I couldn't stop staring at the sinister snakes. Some of them twisted forward menacingly, mouth open, forked tongue exposed, fangs at the ready to sink deep into someone's flesh. Come closer and we'll strike. 

Luckily, these snakes weren't real. If they were, I wouldn't be standing there so calmly, admiring the details. I wouldn't be focusing on this instead of across the night club, where my scummy soon to be ex-boyfriend stood with a group of his friends.

I watched the perfectly still serpents. What if they sprang to life-- impossible, but still, I was always imagining impossible what-if scenarios like that. I would think about what I would do if some kind of disaster struck—how I would defend myself or where could I run.

Goddess Playground was a new night club in the next town over from mine and this was my first time, so I scanned the room for the closest exit. There, around several displays of various mythological creatures, across the crowded dance floor, and in a hallway, I see the doors to the restrooms and the corner of a red exit sign. 

It's always good to know the exits.

My brain's random what-if scenarios had saved me in the past. Imagining all possibilities kind of took away the element of surprise...in most cases. And in any case, it kept boredom at bay, when I found myself in situations like this, where I should never have came and now I regret it, but I'm kind of stuck because I rode with my friends, who were having fun being chatted up by a couple of guys nearby.

They were still there, girl-next-door Krista, with her natural beauty and big curly brown hair, a smile like sunshine on her face. And always pageant worthy Ronnie, in a blue dress that complimented her blonde locks. She took a second to glance over at me, meeting my eyes and giving an approving look of wide-eyed excitement before looking back normally at the guy she was talking with. 

Good thing she was enjoying herself, I thought, but not in a bitter way. It wasn't either of their fault that I was here, I had decided to come in a burst of anger once I heard the rumor that Krista had heard earlier that day. It was my decision and now I was beating myself up about it. 

I looked back at the statue, the cold stone hand holding the severed head of Medusa. There must be about twenty snakes covering her head, I thought. 

Snakes, like Nolan, afore mentioned soon-to-be-ex. 

Don't think about it, I told myself. I studied Medusa's face, the silent O of her lips, exposing sharp fangs of her own. It was kind of sad, when I pondered the story behind Medusa's curse. She was beautiful once, I've read. But now, as I look at her frozen features I'm kind of afraid of her and that fear morphs into sadness. It was never her fault. She didn't want to be transformed into that monster. She would still be a beautiful maiden if Poseidon had steered clear of her. Had it not been for him, she would have served Athena for life and lived a long happy one.

"Lexi?" Nolan shouted above the music that filled the room--some song I wasn't familiar with that I had been working hard on ignoring.

I ripped my eyes away from the display and focused on him, even though I'd rather not. I don't think he even suspected I knew anything. Well, I knew more than he knew that I knew, that's for sure. Secrets didn't always stay hidden, especially not when you're doing things you shouldn't around people on campus. Word gets around. Krista had told me that she heard from someone else that he was kissing Whitney in the common room while I was in my dorm studying. Not cool.

Suddenly, four months of dating went down the drain. But I can't say I didn't suspect it. What-if scenarios and all, I knew how I was going to react.

"I already know about Whit." I get straight to the point. I'd rather save everyone's time and cut to the chase rather than draw this whole thing out in front of everyone we knew and have everyone hear us argue all night.

"Who tol--" he started and then he caught himself, "I--uh, no. I don't know what you're talking about."

I can't tolerate a liar.

"Don't worry about it," I said, too close to him. I could smell the cologne I'd bought him for his birthday. Sauvage. He'd thought it was cool because Johnny Depp was in the ads. I guess he was wearing it for Whit. "Truthfully, I haven't felt a connection with you for a while. I feel like we're in two different places. You're over there," I point at his groupd of friends making fun of a statue's genitals, "and I'm right here." I guesture at myself and those around me, who would never do such a thing. I see that the guys had gone, leaving Krista and Ronnie to watch the interaction between Nolan and me.

Nolan looks back at his friends, one of which was holding up a dollar bill folded in half shouting "look it covers the whole thing!" Whit wasn't watching the comparison as the group roared with laughter, she was brazenly staring back at Nolan. She sensed the drama between him and me and she probably loved it.

I pretended not to have noticed her apart from the group as a whole. She was just another face. A longer slimmer face than mine, with fuller lips—but she was no better than me. She was just different. I guessed Nolan liked variety.

I wouldn't be part of it.

"But..." Nolan struggled, hoovering over me. 

If I had a drink I might have tossed it to make my point. Just go, I pleaded in my mind. He didn't even know she existed right now. Not when the girl whose pants he's been trying to get into for four months is about to slip through his fingers like sand.

