"This is just a drawing, Chloe. There is nothing much to it. Someone is just trying to mess up with Steph's feelings," Amy vehemently defended Steph.
"You're delusional if you think that. This news is all over the place," Chloe said in disgust.
Steph shut her eyes tightly and pleaded with her brain to at least cooperate with her just once.
She wanted to talk, but when she opened her mouth, no word came out. Her throat was dry, and she even had problems swallowing saliva.
She couldn't believe that she had gotten herself into Ivan's mix.
She so much wanted all of it to be a dream, but deep down, she knew it was true: that's what had pushed Ivan to desperation because what else could it possibly be?
That's why he wanted a good girl like her to help clean up his name.
She felt annoyed at him, especially since he could think of avoiding responsibility for his child.
"This is really so embarrassing. I don't know how you could put up with this," Chloe continued ranting in disgust, and that did it for Steph.
"Stop it! Shut the f*ck up! Just shut your big mouth and stop meddling in people's business. This…" Steph shouted as she walked to the portrait and tore it down from the wall. "It is just a piece of paper. You hired someone to draw it so as to embarrass me, but the joke is on you. You all know this can't be true," she added as she angrily shredded the portrait into tiny pieces, which she threw on the floor and trumped on them.
"Now you better get yourselves a life," she added as she directly looked into Chloe's eyes, challenging her to utter a word.
"Why would I do such a thing?" Chloe shouted back.
"Look at your life, Chloe. Are you happy with how things are? Look at you standing here alone without your minions. Are you okay with it? You don't respect the two, yet they are always there for you. You don't respect them, yet you yourself know how it feels not to be respected. One would think you'll understand just a little bit, but you're so thick in the head you can't think past yourself," Steph said in a demeaning manner as she looked at Chloe from head to toe.
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!"Chloe threatened as she moved closer to Steph. They were now standing so close to each other hey could feel each other's breath.
"Or else what?"Steph challenged her.
TWO DAYS LATER
The coach blew the whistle to signal the end of the game, and the players rushed to the middle of the court.
"The intervarsity competitions are on Friday. We only have three days to better ourselves. You have to ensure we retain the trophy, or we won't have anywhere to hide our heads," the coach, Jay Johnson, said.
"Ivan has been missing for the past few days. We need a captain who can stand in for him," Joel said, and Kevin gasped in shock at his audacity.
"No, he will be in tomorrow. He just had a lot on his plate, but I will ensure he is in tomorrow," Kevin defended Ivan as he looked at Joel and challenged him to utter another word.
"Okay, if he isn't in tomorrow, Joel takes charge of the team. Is that a deal?" Jay asked, looking at Kevin for an answer, and he slowly nodded.
A few minutes later, they were dismissed, and Kevin was panting and wiping sweat from his body using his kit as he walked towards the changing room when Joel walked up to him, a stoic expression on his face.
"Hey, buddy! What was that about?" Kevin said in anger.
"Hey, I'm just looking at the best interests of the group. I'm not being blinded like you," Joel replied with a flat and lifeless voice, which made Kevin look into his eyes for an explanation.
"Looking out for the group by having your friend Ivan removed as captain, and then you step in?" Kevin observed, and Joel nodded, then said, "Ivan made it pretty clear he would choose Steph over me, so what's the point of me hanging around and looking out for him?"
Kevin inhaled deeply and said, "You know he was desperate. Ivan has always had your back every step of the way, and it's unfair of you to try to make a mountain out of a molehill."
"Is that what you think?" Joel asked, his forearm muscles appearing cut from a stone.
He had a pinched face, and his mouth was twisted in a sneer, as his thoughts had suddenly become violent.