— ❝first fuck up.❞

            So far, there haven't been many cases of such a pure panic that a panic attack was the result. Anxiety was usually enough. But in this particular case, panic was present. Panic was extremely present.

            Coming home to a fully trashed room was one thing. Knowing it was a warning and a reminder that they knew where she lived was a whole different scenario. Estelle had stayed up all night, trying to get her room back to its old state. A vase had broken, the potting soil fell all over the wooden floor and the plants had died by the time Estelle came home. Her Frank Ocean vinyl was trashed it had fallen under a chair. For the rest nothing was irreversible.

            She noticed she had zoned out. Estelle was zoned out for half the day at school. "Do you think cats ever know when they lose a live?" She turned to Hazel, who was sitting next to her on the benches of the gym. It was her way of trying to hide the fact she had barely talked at all that day.

            "Uh," Hazel was caught off guard by the question. "I guess. Why?"

            "Maybe we should start training cats to fight for us." Estelle absentmindedly shared. Hazel followed her gaze to the few girls that sat on the floor of the gym.

"How about we just leave the poor cats alone." Hazel stood up from the bench. She offered her hand for Estelle to take. Estelle looked up at her, then at her hand. The fluttering feeling in the pit of her stomach returned as she accepted Hazel's hand. Together, the two joined the other girls.

Hazel was flipping through her notebook, occasionally writing some stuff down. Two sets of footsteps came from the entrance of the gym. Hazel's head shot in the direction of the sounds. "Talk to them." She told Estelle and hopped in PJ and Josie's direction.

"I don't know how!" She whisper-yelled back. Hazel turned around in her run, giving the redhead a thumbs up. Estelle sighed, trying desperately to think of something non-awkward. "So... Did you know Rudolph the Reindeer is a female?" She asked Annie, since she already knew who she was.

Annie gave the girl a strange look. Estelle —who was bouncing on the balls of her feet at this point— unconventionally enough saw that as an invite to continue. "Yeah, it's the antlers. I felt so lied to when I found out. But it was a good lie, y'know? That was a strange feeling to feel."

The reactions weren't exactly positive, but how was Estelle to know? Her social skills were literally at the bottom. The door opened again, sounding to some as a rescue. Through the door and past Hazel, PJ and Josie walked Sylvie and another girl Estelle did not recognise.

They were greeted by the girls sitting on the floor. "What're we talking about?" Sylvie asked no one in particular.

"Estelle just told us Rudolph the Reindeer is a woman." Annie answered. A mocking tone could be caught in her voice, but it wasn't caught by Estelle.

"Holy shit. No way." Sylvia said as she sat down next to the rest. Her mouth was agape, her eyes telling Estelle she was genuinely interested. That made her want to sink through the ground just a little less.

"Alright," PJ's loud voice boomed through the gym. She walked over to the girls in a fast tempo. Once she stood in front of the group, she threw her bag down on the floor. It was right next to Estelle— who flinched. "Listen up, you cunt-sucking pieces of shit. Welcome to our fucking fight club.

That was Estelle's sign to sit down with the others. Josie and Hazel joined PJ. Hazel sat down next to Estelle —who, at this point, had her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly— while Josie joined her friend in front of them. "Um, it's a self-defence club," She corrected PJ sheepishly. "It's not really 'Fight'."

Josie's words didn't stop PJ to talk to the girls in front of her as if they were the soldiers of her army. "So, as we know, Huntington is on the prowl and they're picking on the weak and defenseless, meaning all of you."

If PJ's words were true and Huntington was on the prowl, Estelle didn't understand why she had had that encounter with two of her own school. How was she supposed to feel, knowing that person was in the same building when everyone seemed to be building walls around it in order to protect everyone from said people? She wasn't even sure what to call it. Attack? Assault? Karma? Maybe this was God's punishment for her sins. For her killing her mother.

