandmother stared at the board, watching Ari place her king one step back. She clicked her teeth. “Stupid, stupid girl.” She pushed her queen diagonally across the board. Knocked out the king in one fell swoop. Raising a bony hand towards her, she rasped, “growing up in this place made you put your guard, I see.” She looked the redhead up and down. “You stand out like a black sheep. Your mannerisms have gotten sloppy. You’ve become more extroverted. You think that because you ditched your roots that you have the ‘freedom to do things’ now?” Her king falling off the table and rolling at her feet.

“Please, from the bottom of my heart, listen to your grandmother. You were born in such a society where your options are limited. Don’t think that just because you are in the ‘land of the free’ that you can toss out whatever pawns you have. You’ll meet countless threes throughout your life.”

Ari picked up the fallen king.

In her grandmother’s logic…Emily would be a three. A good for nothing, rude American girl of a three.

And that gave Ari a rush of adrenaline.

Hanging out with Emily gave her both envy and joy. The exhilaration of running around the supermarket, pushing the cart downhill at rapid topspeed, swapping out old CD’s at Blockbusters, late night banters underneath the school parking lot that sometimes turned into fights.

Emily was fully to blame for making Ari American, 100%.
Maybe it was time to give her payback and a thank you gift as a return.

Ari called her mom. “Hey, I’m going to the hospital to check up on a friend. See you later.”

 

—

Emily glumly stared up at the ceiling, the hospital bedlights only staring back into her soul. Throughout the day all she heard were nurses and doctors running around.

She didn’t even want to see Nicole. Instead she rested her head on the pillow.

Maybe death was like falling asleep.

A light knock was sounded at the doorway. Emily pulled the covers over her head. “Go away.”

The door slid open. “Relax, it’s me.”

Emily lifted her head up to find the last person she would expect to pay her a visit. She pulled on the sheets to give herself some leverage. “...Ari?”

Ari leaned against the doorway, the window slanting just enough to highlight her well-toned biceps. “Hey.”

Neither of the two spoke for a long, awkward moment. Knowing that Emily wasn’t going to go the usual route and hit her up with a snarky comment, Ari crossed her arms and looked around. “...really could use some redecoration here.”

“I really don’t want to talk about it.” Emily blurted out. Ari stiffened.

“Don’t worry, I won’t.”

What does one even say to a girl who nearly overdosed on drugs? Ari, still feeling Emily’s looming cold blue stare on her neck clasped her hands. She pulled a chair over, sitting pretzel style. She managed to give Ari a weak smile. “They said that they’re locking you in here for at least another two weeks.”

Emily looked at her hospital gown with murderous intent. “Do you know what they are saying about me?”

“They?”

“Students. Teachers. Whatnot.”

“Nobody’s saying anything about you.”

Emily scoffed. “Don’t LIE to me.”

Ari shrugged her shoulders, forcing herself to stay calm for once in her life in her interactions with the alt girl. “Alright, let’s say they did. Then it would stay afloat for about a week before Kylar chooses to smash the photo lab and people will be caught up on the next.”

Emily’s palms began to tremble. “Are they…laughing at me?”

“People laughing about you is the last thing I would worry about right now.”

Emily rubbed her shoulder.

“If it makes you feel any better…I don’t find you an embarrassment at all.”

Emily looked surprised. Ari gave her a deadpan stare.

“Fine. You can have your moments. But I hang around with you because I want to experience growing up here. I know that I can come across as hard-headed sometimes, but there are times when I enjoy your company.”

Emily gripped her blanket tighter. Ari had to admit, seeing Emily grip on the blanket with the sheets covering her eyes just slightly, it looked almost adorable.

Ari smirked, letting a small line of sarcasm slip through. “You think I wasn’t going to conduct CPR on my favorite partner in crime and check up on her to make sure she was still kicking?” She kicked the bed just lightly enough so it would creak back and forth. “Fat chance, bozo.”

Emily let a small thin line crack through her face. “If I wasn’t tied up to all these wires I’d wrestle you to the floor.”

“You beat me in an arm wrestling competition, what makes you think you could take me on?” Ari lightly joked.

Emily rolled her eyes humorously. “Eh, let me think. How about the one time you were chasing me down the hallway and ended up busting your ankle? I brought you to the nurse’s office.”

