CHAPTER 22- PLAN

Dione's Pov

I sighed again as I watched Alice pacing back and forth like a detective inside my room. She's currently looking for clues of who had said to Aria that she was the one who exposed her wrong doings.

"I think that it was from our circle. But who is it?" She bit her nail.

"I am more confused why you would go overboard for me? I couldn't care less about that gossip, it's just uncomfortable. It will go down anyway." I commented. Alice glared at me.

"And that's the reason why I would go lengths protecting you. I know you don't care that much, but I do. You're my best friend. And I don't want you getting caught up and being backstab or gossiped about something you're not." Alice made it a big deal. I was touched by what she said.

"Aw, you're making me blush. Maybe I am your real lover, not Paul." I teased. Alice just laughed.

"Anyways, we must be cautious by what we say towards others. I'm feeling that one of the people who were there when we had that conversation had been sell off. I will really punch that person." I think she's right. It's quite odd knowing that we only have each other in that moment.

"Do you think it was Tina?" I asked. Alice stopped walking and looked at me.

"She's your suspicion too?" I nodded.

"She's the one who had connections. And why would Maya come to us suddenly?"

"Okay, hold up. It was me who approached Maya first." Alice cut me off. What?

"Context please?" I ask specifically. Alice cleared her throat.

"I approached her first because of what Tina told us the other day. She's not a bad person as I though she was. But I'm still suspicious of her. That's why I can't really trust her fully. Same with Tina." Alice explained.

"But what are you really planning to Aria? I don't like conflicts, Alice." I said to her. Alice gave me a smile.

"I can't let my best friend get bullied by a person who proclaims to be a queen bee." She replied. I was happy that she stood up for me, but I'm worried that this conflict will make it worse. I don't want my parents to be worried and our school records to be stained by this issue. Alice noticed that my expression is still troubled by her plan.

"Don't be too worried. I will stop if it is too much for you. The exams are approaching anyway so I guess we will go low for now. Exams are our priority, not her." She pats my head. "But I guess after the exams will be fun because I am going to declare war on her face." She smirked. I sighed in frustration for Alice.

"Why do I feel that you're excited to wage a school war because of me? I'm not taking responsible of it." I firmly said.

"I won't drag you to this war, she started it." She flatly replied.

"But still, I'm the reason why you wanted to fight her. I will feel responsible for it. Can't we just let it go?" I pleaded. Alice just sighed.

"Alright, if she touches us, then don't feel responsible for what I will do. I hate it when someone just randomly acts a know-it-all even if she's wrong." I could feel that she was enraged.

"You're such a war freak." I commented.

"I'll gladly be a war freak if she dares to put pranks on us." She shrugs. I facepalmed.

"I'm going to take a nap now, wake me up if there's something wrong." She told me and jumped straight to my bed. I picked up my book.

"I'll be at the garden, join me later." I said to her and turned off the lights. I headed to the garden and sat under the tree. I closed my eyes for a while because my head hurts. I heard mom from a distance, and I hear her talking to someone.

"Yes, I'm worried about our girls, do you think they will make up? I know, they had been friends since they were kids, I'm worried that Dione is silently suffering from what your daughter did. I don't know if my daughter will forgive Chloe." I quietly moved to the swing far from her, so she won't be disturbed and slowly swing back and forth while reading my book. I leaned on the swing chair and as I was very caught up with the book, I heard mom's voice.

"so this is where you were, where's Alice?" I put a bookmark on the page and closed it.

"She's in my bedroom, sleeping. She might be exhausted from stressing herself in what had happened." I answered. Mom nodded and she sat beside me.

"I had also taken care of other matters that had been involved with you." She said to me. I looked down, shy.

"Sorry for the issue mom, I didn't expect that this would cause a problem for you and dad." I sadly apologized. Mom rubbed my back.

"It's alright sweetie. It's normal for this. I just didn't like what she put the captions and falsely accused you. I can also see your façade of pretending it's alright. Don't think that we won't protect you. Alice also had her reasons why she wants to protect you. Alice's mom is also aware of what are the possibilities of the outcomes of what Alice will do so we will just be there if you need us. So, don't ever feel that you're alone." Mom smiled at me. I didn't realize that they had known that I was lonely inside. Did I make it obvious? I chuckled.

"To be honest mom, even if I'm with Alice and my friends, I feel like I'm still lonely inside, I don't know why. It just feels empty. I'm afraid being to be happy or feeling like I don't deserve it. Maybe I had done a grave sin in my past life to feel this." I sighed. Mom hugged and kissed my head.

"I'm sorry you felt that way, it will be alright. I'm here, darling. If you feel that you're alone, don't hesitate to find me, I'm your mother, I will be with you until your old." She giggled.

"I'm really lucky to be your daughter, mom. Thank you for understanding me despite of me being complicated sometimes." I felt comfort from mom's embrace.

"I talked to Chloe's mom." She told me. "I just gave her a head's up of what Chloe said to you. Well, she called me first though, she was worried about Chloe this past few days because she had noticed that her behavior had been weird."

"Like what?" I curiously asked mom.

"She's been spacing out lately, her academic performance is poor, she had gone minor incidents in class and more. Her mom also told me that she had been crying for days and felt unmotivated." She continued. I felt sorry for her.

"It's quite odd for her to space out but why is she punishing herself like that? I'm mad at her but I'm worried that she will fall sick of what she's doing" I replied to mom.

"Maybe she's reflecting of what she treated you. I was a bit surprised that she spoke ill in front of your face though." Mom guessed it.

"But that doesn't mean that's a reason for her to be careless with herself. That would be bad." I sigh and close my eyes. I feel sleepy thinking deeply about it and I didn't notice that I had fallen asleep from mom's embrace.

"I'll tell her mom on that. Just relax sweetie. Everything's going to be alright." I heard mom whisper as I drifted away from reality.

I woke up because of Alice.

"What time is it?" I sleepily asked.

"7:30 in the evening." She answered. "I've got something to tell you, Elijah messaged me earlier that we have a problem." I yawned and looked at her. "We had forgotten about our study out!" She freaked out. I facepalmed and sighed roughly.

"You do realize that we can schedule it anytime, right?" I irritably said. Alice shook her head.

"Marco and his friends will be there, remember?" Alice reminded me. Oh, right. I haven't heard from him in a while now.

"Oh, we just hadn't seen them since we had dinner." I commented. Alice aggressively taps her phone, typing something.

"We should do it next week; I'll remind them about it." Alice mumbled.

"Who will be with us?" I asked.

"Just us, excluding Chloe. You might go home if she's there. I'll also invite Tina and Maya." She told me. I just nodded and lay down on my bed. Alice was still typing aggressively because she would arrange the venue for us to be comfortable. I think I'll just head down for dinner because she doesn't want to be disturbed. I got up and went down, I saw Nanny Flor with mom at the living room but I just straightly headed to the kitchen for dinner.

'I'm craving for ice cream.' I thought.

"Mom, do we have ice cream here?" I raised my voice so she could hear me.

"No, honey." She answered. I went to the living room and handed out my hand.

"Money, please. I'm going to buy ice cream." I sweetly spoke. Mom just laughed and handed me some cash. "Mom, I'm only buying ice cream, not shopping." I sighed and walked out to buy ice cream.