“We should do something tomorrow for your birthday, Gwen.” Penny suggested, both her palms propping her head up at the lunch table as she smiled at her best friend.

“My birthday’s on Tuesday.”

“Yes, but… I kinda think that it would be fun to do something to celebrate on the weekend… Maybe we could go to the zoo…?”

“No offense, but I’m not really feeling the zoo right now,” Gwen said.

“Oh…” Penny crumbled at the refusal. She looked down at the table in submission, as if she had just been defeated in battle by some proud knight who was far more skilled with a sword than she could ever hope to be. She knew that the refusal wasn’t personal, but it still took her a moment to separate the rejection of the locale with the rejection of her idea entirely. “Um, how about the mall then?”

“No one goes to the mall anymore.” The objection this time came from Benjamin, who had placed his right arm, bulging with thick muscle as it always was, around Gwen’s comparatively petite shoulders. Despite the turmoil that their relationship endured, the two of them were once again dating following the events of the homecoming game. The development came as a welcome shock to the rest of their friend circle. It was like the two of them leapt right out of a photograph from the past and had taken a seat right before them. “What about the batting cages?”

“I could get us into a night club if you guys are down,” Lawrence added.

“I don’t know...” Penny, who was still reeling from Benjamin’s rejection, shuddered at the thought of engaging in either of these activities. However, having been denied twice, she no longer had the mental fortitude to outright oppose any suggestions. Perhaps her own ideas sounded just as terrible to them as theirs did to her. “What about you, Warren? What do you think?”

“Oh.” He lifted his head up from his phone as if he suddenly remembered that he was sitting with his friends. “I think the mall’s fine. There’s food and a movie theater, so there’s more to do than just window shopping.”

“Hey, that’s not a bad idea,” Lawrence said.

“Okay, the mall it is!” Penny nodded, pleased at having been rescued from an illegal nightclub visit.

“What? What about my say? It’s my birthday, isn’t it?”

“Oh… what would you like to do then?” Penny asked Gwen with curious eyes. The other three also turned to look at her with vague anticipation in their faces. The pressure was so intense that it was impossible for her to not buckle underneath it.

“No, the mall’s fine. I just wish you would’ve confirmed with me first...”

“Ohh! I see, sorry about that. I guess I got a little ahead of myself,” Penny said.

Gwen immediately dropped the subject. In truth, none of it mattered so long as Ben was there with her. Navigating everything that had happened in the last week was a turbulent undertaking. Battling through the hopelessness that ate at her insides as she was forced to watch the love of her life fawn over Zoey was one thing. But actually having risked her future to sabotage them was an adventure she wouldn’t forget for the rest of her life.

If it weren’t for Tristan’s interference, there’s no telling what things would look like after the game. It could even be said that he was the reason Ben and her were finally together again. He deserved a proper thank you for everything he’d done. She had even, in that moment, considered inviting him to the mall for her birthday outing on Saturday.

But she ended up dismissing the thought just as quickly as she had entertained it. Ben probably wouldn’t like it much if she did that. The two of them were back together, but their relationship could still neatly be divided into two distinct timeframes: ‘Before Zoey’ and ‘After Zoey’. He was still carrying that lingering disinterest he had back when he’d first started talking to that girl. He wasn’t on amicable terms with her since the bet fell through, but it unfortunately might have been the case that the whole experience had left a mark on him. And that also meant that Tristan may not have been welcomed at the affair.

As Gwen turned to face her beloved, whose arm was still wrapped around her, she opened her mouth to begin asking about it. However, what she found had sliced through any desire to have a fair and fun conversation. The boy’s eyes were firmly glued to a junior girl who happened to be walking past their table. The realization was a jolt to her nervous system. An electric shock that boiled the blood in her veins to the point where she thought that steam must have been rising out of her body.

“And just what the fuck are you doing, Benjamin?”

“Huh? What’s your deal?”

“Are you playing dumb? You were staring at that girl’s ass, weren’t you?”

“What? Are you crazy?”

“Oh, you’re like, actually going to do it? You’re actually going to play dumb here? Really?”

“I’m not playing dumb, you’re just completely insane. I’m not staring at anyone’s ass.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, whatever.”

And just like that, the somewhat cheery mood at the table had descended into a thick, murky fog of tension, just as it had been before the homecoming game. No, it wasn’t just then. Things had been heavy all week, and Lawrence was the first to notice it. Though the two had gotten back together, their relationship was all but completely strained. There was no telling if they’d be able to rebuild it to its former glory. The issue is, if they went at it haphazardly, the consequences of their fallout would be more than just their relationship. That’s why Lawrence decided that he needed to help them figure it out. If he didn’t, everything would crash and burn into a million pieces. So long as Gwen loved Ben, the only solutions either involved a fairy tale happy ending or utter destruction.

