Survivor

19 > "Try again tomorrow Ricky boy." ~Giovanna

"Hey." I greeted Mia softly, closing the library door behind me. "Whatcha ya reading?" I asked dragging my words out and giving her a smile.

"Nancy Drew" she replied in a 'duh' tone.

I rolled my eyes playfully at her tone. "Of course, why'd I ask again?"

I plopped down on one of the bean bags and slouched really low, making myself comfortable and my mind wandering.

"If you dont kill him, I will kill him and you both myself!"

Dante's words kept playing in my head. Over and over like a song on repeat. Every chance I got to be by myself whether it was 5 seconds of time, I heard it. A silent whisper, taunting me, playing on my mind when we got a free during english today, when I stood in the cafeteria line alone for 2 minutes, when I watched Gerardo train from the stands on the side of the football field.

It lingered at the back of my mind, never too far for me to forget about it altogether, but close enough to torture me. And no matter how many times I told myself that it could've been a friend of some sort, those moments when you tell them you are gonna kill them, or even gang up on another friend, deep down I knew. Every single time I knew that it was much more. And that I was just trying to cover up, to deny.

And I could keep on telling myself lies, I could go on, coming up with stupid or fairly reasonable explanations but the threat in his voice, that said it all. His voice, even more gruff than usual and by his tone, he clearly meant what he said. He didn't accidentally say it, he said it and meant each and every word of it.

And that's what troubled me. The confidence he said it with, the conviction. Those words flowed out with ease, clearly not practised like those school presentations that no matter how hard I tried, you could always hear the effort behind my words, the tremor in my voice due to nerves, my pitch never exactly as accurate as I wished it to be. Except this, this was natural to him. Clearly this isn't his first time using those words, threatening to kill someone.

And why does that bother you? Not like you haven't killed before.

"Rosaline" I heard a sing song voice, breaking me out of my thoughts.

"What did you just call me" I narrowed my eyes at Mia who stood there smirking.

"Works everytime."

I groaned in annoyance. "Why did you even start calling me that again? You know, regardless of the fact that I despise the name."

"Simply because of that fact. And plus I heard to hear you complain about Romeo and Juliet almost everyday of my life when you guys were doing it in school."

I scowled remembering those times. I think I have quiet about enough of 'O Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? Deny thy father and refuse thy name, or if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love and I'll no longer be a Capulet.'

Bleugh! I shuddered at the thought of that play. And to think I've even got these lines memorized. If that's what love is, call me a nun please. Guess I'll follow in Rosaline's footsteps afterall.

"Yes, but if someone doesnt like something, you not supposed to do it." I explained.

"Like way you made me eat broccoli. On several occasions." She just had to put emphasis on the word several, didn't she?

"That's entirely different. "

"Absolutely not. Plus you do it all the time!" Touché. I'll admit, I see no lies in that statement.