"So, we're gonna teach you how to not take shit." PJ continued to explain. "We're gonna start with dropkicks, tackling, little bit of knife play. Then, punch-bucket, which is when we throw you in a bucket and we punch you until you bleed."

"Before that, perhaps stretches, icebreakers and trust falls." Josie added calmly. She was the more down to earth one of the two.

Estelle's head snapped to Sylvie when she spoke. "Is that what happened to you in juvie?" The redhead was intrigued to see if the two would continue their lie or confess like they had done with her and Hazel. Hazel seemingly thought the same, for she turned around, giving her friend a knowing look.

            "Mmm. No. No." PJ and Josie both said. PJ added to that. "Juvie was way crazier." She placed her hands on her hips, starting her ridiculous sounding story. Though Estelle knew it sounded ridiculous to her because she knew it was false. "One time, this girl's punching me in the rain. Fall to my knees. It's muddy. I get up. I'm blind. Punch her right in the middle of her face. Broke her fuckin' nose."

            PJ felt satisfied with herself and her story when she saw the intrigued nods from the unknowing girls in front of her. Estelle was having trouble keeping her mouth shut about the lie. She despised lies more than anything else, and now she found herself enveloped by them.

            The brunette implied for Josie to make up a story as well. At first, Josie seemed hesitant to think of something and reluctantly replied, "Yeah, all right," She then gained her confidence, stepping forward. Her story was even crazier. "Juvie was insane. Once a girl tried to kill me with rat poison, so I took her outside and I punched her 'til she died."

            The girls on the floor blinked at her hesitantly. "So, you killed a girl?"

            "Uh, no," Josie said as if it was obvious. "Because the ambulance came and revived her and we actually had a really productive conversation when she came back to life, so..."

Estelle raised her eyebrows a little at Josie's words. It sounded so unbelievable, she was unsure why no one else was questioning it. PJ went along with Josie's story. "Um, since Josie literally killed a girl—"

"She came back to life."

"Mmm. But I remember her being dead for at least a couple minutes," PJ replied quickly. "Josie's gonna start by showing you all how to effectively throw a solid punch. Josie, if you'll step forward." She motioned for Josie to join her.

            Josie seemed hesitant. She did not step forward. "No, I don't wanna do that."

            "What's the problem?"

            "There's no problem, I just— I— No, I'm not gonna do it." Josie shook her head at her best friend.

            PJ kept ushering her to do it. "Come on, they wanna see the punch."

            "They don't wanna see it."

            "They wanna see. Look at them,"  PJ turned Josie's attention to the girls on the floor. To Estelle it wasn't as though anyone was dying to see it ( excluding Sylvie ). "They wanna see the punch."

Josie turned her head towards PJ. "Who am I gonna punch?"

"Punch me. Just punch me."

PJ's confidence in her words shocked Estelle. She definitely sounded sure of the fact that she would be able to take it.

            "Punch you?"

            "Yeah, come on."

            "I can punch you."

            "Yeah, I know how to take a punch," PJ bragged. "Something people would always say, 'PJ knows how to take a punch'. Come on up."

            PJ hadn't yet finished her sentence completely when Josie's fist collided with her face. She fell to the floor. The rest of the girls gathered around her. Blood spilled down her nose. Josie doubled over, clutching onto her hand in pain. PJ sat up, leaning on her hands, sighing.

"Will there be an advisor for this club? Because we'll be suspended if there isn't." Annie commented nervously. She desperately wanted Josie to say yes, because she could not be suspended.

"Who is gonna be dumb enough to endorse a club where we punch each other in the face?" PJ asked herself more than anyone else.

No one seemed to come with an idea. Estelle knew someone though. She wasn't about to mention it, but really there was only one answer.

One person stupid enough to believe the lies of Josie and PJ.

Author's Note
next chapter is gonna be more hastelle content!! im so excited for them. i just wanted to take this bit and say thank you for all the reads on this book!! i had never expected that