Jake Addams April 17st, 20XX

I brought out my phone to consider asking Alice if she wanted a drive home but quickly changed my mind. Even if she’d said yes it would be her and at least five others and I was in no mood to put what I knew was a play for others. As well I had to meet sparrow in less than two hours, While I could have driven her home and returned to the campus in that time I wasn't in the mood to play chauffeur either.

I quickly gave up on the half baked idea and headed to the library, wanting to get some studying done when I received a text from Alice. My hopes were slightly raised as I thought she’d taken the initiative and wanted to go home together but they came crashing down once I actually read the text.

Wonderland: Just heard from the group. Come meet me in room 384. Now! >_<

It didn't take much for me to realize what was going on but I went anyways to the room she had specified.

It was only a door down from where I was supposed to meet Sparrow in anyways.

I took my time getting to the building since it was on the other side of the large campus but somehow still got there first. I set my stuff down and put in my headphones, figuring it would be a few minutes to half an hour before she got here.

After 5 songs or so Alice stormed in with an annoyingly wronged expression and prosthetic tears in her eyes.

Rather than addressing the tears that made her eyes glitter pitifully I instead wondered where she had gotten them. She was a singer so I knew that she wouldn't have them on hand.. It was probably why she had taken so long to get here.

She stood with her whole entourage behind her and prepared to talk however I was really unwilling to perform a play for others.

Neither of us had enrolled into this school for acting so I really didn't know why she had decided to make such a performance.

With a heavy sigh I yanked out my headphones and stood. For a second Alice froze, as if she was scared of me and began to tremble.

“ Everybody out.”

They looked at me with surprise that I had taken the initiative to speak to them but stayed by Alice until I repeated myself, this time in a shout.

“ I said everybody out! “

“ Jake.”

The sound of her saying my name in such a hurt and confused tone was almost enough to make me start apologizing but I restrained myself. This time, it wasn't my turn to apologize.

“ Alice. I’m. Dead. Serious.”

Her eyes slightly widened as she registered my stern and rigid tone and she completely wiped away the crocodile tears. Now that I was the only audience member present she didn't feel the need to continue the act.

Still the shock at my refusal to back down was still present. I couldn't help but internally laugh as i realized that she hadn't thought she would have to do anything but what she’d done, but if she couldn't adapt she wouldn't have been able to manage the large group of people that followed her around. She began to talk in a light voice with a slight angry undertone.

“ I heard Sparrow came to find you the other day”

“ And so?”

Once again her eyes widened at the fact that I did not deny it, not that I thought I needed to. She quickly composed herself but her voice still came out sounding rather hurried as if I was a co actor that refused to follow the script during a live performance. But once again, I was an athlete not an actor.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“ Well?”

The aggressive single syllable question hung between us like a battle shield, with the spike in the middle aimed at me but I ignored it and responded in a curt tone that surprised even me.

“ Well.”

This time she had already incorporated my mood into her script and retorted in seconds, this time trying to evoke a high tensioned mood rather than the loud and passionate one she was originally going for.

“.. What did she want?”

“ She wanted to know where Finn was.”

Before this point I’d felt my resolve weakening; She was after all the girl I’d been in love with for the last ten or so years.

Maybe that was why seeing her face light up at the sound of Finn’s name made me solidify my resolve. It was time for this ridiculous charade to end.

She looked incredibly tempted to ask me what the conversation had resolved in but thankfully she changed her mind and continued the conversation we were having.

“ Well why would she come see you? There are others that share more than one class with him.”

I could only respond in a spiteful tone, despite my wish to stay as neutral as possible.

“ Probably for the same reason you wanted to.”

I carefully searched her face for any hint of guilt, even just a glimmer would have been enough but she remained consistent with a mixture of anger, curiosity and hurt as if even her subconscious was determined to push the blame onto me.

“The others said that you two looked super friendly together but I don't remember you guys ever interacting before? or at least not in public.”

Her voice got soft at the end of her speech when she finally noticed the irritation in my face and voice but her accusation had already been made.

Words, like actions and promises could not be taken back once they were released. Even if one apologized the fact that they were said, written or whispered could not be denied.

That she would even think of accuse me of cheating of her was enough to devastate me and the fact that she could verbalize it really made things clear. I spoke slowly and quietly in response to her and made sure she didn't hear even a drop of how I felt at the moment.

“ So what exactly do you want me to say? Do you want an apology for something I didn't do?”

“ N-No! I just want to know why it looks more like you’re going out with Sparrow than me! I mean I trust you but sometimes the rumors reach even my ears!”

“ It looks like that because you’ve been chasing after another guy for the last two weeks!”

I finally lost it and began to speak in a rather low but clearly angry tone. Seeing her confused expression only made me angrier. Could it be that she really didn't see it? Or she did and just didn't see anything wrong with it.

“ What, you thought I didn't know how much you’ve looked into him? and that I didn't notice that recently every conversation we’ve had together was about him? Even when you were crying about having to leave the school you were just upset that you wouldn't be able to see him anymore! You weren't sad about me, your friends or that your career would be stunted; no you were just upset that you couldn't see him anymore! How the hell do you think I felt! But I decided not to say anything and to trust you because you hadn't actually done anything, but now because of a conversation, you decide to come here with guns ablazing saying I’m the unfaithful one? That I’m the one to be condemned!?”

Any other person would have backed off after this but she didn't and that was one of the reasons I had liked her so much.

The fact that she would never lose, was confident and would protect whatever she had was incredibly attractive to me but now it was clear to me that what I'd taken as her protectiveness was just cheap defense and her confidence was just self entitlement.

She stepped up to me and glared at me, attempting to look like a valiant warrior but only achieving the look of a petulant child.

“ If it bothered you all that much why didn't you say something! “

“Would you have stopped if I did? Honestly. If I had come to talk to you about this, about us… Would you have stopped?”

Here she paused as if she seriously thought about it and began to speak in an even louder voice after she reached a conclusion,

“ What does it matter if I would have?! The fact is that rather than talking to me about it you chose to run into the arms of some whore like a coward!”

I barked out a laugh at this and thought once again… well it was more like a mantra at this point than a single thought.

Really. It was time for this to end.

“Resorting to such cheap insults...You really haven't changed have you?”