“I’ll be right back.”

The phrase was like a secret password that allowed him to march out of the cafeteria without so much as acknowledging the tension at the table. No one had responded. but his absence cast a cloud over the already dampened mood. Warren and Penny, who looked at one another like lost lambs, were aware of how out of their depths they were in these types of situations, and things only seemed to be getting worse the more time went by.

“Great. Nice job,” Ben said. “Even Law’s sick of your bullshit now.”

“Oh, my bullshit? You’re lucky I don’t rip your fucking eyeballs out for lying to my face.”

“Seriously? You’re such a…” He sighed, taking a moment to compose himself. “Okay, whatever. Fine. Let’s say that I DID check this girl out. So what, is this gonna be a rule now? Am I not allowed to look at other girls anymore? My eyes are just supposed to stay glued to you forever when the two of us are hanging out?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“But you got mad at me for not doing exactly that.”

“No, I got mad at you for checking her ass out. Wouldn’t you get mad if I started fawning over shirtless guys during your practice?”

“Not really.”

“You’re fucking lying.”

“I’m not. If you think I am, then go ahead and try it. Unlike you, I’m not an emotional toddler who can’t handle my partner being in the same room as someone else.”

“Says the guy who had a meltdown over Zoey talking to Tristan...”

“What’d you say?”

“Nothing.” She had only muttered the remark under her breath. She didn’t intend for him to hear it, as she no longer had the strength to keep the verbal joust up. She was certainly in a bad mood over the way things were going, but to continue things would only worsen their relationship. “Sorry, forget it.”

“Christ,” Ben said, removing his arm from around her.

Warren spoke up after Penny nudged him, urging him to steer the conversation into something more lighthearted, but Gwen hadn’t been paying attention to a word he was saying. She was lost in her thoughts over the reality of their relationship, and how possible it would be to turn it around. She could have tried seducing him, but he hadn’t seemed to be in that sort of mood for a while. The two of them exchanged brief kisses since their reunion, but that was as far as they had gone. If there happened to be a method of solving this, Gwen didn’t know it. But just as she had been considering giving up for the time being, a text message appeared on the front of her home screen.

I’m at the lockers. We need to talk.

Of course, the message had come from ‘The Law’, who had excused himself earlier. Perhaps his head was in the same place that hers was. Did he have a solution to the growing tension between her and Benjamin? Or did it have to do with something else? Whatever it was, just the mere fact that it was serious enough for him to want to discuss it as soon as possible had convinced her to take it seriously.

“Bathroom.”

With just that one word, Gwen stood up and left the cafeteria. No one seemed to pay her sudden absence a mind, least of all Ben. It almost seemed like their timed absence together would go under the radar without any issue. That is, until Warren spoke up without looking up from his phone.

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“That’s weird.”

“Huh? What is?” Benjamin asked.

“Have you ever known Gwen to use the school’s bathrooms?”

It was an observation made from Gwen’s disgust for germs and unclean things. She had openly commented multiple times about how much she despised using the school bathrooms and how she avoided them as much as possible, so it made sense that Warren found the sudden shift in demeanor strange.

“Uhm, she actually uses them when she’s on her period,” Penny replied.

“Her period was last week, though.”

When he uttered the words, Penny turned to face him with a look of complete horror and disgust. Even Ben, who had been in a half daze the entire time, found himself lifting an eyebrow at the comment.

“Oh, I guess I shouldn’t keep track of things like that. Sorry,” he apologized as if he had no idea how strange that was. “Still, I don’t think she’s going to the bathroom right now.”

“Wait, don’t just pretend you didn’t say that. Are you… really keeping track of Gwen’s menstrual cycle?”

“Not just Gwen’s.”

“Uh, what?” She looked around nervously. “Warren, that’s… really creepy.”

“Sorry.”

“Do… do you know mine too?”

“Yeah, yours was last week too.”

The look of sheer embarrassment on Penny’s face said it all. Her privacy had been intruded on without her even knowing, and it seemed like it had been for quite some time. But since when, exactly? The thought paralyzed her.

“Why… would you…??”

“I was just curious.”

“Warren, that’s none of your business. Ugh, why are you so…” Penny appeared to be caught in a state between anger, shame and worry. The conflicting emotions tugged at the edges of her mind until she couldn’t take it anymore, and she let out a sigh of resignation. “Never mind.”

With a frustrated look on her face, she lifted her tray and stood up.

“Where are you going? Warren asked.

“To go eat with Krista.”

“Oh, okay.”

With those parting words, Penny quickly went off with her tray to the cheerleaders table nearby. To Benjamin, who had been mindlessly digging into his meal and observing the ordeal, her sudden departure was reminiscent of a scared animal scampering away after it was released by a predator. That hint of desperation to be free of the situation was easy to discern, even by Warren.

