It was basically the scene from The Princess Bride where Inigo Montoya and The Man in Black where fencing at the edge of the cliff. Only ten times more intense.

The whole class was in the Chilton fencing room with our fencing uniforms on. I got paired with some kid named Olive who fought like she wanted to strangle me with the thin sword. Luckily, fencing was one of the sports I relatively enjoyed, next to baseball.

But when I realised that the whole class had stopped fencing, I took off my mask and tore my eyes away from the girl before me and turned towards Paris and Rory. Usually, I wouldn't have stressed so much about arming Paris with a sword and giving Rory as her target. They had become good friends over the time that had passed.

However, the scene that played out before us looked like a battle to the death. Rory kept blocking Paris' advances as you could hear her frantic breathes. No matter how much Rory backed up away from Paris, she kept coming forwards with the foil in her hand.

"Paris!" I made a move to stop her but I felt someone pull my hand back. I looked behind me to see Madeline shaking her head at me. We both knew there was no stopping Paris when she wanted to get back at someone.

"Stay out of this!" Paris exclaimed to me, shifting her focus away from Rory for a split second. Rory took this opportunity to thrust her foul toward Paris' chest but it came up short as Paris took a step back. I looked toward the coach to see if she was going to intervene but she herself looked to scared to come between Paris and her poor victim.

They continued to thrust and parry back and forth with the occasional conversation between them. "I didn't go behind your back!" Rory explained in between her parries. "Francine said she wanted to meet to call a truce!"

Personally, I stayed as far away from anything to do with this school beside my academics and extra curriculum. Especially the people here, beside Paris and Rory. I don't knew the details, but I remember Paris and Rory mentioning so long of feud with Francine. The crazy egotistical brat that came straight from the pits of hell whose fire is as red as her hair. Paris' words not mine.

Paris and Rory went back and forth while Rory tried to defend herself from Paris' never ending accusations. I couldn't hear the whole thing over the sound of the foils clashing together but I got the gist of it. Francine has framed Rory to make it look like she was conspiring with her to make Paris mad and go on a rampaged frenzy on Rory. Props to Francine, cause it worked.

When Rory got disarmed I was ready to jump in and help her if it weren't for Rory running away from Paris. She chased after her with her sword in hand shouting. "Come back here, Gilmore!"

I was fairly sure that Paris wouldn't actually stab Rory but I was cautious just in case. Rory ran straight toward Madeline, Louise and I. She would've collided with us if it weren't for her tripping over a fold in one of the mats on the floor. She landed flat on her back as she took off her mask.

Taking the mask off her head, Paris pointed the sword at Rory's chest. "The worst part is," Paris began with a shake in her voice. Her face slightly red from all the running as her eyes were filled with unused tears. "You told her about Jamie. I can't believe I ever considered you my best friend."

Rory looked up at Paris with a face full of astonishment and regret. Sending one last glare down at Rory, Paris retracted her foil and sent it through the chest of a stuffed dummy on the wall. Without looking back, Paris stormed out of the room. She sure knew how to make an exit.

I extended my hand to help Rory up from the floor. She pushed herself off the ground with some help from me. "God, I feel awful!" Rory told me with a frown. Brushing back some stray hairs from her face she put her face in her hand.

"Me too!" Louise agreed with a nod of her head. We all looked at her in confusion.

"Why do you feel awful?" Madeline asked her friend suspiciously.

Louise sighed before responding her. "Because I thought that I was her best friend." She pouted as Madeline shook her head in annoyance.

"I'm gonna go check on Paris," I tell them as I make my way to the door. I place my sword and mask back in the closet, not bothering to change back into my usual clothes.

"Are you sure?" Madeline asked me with a raised eyebrow as she tucked a slice of blonde hair behind her ear. "Paris is mad and highly dangerous."

I gesture toward the sword that stuck out of the chest of a dummy that hung on the wall. "The sword is here isn't it?" I sent Rory a small smile and squeezed her shoulder reassuringly before dashing out of the room in search of Paris.

~~~

"Paris?" I called out to the empty library. Usually when people are upset they go to the bathroom but not Paris. I had been to every bathroom in the entire school but no Paris in sight. The librarian glared at me with an index finger to her lips.

I nod my head in understating as I pass through the aisle of books, hoping to get a glimpse of blonde hair. I weaved in and out between the aisles but didn't see her at all. I was about to give up and head back to class when I heard soft and quiet sniffles coming from the corner of the room.

Following the sound, I found Paris with her knees up to her chest and a book in her lap. She still woke her fencing uniform and her light coloured hair was messy and falling out from the bun that she put it in.

"Hey," I say softly as I took a seat next to her. She quickly wiped her red eyes and focused her attention back to the thick hardcover book. She didn't look back at me or say anything so I scanned the pages of the book. "Is this The Odyssey?"

"Yes," she answered me in a coarse voice. She still didn't look up at me so I didn't try to pressure her.

"Why're you reading The Odyssey?"

She tore her eyes away from the weathered pages and sends me a pointed look. "Because when I'm sad I like to read about how fucked up the Greeks were so I don't feel so bad about myself!" She exclaimed in frustration. "Did you just come here to judge me for my choice of literature?"

I quickly shake my head at her. "No, not at all." I tell her with a welcoming smile. "I just wanted to see if you were okay."

"Alright," she said before turning her face back to the book.

"Well?" I ask her, hoping to get her to answer my unsaid question. "Are you okay?"

"I'm better off than the Greeks," was her answer as I let out a disappointed sigh. "I mean seriously they were a messed up bunch."

"It's okay if you're upset," I tell her with a hand on her knee comfortingly. "Francine is a jerk."

"But it was Rory's fault! She shouldn't have went behind my back!" She blamed Rory as I thought about how to explain that Rory had good intentions.

"Listen," I began, "Rory just wanted to-"

Paris cut me off with a scoff and a roll of her eyes. "There you go!" She exclaims annoyance. "Taking precious little Rory's side!"

"I'm not taking her side!" I explained with a frown. "I'm just trying to ask you to see it from her perspective!"

"Well I've seen it! And I still blame her!" She says angrily with furrowed brows. "I can't believe she told Francine about Jamie!"

I nod my head along to her words. "Yeah that was a bad move," I admit. "But you can't hate her forever." 

"Well then I'll hate her till either one of us dies," she says confidently. Once she sees my face that said 'Hear me out,' she immediately shook her head. "I am not apologising to her," she assumed.

"I'm not asking you to apologise to her," I correct. "I want you to keep an open mind when she apologises to you."

"She's gonna apologise to me?" Paris asked as if not believing my words. "Are you sure?"

"If she doesn't then you can hate her for the next seventy years," I answer honestly. If anyone were to apologise it was Rory. She may have had good intentions but she definitely shouldn't have told Francine about Jamie.

"You make it eighty years and we got a deal," Paris bargained with an outstretched hand.

We both smile at each other kindly before I take her hand in mine. "Deal," I agree with a shake of our hands.