"Jassy's gone, Dad's got a new girlfriend, and the rest of the club is really quiet. Does it ever feel like things just don't go too well, Mark?" Monet asked with a sigh. She looked over at his desk from where she was laying on his bed. For the past few weeks, her dad had been bringing his new girlfriend home, which meant that she was spending more time at Mark's house and down at the warehouse working out. It wasn't that she hated her or anything, but there was still the time that her dad had been dating Anna and Monet couldn't shake the memories whenever his newest girlfriend was around. Plus, now that Jasmine was gone for her movie, she just needed a distraction.
"I mean, I kinda get what you're saying, but at the same time, I don't. I mean, sure. Jasmine's gone. But we still call her all the time and she keeps us updated. Though, I can't speak much about your dad. You don't want to give her a chance?" He replied, turning around in his chair to face her, letting his homework be forgotten for the moment. Right. She should probably be doing her homework right now but at this point, she didn't really care. She'd get it done eventually.
"No. Not after Anna," Monet said, shaking her head and looking back down at her phone, scrolling through her sister's social media for the second time that day. Mark chuckled a bit and shook his head, getting up from his chair to join her on the bed.
"You never did tell us why you hated Anna." Monet moved over so that he had room on the bed next to her.
"I don't really want to talk about it, okay?" Monet sighed and turned on her side, leaning her back against the wall to give herself more support. Mark shrugged his shoulders and pulled out his own phone, turning on his own side so that Monet couldn't see what you're doing.
"I get the feeling she was abusive or something."
"Even if she was, why would I tell you that?" Monet rolled her eyes slightly, shaking her choppy bangs out of her face. Mark looked up at her, raising an eyebrow at her as if to ask 'why not?' before looking back down at his phone again.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe because I'm worried about your well-being?" Mark asked, mostly teasing but he wasn't making fun of her, right? Monet shook it off and shrugged her shoulders again, glancing down at her phone. No new messages. Everyone must be doing something and Jasmine must still be filming. Today had been too long.
"Ew, why would you do that?" She joked, resting her head on her arm, watching him do whatever he was doing on his phone. Mark looked up again, rolling his eyes at her joke.
"Because you're a wonderful human being and I'm not letting you forget it," He replied before rolling off the bed and standing up. Monet squinted her eyes, confused. Where was he going? And what had he been doing? Then, he held a hand out to her.
"How about a date?" He asked. This would be the third(?) date he asked her on. The first had to be homecoming. She knew that now. The second was the one he asked her out on Halloween, right before Jasmine left, and he was asking her out on one right now? It was getting pretty late.
"It's eight o'clock though," She said, though she did sit up and take his hand, allowing him to pull her off the bed.
"I know. But let's get some ice cream or something." He shrugged his shoulders and grabbed his hoodie from his desk chair, putting it back on.
"Mark, it's eight o'clock. Why are you doing this?" She tilted her head, more confused than before. Who got ice cream at eight o'clock at night?
"Because you're sad-" He started to say. When Monet opened her mouth to respond, he held a finger out to stop her. "-No, don't deny it. I have known you, Monet Elizabeth Ivory, since we were eight years old so I think I know when you're sad. So, we're going to go on a date to McDonalds and Walmart and you can't stop me from doing it." Monet sighed, defeated. At this point, she didn't really care anymore.
"Okay, fine. But my jacket's at home..." She said. Mark held up another finger and opened his dresser, pulling out a black sweatshirt and throwing it at her. Monet caught it with ease, holding it in her hands. "Thanks, Mark."
"Of course, Miss Knight. Now, come on. Let's go get some ice cream." Mark held a hand out to her again and she took it, unsure of how she should feel. Sure, she liked him. Of course she did. After knowing him for so long, how could she not? Still, what was she supposed to think? She couldn't really understand why he liked her in the first place. After all, he was best friends with Jasmine. He always had been. If he were to fall in love with anyone, why wasn't it her? It just seemed to make more sense. They knew each other better than anyone. So why-
"You're overthinking again, Mo. Just chill a bit. We're going to have fun. I promise." Mark smiled at her and gave her hand a squeeze. That's when she realized that they were out in the hallway, out of his apartment. Monet gave him a small smile and nodded her head. Yeah, maybe he was right. She was probably just over thinking things again.
"Alright. Let's go to McDonald's, I guess." Mark gave her hand another squeeze and they made their way down the stairs, down to the ground level to make it out on the street. It was probably best that it was so late. That way, the places wouldn't really be busy and they could make it to places faster. The night air was chilly, but Monet was glad for the sweatshirt that Mark had lent to her. Other than that, it was rather beautiful out. They'd have to do a bunch of walking, since the McDonald's was not far from town square and Walmart was on the outside of town, but this was Mark and Monet. They never really ran out of things to talk about, even if it meant that they ended up playing a little game of Blaten as they walked.