“You’re creepy, man,” Benjamin finally said.

“Oh, was it really that creepy?”

“Their genitals aren’t really your business.” Benjamin said it while taking a bite out of his pizza. “Most girls would be weirded out by that. You should pay more attention to what they’re feeling when you say that stuff.”

“I see.”

Warren scratched his temple while looking down at the table, seeming to seriously ponder Benjamin’s words. He hadn’t intended to cause Penny any distress, it’s just that he unfortunately hadn’t seen anything wrong with what he had done. Benjamin was well aware of Warren’s stranger tendencies, however. To him, the boy was like an infant navigating the world of adults without a map. Perhaps that was why he had such a soft spot for him. Would you really admonish an infant for doing something insensitive in the way that you would someone your age? Of course, it had been strange for him to admit to keeping track of Gwen’s cycle. But he also understood, as his friend of over ten years, that no harm was meant by these strange actions of his.

“By the way Ben, I think you should probably go after Gwen,” Warren said.

“Huh? To the Bathroom?”

“No, I don’t think she’s going to the bathroom.”

“You don’t think… hmm. Come to think of it, Lawrence isn’t back yet.”

“That’s one possibility.”

“One? What’s the other?”

“Well, I think you should just go see for yourself.”

Benjamin pondered Warren’s suggestion. He might have been off the mark on reading social cues, but he was extremely adept at information games. He could make accurate inferences from limited information. It was a trait that Benjamin had a great admiration for.

“Hey Warren, what’s Gwen thinking about right now?”

“Penny told me she’s sad that you’re not paying enough attention to her.”

“What? But we’re together all the time.”

Warren shrugged. “I don’t understand the ‘why’. I only know what she said to me, and I happen to agree with it.”

“Yeah?” he said, reaching into his pocket for a cigarette before remembering that he was still at school. “And what exactly did she say to you?”

“That Gwen loves you a lot.”

“Christ, man.”

After dwelling on the words of his best friend for a moment, Benjamin got up from the table and left the cafeteria. The words Warran uttered had unsettled him far more than he’d let on. Gwen loves you a lot. He couldn’t deny it. The dedication she had shown to him even after he struck her, even after the breakup, even after his relentless pursuit of Zoey, was like that of a lioness refusing to release her prey. If even someone as emotionally dense as Warren could see it, then perhaps her feelings really were pure and true. But how did he feel? For the past few months, there was no one for him but Zoey Brahm. Nothing could erase the image of that smile from the forefront of his mind: the hypnotizing smirk that Ben thought could easily drive men to war just for a moment of her time.

Of course, he had liked Gwen too. She was a good girlfriend. He thought that she was quite attractive, and that she made for a good conversation partner. At least, she had before things became so untenable between them. He also found her devotion to him quite admirable. Regardless of how the past few months had gone, their time together was something precious to him that he wouldn’t change for anything else in the world.

However, despite their love together, it was only when he became acquainted with Zoey that he came to terms with what it meant to truly desire a woman. She led him around by the nose, subtly guiding him along with the unspoken prospect of her finally becoming his. And the further down that path he’d been taken by that addictive smile of hers, the more hostile Gwen had become towards him. Her paranoia had morphed into a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more upset Gwen had become, the less time he wished to spend with her. Instead, he had been actively seeking out conversations with Zoey more frequently. Regardless of whose fault it was, he thought, there was only one inescapable reality that he was forced to confront. He was less in love with Gwen than he had been before.

A few moments after Gwen had left the cafeteria, she finally caught up with Lawrence at the lockers where he’d been waiting. He had been spending the down time before her arrival by scrolling through his phone. His TikTok algorithm was littered with self-improvement motivational videos that he used to help himself get through the day. He found peace in listening to these affirmations against the disappointments that the past two weeks had offered him. And the worst of these disappointments had been watching his friend group hang on by the thread of Ben and Gwen’s dilapidated relationship. The two of them would never go back to the way they were before, and Lawrence knew it. The only way to rectify this situation was with an amicable breakup. Since Ben had already broken up with her once, the two of them only needed Gwen to accept that it was over. This, he believed, would be the only way to resolve this properly.

“Are you crazy? What if Ben sees us together like this? He’ll kill you.”

Lawrence almost scoffed. Ben? Chase after her like this? In what world was he paying attention to her enough to put two and two together? However, rather than openly antagonizing her, he decided to play it cool.

“Actually, he’s exactly the person I wanted to talk to you about.”

At his opener, Gwen raised an eyebrow.

“What about him?”

“Well,” he started, suddenly nervous about how he’d navigate the conversation. “Do you think things are okay as they are now between you two?”

“Better than they were last week.”

