VI. Vivian.

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Vivian

It's become very apparent to me that my friends and I are idiots. Huge idiots.

It was just yesterday we found ourselves grieving our friend who happened to have been blackmailing us for years. Or at least planning to.

And to think I was this close to actually shedding a tear for that miserable piece of shit.

Fuck you Gwen Walker. Rest in anything but peace.

I can't help but rethink our whole friendship now. Was any of it real? Or was he just gathering dirt on us the whole time? And for what? What could he possibly need to blackmail us for? Fucking prick.

And poor Alex. She'll be the most heartbroken over this no doubt. But perhaps it's for the best that she can finally open her eyes about him.

I mean the signs were right there all along. He was always so weird and secretive. And it was so shady of him making us cut Xena off like that without even giving her a chance to explain herself. And we just went along with it. God, we're so stupid.

He was such an asshole. Xena was right. He lied and manipulated all of us and we didn't even realize, until it was too late.

The worst part is we can't even confront the bastard now.

"This is such bullshit." I mutter to myself, thinking out loud.

"Yeah, no kidding." Nic chimes in behind me. "Can't believe we were ever friends with that dickhead."

"I just... I don't understand.. why the fuck did he have all this stuff? Where did he even find it?" I speculate as we go through his things once more.

It's unfathomable really. Gwen had information about my family that no one else did. Even Alex doesn't know half of what he apparently knew.

I started going by my mother's maiden name, Moore, after my family cut me off because of a dispute in the ethics of their business. That's probably the nicest way I could put it anyway. When I told them that I wanted to pursue a career in fashion and not join them in their shady business, they raised hell. It still burns in my memory. They were so cruel about it.

But it doesn't bother me anymore. I'm happy the cut me off. I want nothing to do with them. I'm my own person now. I'm Vivian Moore, not the daughter of Harry Cho.

My father is an incredibly successful businessman, which I'm eternally grateful for because I get to attend this amazing university. But he's also incredibly crooked. It's disgusting how he gets away with all his corrupt business, and my mother just blindly goes along with whatever he wants her to.

My parents knew I'd be trouble for them the second they realized that I had a mind of my own and that mind was certainly not interested in being used to become a glorified professional con artist.

But the more I think about it, even if my parents weren't the wicked business people that they are, I still don't know that I'd really want to be involved in the family business. I like doing my own thing and being successful on my terms. I'd never be comfortable with achieving something solely because of nepotism. That's just not who I am.

So that's what I tell everyone, not that my parents are secretly crooks that built their empire through unethical means, but that I decided to cut them off because I don't want to be a "nepo baby". It's still half true, and way less embarrassing. I don't know what I'd do if all this mess got out about my parents. There's no way people would believe that I wasn't involved somehow. Of course I know that I wasn't, but that doesn't matter. I'd still be implicated, guilty by association as they say.

Gwen must've known that too. Devious bastard.

"Because he was a sneaky little shit. Obviously." Nic all but spits on the contents of Gwen's little treasure box. "Besides, I'm sure it wasn't too hard for that degenerate trust fund baby to pull some strings with mommy and daddy to find out some of this stuff." He glances over at my family's business records. "Your dad's like practically in bed with his parents."

"Yeah I knew they were friends, I guess I just didn't know how deep it was. I'm not surprised though, they're all shady pieces of shit."

"Hey at least they didn't cut you off completely if they're still paying for your tuition. If Gwen had gotten the chance to leak the dirt he had on me I just know I'd never hear the end of it from my folks. They'd cut all ties with me."

"Nic, I'm sorry but that's just ridiculous. No one even cares about that anymore and besides, everyone already knows you're bi. It's not exactly a huge secret." Alex reasons.

"It is to my parents." Nic informs us. "They're super conservative and traditional, even the thought of me being with a guy is enough to send them both into comatose." He jokes. "It's one thing for a few people around campus to know, but if it got back to my parents, and worse, to their business partners or just anyone whose opinions they think are so damn important... yeah let's just say they wouldn't be too happy about it."

"Yeah well, they suck ok." Alex comforts him.

"I'm not gonna argue with you on that, but I still rely on them financially so... I don't know, I kinda just have to put up with it." Nic voices flatly. "Which was fine until this shit came up. Whoever got to this box before us has seen all of this. So now, there's someone out there who knows all of our dirty little secrets..."

"Not to be that person, but technically, they know all of your dirty secrets. This bullshit Gwen made up about me isn't even true!" Alex argues.

"Does it really matter? Even the speculation is enough to make you lose your scholarship, or get expelled. The guy was a diabolical mastermind, he knew exactly what he was doing."

"Yeah, screwing over his friends and girlfriend for kicks. What a genius." Alex awes sarcastically. "I would never sleep with any of my teachers for a better grade! Most of them are like fifty anyway, that's just sick!"

"Oh wow, good old perfect saint Gwen is actually an evil lunatic? I'm shocked." Xena plasters on a faux surprised face.

"You know what I'm not shocked about? The fact that your shady ass has even more secrets. So tell me about your old school, I don't think I got all the details here." Alex ridiculed her. "Though it certainly is a hell of a lot more than you originally told us when you moved here..."

"Okay Alex enough!" I snap. "We're all on the same side here. Gwen was planning on screwing us all over." I remind her. "So whatever beef you had with Xena, just drop it ok? Especially considering that manipulative psycho has obviously lied to you more than once. You can't honestly still believe that bullshit he told us about Xena"

"I suppose not." She admits. "It's just hard for me to trust such a condescending bitch but, I'll do my best." She flashes a fake smile at Xena who returns one back to her.

Who am I kidding? These two will always be at odds. Why do I even bother.

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