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Chapter Thirteen
Happiest Memory
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     MAYBE THAT LITTLE NIGHT OUT WITH SWEET PEA AT THE DINER WAS WHAT SHE NEEDED to ease her nerves even if it was just for a little while. But now it was time to come back down to earth where everything sucked and there were so many things that just didn't make sense. At this point, the only thing that did make sense to Tori was the basic routine of going to school and then going home on a loop. At least having her friends around made things a little easier. Noah and Aiden were okay people to be around, Marissa's one eighty was starting to sink in, and Toni, Fangs and Sweet Pea were playing the stupid board game but Tori and Marissa stayed as far away from it as possible, both of them having unsettling feelings about it.

     While she was at her locker, she noticed Eden a couple of lockers away from hers but avoided making eye contact. They never really spoke to each other but it was very clear to anyone with eyes that they definitely wouldn't get along even if they did interact. She didn't even realize how hard she slammed her locker shut until she felt the vibrations in her hand before walking to class. As she was on her way there, Fangs walked up next to her and nudged her arm with his own.

     "Long time, no see, Tiny. I never get tired of seeing you wear that Serpent jacket," he said with a grin and Tori rolled her eyes, although she couldn't stop the faint smile of her own.

     "Are you ever going to give up that nickname? It's getting old," she said. "Also, we literally saw each other yesterday."

     "Try saying that when you're standing next to Sweet Pea," Fangs laughed and she playfully punched his arm.

     "Not even he calls me Tiny so what exactly is your point?" she questioned.

     Fangs frowned as he looked at her. "I just miss playing around with you. When we started hanging out, things were a lot more fun. But then so much happened and it's like everyone is a completely different person," he said.

     "More like I'm a completely different person. So is Marissa. And we have two more people in our group. And someone we know is in jail. Like you said, a lot has happened between then and now," Tori replied as she swallowed the saliva gathering in her mouth. "Especially when we thought you were dead."

     "But I'm not dead," Fangs said as he shook his head.

     "If I'm being completely honest, I think everything was already falling apart for weeks but you fighting for your life was the tipping point," Tori said as she looked at her. She inhaled deeply and exhaled calmly as she kept walking.

     "Tori—"

     "Things are different now, Fangs. I'll see you later," Tori said as she walked away to get to class.

     She was starting to wish that she could go back to the first time she and Sweet Pea went to Pop's together. It was probably her happiest memory along with a few others but lately, it seemed like good moments were hard to come by. She didn't want anything more than to have more happy memories but it was like she couldn't. Sweet Pea said that her real smiles were rare and he was right. Anyone could see that she didn't smile as much as she used to. When she first met the Serpents and started hanging out with them, smiling and laughing was like a second nature to her. And the more she thought about it, the more she wondered where it all went wrong. There were far too many possibilities to pinpoint the exact cause and either way, it would be pointless to try. Things were far too different.

     She was about to turn the corner when she felt a presence behind her. She turned around and saw Eden walking up to her but she turned around and kept walking. She wasn't in the mood to be dealing with anybody and she just wanted to get the day over with.

     "You know, you really shouldn't be wearing MF's jacket," she said.

     Tori scoffed as she kept walking, hoping she would just go away. "Aren't you supposed to be her best friend or something? Her name is Marissa and she gave it to me. You were literally there," she said. "Listen, if you're here to get on my nerves, I'm really not in the mood to deal with your shit right now so just go away and leave me alone."

     Eden smirked as she kept walking close behind her and Tori didn't even bother resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "She'll want it back soon enough. Nothing made that bitch happier than being with the Serpents and just like her mother left her, MF will leave you too. After all, it was so easy for her to do it last time," she said and Tori stopped walking.

     Not only did she just insult Marissa, but her words hit close to home. She had been left behind by more than enough people, thrown away like she meant nothing to them. The same people who told her that they cared about her and that they would never leave her or abandon her. And even though she and Marissa talked about it, it still hurt to think about when she did leave and part of her was worried that Eden might be right. She did her best to reel herself in as she tried to will herself to keep walking and ignore her but she was sick of people really pushing her past her limit after pushing her for months.

     "You know what, I'm not even surprised she left. Like mother, like daughter," she sneered.

     Tori didn't even think before turning around and swinging her right arm at her, punching her right in the jaw. Eden simply returned the favour and punched her back just as hard if not harder. Tori could feel her face throbbing and she was about to go in for another one but Fangs appeared and grabbed her arms to pull her away. She managed to get one arm out of his grip and elbowed him right in the chin but Noah and Marissa appeared before either of them could get another hit in. Noah grabbed Tori and pulled her away while Marissa pushed Eden back. Tori shook Noah's arms off her and he let her but stayed close so she wouldn't get any ideas about lunging at Eden. She turned around and shoved right past him as she kept walking but Marissa caught up to her and grabbed her arm.

     "What the hell was that?" she asked but Tori only pulled her arm away. Eden's words really got to her and she couldn't stop her hands from shaking out of how angry she was but also hurt. She couldn't even think of a single sentence and all she wanted to do was finish what she started. "Tori, just talk to me."

     "Fuck off and leave me alone!" Tori said before walking away.

     She just needed everyone to leave her alone.

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

     WHEN TORI GOT HOME FROM SCHOOL, her mother walked out of the kitchen and gasped when she saw the bruise on her face. "Oh, my God, Tori! What happened?" she asked as she gently ran her thumb over the purple flesh and Tori just pulled her head away.

     "You should see the other girl," she replied as she took off her shoes and the concern on her mother's face turned into a look of disappointment.

     "You mean to tell me you got in a fight? I thought I taught you better than to go around picking fights with people," she scolded her and she scoffed as she looked at her.

     "I didn't start this! That bitch—"

     "Hey!"

     "My choice of words should be the least of your worries right now. She wanted to run her mouth so she simply got what was coming to her," Tori said as she was about to go upstairs.

     "You could've got in serious trouble!" her mother said and Tori turned around.

     "I literally slapped Reggie for this same exact reason and you didn't care!" she said.

     "Because last time it didn't end with a fistfight," her mother said. "If your father were here right now, he would be very disappointed in you."

     "Disappointed? Who do you think taught me how to throw a right hook in the first place?"

     "Enough! I don't wanna hear it."

     Tori bit the inside of her cheek as she went upstairs to her room and closed the door. She dropped her bag on the floor and ran her hands through her hair, her fingers curling around the roots until there was a painful burning sensation on her scalp. Her phone kept vibrating with text messages from Marissa, Fangs, and now they were coming from Toni and Sweet Pea because of course someone told them what happened in the hallway. Tired of the noise, she turned her phone off and put it down. She didn't wanna talk to any of them or anyone at all for that matter.

     Eden got under her skin and she let her and now her mother didn't even wanna talk to her. The last time her mother looked at her with such disappointment was when she was six and accidently knocked off a picture frame from the wall, shattering it. It was after her father disappeared and it was a picture of him and her mother when they got married. She hated the feeling she got when her mother looked at her in disappointment and she never wanted to feel that way again. Yet, here she was, alone in her room. Her mother didn't wanna talk to her and Tori didn't wanna talk to her friends, not even her boyfriend.

     The whole time she wanted people to leave her alone and now she didn't know what to do with herself. She felt like there was a weight holding her down and she couldn't breathe. So much had changed in the last couple of months and everything was different and she hated it so much. She wished things could just go back to how they were before. Maybe then she wouldn't be so miserable.