Levi and I had decided that our first study session would be on Saturday, and yes despite the fact that I had automatically assumed that he had a party to attend on that night, he had assured me that he was available. He had also assured me that he was willing to cancel his three dates just for me. Needless to say that due fact that I couldn't slap him, I had to settle with an eye roll.

I was in a pretty good mood when I got out of school, I almost forgot what it felt like to be able to converse with someone who wasn't afraid to make fun of me, yes it was annoying but it wasn't nearly as annoying as it was to know that people were holding back from me.

I got a text from Eliza right after school had ended, she claimed that Jordan wanted to take her out on a date, personally I found that funny considering that they had been on holiday together two weeks ago, but whatever.

I wasn't in the mood to go straight home, despite being September, the sun was still shining and would continue to do so until around seven or so, so I decided to stay out for a while. I headed over to the new ice cream parlour that had opened up on my street, it had become the unofficial school hangout, and no doubt when I went into the shop it was crowded with students from our school.

I contemplated on not buying the ice cream once I saw the amount of people in the shop, but I decided that as long as I didn't feel as if I were trapped between everyone, I had the ability to grab ice cream without freaking out.

I moved towards the line, staring at the different types of ice cream, although I knew exactly what I wanted. The ice cream parlour was the Häagen-Dazs ice cream, and my all time hands down flavour was the cookies and cream and cream flavour, even attempting to argue with me on that subject would give you an earful.

"What would you like?" I looked up to see a guy in a ice cream hat and a white smock look up to me. I automatically recognised him as a junior in my high school, he was cute, with short black hair and brown eyes, he sent me a flirty smile.

"A small cookies and cream please" I smiled politely before reaching into my backpack attempting to reach out for my purse

"It's on the house" He interrupted as I searched for my purse. I stopped and raised an eyebrow. I wondered why he would do that, obviously I wasn't stupid I knew he was flirting with me, but what I always failed to understand is why guys think giving someone free food would automatically make themselves seem more attractive. But I wasn't going to deny free food, so I decided not to interrogate the poor boy.

"Thanks" I replied politely, swinging my backpack over my shoulder before grabbing the ice cream.

I turned around, attempting to head towards the exit, but stopped short when I saw a female figure. Once my eyes focused, wow I really should wear my glasses, I noticed that there were three girls standing side by side. The one in the middle had bleach blonde hair and if it weren't for that, I would've recognised her straight away. Katherine White. Her hair was dirty blonde the last time I saw her, but who was I to keep up with her spontaneous hair colours? I swear during the summer vacation I saw her with purple hair one day and blue the next.

"Hey Juliette" She said, slowly stepping towards me. She had a wide grin on her face and if it weren't for the way she had sneered my name, I would've had mistaken it for a friendly gesture.

"Hi" I replied curtly, mimicking her steps and taking one back.

She smirked at the obvious signs of being intimidated. "It was really nice of you to comfort me the other day about Levi"

"That was no pro-" I began saying, convincing myself that Katherine had no other motives for approaching me, and that she genuinely was grateful that Eliza and I had attempted to comfort her. Of course it didn't go too well.

I, however, was cut off mid sentence by Katherine who decided to continue "I honestly thought you had no other intentions". I must've have looked baffled at her comment, and believe me I was, because she looked at me and began giggling. It was something within her laugh that made it sound forced and...evil. It was as if she were laughing at me, and as if I had said something wrong. "You told me you weren't going for Levi" she sighed dramatically as my eyes flickered to her two minions standing besides her.

Like Katherine, her two minions, Donna and Marisa, had dyed their hair. Except instead of their usual brown, it was a dirty blonde, something told me they attempted to copy Katherine. Both of her henchmen were doing nothing apart from mimicking her expressions, laughing when she laughed and smiling when she smiled.

I had a strong feeling that the three of them shared the same brain.

"I'm not after Levi" I answered in the driest tone I could muster. Two days ago, that idiot got on my nerves and no more than a week ago did I call that boy an asshole for the likes of Katherine White. After watching that public display of arguments, I had automatically assumed that Levi was the bad guy and that Katherine was pretty much as innocent as an angel, which in hindsight was probably an extremely incorrect assumption considering Katherine was known throughout the entire school to be a conniving bitch and Levi was known to be a nice person. An asshole upfront, but a nice person all together.

"I had never seen you and Levi even look at each other before, he had never even mentioned you when we were going out. Something tells me he didn't even know your name until recently. And the suddenly you hear the news about me and Levi breaking up, and your practically best friends. That's not a coincidence Julie" She sneered, taking another two steps towards me whilst she finished her sentence. I decided not to take any steps back, not to show her how intimidated I really was. I felt safe considering there was just over a meter distance between the four of us, but still intimidated enough to be peeling the skin off of my lips with my teeth.

It was going to be impossible to explain to Katherine that everything that had been happening between Levi and I was strictly a formal relationship and that it was a complete coincidence that we had first spoken the day they broke up. But I'm guessing she wouldn't believe me even if I was asked under a lie detector test.

"Um-I-I just don-I kinda" I began, stuttering my way throughout my entire sentence mentally face palming at the fact that the less intimidated I attempted to sound, the more so I did. I took a deep breath before restarting my entire sentence. "What are you trying to achieve by cornering me and interrogating me about my non-existent relationship with Levi?" I questioned, before I realised that with the mix of my harsh tone and formal words, the question sounded a lot bitchier than I meant for it to.

She scowled at me, her hazel eyes darkening with what supposedly seemed like anger. Glancing at tweedle-dumb and tweedle-dee, I noticed that they were both scowling at me. However the anger failed to reach their eyes, it was as if they were both playing a roll and Katherine actually wanted to kill me.