"I should really get my license. That way, we don't have to walk places all the time," Mark said with a sigh. Monet swung their hands a bit. It felt a little too surreal. Did she actually have a boyfriend? They hung out everyday at this point and he had been pretty open about how he felt, though he'd never do or say anything without asking her first. So, were they official or were they just pretending?
"You make it sound like you're going to ask me out a lot now," Monet responded with a small hum. It was mostly a joke and Mark laughed. It was a beautiful laugh, like bells ringing in the distance. She smiled a bit at hearing it. Yeah, she really liked him.
"Of course. I mean, if you're okay with it. I wouldn't want to push you into anything you don't want." He added quickly, as if he thought that he might have been pushing too hard. She smiled a little again, though it was probably hidden mostly by the shadows that the streetlights didn't quite light up.
"Mark..." She started to say. It was clear that he was looking over at her, though the lights made it too hard to see. Someone needed to replace those bulbs, really. "Why me? I mean, you've got plenty of other people out there that are better than me... And you know Jasmine better than me so why me? Why do you like me? I just don't get it." Mark stopped and she was quick to follow. It wasn't romantic or anything. Just in the middle of the sidewalk in front of someone's house, someone that she probably didn't know, and they were in between the lights, meaning it was dark. And yet, when he took her hands in his, she felt all the same that she would as if it was some romantic location.
"You want the truth?" He asked and Monet was quick to nod her head. What could he honestly think about her? She wasn't special. "Truth be told, most of me doesn't really know. But ever since we were, like, nine, and we were running around the park playing Blaten, shooting down monsters and following whatever ridiculous order that Jas came up with that day, I've just known. You're determined and brave. You're kind and you really just want to help people out. And you're really just seeking someone to care about you. I've known you for years, Mo. If I didn't like you, I'd be an idiot."
"Yeah, but..." She started to say, but he cut her off.
"No. You don't have to say anything, okay? I like you for you and that's all that matters, okay? I don't know who's making you feel like crap right now and I wish that I could make it all go away, but I don't know how. You're amazing and beautiful and I wish I knew how to show that to you." Monet bit her lip but it was too late. Her eyes were watery and she couldn't hold back the cry anymore. What was even happening anymore? Why did he care so much and how did she deserve this? What did she-
"Hey, hey. It's okay!" Mark pulled her into a hug. Monet hid her face in his chest and cried. She didn't really feel like she was worth it but she did have to admit it. Being in his arms made her feel like maybe she was worth something.
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Mark now knew why Jasmine made a big deal about coming to the club on time because when he entered the room, it looked like a war was going on. Monet grabbed onto his arm and they stepped into the room. Honestly, he had no clue how Jasmine handled this so well. After all, it was like everyone in here was arguing about something. Mostly, it was Cleopatra and Anthony, because of course it was, but it was easy to see that they had people who were quick to come to their aid. So this was why Jasmine was almost never late.
"What is going on here?" Mark shouted, resting a hand on top of Monet's that seemed to be holding onto his arm tight, like it was her life line. Ever since Jasmine had left, she seemed to have fallen into some sort of depression. Over the past week, it only seemed to get worse, even to the point of where Mark made his mom take her to the doctor's to make sure nothing was wrong. He knew the mess he was getting into when it came to dating her, but this was new. That was why he was so late to the club. He had been calming her down for what seemed to be the seventh time since she got her depression diagnosis yesterday.
"If Anthony just gets to walk into here and insult me whenever he feels like it, I'm out of here. I'm not dealing with this anymore," Cleopatra snapped, crossing her arms over her chest. Mark knew how scary she could be. He'd heard about how she'd almost gotten a teacher to quit over some small argument, but this was different. She was terrifying to see in person. How did Jasmine handle this so well?
"If you weren't such a stuck up prick, maybe I wouldn't have this kind of issue with you!" Anthony replied. He was more calm about the situation, though it was easy to see why Cleopatra was getting so fired up about it. He was too calm about it, like he was the superior being and everyone else was inferior.
"I'm a stuck up prick? Are you kidding me? I get I'm not the nicest person out there, but I'm certainly better than you. All you do is treat people like dirt. At least I can recognize that they're people! The world doesn't belong to you, no matter how much money you have, so just get that into your head." Cleopatra argued, turning back to face him as soon as he had said something. Clearly, their good behavior recently had been an act because there were too many emotions in what they were saying.