“Yeah. By dragging me by the injured foot.”

Emily laughed. “What side are you on, bitch? You save my life but start beef with me the moment the doctors find out I’m alive.”

Ari let herself sit on the edge of Emily’s bed. “The world will never know.” She kicked her shoes off. “Did anyone else visit today?”

Emily’s face paled. “Well, I’m keeping Doc under a tight leash to not call my parents…”

Ari blinked. “Oh, shit. Do they know?”

“...not yet.”

Ari brought her knees up to her chest.

“Whatever you do, Ari, don’t tell them about…any of this.”

“I…okay.”

Not like I ever knew those guys, anyway.

“Hey Ari?”

“Hmm?”

Emily blushed, looking away. “Thanks. For…what you did back there. I know I wasn’t…the nicest to you, like when I threatened to stab you that one time.”

Ari blinked. “Oh. No problem.”

An awkward silence formed between the two girls. Emily reached her hand out towards Ari, then pulled it back in the way she always did whenever she wanted to touch someone.

“Could you…nevermind.”

“Could I…?”

“You wouldn’t mind if…you stayed the night, right?”

Ari inwardly groaned. “I don’t know…I have work later on, and my mom will be wondering where I’m at, and Mr. Lorre gave me way too much homework-”

Emily was visibly sulking. “...Forget I asked.”

“I-wait! I could…reschedule for today.”

Emily slowly perked up. “Really?”

Ari twiddled with her thumbs. “Yeah, I can just stop by later to grab my things.”

Emily wasn’t beaming, but she was at least looking like she was trying to get herself to relax. She rubbed her collarbone. “...Okay.”

Yeah, this girl had a lot on her plate. It was probably best for the redhead to stay for at least an hour. She let herself breathe in.

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Chapter Text

“Absolutely not.”

“So you intend on starving to death, sure, like that will help you.”

“This looks absolutely disgusting! Who makes this, I might as well stab them with a pencil-”

“You terrorized the staff earlier today, doofus. If you threaten one more person, consider yourself kicked out of the hospital.”

Emily plopped back into her pillow and groaned. She nudged the beans with her spoon. “This looks vile.”

Ari examined the sickly green color. That along with the sticky slabs of meat might as well have looked like they have gone through a coal mine.

Emily pushed the tray back. “I…really don’t feel like eating today. Not after what happened.”

Ari had flung open the closet, dragging out a thick mattress. “The nurses are unlikely to check on you at this hour.” She sniffed the worn sheets, letting out a short ‘blegh’ before letting the mattress plop down on the floor beside Emily.

Emily crawled over until she was on the edge of the bed. She hugged her pillow, watching Ari situate herself by spreading out the sheets neatly on the floor. Awkwardly, she tossed her pillow right where the redhead would rest her face on where she slept.

Ari glanced up.

Emily shrugged. “There’s only one pillow.”

“I’m sorry, who’s the patient here?”

“I have a bed. I don’t need it, you know how many weird positions I find myself in when I wake up?”

Ari tried to look away from the rough edges of Emily’s eyebags. She mumbled a quick ‘thanks’ before smoothing out her pillow, kicking her shoes off and settling into the hardness of her bed.

Emily was just staring back at her with those blazing blue eyes of hers, the only sound that could be heard being each other’s breathing and an attached heart monitor to the ends of Emily’s wrists.

Ari raised an eyebrow. “You know, I kind of assumed that you would want to sleep off everything after today.”

Emily blinked. “I took a long nap.”

Right. Emily was a massive napper-even from her middle school years Ari remembered that the alt girl was always on the snooze when she was supposed to be doing group projects.

“Can the wires reach down here?” Ari asked.

“The nurse is going to berate me for another three hours if another one of them snaps off.”

“Alright.” Ari unzipped her backpack, which was filled with all of her essentials; a pair of clothes, a toothbrush and a small book. She dunked out it’s contents, setting them on the nightstand.

“Nerd,” Emily joked, seeing the book that looked about as thicker than a bible.

Ari huffed. “Bitch, you like Greek Mythology.”

“So do you!”

“I like it for its lore. You just like seeing the memes that pop up on MySpace.”

