Settle this

Annie was very wary as she climbed into bed and watched Maddie get ready for bed as well.

She was worried that Maddie would take her attempt to get back at her to another level. She almost felt too scared to sleep.

Even though technically due to the rules of their feud it was supposed to be her turn to get back at Maddie, but since she broke the rules first by getting back at Maddie yesterday when it wasn't her turn then who was to say that Maddie wouldn't break the rules as well?

Technically it would be fair if she did, after all she was the one to break the rules first? What was she even saying? This stupid feud wasn't even supposed to have any rules in the first place? Could there every be civility in a war?

Annie and Maddie hadn't spoke to each other ever since Wednesday. They shared the same room and a room was supposed to be a safe place which it was.

Which was why there was some sort of unspoken rule that when it was time to go to sleep, neither of them played any tricks or cheated the feud rules. 

Even though they were not talking to each other and they still kept the peace of sleeping since they were roommates, there was still very much so a silent war going on.

Neither of them was willing to bend for the other and after days of constant harassment that they were both guilty off. All Annie wanted to do was rest well and have a good night's sleep for a change.

Tomorrow was the day of the admissions test and she was more than nervous, now imagine adding her paranoia and worry to that nervousness, she was internally unable to cope, she was just tired, both physically and mentally.

To be honest, she missed her best friend. They hadn't talked in days, only expressing unsaid words in their trivial pranks; which by the way were words of stubbornness and annoyance.

She wanted to tell Maddie how nervous she felt, how worried she was for the test tomorrow and yet she didn't want to be the one to break first. Maddie looked unfazed in fact she looked as if she could continue this little feud for months, and that was why Annie didn't want to feel weak and succumb to the emotions of missing her best friend because she doubted Maddie felt the same.

Maddie was aware of the fact that Annie was watching her every move. She could literally smell the paranoia and worry and nervousness that Annie was emitting right now.

It was clear that she was scared that she would try to strike at any time, but in all truth, Maddie had no intention of doing so tonight, she was tired.

She had to give to to Annie though, she was able to hold her own for so long. Maddie thought that sooner or later common sense would hit Annie and she would put an end to this stupid feud, but she didn't.

Maddie would be lying if she said that she didn't miss her best friend. She missed her so much, she missed the way they used to talk, she missed hearing Annie's nice soft voice telling her to stop throwing her clothes out of her closet looking for something to wear.

She missed all those little moments they used to have together; but would she be the bigger person and stop this nonsense? Of course not. Saying that she was wrong was not something she liked doing at all. She hated being wrong, and as much as she missed her friend, the thought of being the first to crack made her even more stubborn.

As both Annie and Maddie were busy in their separate thoughts a sudden knock on the door broke both of their dazes as they both turned to look at the door.

Maddie was about to ask who it was when the answer already came.

"Annie, Maddie, are you both in there? We need to talk." said Matt as he knocked again,, excuse him for being so impatient, but this was urgent, very urgent.

"Come in Matt." replied Annie as Maddie looked at Annie, asking her with her eyes if she had asked Matt to come here and she answered with her eyes, 'no, I thought you did.'

Matt opened the door as he walked into the room and looked at both Maddie and Annie.

"What's up Matt?" asked Maddie as she smiled and stood up and put her hairbrush down and went to go and sit on her bed.

Matt took on look at the both of them and he was certain for sure that they had still not spoken to each other. This was just insanity? How could something so small escalate into something this serious?

"Okay, I'm here because we need to talk, the three of us need to have a serious talk." said Matt as he was fed up with this entire thing.

For the past few days he had been torn between Maddie and Annie, he didn't want to be forced to take any sides, he had tried to make them both see reason but they refused to. He ended up having breakfast with Maddie and lunch with Annie and vice versa.

Ever since this stupid feud broke out they had not all hung out together like they used to. Matt was the most annoyed person with this nonsense going on, and to make matters worse Ollie was too busy to even come and try to help him resolve this matter.

He had to deal with all of it himself. That was why he decided that tonight they had to resolve everything. Tomorrow was the test day, there was no way he would allow these two continue to be on bad terms on such an important day.

"About what?" asked Maddie as she feigned ignorance and Matt sent an extremely dirty glare.

"Don't test me Maddie, I'm already at my wits end." he replied sharply as he took one of the chairs of the dressing table and he positioned it in the middle of Annie and Maddie's beds.

"Now there is a serious problem that needs to be addressed." said Matt with a serious expression on his face.

"Oh come on Matt, I don't think that it's that serious for you to be looking like that." said Maddie as Annie nodded and agreed with her.

"Oh but it is very serious, we need to settle this right here and right now." said Matt as the look on his face and tone of his voice left no room for refusal at all.

"Alright, first we need to start with why this whole thing started in the first place." said Matt.

"Annie, you should not have tried to force Maddie to study, it's her choice and no one else's." said Matt as Annie frowned and Maddie nodded triumphantly.

"Maddie, what you did in return was wrong, you shouldn't have gone as far as doing something that would physically hurt Annie, and it was even more wrong for you to refuse to apologize, what you did to her hurt a lot." said Matt as Annie smiled and Maddie frowned.

"Well at least you admit that Annie started it." said Maddie smugly.

"Oh no way! I didn't start it, you did, it's clear that you did!" replied Annie as they broke into another series of arguments about who started what and it was literally driving Matt crazy, he had not had to deal with such childishness ever since he stopped living at home with his siblings,

Right now, it felt like he was reliving his very irritating big brother days when he had to break out petty fights between the girls and small arguments between the boys.

"Stop it! You both started it, by being selfish at the same time!" said Matt in a loud voice that startled both Annie and Maddie as they both remained silent.

"Look, this has been going on for far too long..." said Matt as he sighed.

"I miss my friends... I miss the two of you being friends... I miss hanging out with my friends." said Matt as his soft words were causing Annie and Maddie to feel guilty.

"I know in the moment it seems that the first the back down and apologize is weak, but for the sake of our peace as friends, and more as family, I think we should let this stupid feud go." said Matt.

"It's not doing anyone any good, if anything it's doing more harm than good." said Matt as Annie and Maddie both looked at him and then at each other.

"Deep down I know that you both know that this isn't good at all, come on, be honest, how does not talking to your best friend for days feel?" asked Matt as Annie and Maddie looked at him.

"Come on, go on now, tell me how it feels to be in this stupid fight for days?" asked Matt as the both of them refused to say anything, but Matt was not going to budge at all until he got he answers he wanted.

"Annie, be honest, give me one word that explains how it feels for you and Maddie to be fighting for this long." said Matt as Annie looked at him, with a very sad expression on her face.

"Sad." replied Annie simply as Maddie turned to look at her and she looked at Maddie gloomily.