6.

"Hey babe," Gio said as he walked in and placed a kiss on her cheek. He leaned against the door and looked around. A bunch of students were using the library books for revision. He looked back at her. "What are you doing tonight?"

She closed the book and got up, so that she doesn't interrupt the other students who were also using the silent room. They walked to the staircase and she turned to him. "I was planning on studying for my major tests coming up next week, why?" she asked.

He groaned mockingly and flicked her nose. "You're always studying. We haven't been out together in over two months now."

"That's because we are busy with test series and exam preps," she reminded him for the umpteenth time. She was getting irritated with him trying to distract her from her studies.

"Listen, you aren't the only one busy with studies and whatnot. Yet some of us still make time for others," he said bitterly, his voice raised which got her even more irritated at the situation.

"Okay, firstly, don't raise your voice at me," she reminded him calmly, subconsciously taking a step back. "Secondly, you know how important my grades are this semester because the publishing company wants to see my performance. Only three kids get selected and I want to make sure I make the-"

"Shut up," he snapped abruptly and walked away. He made sure to roughly brush his shoulder against hers, making her hold onto the wall for balance. She turned around and watched him leave before shaking her head and going to her studies.

A couple of hours into studying, she finally closed the book and checked her phone to see if he replied to her texts, just to see that he left her on read. She sighed, packed away and left the library. On her way home, she thought, what's the harm if she had a little fun out? On a Wednesday night for that matter. It's not like she has a Physics test tomorrow morning that could cost her the scholarship if she failed or something.

She checked his SnapChat for his location. Without thinking much about it, she pulled up at the museum indicated and headed inside, wondering if this was the place he wanted them to hang out at when he asked her out earlier.

She walked mindlessly, checking out the art on the walls and sculptures in the hallways.

She wondered why Gio would be here since he didn't even like art. He hasn't even recognize The Starry Night poster she had in her bedroom. But he was always a guy full of surprises.

After walking for a while, she headed for the ladies' room to wash her face and call him. When he wasn't picking up after a couple of tries that ended in being sent to voicemail, she checked his SnapChat again just to discover that he had his Ghost mode enabled. She thought that was weird and decided to just let it be. He definitely didn't want to talk to her tonight. But he would come around the next morning. He always did.

Just as she stepped out of the ladies' room, she heard an obnoxious giggle followed by someone's shushing coming from the male's bathroom. What made her skin crawl was the moans she heard as she walked in and pushed open the door that was left ajar. Why would people be messing around in a museum?

She froze when she locked eyes with the guy holding the girl's waist. Her eyes kept moving from his shocked face to the girl's confused face, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. "What are you doing here Giovanni?" she asked, her voice coming off strong. She was panting and her palms were sweating.

"Uh, Kárri. Meet Brittney. She's my, uh, c-cousin," he stuttered as he stepped away from this so-called Brittney and rubbed his forehead.

"Cousin?" Brittney asked incredulously, stepping away as if he burned her and gave him an ugly look. "Since when do you fuck your cousins in public places?"

"Excuse me?" Kárri said, not believing what she just heard. She gasped, turning to Gio for clarification.

"You heard me. And who are you anyway?" Brittney directed the question at Kárri. That made Kárri turn to the other girl. She noticed that she was pretty. She had blonde hair and her makeup was minimal. And damn, if her cat-eye didn't make Kárri have a double take. Kárri instantly felt jealous of her.

"Uh, I- I can explain," Gio said hastily.

Brittney scoffed, giving him a disgusted look. "Save it. You were just a lousy fuck anyway." And with that, she flipped her hair and walked out.

"How could you?" Kárri asked, feeling the stinging pain of her heart breaking in half. However, he just shrugged and slipped his hands in the back of his jeans pockets. That just angered Kárri even more and she couldn't help but shove him.

"I trusted you! I loved you and you go behind my back like that? I hate you, you worthless piece of-" the words got lost in her throat when he took her by surprise and hit her across the face. She yelped, as she held onto the sink, her hands trembling as tears rolled down her face and onto the floor.

She watched through blurry eyelids as red droplets stained the sink. She looked up and her eyes widened when she saw that he busted her lip. She licked it, only for more blood to surface.

He wrapped his hand firm and tightly around her throat and pressed hard. Just as he was about to open his mouth, Kárri punched his jaw so hard his head flew back. He was completely caught by surprise and stumbled back, holding his jaw as he spat out blood. For a few seconds, his vision was clouded by stars and shaking his head caused a ringing sound in his ears.

"I thought I told you never to lay your fucking hands on me ever again." Her voice was so deadly she hardly recognized it herself. Tonight he definitely crossed the line.

"You should be happy I put up with you for so long. I can't believe you were stupid enough to believe I loved you. Jesus, I can't stand you! You're just some rich brat that thinks the world revolves around her," he spat angrily.

"Don't cross me, Giovanni. You know better than that," she said calmly, walking out of the bathroom. He caught her arm and spun her around.

"Are you threatening me, Stamford?" he asked, his eyebrows knit together intimidatingly.

She stood her ground. "It's a promise, Roux."

