All The Odds

Fourteen

//..the battle's in your hands now, but I would lay my armour down if you say you'd rather love than fight..// Taylor Swift.

"You wore the dress he bought you on a date with another guy?" Jenna repeated with an amused little laugh as they stood in line for their sandwiches and a watered down version of strawberry shakes the college cafeteria served.

Claire who had gotten hers, stood to the side with her tray, semi-glaring at Bella. She eyed her from the corner of her eyes, daring her to antagonise when she doesn't know the half of it.

After the way Iverson ran out of the house like his tail was on fire, leaving her afire, embarrassed and alone to deal with Daniel, she have no regret whatsoever going on that date with Derrick.

If anything she regretted getting carried away and allowing him to be the first to hit her in the face with those stupid words. 'I'm sorry Blue, I don't know what came over me. I wasn't thinking'

Bella has had three days to think about what the hell he meant with those words and she was still coming up short. Was he really that drunk? The coward hasn't been home since then and Bella's routine sleepless night was slowly creeping back in.

"I don't know if to cry or laugh." Jenna said again, collecting her tray of food over the counter and moving aside for Bella to do the same. "Girl that was badáss, I think that on its own is revenge enough."

"Derrick is a fúckboy, you are going to regret this." Claire added with a dismissive shrug.

"Derrick is in fact a nicer guy than Iverson will ever be. Derrick is honest, straight forward and so much fun." Bella said defensively. When it came to Iverson, Claire was the human version of a headache.

"Woohoo!" Jenna exclaimed as they made their way to a vacant booth. "Is that the color of love in your eyes?" She teased.

"I'm not in love with him, I'm just saying he is a nice guy."

"You wont know what love is even if it taps you on the nose." Claire scoffed, taking her seat beside Jenna, across from Bella. "So you're just using Der to get your revenge on Iverson, a guy who has done nothing but been kind to you and..."

"Not today devil." Bella seethed, her tolerance level finally at it brink.

"You don't know what it felt like having the one person you trust betray you, you didn't deal with that feeling of rejection and not just from him but everyone else. You weren't made a laughing stock, labeled an outcast, people calling you different nasty names to your face every single day, the loneliness, the depression? Until you have an idea what those feel like, I suggest you keep your opinions to yourself."

"Gee," Claire said with a full mouth, then quickly swallowed it down.

"Okay, let's take a chill pill now shall we?" Jenna said but got ignored.

"Remind me never to get on your bad side, twenty years later, you'll still be out for my blood." Claire said. "What does a guy have to do to be forgiven? Serve you his bloody heart on a plate of lettuce? You were depressed, big fúcking deal. A lot of people suffered depression with no one to blame it on and you were at that age, someone could have called you ugly in the confines of your own home and you'll still get depress! You obviously didn't die, get over it."

"Well I'm not getting over it! No one is forcing you to be my friend!" Bella yelled, her eyes misting over.

"That's enough." Jenna snapped the moment Claire opened her mouth again. "You are out of line Claire. Every little feeling is valid and you can't judge that, not even.."