Too bad for him. He didn't know I was already gone. I'd checked out the moment I heard about his sneaky link. I'm so glad I didn't go all the way with him.

"Stop. Just save us both some time and go to her," I said. No way would I want anyone who would be with someone else while they were supposed to be with me. "You're a better match with her than you are with me anyway."

He looked back at Whit and she smiled widely at being noticed, but it faltered as he turned back toward me.

"I'd rather have you."

Yuck! What a low blow. He doesn't even care about her either. He doesn't care about anyone, I realized. Except maybe himself. I really wish I had that drink...

"Well, you don't have me."

"Can't we at least talk about this?" he said.

"Nope." I patted him on the chest. It was rock hard beneath my palm, but my determination was just as firm. "Good luck."

It's not that it didn't hurt. It stung a bit. We had been getting closer, but at the same time we had been dating for four months and that was long enough to see beyond the attractive, popular guy and get into what makes him tick. To be honest, it wasn't very much on par with my own goals and desires.

I walked away with Krista and Ronnie, giving him no choice but to join his group or look like a loser by following me.

"Are you okay?" Krista asked once we were out of earshot. She was always worrying about everyone. The motherly one.

"Not really, but I will be." We were never a match made in heaven, but the fact that he was sneaking behind my back bothered me most. "Can we just get out of here?"

Ronnie drove Krista and me to the club. I should have driven my Audi, to give myself the freedom to leave whenever I wanted, but I had no idea I'd run into Nolan there. Had no clue the confrontation with Nolan was coming already. I tried dodge him all day, ignoring calls, staying away from areas he frequented. 

And now my relationship was over. Good think Ronnie got me out of there. I felt a lot better once I got into her Malibu. It always smelled like one of the little tree air fresheners that she always seemed to have a pile of. This time, it was peachy peach. Something about pleasant scents felt soothing to me. And with the tinted windows, I felt like I had escaped the world for a moment, closed inside a safe space.

We pulled out, intent on heading back home, a town over, but almost immediately, something happened.

"What's that sound?" Krista asks, full alarm in her voice.

Something was making the car roll differently. A broken axle? A locked brake?

"Uh-oh..." Ronnie said. "I know." She put the car in park and pointed to her display on the dash. From the passenger seat, I craned my neck to see the little car image, the left back tire bright red.

Tire pressure low, it said.

"It's a flat tire," she said.

It's so simple, relief washed over me.

"Thank goodness," I said.

"What do you mean, that tire was like a hundred bucks,"

"Yeah, but at least it's something we can fix. All we need is a jack and a spare..."

"Yeah, if I had a spare...or a jack."

"How can you not have a spare and a jack?" I said.

"Okay, so maybe not the best idea, but I needed the space for when we moved into the dorm."

"And what if your tire had blown out on the way?"

"Didn't think about that," she said, then she chewed her long nail nervously.

I suppose she didn't. Not everyone feared the worst, like me.

"Well...what do we do?" She asked.

"It's no problem, guys, I got an Uber coming," Krista said flashing her phone screen. While we were talking, she'd apparently been on an app making moves. "It'll take us to my campus, we'll get my car, go get your spare tire, jack, and come back. Problem solved."

It sounded like a brilliant plan, but my stomach flinched at Krista's words. Uber? That means we'll have to get into someone else's car.

"Do you know how dangerous those things can be?"

"Do you want to go back in there?" Krista asked. "We could ask one of the other students that live on campus and drove for a ride..."

Both prospects sounded horrid to me. I didn't want to be seen in there after my dramatic exit. People don't run back on stage after dropping the mic and say "and another thing, can anyone give me a ride home?" Playing though that scenario made my face flush hot.

"No, no, no," I protested. I groaned, going over all the stories I'd heard about Ubers gone wrong in my head.

"I checked their rating first, Lexi. They're one of the top drivers in the area and he's close."

Sure, but what if he was like the guy from Split, and maybe the personality that had been giving rides was harmless, but the personality who decided to show up for their ride was the kidnapper?

Okay, Lexi, you're just being overly paranoid now, I told myself. That guy in that movie wasn't even an Uber driver.

I took some calming breaths. I could do this, it was a perfectly normal thing to do. The ratings were there to make us feel safer. The driver was in the system, he didn't have the upper-hand from being anonymous. Besides there was three of us.

"Fine," I decided. Anything was better than going back in there. I would have bet that if I had, Nolan and Whit would already be walking around holding hands, completely free to flaunt each other, and that's fine because we're no longer together, but having to watch it so soon would make me feel some type of way. "Bring on the Uber. First time for everything, I guess."

(A/N: this chapter wasn't working for me so I changed the setting from a class trip to the museum to a night club. I hope it reads better. Enjoy! XO-Sam)