ONE ON ONE || D.SWING

42. Half Lit Cigarette Pt 2.

9:45pm

Splashing the cool water on her face, the dancer takes a glance at herself in the small mirror in front of her. She notices the red in her eyes subsiding from the crying shes done. She curses herself for not bringing along her under eye cream she's been using to help with the puffy skin.

The next thing to criticize about herself is her hair. While she loves the short look, the limited styling she can do to it annoys her. That wasn't in her train of thought when she spontaneously cut it.

Katrina snatches two paper towels from the dispenser to pat her face dry, she tosses the damp towels into the nearby trashcan. Licking her dry lips, she instantly regrets it as the fresh cut on her lip stings from the moisture.

"Ow."

Flipping her bottom lip down, she hisses while touching the small cut. Eyes rolling, she fetches the lip balm from her pocket, applying it to her lips.

Eyes back to the mirror, the recollection of the last hour resurfaces in her mind. All of the emotions that were held in her spiraled out and she can honestly say she feels better. Holding all of those feelings inside for so long and then they all of a sudden burst out of nowhere is refreshing to Katrina.

She's so used to bottling her emotions to make people comfortable so much that she looses sight of her own. The days of prioritizing someone else's feelings over hers are over.

Tonight's events opened her eyes to finally realizing at the end of the day, you only got yourself.

••

Our bodies fall to the floor as we tussle against the rough carpet. Valerie lets out the loudest scream I've ever heard as we try to get the first hit on each other.

I grab ahold of the base of her ponytail, I tighten my grip. Her hands latches onto my arms, her fingernails pierce my skin. A groan leaves my lips, "Bitch!"

"Are you two crazy? Break it up, now!"

Just as those words left my dads mouth, Valerie's hand slaps across my cheek. The sting of the slap brought a sensation to my face. Just to add on top of that, her fingernail grazed my lip leaving a open scar, I can feel blood forming in my mouth.

That enraged me even more. This fight isn't about defending myself, it's now about winning and I won't be the one loosing.

I grab ahold of her shoulders and start to shake them up and down, her head bangs against the floor causing thuds to sound every time it makes contact.

I watch her eyes get hazy and start to flutter but I didn't care. The tight grip she had on my forearms start to loosen, giving me the opportunity to slip free. I form my right hand into a fist as I start to punch her face.

"Beat her ass, Kat!" Sydney encourages.

I could only get two hits in before I was pulled off of her. My arms are forcefully pulled behind me as I try to go at Valerie again.

"Stop it now! Leave her be." dad says into my ear as I try to snatch my arms away from him.

"She's trying to kill me! Somebody get this crazy girl away from me!" Valerie continues to dramatically yell while touching her face. I can already see bruises forming on her skin.

Her dad comes to her side, he helps her up from the floor. She starts to cry into his chest, his face holds a harsh look as he looks at me.

"Your daughter is fucking crazy and I don't want her here anymore." Uncle Tommy sneers to us.