Aria

"You don't look too good." I deduced upon seeing Elise once we met up for the first time outside school. "How've you been doing?"

"Terrible." Elise moaned as she rubbed her head and drank some fresh water.

"How come?"

"I don't know, I just feel so shitty."

"I feel you, sister." I agreed, sipping some of my raspberry iced tea in the process. "Dance has been too much lately along with school and our next event we have to plan."

"Congrats on your big victory."

"Victory?" I snickered because that wasn't the word I'd use to describe it. "More like a death sentence."

Elise wrinkled her nose at my response. "Seriously? I thought you loved doing this shit."

"Well I'd love it more if it wasn't so time-consuming."

"I would too."

"Would you really?" I asked, holding my chin and exuding a sparkly, bullshit smile.

"God no." Elise scoffed. "Honestly, you think I've got time for all of this? Oh, I can't even get out of bed in the morning or get my shoes on. It's been more a job than a routine."

"Maybe something's going on that you don't know about?" My eyes peered down. "Say... a bun in the–"

"Nope." Elise shook her head. "Trust me, I'd know if I was going through that and it's not that."

"Alright." I surrendered and dropped the subject.

Both of us fell silent and continued eating, though Elise was a bit slow with hers. She kept sniffing the chocolate-chip pancakes and squinting her eyes.

"Something wrong?" I asked.

"Yes." She nodded and raised her hand to call the waiter over.

"Is there a problem?"

"Uh, yeah." Elise looked down. "Do you have any of those lamb shish kabobs?"

"Yes, we do have them. Would you like to add that to your order?"

"If you wouldn't mind, hell yes."

Oh Elise... I face-palmed while the waiter simply nodded and went to add that to her order which was already loaded as it was.

Elise just sat there and smiled before I leaned in to drop the hammer down on her little bubble. "Are you insane?"

"Hey, it's not everyday you get to enjoy Greek cuisine."

"Yeah, but your bill is gonna be like thirty bucks now. If not forty."

"So?" Elise shrugged before putting her hands up and mocking my concern. "Oh no, I love food. The horror!"

"Elise, that's not the real problem here."

"Oh god, not this again." She reverted back to her regular sarcastic tone, rolling her eyes. I already went through this with Lyle."

"And now you're hearing it from me." I happily replied. "You see, this path you're going down isn't safe."

"Yeah, I can see that. Apparently you've all now decided to gang up on me."

"No, we're not."

"Then why do I keep getting these emails from Normack about the things I need to work on?" Elise pulled up her phone and scrolled through the emails. I took a look myself and was floored. "See? It's not cool and if I'm not mistaken you were pretty harsh in your feedback."

"To be fair, I was still upset over what you called me–"

"Doesn't matter." Elise swooped in and took her phone back right from my hands. "Also, I thought you believed in everyone. You thought Johnny was a decent guy, which he is despite his lack of a brain. You knew Lyle had a voice, then again we all did. Finally, there's Dominic. You believed he wasn't as dumb or creative as he seemed and he almost got his idea chosen. But what about me? Was I a disappointment?"

"Well you were impressive at first–"

"Then I let you all down?"

As much as I didn't want to respond in order to spare her feeling, it was clear that she was asking for it. So I nodded, prompting Elise to sigh. "Wow."

"It's not the worst thing in the world."

"I know, but this is still how you guys thought of me. Hell, I'm the judgmental one of us five and even I wasn't this cold."

"I'm sorry it came out the way it did."

"Yeah, that makes two of us." Elise cracked a faint smile before waving the waiter over again and demanding boxes and the check. He nodded and got those for her in which she paid up, backed up, and stood up faster than expected.

"I'll see you around, Aria." She icily told me. Then she put on her scarf, grabbed her things, and left.

Damn it, I closed my eyes and shook my head. I knew there was something fishy about being fully open and honest with our feedback. She was also right that I may have been a tad bit harsh in how she didn't care, but could anyone blame me? I got how being selected wasn't ideal except she'd barely try to make things work. I was the one driving us together and because of me, it wasn't an absolute disaster. I'd love to see her try and be the leader which would work out so well.

