As soon as she sees me, she glares and brushes past me.

“Do you want your place back?”

She stops in her tracks and turns around as the last of the students trickle outside. It’s only her and me now.

“Is this some trick?” she snarls.

“A trade.” I face her and cross my arms over my chest.

Asher doesn’t like it when I do that, but it doesn’t matter when I’m with other people. Besides, I need all my forts to face the enemy.

“What type of trade?” she asks slowly.

“Tell me what I want to know and I’ll allow you back in.”

She holds her books close to her chest, unable to hide the spark of excitement in her eyes. While a bitch, Bree’s a good asset to the squad, and she must’ve realized now that she’s nothing without the cheerleading team backing her up.

“What do you want to know?” she asks.

“Back in high school, when Arianna was alive, what was our actual relationship like? And I’m not talking about what the others think. I need facts.”

Whenever I’ve asked Bree about this, she’d usually back off. I think Asher has told her not to breathe a word about the past to me, or maybe she did it because she’s always had eyes for him.

Now, she has no choice but to answer. It’s the only way she can leave college life with honor, and someone like Bree would never miss that chance.

When negotiating, always have the upper hand.

Dad’s words echo in my head as if he said them yesterday.

“She…” Bree clears her throat. “She was really clingy. There are best friends and there are parasites, and Ari was definitely the latter. She practically sucked the life out of you.”

“How so?”

“She was always there, you know. Always. Like your fucking shadow. You never had alone time with Asher, and you liked the bitch a bit too much to tell her off.”

“Can you talk nice about the dead?”

She lifts a shoulder. “I never liked her, okay? She gave off vibes. I swear I saw her put the bra in Asher’s bag that day.”

My brows furrow. “What bra?”

“Right, you don’t remember. Well, you had a huge fight with Asher senior year after you found a bra in his sports bag.”

“And you saw her put it in?”

“I did and I told you but you didn’t believe me. So whatever. It’s not like I have any reason to lie now.” She readjusts her purse over her shoulder. “Besides, it’s not a coincidence Asher caught you sucking off the history teacher soon after.”

My eyes almost bulge out. “What?”

“It was the talk of everyone at school. Asher and I walked in on you sucking off the history teacher. You were hidden under the table, but the teacher was saying things like, ‘Yes, more, Reina. You’re such a good girl, Reina.’ It was like so gross.”

No, no. I wouldn’t have done that, right?

Even Old Reina wouldn’t stoop to that level.

“What did Asher do?”

“What do you think? He walked out. I’ve never seen him as angry as he was then. I’m sure he’s the one who attacked the teacher that weekend and forced him to quit.”

My mind reels from the amount of information being thrown my way. How could I do that to him?

Am I really the monster he said I was when I woke up in the hospital?

“As I was saying, that incident and the bra incident were so close. It was really bad between you and Asher.”

“Bad how?”

“Super bad, like you could feel the tension in the air whenever you were in the same place. No one knew if you were going to fuck or shoot each other in the head.” She lifts a shoulder. “But you always had shitty communication with each other, so whatever.”

Shitty communication with each other.

Is this even a case of communication gone wrong? The evidence was all there. I thought he cheated on me, and then he witnessed a disgusting scene.

Please tell me I didn’t do it for revenge. Even teenage me wouldn’t be that immature, right?

“Then, soon after those incidents, Arianna committed suicide. It killed your relationship once and for all,” Bree murmurs. “At least, I thought it did.”

This is my ex-best friend saying in no uncertain terms that she always had eyes for Asher.

Well, not on my watch.

An ugly green monster rears his head at the thought of any other woman putting their claws on him.

Hell, I don’t think I can even give him back to Reina if she returns and asks for her life back.

How could I stay calm all those years ago after knowing he’d cheated on me?

I shake that thought away and focus on more important things. “How did those incidents relate to Arianna’s death?”

“Beats me. All I know is she was a little creep and Asher left you and Blackwood right after her death.” She pauses. “Can I get my position back now?”

“Sure. But you’re no longer a sub-captain.”

“What?” she snaps.

“That position belongs to Prescott and Lucy now. If you’re coming back, it’s only as a normal cheerleader. Take it or leave it.”

“Fine!” She hits my chest on her way out. “You’re such an unfeeling bitch, Rei. No wonder Asher left you. Who wants to be with a cold stone like you anyway?”

Her words remain with me even after she stomps out.

No wonder Asher left me.

No wonder he’s planning to leave me again.

It’s all because of Arianna.

My muscles tense and my heart skips a beat as I rear back from the force of a flashback.

Three years ago

The nerve.

The fucking nerve.

How dare he accuse me of cheating on him when he did it first?

How dare he yell in my face as if I’m wrong and he’s always Mr. Right?

I jump backward three consecutive times and land hard on my right leg.

Fuck.

I kick it against the ground. Useless leg. Useless everything.

Flopping down on the chair, I catch my breath and wipe my face with the towel. The outside pool overlooks the backyard where Asher sometimes works out with Owen and Seb.

Not today.

It’s not like I want to see him right now. I’m seething and boiling like a fucking kettle.

On the outside, it appears as if I’m practicing, my expression cool and focused. Truth is, I’m blowing off steam so I don’t combust.

Practicing is the only way I can do that. When I jump in the air, it’s like I embrace complete freedom, the type I’m not allowed on the ground.

People think I don’t feel. I wish I didn’t. If that were the case, I wouldn’t have the urge to jam my foot into a wall then break down in tears.

God, I feel so much like crying.

But I seal that urge in, hardening it with ice.

Mom said crying is for weaklings.

I’m strong, just like my mom, just like Reina, who I hope is also holding on.

After all, she seems to have inherited my mom’s genes more than I did. She’s the one who ran straight into danger, and I’m the one who left her behind and ran the opposite way.

“Rei.” Ari’s brittle voice pulls me back from my mind.