Dear Thea // Cedric Diggory

07

TW: This chapter includes sexual content

Cedric;

My fists were clenched so tightly that my bruised knuckles had turned white. I was aware that my body was walking through the hallway, that my legs were guiding themselves along the cobbled floors, but it felt like I wasn't there; my mind was still outside of the dining hall, face to face with Quinn, my whole frame coursing with anger. I didn't expect him to be so bold, coming up to me like that and asking for a fight. I assume Althea told him it was me who snitched about the bet, wanting to fight me was basically his guild admission.

As if today couldn't get any worse, of course shit like this had to come up, too; just this morning, I had finally ended things with Cho. Thankfully it seemed mutual, I think she understood where I was coming from. At least I hope she did. My reasoning was that I wasn't able to treat her like she deserved, which is true, but I think I know the real cause behind that, the root of my problem being only one word.

Althea.

I'm falling for her like crazy. I don't even know when it started, maybe it was when I told her about the bet. Although the purpose of our conversation wasn't light, I think just seeing her up close again sparked something inside me. It was like I was 12 all over again, back on that train, meeting her for the first time once more. The more I think about her, the more the events that had just occurred wash over me. I'm not able to process any of it, or register Althea's face of pure contempt as she stared at me from Quinn's side. Her voice keeps ringing out in my head. The sound of her seething my name was on constant replay.

She must hate me, but that only made me want her more.

I notice Tyler trailing close behind me as I storm through the hallway, further away from the fight that just took place.

"Fuck off," I shout behind me.

His eyes grow wide, but he submits and stops walking. For the first time in my life, all I wanted was to just be alone. To not have to deal with everyone's bullshit.

I had to go somewhere just by myself, somewhere silent and empty.

Someplace where I can think.

/

Pulling out a chair from under one of the library desks, I sit and slump in the dip of its dark wooden frame. The only people in the library besides myself were those of the characters in the books that it held. It was quiet, peaceful. Just what I needed.

I take a long deep breath in, and the crisp smell of vanilla and paper fills my senses. Releasing my breath, the flooding of my thoughts suddenly rushed through my head. They flowed through like a harsh wave, countless words and moments resurfacing themselves from the swift current.

Quinn's bloodied face was the first thing to come to mind. His first punch, the blood that traced my lip, the pure rage that engulfed me afterward.

Fuck, I just wanted to forget it all.

I despised him, but mostly I despised the person who he forced me to become. I never would've planned to go out of my way and fight him, but when he came up to me offering the chance, I couldn't refuse. All I thought about while tearing him up was the bet, how he was so comfortable with defiling Althea like that; Quinn left me with no choice.