“The memes are FUNNY-”

“Your storage is clogged up with whatever dickhead decided to flood your algorithm that somehow involves a group poll on what Thetis should have done to dunk Achilles in the River Styx. Remember what you typed in there?”

“Um-”

“You suggested that Achilles should be shoved in a human-sized chicken deep fryer and be swerved around in it to invulnerable protection.”

“It’s a river. You expect me to just toss a baby in the river?”

“I never said you should TOSS A BABY IN THE RIVER, I said that you could just…double dunk like a normal person would!”

“I don’t think holding a baby by the ankle in general is normal.”

“If you end up with a child in the future, that's on you.”

Emily had abandoned her food, now fully invested in the conversation. “I think knowing that the river styx is usually portrayed as a rapid, that usually implies that both of us will be likely to fall in.”

Ari rested her chin on the pillow. “Go on.”

“So that would mean we would at least attach the deep frier to a pulley!”

“...A pulley.”

“Put the child in it and lower the crane to let it do its work.”

“Do you want to suffocate Achilles.”

“When did I ever say I was going to suffocate him?”

“How is the guy who’s fated to defeat the Trojans going to breathe in there?”

“I mean, Thetis did it. Ari, you’re overthinking this.”

“Oh really? Well, I guess Helen is doomed then.”

“Nah, you just underestimate the other heroes.”

“Like?”

Emily laughed, plopping her head down on the pillow. “Odysseus. Nestor. Neo. Teucer. Need I go on?”

“...They kind of relied on Achilles though.”

“And what did he do? Sulk in his room until Patroclus got shot, then went on a murder rampage beheading trojans left and right.”

“Come on. We all have that one relative at the family reunion who actually would have the potential to fight a river while everyone else looks on with that ‘should we stop that guy’ expression.”

“That’s a you problem, but go on, I’m intrigued.”

Ari rolled her eyes. “I’ve got a chill dad, a mom who probably wouldn’t even mind if the house burned down, and some distant relatives, but grandma only visits when I can’t use my dad’s car or on Sunday mornings, so that barely counts. Oh, and there’s my uncle, but we barely talk to each other.”

“Can’t you just walk home?”

“We used to be…on good-ish terms before I moved here, and she wants to keep in touch.”

Emily frowned. “What do you mean…’good-ish?’”

Ari looked like she was doing mental gymnastics with her brain before coming to a conclusion. “Oh yeah. I forgot we only ever interacted to fight with each other. Let’s just say that she’s a rather…calculated individual.”

“Huh?”

“You’d have to meet her to ever find out.”

“Do you want me to bash her head in for you?”

Ari sat up, waving her hands. “No, it’s nothing like that! She can just be a little stoic at times, but she loves me. Trust.”

Emily examined her chipped nails. “Shame. I wanted to do something in return for you and punching people is what I’m good at.”

“How about let’s not punch anyone.”

“We’ll see.”

Oh god what did I get myself into. Ari decided to pivot the conversation. Family? Too touchy. Relationships? Emily’s ex was what got her into this situation. Hair braiding? She wasn’t sure if Emily trusted Ari to touch her.

Why was talking to people so hard.

Noticing that night was approaching, Ari trotted over to the windowsill, pushing it open to welcome in the cool air.

“What are you doing?” Emily asked.

“You never stargazed at night before?” Ari asked, busily pulling aside the blindfolds. Emily scooched aside on the bed, watching the redhead curiously. Crickets hummed in pleasure, the firelights flickering before their eyes. Summer was nearly drawing to an end.

Ari pointed towards the nearest gravitating object. “Look, there’s a full moon tonight.”

Emily squinted. “It’s a bit huddled under the clouds.”

“I thought that made it a bit prettier.” She pointed towards the next closest one. “And that one slightly to the left is the Big Dipper.”

“Where did you learn all this?”

Ari shrugged. “Well, I was in the girl scouts.” She leaned forward. “Dammit, I don’t see the North Star anywhere.”

“Must be covered up by the fog.” The blonde pointed just a little to the side. “Is that the Little Dipper?”

“Mhm.”

A firefly hummed softly, brushing against Ari’s thumb. She watched it dart between her fingers, doing her best to stay still while it tickled the sides of her hands.

