Not wanting to stay and have some kind of friendly conversation (which I was fairly sure was impossible at this point) I began to head back to my dorm.

Mine and Victoria's room.

It just seemed as if the events of the morning had passed by way more quickly than I could possibly have thought they could.

I had gone from blurting that I wanted to be with Victoria to her parents telling us that we couldn't, well, her father had, at least. Her mother had stayed pretty cool on the subject, for the most part.

Additionally, I wondered if what Victoria had said about her father cheating on her mother was really true. If so, I was mad too.

I was more mad because I didn't know what was going to happen between Victoria and I.

Pain comes into your life and you find yourself not knowing what to do, and feeling like you're completely irrational for feeling like that in the first place. After all, Victoria and I had spent so long not getting along, hardly talking to each other until now. Now everything had changed and changed again like a breath exhaling all it had previously contained and being replaced with something new.

I hadn't been sat on my bed long contemplating everything before Victoria entered the room.

"Uh..." she began, you could tell by her expression change that her mood had slumped somewhat, as had mine.

"Kate," she said quietly.

"I'm sorry," she continued.

Of course I understood. This was due to her parents, not me, not her. However, I was so mad in the moment that I probably blurted out more that I would later regret.

"So... that's that, huh? What happened to the Victoria I know? The one who doesn't take that crap! You're going to let them ruin whatever this is...because it wasn't just some thing..." My words had become more twisted than some very drunken people playing twister.

I lowered my voice before speaking again, my heart rate slowly returning to normal,"You know how I feel, Victoria ,"

Something registered in her eyes, but Victoria just sighed. "Kate, I can't do this anymore," she said.

"Do what?" I asked.

"You're hardly even trying," I added.

I didn't feel like being there, because my head hurt, as did my chest, potentially due to an onset of anxiety induced by Victoria's parents words. I didn't understand it,; I didn't want this to happen, but being near Victoria hurt.

I began to head on over to the door, until Victoria cleared her throat which made me pause.

"And you're not being understanding, Kate. There's nothing I can do, is there?"

She had a point.

Maybe.

Maybe, a small point, but still, it didn't stop how I felt, and the fact that I needed to be out of there. so, I left the room, and began to head off to create some copies of my art book to be posted in our class for next years' students. It felt slightly strange how far into the year we were already, and even more so that I was hanging my work on the walls, something I figured I would never have the confidence to do, but Fox's words from a few nights back resonated with me, perhaps I needed to stop doubting myself so much.

I left the room, set in my thoughts to go somewhere, anywhere, as long as it was somewhere that could take me away from my internalised anxieties and worries about where I was going with Victoria.

This seemed to happen more often than not nowadays.

Before I could find a distraction, however, my phone buzzed with a text from the one and only Margo Rodriguez.

Margo: Yo Greeny

Kate: Hey

Then it buzzed again, this time with a message from Fox.

I had hardly told them anything about the situation between Victoria and I but they already knew what was up, call it clairvoyance or something like that...

Fox: What happened between you and strawberry lace?

Kate: It's nothing

She wouldn't take the bait that easily.

Fox: It doesn't seem like nothing

A few more paces forward and I came to stand nearby the two of them, and Fox turned to me.

"What's going on, Kate? And don't say nothing,"

"Okay then I'll say something, nothing is going on," I gave a small smile, but Fox just shook her head in slight disbelief before Margo cleared her throat to speak and the two of us turned to her.

"I thought you two were a thing...operation Kictoria going down?" Margo joked.

It only slightly lightened the mood.

"No uh...that won't be happening," I stated, and it felt like I had been stabbed by pins all the way through telling them that.

It was true, though. I didn't know what was going to happen between Victoria and I and currently I didn't know how we would sort things out...

I mean, the option to just be friends was always there but... it didn't seem right anymore.

Not after everything that had happened.

Thinking of the angel, if that's ever a phrase, Victoria showed up just then...to speak to Fox, of all people.

She would rather speak to Fox than she would me.

Not like I was annoyed or upset or jealous or anything like that.

Mentioning those options means nothing in the grand scheme of things, like I said, I wasn't jealous.

"Uhm, Fox, did you do the art homework?" she asked.

Art homework?

Seriously?

There must have been another reason for her coming over and talking to us, and it had very little to do with alleged art homework we needed to do.

I had unfortunately got into the habit of leaving things a week before they were due.

I was easily distracted, by certain things, and certain people, mentioning no names.

"Was there any?" Fox asked, looking slightly confused before looking between Victoria and I.

I just shook my head, and told Margo and Fox that I would be back later, then started on my short journey back to the dorm room.

Our dorm room.

Victoria didn't take too long to show up, herself.

"Okay..." I began.

"Okay?"

"What was that?" I asked.

"What do you think it was? I wanted a way of getting you to speak to me again by the end of the day," she stated, while fiddling with the bangle around her wrist.

"Well, you're speaking to me. What do you need Victoria?" I asked.

Victoria's eyelashes fluttered a few times before she spoke again, her cheeks pinkened.

"That should be obvious..." she trailed off, so I walked over to my bed to pick up my grey cardigan and put it on. It was getting colder, both the atmosphere of the room and the actual temperature of it, perhaps in part that was my fault...I couldn't blame Victoria, I could only blame her parents, more specifically, her father.

"I mean no matter what, Kate, there's always going to be something I need...or well, someone,"

She moved closer to me, and moved her face closer to mine, but paused before she did anything else, a kind of sadness reflected in her eyes.

"I'm always going to need you," she sighed, moving over to plop herself down on her own bed, distracting herself with her phone.

Victoria needed me.

Despite everything, those words meant a lot.

I just wished that it was easier for the two of us to be a part of something, without her father's judgement.

Nothing was ever simple, though.

And then the princess of ice herself walked into our room, her white shirt covered in blood.

"Swan...what in the name of what happened to you?" Victoria asked.