That last part was probably extremely accurate.

"Isn't it obvious?" She spat, almost seething with anger

"I don't recall being an oblivious person" I muttered before pressing my lips together into a thin line. I think it was pretty obvious that I was extremely witty and sarcastic, but most of the time I knew when and where not to resort to sarcasm. This would not have been the right time and I would have known that if I was actually able to discipline myself.

She seemed to have ignored my sarcasm though, either that or she didn't take it offensively, but knowing her she probably just didn't understand the concept of sarcasm, meaning she didn't catch me out when I used it. "I'm aware of the fact that you witnessed Levi and I's falling out the other day" she began as I had to physically rub my eyes in order to prevent myself from rolling them and commenting on how I've lost all hope for humanity, considering she literally made eye contact with me during the argument. Okay, maybe she didn't, but she might as well have considering we were standing about five meters apart from each other. "I shouldn't have broken up with him. He made a mistake. I should've forgave him. I feel extremely bad that he had to turn to a last resort like yourself"

Maybe I should've reminded her about the fact that he basically broke up with her when he called her a slut.

I didn't though.

"Is there a reason to why your informing me about this oh-so-interesting discovery of yours?" I asked, all manners basically being thrown out of the window with the last sentence. She literally just said that I was below her on the social ladder, and what she said might have been correct with her, but she sure as hell did not mean she got to corner and interrogate me.

All three of them began stepping closer towards me, one step at a time. I think what they were trying to achieve was to intimidate me to the point where I promised not to talk to Levi ever again, but it didn't work. Instead I began backing up, taking my steps at the same time as them.

I should have known that this wouldn't end well for me. I should have known that I couldn't walk backwards forever. Before I knew it, I felt my back hit the glass that was covering the ice cream. A cold shiver running up my spine as the cool glass made contact with my clothed back. I looked to see the three girls closer than ever. Each one of them standing on either side of me. Trapping me between them.

My throat began to tighten up, as my chest began feeling hot. My head was pounding and tears were beginning to form in my eyes.

"Is little Julie going to cry?" Katherine cooed, standing closer than ever. My chest began to tighten, as I hyperventilated. I couldn't get enough air to fill my chest.

I was starting to freak out. I didn't know anybody here. I was going to have a panic attack in front of the entire school and nobody would know what was wrong with me. My mind began to spin, and my bad eyesight got worse. I could barely even make out the girls in front of me.

I lifted my arms and placed one of my palms on either side of my head, pressing them hard on my temple to stop the throbbing pain, as a sob escaped my throat.

Everybody was going to think I'm crazy.

Psychotic.

Unnatural.

Like I didn't feel like that already.

"That's enough!" I distinctly heard a familiar male voice echo throughout the room, and I think I heard the entire cafe go dead silent. I couldn't exactly tell. My chest began heaving up and down as I started hyperventilating, sliding my back down the ice cream stand as I crouched on the floor, gripping my knees to my chest.

I felt a presence near me. Not talking. Not moving. Sat in the same position as me and just patiently waiting. I didn't know why, but it calmed me. It always did. As my vision cleared up, I saw Eliza besides me, and Jordan in front of me.

He was talking, or arguing with Katherine. I couldn't tell.

I looked next to me to see Eliza, who was now mouthing something, repeating the same thing over and over again. "I'm here. It's okay. I'm here. It's okay"

I gripped Eliza fiercely as I hugged her, still shaking in her arms, as she tentatively put hers around me. She stood still, as I grabbed onto her like she was my everything.

"Thank you for being there" I whispered in her ear, not loosening my grip for a second

"Always"

I followed her as she led me outside of the ice cream shop, it was still light outside, but nobody was there.

It felt easier to breathe. As if my lungs had finally opened up.

It felt really good.

We both stood there in silence as she allowed me to catch my breath, watching carefully as I panted slightly. Eliza had always known what to do if I had a panic attack. She was always there beside me, she knew how to calm me. She had figured it out when we were fifteen, after I had a panic attack at the park. She saw me leaning up against the slide, hyperventilating. She knew that I didn't like it when people spoke to me. She knew that movements frightened me. She knew that I needed somebody who understood me. So she sat there, for ten, fifteen minutes. Not moving, not talking. Just sitting. Eventually it calmed me down.

She had been doing it ever since.

My aunt was always jealous that Eliza figured out how to calm me before she did. My aunt wanted to be the one who I trusted, the one I loved most. She wanted to take care of me like I was her daughter. She didn't know that I loved her like a mother already. But what she also didn't know was that Eliza wasn't just my cousin, or my best friend. She was my sister, my twin, she could get through to me when nobody could.

She was Eliza.

I didn't notice Jordan exit the ice cream shop, but I did look up at him when he spoke. "Is she okay?" He asked Eliza carefully

"She's fine." Eliza replied curtly. I noticed how Eliza was avoiding eye contact with Jordan, and looking into her eyes I could see a mix of anger and hurt within them.

And I knew that I wasn't the cause.

"I just wanted to know, jesus" He muttered, a slightly angry tone laced in the sentence

"I'm taking her home." Eliza replied shortly

"I'll drive you-" Jordan began, before he was cut off

"It's fine"

I didn't complain about how my entire body ached and how a ride home would sound wonderful, because I sensed the tension between the two of them and it was suffocating me. As much as I loved Jordan, I couldn't betray my best friend by taking up his offer.

Written: 3/08/15
Posted: 28/10/15

Question of the chapter:
Why do you think Eliza and Jordan are fighting?