“Careful. You don’t want it to get in your mouth.” Emily teased.

“You speaking from experience?”

Emily shook out the spiked ends of her hair. “It happened to Jecka, just saying.”

Ari sputtered in laughter. “What?”

“Was yapping to Nicole about something. Got lodged up in her throat. Was sent back home crying.”

Ari covered her mouth in a fit of giggles. “Can’t say I’m surprised, really.”

Emily rested her hands on the windowsill. The damp breeze ruffled through her hair. She spoke softly.
“So. What would you be doing right now if you were home and didn’t have to deal with some junkie that passed out for your English assignment?”

Ari shrugged. “I wouldn’t use the term…’deal with’.”

Emily bit the inside of her cheek. She glanced down.

“We both know that I was a burden for trying to leave sooner.”

Ari let the firefly dart off. “Has anyone told you that you were?”

There was a long, drained out silence. In the dark, Ari huffed. “Then clearly they don’t know you well enough.” She shut the windowsill, feeling Emily’s doubtful eyes on her. “I mean it.”

Emily gave Ari a long look. “Are you sure…?”

Ari tucked a strand of red behind her ear. “I’m not sure I’m doing this right, but consider for five seconds-if a bitch took the time to conduct CPR on you and check you up later in the hospital then clearly it has to mean something.” She turned towards Emily in an exaggerated fashion.

“We were never friends to begin with.”

Ari dropped down on the bed. “What do you want us to be?”

“Er…I dunno…” Emily was twisting her hair to the point where her fingers got tangled up.

“Want to settle it with two people who won’t stab and threaten each other?”

“Oh yeah!” Emily said, a bit too abruptly. She covered her mouth instantly.

“Oh look, now who’s the doofus.”

“You started this first!”

Ari covered her face with her pillow. Old habits would die hard, she supposed.

“Okay, that’s it, I’m sleeping right now.”

“Ariiiiiii!” Emily whined. “You literally just got back here!”

Ari threw off the pillow. “Bitch, I’m kidding.” Her elbows rested on the side of the bed. “Talk to me.”

“About?”
Ari blinked slowly. “You wanted my attention and now you’ve got it.”

Emily laughed nervously.

“You’re going to tell me I get to spend a day with the school junkie and I get no juice? Spill everything.”

“Ask away.”

“Did Kylar actually make out with the football captain?”

Emily rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, why does everyone always ask that?”

“...Because the majority wasn’t there to witness it?”

Emily let out a loud groan. “Yes. And you better be the last fucker to have asked that question.”

“Oh cool. And how exactly do you know this?”

“I was the ref. But it was like…the least interesting thing about LHS by far so I kind of just continued to keep score of the points. We were losing anyway.”

“Wait then how did it spread like wildfire-”

“Kelly.”

“No explanation needed.”

Emily picked on the strings of her bed. “Well deserved for destroying my hideout place. Did he really feel the need to smash the photo lab with Coach Culby’s bat? His sacrilegiously shitty bat?”

“If it was shitty that means it was doomed to not be in working condition anyway.”

“He’s been hissing and spitting over Kylar getting his greasy hands on it, even Nicole’s tired of his antics.” Her face faltered at the brunette’s name.

“Nicole…it’s all my fault.”

“She’s alive if that’s what you’re asking. I bypassed her room.”

“...how was she?”

Ari’s gaze darted away. “Pissed by seeing me, overall.”
Emily’s stomach felt like she was going to do flip-flops. “I feel like I’m going to be sick.”

Ari shook her leg. Yeah, there was definitely no sugar coating the fact that what Emily did…was reckless as per usual. It wasn’t like they could easily skip over the details-no, this was far worse than vandalism or…any of Emily’s usual antics.

Ari sighed. “You can worry about her, your parents, and everyone else when you can actually get out of bed.”

Emily’s gaze seemed distant and unfixated. She bobbed her head slightly, turning her head over to sleep.

“Good night, Ari.” She whispered.

Ari watched the alt girl fall asleep.

Was she too trusting? Maybe. She’d been shamed for her rather horrible taste in women, and she knew that it was meant in good will. Maybe she was asking to be too rebellious simply for sticking around with Emily.

But if Emily was willing to start something else…maybe she could accept the offer.

Just a minor thought.