"Big talk coming from you. You're living in the next step up from a trailer park, Blackheart. What gives you the right to even talk to me, let alone talk like this to me? Why don't you just step back and go back to whatever it is you do to make sure that your family can pay the rent?" Anthony shot back.
"Guys, that's enough!" Mark shouted, this time a little louder to make sure that he had their attention. The room got silent for a second, glancing over at his direction. "I understand that things are tense right now because we've never had to run this club without Jasmine before but that doesn't mean that we should be tearing at each other's throats. These weeks are going to be hard and I get that so if you're going to have an issue with the other, please deal with it outside of this room. Jasmine and I designated this room to be a safe space and having you two constantly fighting in here is not helping us create that space."
"Fine. I can tell when I'm not wanted," Cleopatra said with a huff. She glared at Anthony and the people who were defending him. Then she turned and left the room, leaving the room in a little more than a fit. The room was quiet, since this was the first person who had actually walked out of the club before and it was all Anthony's fault, for whatever reason. Yet, it didn't take long for Kyra to chase after her, followed by Monet. Sasha and Sebastian looked at each other, who had been the only ones to really try to stand up for Cleopatra.
"What the heck, Anthony? What is wrong with you?" Sasha snapped. Anthony didn't even grace her with his gaze. Instead, he just looked down at his watch, like he wanted nothing more than to just to end the club. "Cleopatra actually cares about this club, probably more than you, so why the heck are you pushing her out of it? If anyone should be leaving, it should be you."
"Anthony came here first, though," Isa replied, crossing her arms over her chest. "So why should he have to leave? If Cleopatra has a problem with him, then she can leave."
"That's like saying the teacher can fire the principle because they've been working there longer! It doesn't work that way! It's up to the superintendent to fire them!" Sebastian shouted. "So if anyone's leaving, it's up to Jasmine and Mark to decide. Not Anthony. So if Cleopatra never comes back, it's all your fault."
"Guys!" Mark shouted again, slamming his hands down on the guidance counselor's desk. "It is not your call to make someone leave the room. Anthony, if you're going to continue to harass Cleopatra for whatever reason you seem fit, please, walk out of this room right now. We do not need that kind of negativity here. And if Cleopatra's going to continue to insult you, by all means is she allowed to leave the club. The point of this club is to give everyone a safe environment to spend time at so if that's going to continue to be threatened, by all means please leave now." That was the end of the conversation. No one said anything at all, just sat down and kept to themselves to make sure that they didn't cause another fight and make Mark even more mad.
Running a club was hard, especially since they were without their main leader, but Mark was right. Now was not the time to fight or argue or hate on each other. If they wanted to fight, they could fight outside of the room. They weren't going to ruin everything that Jasmine worked on so fast. It was only two weeks till they'd see Jasmine again. Just two weeks. Couldn't they make it through that?
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"Tatra? Are you in here?" If her grandfather could see her now, she was sure that he would be completely disappointed in her. Not only had she gotten into an argument but now she was running around the school, looking anywhere for Cleopatra. Monet was following her, more silent than before but not so out of character for her.
They looked in every classroom, every bathroom, the gym, the cafeteria, and even in the music room, but they couldn't find her. They were convinced that she was gone, but they kept looking anyway. Kyra felt awful for her. Cleopatra hadn't really done anything. She'd just walked into the room and Anthony was quick to insult her. She couldn't think about the last time that she had heard Cleopatra make fun of Anthony but it certainly wasn't around her. So what had happened?
"What about the back room?" Monet asked as they stopped in front of the music room. Kyra tilted her head, slightly confused. "Right. You don't know. Up until two years ago, the music room used to be the gym and vice-versa but they switched it because they were getting more people in the gym and the other room was bigger. So, the back rooms in the music room are blocked off because they're still locker rooms and they haven't had time or money to change them to storage rooms yet."
"Okay, fine. Let's check that then," Kyra said with a sigh, heading over and opening the music room door. They were lucky that most of the clubs met in classrooms because they would probably run into a lot of issues with this search. Monet led the way to the back of the music room and pushed on one of the doors. It didn't open and she sighed, moving over to the other one. That one did open. Maybe Cleopatra really was in that one.