I ran my hands down my face and groaned, though I felt a familiar presence nearby.

"Should I get the check for you too?" The waiter asked.

"Yes please." I responded in a dejected tone.

Once that was taken care of, it was time to head back home. Unfortunately, Papí was out working so I'd be alone again in that big, old house. I pulled by the curb and stared at it for a good few minutes before turning the car around.

"Nope," I said and drove away. I didn't know where to go, I just didn't want to go home.

Leafless trees kept popping up on my trek to nowhere. I teetered in between visiting other friends like Yolanda or taking a nice stroll in the park forest. I chose the latter.

Once I parked the car and got out, I walked along the dirt trail despite the weird mist looming over. It felt like a horror movie done so many times before. Though if anyone tried giving me a scare, I'd be ready. With each step, I felt a bit more at ease. I took in the fresh air and pondered about the past week. I got to see Jaclyn again, watched Johnny practice his sprints, overheard Lyle and Dominic bicker before flirting. Oh that was a revolving door of annoyance. It was cute at first, then I just couldn't take it anymore.

As I rounded the corner, some old memories resurfaced. Marisol, Enrique, and I all used to come here for now apparent reason. Sometimes we'd walk, other times we'd spook people with our animal calls, but my favorite was playing hide-n-seek. Even as teens, it was always a rush to find each other or scare the living shit out of one another too. The latter became more frequent and we couldn't get enough of it.

I slowed down once the tree with red, orange, and blue paint lines on it caught my eye. It was still there. I stepped right up and gently stroke it. We had a paint war between ourselves which we'd wash off in the lake nearby back when it wasn't so polluted. It was shocking how the tree still had paint on it despite how long it had been. I mean, the paint was faded but visible enough to be seen.

My eyes shut as I continued feeling the bark until they opened again at the sound of someone crying.

"Hello?" I meekly called out before making my way around and seeing someone sitting on a wooden bench by the information board. She seemed familiar, but I couldn't tell for sure. "Are you alright?"

She raised her head up to reveal the mess of watered mascara on her face, splotchy lipstick, and the hateful eyes of Audrey Saberius.

Shit, I gasped and backed up while she shook her head and snarled. "Do I look okay?"

"Right. Sorry for asking." I quickly inched away until she spoke again.

"Wait!"

I stopped and heard her sniffle. God, she looked horrendous. I mean, it was very satisfying given what she did to Jaclyn and how she treats others in general though bittersweet at its core.

"Please don't leave. Okay?" she pleaded before wiping off her face.

Although I was tempted to run off, I swallowed my pride and sat down next to her on the cold bench. "So what's a rich girl like you doing out here by yourself?"

"I'm not in the mood."

"Well then you can just suit yourself–"

"She died." Audrey revealed. Her tone was very somber and laced with untamed emotion.

"Who died?"

"My mom." She bowed her head and held it, sniffling with an uneven rhythm in the process. "Oh my god, what the fuck is wrong with me?"

"It's not your fault."

"No, it is." Audrey insisted. "I knew she had problems. I knew Raul never loved her and that she didn't love herself or believe I did too."

Audrey wiped away more of her tears and groaned. "I just thought she was being a bitch because she wasn't getting what she wanted. If I had known she'd do what she did... I-I would've–"

I didn't know what came over me. It was pure instinct. In that moment, I put my hand on her shoulder and she gasped. We both faced one another leading me to let out two simple words. "She knows."

Audrey stared forward with those cold eyes of hers. "W-w-what do you mean?"

"She knows you loved her."

"But then why did she..." Audrey bowed her head and covered her face with her hands. "W-why did she take those pills and drown herself?"

Oh god. It's worse than I thought, My heart sunk when I heard that horrible truth. I turned away for a moment and closed my eyes with past memories briefly flickering in my mind before I turned back. "Listen, I can't answer that completely since the people I lost never died under those circumstances, but I can tell you that it wasn't easy."

"She did it anyways."

"As a last resort." I slowly took her hands and held them tight. Our eyes locked together as I explained the truth. "People only end their life if they don't see that light at the end of the tunnel. I don't just mean on a monthly basis, weekly basis, daily, or even hourly. If they don't see it period, what will would they have to live?"