"Like the way you promised you'd take care of Ted and the next morning he was found overdosed in his bedroom? And you just so happened to be the last one to have seen him alive. Is that how you're gonna take care of me too?" he demanded to know. She knew he was still grieving his friend.

"I told you I had nothing to do with that!" she yelled in his face.

"There was no way he could have overdosed himself with that much dosage."

"Are you insinuating that I did it?"

"Right now it's your word against all of St Martin's. And this time your father's lawyers will not be behind your back."

"So that's the reason you tried to get close to me? So that you could get some type of confession out of me?"

"Yeah. And you have a lot to explain."

"Fuck. You," she said bitterly. He was never going to believe her so she should stop trying.

"I'll pass. It isn't worth my time," he said in a disgusted tone, successfully hurting her.

She clenched her jaw, refusing to let his bullshit get to her. "Ted should have been careful with who he decided to mess with," she said as she turned to leave. Just then she heard him tsk behind her back and said something that caught her attention."Repeat yourself."

"I said that's exactly what Ted told me the threats said. He said someone was stalking him. The letters he received said the exact same thing you just said."

"Then he should have gone to the police," she shrugged.

"He did. And you know who else works with the police? Your aunt. She was the one in charge of his investigation and she told him that without physical proof or a lead, they cannot do anything!"

"How is that my fault?!"

"Why did you kill him, Kárri?!" he yelled so loud she was caught off guard. She almost let her guard down to comfort him when she saw a gleam of fresh tears in his eyes. But she promised herself she wouldn't dwell on the past.

"I think you should move on, Roux. There's no path in the past," she whispered, turning to walk away. It's like it was happening all over again. And this time instead of him being by her side, he was standing against her. What the hell? He was never really by her side in the first place.

Literally nobody believed that she was innocent. And the fact that her aunt was a popular detective in the FBI made people assume that her family swept everything under the mat and let her walk free. This has earned her so much hate from her schoolmates and even some locals.

She went to the rooftop and sat on the edge for a long time, letting the cold comfort her as she cried. She felt guilty for the amount of times she wished and prayed that Ted would die. And when he did, she just wanted him to come back to life because he was the only one with answers.

She didn't want to admit that she was slowly losing her mind as she felt that all her friends were somehow against her. As she looked down past her feet and onto the highway beneath her, she feared she would do something reckless. If she was being honest, she had nothing else to hold on to.

***

She woke up with a startle and immediately rushed to the bathroom, slamming the door behind her before emptying her stomach in the toilet pot. After collecting her breath, she flushed and brushed her teeth.

As she stared in the mirror, she hated the monster that stared back at her. The one that taunted her and reminded her of a past she tried so hard to forget. On impulse, she punched the mirror so hard it cracked and fell off the wall. It fell to the floor and broke into smaller pieces of glass.

She cursed, ignoring the pain on her knuckles as she bent down to clean up her mess before Denver woke up. However, just as she started gathering the glass together, she heard his bedroom door open. She tried to sweep everything together using her palms.

"Kárri, what are you doing?" Denver asked, sounding asleep. He was annoyed because it was just a little over six o'clock on a weekend and he was looking forward to sleeping in til late since he only went to sleep around 3a.m..

"Denver, can you please get me the broom?" she asked, her voice cracking as remnants on her dream floated around on her mind. His eyebrows rose to his hairline when he heard her voice. In his sleepy haze, he still knew that it was uncharacteristic of her to sound hurt. That immediately made him wake up. He looked around and his jaw fell.

"What happened?" he asked softly as he crouched down and took her hands in his. He noticed they were bleeding. He cringed as he removed some sharp pieces of glass stuck in her skin from her trembling hand.

She pulled her hands back and brought the remaining pieces of glass together by the sweep of her bloody hands, successfully spreading blood on the tiles.

"Kárri, stop! You're hurting yourself," he scolded, pulling her up in a standing position and made sure she didn't step on any glass.

"Denver, can you please-" she tried again, holding his shirt as tears streamed down her face. Her breathing got shorter and she feared she'd fall into a relapse. He instinctively pulled her fragile body against his chest and hugged her tightly as she held onto him for dear life. She was gonna stain his shirt with blood but he couldn't care less.

"It's okay, I'm here," he reassured her. She cried even more and her entire body shook. He tried to soothe her by running his hand up and down her back. To his surprise, she suddenly went unconscious in his arms.

"Shit," he muttered, lightly tapping her cheek to get her to wake up. He picked her up and carefully walked over the glass and to her bedroom.

He'd never been inside her room before and if this were another day, she'd be damn mad about him entering. He laid her on the bed and covered her with the duvet, being careful not to let her palms rest on the bed sheets. Bloodstains were a nightmare to remove out of cotton.

He came back with a first aid kit and took care of her hands. He disinfected them and wrapped bandages around them. Then he proceeded to clean up the mess in the bathroom. He made a note to go get a new mirror at the supermarket when she was awake.

He then brought a glass of water and placed it on the pedestal next to her bed with a painkiller in case she would need it. After that, he sat on the chair and waited for her to wake up. He was going to get answers one way or another.