"Hey, Cleopatra?" Kyra asked as they stepped into the room. "Are you in here?" They didn't hear anything, but it was worth giving it a shot while they were in there. The room wasn't really dark, since the lights were on, but most of the bulbs were dead so Monet pulled up her flashlight on her phone, sweeping it around the area. Venturing back into the showers and toilets, they found Cleopatra, curled up in a ball in the back off the hallway. Her hands were over her ears, like she was trying to block out people's voices that didn't quite exist. Still, everything about her screamed that she had probably just had a panic attack. Kyra carefully walked over to her, kneeling at her side and resting a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, you okay?" Monet asked, making her way over. She shut her flashlight off and sat down next to her, crossing her legs and leaning on her hand. Cleopatra shook her head, pulling her knees closer to her chest and hiding her face in them. Kyra rubbed her shoulder gently, hoping to try to calm her down. The first night that she found out about Cleopatra's secrets was the first time that she had learned about her panic attacks, but this was the first time she had to actually help her out of it. Monet watched her silently, not sure what she could do to help.
"You know Anthony's a jerk," Kyra said softly. "You've always known that. Still, you can't let it put you down." Cleopatra shook her head again, covering her ears just a bit more.
"I called him so many things this morning... I didn't think he heard it..." She sniffled, curling up in a ball tightly. Monet and Kyra exchanged looks. This was a lot deeper than just Anthony being mad. Cleopatra had said some things too. Still, why? "He said some awful things about me yesterday so I got mad and was complaining to Ben about him and I called him all sorts of thing and apparently Anthony heard about them and now he's mad at me."
"Maybe it's all a misunderstanding?" Monet asked quietly, shrugging her shoulders a bit. "I know sometimes when I get into fights with Mark or Jasmine, it's over some misunderstanding. Like, maybe he said something and you just took it the wrong way and it spiraled out of control." Kyra nodded her head in agreement.
"It is a possbility. Maybe you guys just had an misunderstanding and got off on the wrong foot," Kyra replied, silently applauding Monet for her quick thinking. Even if it wasn't, maybe the idea would get Cleopatra to calm down some. After all, it couldn't possibly be that fair from the truth.
"He hurt me, Kyra. Really bad. It's like every time he speaks, he takes another chip out of my pride. How is that a misunderstanding? He means to hurt me," Cleopatra took her hands off her ears and wrapped her arms around her knees, hugging them tightly. Her pale arms contrasted against the black mesh of her black tights, it was almost poetic.
"A lot of people do really bad things when they're scared or feel threatened. Maybe he felt threatened by you and that's why he's freaking out. You'll never know until you talk to him," Kyra said, rubbing some circles on her back to try to ease her stress. Monet smiled a bit, giggling to herself.
"'People make bad choices when they're mad or scared or stressed'," She sang to herself, probably as a joke. The joke flew over Kyra and Cleopatra's heads however and she frowned. "Please tell me that you guys have seen Frozen." Both of them shook their heads. "No! Okay, you two need to watch Frozen. It's only, like, one of the best movies ever."
"I'll have to look at it," Cleopatra said. Kyra noted how her voice changed on the change of subject. Maybe it was because of a distraction? Either way, it worked.
"I've been wanting to see Frozen, actually. It got so much hype when we were little," Kyra replied with a shrug. "My grandfather just doesn't like movies."
"Your grandfather sucks and needs a life. We're watching Frozen now," Cleopatra decided, nodding her head. "Thanks for the idea, Mo. It sounds fun." Monet nodded her head and stood up.
"So, can we leave this room now?" She asked, holding her hand out to the others. "The dark doesn't scare me, but abandoned places do." Cleopatra took her hand and Kyra pushed herself off the floor. The three of them brushed themselves off before looking at each other.
"We're not stupid for going to watch Frozen, right?" Cleopatra asked, looking over at Kyra. The white-haired girl shook her head.
"No, of course not." Right? No, they were totally stupid for it but at this point, Kyra didn't really care. After all, this was the first time she'd be able to watch a movie with any of her friends anyway.
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If she could be anywhere in the world, it definitely wouldn't be at home. If anything, Monet would rather be dead than at home. And yet, here she was, sitting on the chair across from her father and his new girlfriend, who up until this point, Monet had done a great job avoiding. And yet, when she came home to drop off her bag, her father stopped her. Timothy was normally never around much when Monet got home so to see him there was a little startling, but he normally didn't care about what she did, did he? Instead, if he was home when she was, he was sitting in the living room with an alcohol bottle in hand and watching some sort porno on the TV. Since he was doing neither of those things, she had wondered if she was in for it now. Instead, she'd just gotten a normal level of scolding.
And by normal, she meant that he hit her a few times and told her that if she went to Mark's instead of meeting his girlfriend, she'd have it much worse.
