"Do you want some more popcorn, Mariana?" Elena asked. She faced her who was laid out on the couch. Her curly hair sprawled out everywhere as she stared motionless at the ceiling with Rio resting on her belly.

"Yeah, sure." She slowly sat up and got some popcorn. She was completely exhausted with red, sore rings around her eyes. They were completely drained and she barely had energy left.

Mariana swung her legs to the ground to face the TV. They were currently watching The Mask on Netflix. Although she couldn't concentrate properly because of the picture earlier.

She had also been hearing her phone vibrate on the other couch and she thought it was Micah trying to call her, but she was too tired to go and get it.

She reached out to her can of coke and drank some while eating the popcorn. The fizziness bubbled down her dry throat and it made her feel a bit better.

As she watched the film, she suddenly felt the need to go to pee. She got up and as she was about to head upstairs, she picked up her phone to see if she got any messages.

She saw lots of missed calls from Micah accompanied by messages asking if she was okay. She could tell he was annoyed by her spam which made her smirk and giggle. Sometimes him being annoyed at some petty she had done, was really amusing.

She sent a message saying sorry even though she didn't mean it, and ended it with a kissing face.

She was surprised when she scrolled down and saw a message from Makayla.

Makayla💜💜: Heyo!! Are u free tomorrow? Do u wanna go shopping!?

She gave her question some thought and it wouldn't be such a bad idea. Plus it would take her mind away from today, and maybe afterward, she could go speak to Micah in person about it.

She smiled at her final decision to go and then typed a message back.

Mariana: Sure I'll come ☺️☺️☺️

Makayla💜💜: Great! I'll pick you up tomorrow, don't be late!! 

She smiled and then put her phone back down. She was actually looking forward to tomorrow and she hoped that this situation can get resolved soon.

****

The next morning, Mariana wore a blue hoodie and some blue jeans. She left her hair out and got her black purse. She put her phone and keys inside as Rio escorted her out of the house.

Once she was out, she saw Makayla, sitting in her BMW. Mariana went over to her and tapped on the window. Makayla saw her standing outside and opened the door for her.

"Hey," Mariana said as she climbed in.

"Hey, how are you?" She asked as she started the engine.

"I'm okay, what about you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said as she turned the car. "What happened to you yesterday? We're you okay?"

"Oh nothing, I'm fine."

"Lies," she said with a smirk creeping on her face. "Come on tell me, I ain't gonna tell Micah or anything."

"Eh maybe later." She turned to face the window. She wasn't ready to recall the events of ready and rather just focus on the joys of shopping at the moment.

When they reached the shopping mall, Makayla parked in the parking lot and they got out. her long knotless, braids flourished down her back as she locked the car. They started walking towards the entrance.

They went inside and began looking around the stores. They shopped for new jeans, tops, and shorts. Makayla got some new makeup palettes while Mariana some charm bracelets. She quite liked the crescent moon the best and found it quite cute and pretty.

When they decided to take a break, they sat down at a table and ordered some pizza and Pepsi.

Makayla took a big slice and started munching on it while adjusting her sunglasses. Mariana did the same and drank some of her Pepsi. She started to feel a lot better and had a big smile on her face.

While they were sat down, Mariana noticed the diamond print pattern on Makayla's black hoodie. She realized it was from her mother's brand from the golden initials centered in the middle.

"Mariana," she suddenly said.

"Yeah?"

"Did you really spam Micah with loads of messages yesterday?" She smiled widely while looking at her phone, trying not to laugh.

"Yeah..." she responded awkwardly.

Makayla burst out laughing and shook her head. "You even started to send random symbols like a crazy person."

"Yep..." she sucked up the pizza slice as she slid deeper into her seat. She now felt embarrassed about her yesterday self, with spamming Micah with random emojis and letters.

"Anyway, don't worry, I've done that before to my boyfriend because I was bored and wanted his attention," she smiled.

"What?" Mariana laughed as she couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Yeah and I have no regrets," she snickered while tapping on her phone.  "Don't tell Micah or anyone else though, because it's a secret." She put her finger to her lips.

"You have a secret boyfriend and nobody has found out?" She was very intrigued and wanted to hear more.

"Well... he's technically not a secret. They all think he's a friend when he comes round sometimes." She smiled innocently.

"Oh wow, now I feel like an accomplice to a murder."

"Haha it's okay, nothing bad is gonna happen." She swayed her hair from side to side and took another slice of her pizza.

"Hm okay." She sipped some Pepsi and devoured another slice. "By the way, can I come back to your house after this? I wanna talk to Micah about something."

"Oh, is it related to your craziness yesterday?" She leaned over the table with a smirk.

"Yes..."

"Are you gonna tell me?" She asked with her voice turning high and sweet.

"Um no," she answered back with the same vocal tone.

"Pretty please?"

"I don't really like talking about it."

"Oh I see," she slid back and drank her Pepsi. "It's private," she smirked.

"Yes."

"Mhm okay." She dragged out the word, her voice turning higher as she couldn't stop smirking. Mariana was worried about what she was thinking, but she decided not to dwell too much on it and just finished her food instead.

When they were both done, they grabbed their shopping bags and got back into the car. Makayla started to drive off towards the mansion while Mariana stared nervously out the window through most of the journey. It was like the whole world went silent around her, except the gentle mumbling of the engine, and her own beating heart.

She dreaded going to speak to Micah because she feared what he was going to say, or how he would react. What if the photo proved to be true? Would he really cheat on her?

She didn't want to come to face with that reality, she just wanted it to be a fantasy and just her imagination going wild.

She wiped her eyes and continued to stare at the trees that looked gray in her eyes. What did she do wrong? Was she not good enough?

She huffed out a sigh while she leaned her head against the window. Some tears slipped out of her eyes as her heart weighed her down.

She just held onto her last hope, that it was all just a product of her imagination.

A/N: Hey I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

I'm generally starting to feel sorry for Mariana tbh, I actually started to cry, and I've never cried while writing.