"Her children." Audrey sniffled. "Remington was finally off to doing great things. He's going to revolutionize the world. Valencia recently started her own fashion line. Sold out last week. Camille had her first child and is now living in a happy, healthy marriage. Nathan took his full ride to play for his dream school's team. I'm the last one and she'll never get to see me do anything with my life. Oh god, I'm graduating without my mom."

Chills went through the air after she said that last part. Audrey took out a tissue and blew her nose, snickering uncontrollably afterwards. "Or not graduating. I honestly don't know at this point. My grades are shit, my exam scores are even worse, I-I got nothing..."

"I'm sure that's not true." I tried reassuring her.

"Oh trust me, all I have is my money and body except every guy at our school is repulsed by me, so it means nothing."

Audrey moaned to herself while I continued conjuring up other alternatives. I didn't have to do any of this either, but she was at her lowest. A state I've been in long ago and wouldn't wish on anyone. Even someone like her.

I let out a sigh before I asked. "Uh, do your friends know about this?"

"Sort of." Audrey shrugged. "They're so wasted right now that they can barely walk. I also left out the fact we're not friends anymore."

"How's that possible?"

"I was stupid." Audrey shook her head as she pulled the messy strands of hair out of her eyes. "So fucking stupid. I clearly didn't care and you know what? Neither did they. I made fun of Odessa's thighs and had made a really shitty comment about Desiree's new tattoo."

"She has a tattoo?"

"Yep." Audrey nodded. "Got it for her boyfriend. The guy screwing anything that walks and she got his name over a rose with crossed by a sword branded onto her shoulder."

"Wow."

"I know." Audrey chuckled. "I only said it was dumb and she'd be an even dumber skank for flaunting it around. She defended herself and I fired back. Odessa sided with her, I shouted louder, and I...I just took it too far. I always take things too far."

Audrey whimpered and clung onto me. Her sobs shook my soul and I held her close. This wasn't the same obnoxious brat who would laugh at other girls she deemed as trash. She was a girl who lost her mother like I had lost mine.

I looked out to see the mist fill through the forest and continued stroking her hair. During that time, Audrey sniffled and said, "Why are you doing this?"

"Doing what?"

"Being nice to me." Audrey raised her head up and fixed her hair. "I've been nothing except a bitch to you, yet you're here when you've probably got better things to do."

Not necessarily, I shook my head and smiled. "If I'm being honest, I don't have much going on myself. I should probably be trying to get every scholarship imaginable, but it doesn't seem worth it. Why? It's too much work and even if I got five, Papí still couldn't afford a good enough college. Not without going bankrupt."

"Didn't your dad run a juice stand at some point?" Audrey asked, all of sudden. She then backtracked with a scoff. "Sorry if that was really random, but I remember coming across him before."

"Yeah, he did." I nodded. "I totally forgot about that."

"He made some real good juice and smoothies."

"And he'd always add a little cinnamon or spice to give them a kick." I relished with nostalgic pride.

Audrey chuckled and I did too before she stood up, looking me in the eyes as she said, "Thanks Aria. You really made my day."

"You're welcome." I smiled. "If you ever feel like talking, let me know. I get if this would be awkward since–"

"Oh I couldn't care less what people say anymore." Audrey casually remarked. "I have a dead mother, a terrible rep, and a hot but gay ex-boyfriend, who I'm forced to see everyday. I'm basically the laughingstock at our shithole of a school and that's alright."

"Well my door's always open."

"Is it really?"

"Of course." I waved her off. "Unless you mean literally, then no it's always closed."

"Same here." Audrey chuckled.

We then took a moment to hug one another. It felt really nice. Never would I have thought I'd be comforting the enemy, but this wasn't too bad. Once we were done, Audrey gave a subtle nod and said, "Alright. Take care."

"See you Monday."

She walked off into the mist while I watched with this strange satisfaction inside. Maybe it was clarity, pride, or something. Whatever it was, I could feel the spirit of my deceased mother nearby shining down. She would've been proud of what I had done. She...would've been so proud.