𝕊𝕥𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕕 ℂ𝕦𝕡𝕚𝕕 ➶

𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕣𝕥𝕪-ℕ𝕚𝕟𝕖: 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔹𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕜-𝕌𝕡

Valentina knew she had to break up with Morticia and Gomez, but, despite Deuce's advice from the night of the Rave'N, she was still unsure about doing it in person. There were too many what if's! She couldn't prepare for their reaction if she hadn't a clue what it might be... Just that it wouldn't be good.

So she tried to avoid them as best she could. One of the ways she went about this was sneaking around Nevermore to pack up her things at the tail end of winter break. Her idea was that Gomez and Morticia would still be living it up at the Briarswood Hotel with the rest of their friends.

She was wrong.

The two of them were in their room in Ophelia Hall, sitting on Tish's bed as if they'd been waiting for her to arrive. It really had become their room, seeing as Gomez had all but moved in after that night of cat-and-mouse.

"What are you doing here?" Val asked, proud of how steady her voice came out. She wasn't scared. She wasn't... At least not with the Zhang family manservant, Mr Liu, right behind her. He originally came with her to help pack and carry her things, but he could double as a bodyguard if the need arose. He was essentially hired muscle anyway.

"We could ask you the same question, cariño," Gomez answered. His smile made her uneasy. It felt more like a bearing of teeth. One of a predator, too.

"I had a vision," Morticia said, and left it at that. Then she craned her neck to look at Mr Liu. "Who's he? And what's he doing here, for that matter?"

Valentina purposefully took a deep breath in through her nose before letting it out through her mouth. Okay, so they were doing this.

"He's here to help me get my things." And, with that, she pulled her empty luggage out from where it was stored underneath her bed. That was a good place to start.

Gomez was the first to slide off the mattress, using his long limbs to quickly cut the distance between them. "What do you mean, 'get your things?'" He bellowed. "We never talked about you changing rooms!"

"I'm not changing rooms," she said quite simply, doing her best to keep her head held high. "I'm changing schools." She took no pleasure in the shock that washed over both Morticia and Gomez's faces. Deep --deep, deep-- down, they were good people, and she didn't want to see them get hurt. Still, "Morticia, Gomez... You kidnapped me. Did you really think that would have no consequences?"

"What's a little kidnapping between lovers?" Gomez replied. There was something seriously wrong with the boy. Question was... Was it a matter of nature or nurture? She guessed a little bit --okay, maybe quite a bit-- of both.

"You weren't supposed to tell," Tish added. "We talked about this. You were supposed to lie, tell them you'd run away with us for winter break." Her tone was almost admonishing, as if her girlfriend were a misbehaving child or pet. It automatically made Val feel defensive.

"Lying to your snooty friends is one thing. Lying to the authorities and, more importantly, my mother is another."

"Things have to change now."

"Yes... In more ways than one."

"You're breaking up with us." It was obvious that Moricia had mentally prepared herself for this inevitability. It was also obvious that Gomez had not.

Eyes bulging and mouth agape, his head whipped back and forth almost comically as he looked between his two girlfriends. "'Breaking up?!' Whatever for?"

She bit her lip, screwed her eyes shut tight to brace herself against the wave of anxiety that hit her like a ton of bricks. Finally, she said, "I'm sorry... But it's just not working out."

"You haven't even given us a chance! You've had your walls up from the start."

That's because she never wanted this relationship to begin with. But that was too cruel to put into words. So, instead, she just repeated, "I'm sorry."

The room was silent for a long time. Long enough that she went to work, began fluttering around her side of the room, grabbing and organizing things.

Eventually, Tish got up and started to lend a helping hand, walking over to her wall of stuffies and more or less stuffing them in the compression bags she had neatly piled at the foot of her bed. Valentina and Gomez both looked at her as if she'd grown a second head.

"This isn't forever. You will come back. To Nevermore, and to us," she explained.

"What makes you say that?" Val demanded, because she currently had no intentions of ever getting back together with either of the two teens, let alone both of them. Had she seen something in one of her visions?

She didn't say. All she said was, "Enjoy your freedom while it lasts, mon chou."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, no, of course not... No one with half a brain voices their criminal intent." That was the opposite of comforting. There was nothing that could be done about it, though.

Gomez soon helped packing as well, although with a much more melancholic air about him. He likely trusted Morticia's judgment, but was still hurting from the break-up itself.

With four pairs of hands, the packing process went four times faster. In a little over an hour, they were all standing outside of Ophelia Hall together, stowing away the last of her luggage in the car trunk.

"Hugs?" Tish asked sweetly, holding out her open arms before her ex-girlfriend could slip into the backseat.

Normally, Valentina would have refused, seeing as she was sweaty and admittedly a little out of breath. But she felt this was the least she could do after essentially breaking their hearts.

She stepped into the other girl's embrace, didn't even protest when she pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"See you soon," Morticia hummed into her ear.

Gomez swept her up without asking immediately afterwards. His hold was tight, bordering on too tight, reminding her distinctly of a boa constrictor. She wiggled a little --okay, a lot-- but there was no room for movement of any kind.

"Mia bambina, I'm going to miss you so very much!" He exclaimed, before lifting her feet off the ground and spinning her around. She couldn't resist a little smile at his antics. Once he placed her back on her own two feet again, he snuck a kiss to her damp widow's peak.

"I'm going to miss you too," Valentina admitted. It had been a hell of a ride, but it was time to get off this rollercoaster before she barfed.

"We're only a crystal ball away," Tish told her. That wouldn't be good or productive for any of them, though. They all needed time to move on. Hopefully things would be back to normal when she returned to Nevermore Academy in the fall.

"Good-bye, you two. Stay out of trouble, okay?"

They gave her near-identical mischievous grins. Once in the car, she waved to them until they were mere dots on the horizon. Then she sat back in her seat and smiled a little to herself.

That had gone better than expected.