So, here she was, curled up in her chair with her knees up to her chest, and wishing that the hours would tick down quickly so that she could escape to Mark's already. It wasn't obvious that she was panicking or anything, but her anxiety levels were definitely through the roof. She couldn't scroll through her phone because her father took it, so all she could do was stare at her knees and wish for time to go by faster. It didn't work, but she could pretend like it was, if only for a minute to help her stay calm.
She'd give anything to be over at Mark's, really. She wasn't sure how much longer she could handle being here. It wasn't that her dad's girlfriend, whoever her name was because Monet already forgot it, was bad or anything. She hadn't given her any chance to hate her. But if Monet had learned anything from her time with Anna, it was that these people couldn't be trusted. Sure, she was probably paranoid beyond reason and traumatized to a concerning point, but she didn't care. If what Anna had been doing was enough for her father to step in and stop, then it was definitely bad.
Monet really shouldn't have been thinking about Anna. She bit her lip to hold back a whimper and pulled her knees just a little closer to her chest. She scratched up and down her arm, digging her nails into her skin over and over again in a vain attempt to try to ground herself in the present, to remind herself that she was still here and Anna was long gone, but there wasn't much she could do now. Why couldn't she just be at Mark's? Why couldn't she be facetiming Jasmine or texting the club? Why couldn't she be in martial arts? Why did she have to be here right now?
"Monet!" She heard her father snap and she glanced over at him, her eyes probably more wide than she intended them to be. She was a martial artist so why was she afraid of her drunk of a father? "Jess asked you a question, hun." It was like he knew who she was thinking about because his tone was nicer. Did he know that she was thinking about Anna? He must have known somehow, right?
"What hobbies do you have?" The woman asked. He called her Jess, right? She thought about not responding. It'd probably be better to keep her voice under control, but if she didn't respond, her father would be more than mad at her. What was she even supposed to say?
"I... uh..." She squeezed her legs a little tighter, "I do martial arts... And I make videos with my sister and her club... And i play guitar." When Jess heard that she played guitar, it seemed like that part interested her more than anything else she had to say.
"Guitar? I'd like to hear you play some time!" She smiled, probably trying to be nice but why did she feel so uncomfortable? Monet shivered and shook her head quickly.
"No... I... I don't play in front of anyone." Jess sighed. Was she trying to guilt trip her? Monet couldn't take another moment of this. She just wanted to leave, to go to Mark's, to be anywhere but here. Why wasn't she allowed to leave?
"Maybe you can make an exception," Her father said for her. Monet glanced over at Timothy with wide eyes again. She didn't want to shake her head, that'd cause her to get into trouble, but she knew that there was no way that she would be able to play in front of anyone. It took a lot of guts to be able to play in front of the club and that took weeks and weeks of playing in the Bathroom Picnic in order to get anywhere.
Monet was saved by some knocking on the front door. She jumped to her feet right away, thankful for the excuse to get out of the same room as Jess, and said she'd get it. She took her time reaching the door when she made it to the kitchen, but there wasn't much she could do if she didn't want to keep them waiting. Opening the door, she sighed with relief when she saw that it was only Mark.
"Thought I'd come check on you since you said you were coming over and then never did. You okay?" He asked, concern lacing his voice. Monet let go of her breath, unaware that she'd practically been holding it the whole time she was in there, but she nodded her head.
"Yeah. Dad just made me stay to meet his new girlfriend," She replied, resting a hand over to heart to try to calm it down. Mark made a mental note of the movement and removed one of his hands from his hoodie pocket, taking her free hand in his.
"You said you weren't comfortable doing that because you haven't gotten over Anna. And you look like you might get hit by a truck. Are you sure that you're okay?" He asked, giving her hand a squeeze. Monet couldn't find the guts to look him in the eyes when she nodded her head, sharing her little white lie.
"Are you-" He was cut off.
"Monet! Who's at the door!" Timothy shouted. Mark gave her a small smile, a silent way to tell her that he had this.
"Just Mark Nijer, sir. I told Monet that we were going to go see that new movie today. You don't mind if we hang out, do you?" Monet smiled a bit at him. He'd kept it vague, so her father didn't catch wind that they were dating yet, but enough to try to get her out of it. Knowing him, it was also probably a white lie and they were just going to chill at his house, but she was more than okay with that.
"Take you phone with you," Her father sighed. Monet was more than okay with her father when he wasn't drunk. He was at least reasonable, though he did tend to be angry. He knew better than to make a scene right now. Monet smiled at Mark, more thankful than anything, and grabbed her phone off the counter, grabbing her school bag and guitar on her way out. Once she was in the hallway, she felt like she could finally breathe. Man, was she glad to have her best friend as her new boyfriend.