𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐘'𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒 | 𝐍.𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐗𝐓𝐎𝐍 |

chapter twenty-one | the great intervention!

Third Person POV

They say that silence is golden, but it wasn't when it came down to this specific friend group. Being quiet was never a good sign. In this group, silence meant that some things were boiling beneath the surface; they had to be careful about who would speak first because if the wrong person spoke first, it would set everyone off. That was the last thing that they needed, and it was the last thing that Cameron and Paisley intended to happen when they called the entire group (plus some others) over.

Paisley knew what she was getting into when she called everyone to her apartment. She knew her friends well; she also knew that each person at this table had certain emotions towards one another whether they were good or bad. She also knew that each personality at this table was EXTREMELY different. You had the laidback people like Cameron, Josh, Jordan, Stefon, and Donte, and then you had the firecrackers Wynslow, Josiah, Ivy, and Kyle. Finally, you had those who were in the middle, Penelope, Paisley herself, Mikal, Nic, Ben, Saquon, and Corey.

Each person would respond differently to everything said at this table, all Paisley and Cameron hoped was that nobody would walk out with a busted lip, a missing limb, or in a body bag.

"I can't be the only one wondering why we're here, right?" Ben says as he nervously bounces his knee up and down.

"You're definitely not the only one..." Corey mumbles as Wynslow puts her feet in his lap.

From across the table, Donte set his glare on Corey and rolled his eyes in annoyance and disgust. The glance wasn't lost amongst those at the table because several of them made shocked glances at each other while Corey rolled his eyes and laughed at Donte out of pity, while Wynslow sat up a little in her seat and raised an eyebrow, silently challenging Donte.

"Why is he here?" Donte asks, motioning to Corey.

"For the exact same reason that you're here," Cameron says nonchalantly. "We all have some things that must be set straight amongst all of us. We hold too many things in and that's part of where we lack communication and how we always get into some sort of fight or drama."

Paisley nodded. "Exactly," she says. "That's why we're here. So we can talk things out. Explain our underlying issues so we can all come to some sort of happy medium."

Autumn smirked, taking a sip of her cookies-n-cream milkshake from Chick-fil-A. "So, what? This is some kind of great intervention?"

"Yes," Cameron says.

"Do I really have to sit here through this?" Mikal questions. "I mean, I really don't give a—."

"Nobody asked you what you cared about," Paisley snaps. "If you truly don't care, then you shouldn't have come here in the first place. Matter of fact, just leave."

Mikal shifted uncomfortably in his seat but stayed put, "Fine." he mumbled.

The truth was, he did want to make some things right, but he wouldn't show them that. He kept his facade up so he wouldn't have to show how much no longer being around the group, or most importantly, no longer being around Penelope affected him.

"So, if no one else wants to start, I'll go first," Cameron says. "Mikal. I'm starting with you not to call you out, but because I think I was definitely the most shocked by everything you have done to the people in this group. Everyone in here, including you, knows that I look at Penelope like an older sister. She's helped me with a lot, and to see not only how you treated her but how it affected her, made me look at you in a completely different light. It's crazy because, I used to look up to you, as a man and as a teammate, but I can't even respect you anymore because of what you did to her, and especially because of what you did to Donte and Wynslow."