Where did it all go wrong? (2)

Seeing her best friend trying to hold himself back is quite alarming. She sees him struggling as he tries to accept all of this, but the problem is that the situation look unfavorable to her seeing that he may lashes out once again.

But this time, it may get physical.

"John?" She called for him. It got a reaction out of him but not the way she wanted it to be.

"Who the fuck told you about that?!" Seraphina backs away at the sight of her best friend's outburst but she stood her ground, to see this through.

While in John's mind, a certain mint-haired girl keep popping into his head, making it harder to make out what's real and what's not. But one thing is for sure, what Seraphina said is real and the secret is out.

"It was Arlo, wasn't it?! Or that fucking rat, Isen?" He yelled as loud as he can as he vented out his anger towards his best friend. After all, she did things he has no knowledge of, and it's about his past that he tried to bury. "I bet those two made you come to talk to me too!"

Seraphina kept calm as she tried to diffuse his behavior but she find it hard to talk as she watch her best friend yelling her. "No. I asked for the info mys–," and yet again was she interrupted.

"I can't believe you!" He said, "After everything! You still chose their side over mine?!"

"John, calm down! This has nothing to do with sides!" She retaliated, the talk was going to nowhere despite it being on John's favor. "I looked into this because you weren't telling me anything!"

"Shut up! So that's why you've been ignoring me for a week?!" He was hurt, knowing that his best friend broke his trust, or at least, that's what he believes. "I trusted you! And you went behind my back to dig up dirt on me!"

Seraphina couldn't take it anymore as she finds the situation going nowhere. "Ignoring you was the least I could've done."

She took a deep breathe as she ready herself for what's about to come.

"Do you have any idea what I had to go through after I found out you were Joker?" She said as she tries to hold the tears forming in her eyes. "My whole world shattered. Everything I believed in became a complete joke!"

John kept silent as he glared down the girl, who was once his best friend, but now his enemy.

"I had to reflect on all the events that happened between us. Discern whether they were truths or lies that you made. Then piece myself together again!" Seraphina raised his head as he glared at John, her best friend that broke her trust and now considers her as his enemy. "So don't you dare talk about trust in front of me when you've been lying to my face this whole time!"

He saw tears threatening to drop on Seraphina's cheeks but how could he show compassion to his enemy?

"And don't you DARE accuse me for doing stuff behind your back when you've been going around school with a whole separate identi—"

"Shut the fuck up, Sera!" He cut her off again as he yelled her once more. "I don't care what I did! What happened in my past is none of your fucking business!"

Seraphina was back to being calm after she vented out all of her week's frustration, but that doesn't mean she's still not angry at him. "Don't interrupt me, John." She said with a low tone, "I'll say it again. I was worried for you, so I made it my business."

"Can't you see what you've done? You've thrown whole school into panic! You've hurt so many students! You're repeating everything that you've done at New Bostin!"

Suddenly, something flashed into John's head as if he heard this already from someone. It converge to what Sera said, "Wake up, John! It's time to stop!"

He gritted his teeth, not accepting that out of all the people, she said that to him. How could she? When he's already aware of everything? How everything is rotten and how garbage all of it is.

"You don't know anything! I've never been more awake! You're the one who needs to open your fucking eyes! The Royals and every single person who has been attacked... They abused the absolute shit of their power! They're all garbage! This whole system is garbage! They only have themselves to blame for this! Everyone got exactly what they deserved!"

Seraphina took every word in as she tries to understand. Sure what he said is right and she agrees to that but that doesn't mean it excuse everything he did. She knows that John knows it.

Yet, why does it feel like he's trying to convince himself he's in the right?

"So that's what this is all about?" Seraphina commented, finding all of it ludicrous. "Getting back at the Royals? Revenge on the system? If you want the High-Tiers to exercise their power correctly then at least make it easier for them! With the current state of the school, nobody knows what to do!"

John snickered, knowing that he's right about the High-Tiers. "Just goes to prove how useless they are."

"Great, you've proven your point! Now, what?" She said, glaring at him. Trying to find a reaction from him from the situation he made. "You're just going to leave things the way they are and let Wellston collapse?"

He didn't think for a second as he already found his answer to that question. "Not my fucking problem."

"Really, John?" She questioned, was it really not his problem? Or is he running away from it?

"Do you know who has been suffering the most from this whole Joker's fiasco?" She then pointed her thumb to her as she exclaimed, "US! Low-Tiers and Mid-Tiers! The very people you wanted to help!"

She cried her heart out, trying to get her best friend back. "We're at war with each other! Please, we're tired of fighting all the time! Just give us a break, okay?"

But John didn't budge as he grabbed her arm then applied force to it. "Don't try to flip the blame onto me! You've been a low-tier for how long? Quit feeling sorry for yourself!"

This get a reaction from Seraphina as she finds his words ironic. "Oh, and what about you?" She remembers what she read about his past and continued, "You've been a low-tier for most of your life then you get your hands a bit of power and you lose your damn mind!"

"I can't recognize him." She thought as she gazed at John's scornful eyes. That same eyes who look at her with love, care, and trust. But now, it's looking at her with contempt and hatred.

And yet, she didn't give up. She knows that her best friend is still there under the stress and rage that he's been burying deep without her knowing.

And so, she mentioned one thing that he cherished the most.

"John..." She said, she put a lot of thought into this, hoping that it will get through him, "do you remember UnOrdinary? Remember all the times you said everyone has something to offer?"

John was surprised by the sudden mention about the book but he couldn't care less. "Oh? Don't tell me you actually believe that shit."

"This isn't you, John." She added, "Something happened at New Bostin that you haven't opened up. Just tell me what's wrong!" She said all of that, and yet she didn't expect to be hurt by what he said next.

"Except, I don't need any help! Sera, you're just a cripple. What could you possibly help me with anyway? You couldn't even protect yourself! So why don't you focus on helping yourself instead of acting like a fucking know-it-all?"

"Just a 'cripple'?" That very statement hurt her. Her very best friend just stated that she's just a cripple.

Why did he? After everything that he said about nothing will get to them as long as they're together. Yet, he said that she's just a cripple?

Memories of what they've been through flash on Sera's mind as while what he said continued to echo in her head. It may have took longer in her perspective to swallow it all but in the outsider's perspective, it all happened for a moment.

"No, he's gone." Tears that were forming earlier now drops like a waterfall as she attempt not to be swept up by her emotions. She glared back at John as she tries to pull her arm out of his grip. "Let go of my arm."

Of course, he didn't listen as he tries to exert more force to his grip, making sure she won't escape. "You're not going anywhere 'til I'm done talking!"

This time, she couldn't hold herself back as she snapped. "I said let go!" She pulled back her other arm then slap John with it, making him drop her hand that he's holding.

A loud smack reverberated through the room. John staggered by the force of the slap but that didn't bother him. What bothered him was the fact he got slapped by her.

"Did you just hit me?"