“Yeah, but…”

“But nothing. Is this what you called me out here for?”

Lawrence had already lost his footing. He wanted to be fair to Gwen, but he knew that saying the words would cause her to lose her trust in him. He thought back to his interactions with Zoey Brahm last week and beyond. How did she always manage to guide him into doing what she wanted? He had known, of course. One doesn’t spend all that time with someone without picking up a few tricks. All she had been doing the entire time was leading him by his nose. Using loaded questions, she allowed him to come to the conclusion that she wanted him to on his own. By letting him believe that it was his own idea, she avoided the usual resistance that came from confronting someone on their self-destructive behaviors. He hated to admit it, but as manipulative as Zoey was, it was hard not to use her tactics sometimes.

“Are you happy right now?” he asked.

“Am I happy? What kind of question is that?”

“Just answer it. Are you?”

“No, actually. I’m miserable. I might be worse off than I was last week in some ways.”

“What do you mean? You’re dating Ben again, aren’t you? Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Are you fucking playing dumb right now?” Lawrence flinched. Apparently, he wasn’t as good at leading people with questions as Zoey was. “You saw what happened earlier. That’s how it’s been all week. Yeah, we’re going out again, but he’s been… cold. It’s just not the same. All we ever fucking do is fight. And I feel like it’s my fault. Yeah, I know it is. I’m the one who keeps picking fights with him. But can you really blame me? Fighting feels so much better than being ignored.”

“Yeah, I get that.”

Gwen turned to examine the wall behind her. Seeming satisfied, she rested her back against it and let out a sigh.

“I had a strange dream the other night. I was trapped at the top of a castle wearing that purple dress I had on for homecoming. There I was, just standing there silently on the balcony with nothing to do. Looking down on everyone who had the freedom to live in the world beyond the confines of the castle walls. Do you know what I felt up there, Lawrence?”

He shook his head.

“I was just hoping. Hoping that he would come rescue me from my prison in the sky. That he would, hopefully, take me down into the fun, exciting world below my feet. Wishing from the deepest depths of my heart for such a future, since it would mean that, at least on some level, he still cared about me the way he did back then. I remember waking up that morning with tears in my eyes. Why did I, I wonder? Is it because I had woken up before he finally came to rescue me?

“I’ve spent the past two years wanting nothing more than to be his. I did it all for him. I was kind, loving, and understanding of his needs. I did everything he asked, and I spent every waking moment thinking about him. All I wanted in return was the same thing that I want now: to be held by him the way he held me back then. I couldn’t tell you exactly why it’s so different now. I only know that something about the days he spent agonizing over Zoey has changed him. And I know that it would take a miracle to go back to a time before that. Have you ever felt like that, Lawrence? The feeling of losing someone you loved with all your heart? Watching them obsess over someone else, someone so clearly superior to you in every way, that it almost feels like you’re racing against a doped-up athlete?

Lawrence felt a tug somewhere in his chest. What was he thinking about in that moment? Who was he imagining just then? For the first time in a while, the subtle hint of a powerful emotion had yanked at the strings of his heart. However, he wouldn’t allow himself to think about such trifling things. He had killed that part of himself a long time ago, and he wouldn’t let it resurface then. What he needed to focus on at that moment was helping Gwen. Ben didn’t love her anymore, and he was certain of it. Their interactions since the Zoey incident were like that of an elderly couple who had exhausted the well of their youthful romance a long time ago. It was a pitiful sight when the couple in question consisted of two high schoolers. She needed to let go, that much was obvious to him.

“Wha-” Gwen yelped reflexively, then held her tongue. Lawrence had pulled her away from the wall and into a gentle embrace. “What… what the fuck are you doing? Let go of me.”

“He’s not coming, Gwen.”

“What?”

“Ben isn’t coming for you. He’s not going to be the one to take you out of that castle. He’s not going to save you.”

“What are you…”

“It’s not okay. It’s the worst feeling in the world. It’s a feeling like everything’s coming to an end. Like you’ve been abandoned by the world and God himself. I know how it feels. But I promise you, it’s not the end of the world.”

“No, I… he will. I know he will.” She gripped the back of his shirt and held him tightly. “He will. He will, he will, he will.”

“Gwen…” Lawrence muttered.

“No, you don’t understand Lawrence. He will, he has to. I mean, after all, he…”

“What the hell is going on here?”

“Ben…” Gwen called out reflexively.

Lawrence tensed up.

He’d found them at the worst possible time. There they were, in each other’s arms sharing a passionate embrace with her face pressed into his chest, and it was all behind his back. Of course, the circumstances of their hug being what they were, it probably shouldn’t have been considered an act of betrayal. That’s what Lawrence believed. But when it came to Benjamin Otto and his short temper, being heard out at this juncture was but a pipe dream.