Through Everything

A Winner Everyday

The three walked in, stepping into the surprisingly large room. The officer pushed the two girls aside and walked to the middle of the room. Under a dim flush light attached to the mould-covered ceiling, stood a wooden chair. And on the chair.....was the silhouette the friends had come for-and yet, didn't want to see. Jia's observant eyes noticed the short shackles that bound her ankles to two legs of the chair.

"Get up!" ordered Susanna in a rude whisper. The best friends watched, not daring to do so much as to exhale. The figure moaned in the half-darkness, eventually pulling her eyes open. As soon as her vision became clear, Ivy's jaw dropped.

Jia looked up at Luna, who stared down at Ivy with a satisfied smirk. 

"She's no harm. Handcuffs, see?" The officer lifted one of Ivy's wrists carelessly in the air and let go. "And shackles." The two girls followed the officer's eyes to the chair. The red-tinted shackles bound her legs to the legs of the chair.

From the moment she got arrested, the slightest doubt of whether Jia would foil her plans had been bugging her-like an itch that needed to be scratched.

But how? The pills....the manipulating....how-how in the world is Luna still-still alive?

The officer headed to where the girls were. "Tried to attack a cop on the way here. She's trouble,"-Susanna eyed the two exhausted girls with an empathetic nod-"you already know that, but it's protocol I warn you." she said in a low voice. 

Luna nodded and glanced over the thirty-year old's shoulder at Ivy. Officer Susanna walked towards the door and banged it shut, before leaning heavily against it.

Even with the shackles, Ivy pushed her bottom up. And in a few brief wobbles, she was standing up straight. 

"How-how-what in the world happened to you?" began Ivy, creasing her eyebrows into a concerned feign.

"Jig is up, Ivy." 

Luna shook Jia off her arm and walked towards her, arms folded. 

Sensing that her plan had foiled, even then, Ivy wasn't ready to back down. Not yet. 

Luna and Ivy locked eyes, their gaze saying more than words ever could. And soon enough, beads of sweat began to form on the latter's forehead.

"Officer, can we get some water over here?" said Luna in a mocking tone. 

Ivy tried to settle her hash with a sinister stare, but Luna had had enough. She had been Ivy's prisoner for the past two days. But not anymore. 

Luna went on. "Because the truth's too big a pill for Ivy to swallow, yeah?"

On saying that, Ivy lunged at Luna. But on trying to do so, she lost her balance and stumbled backward instead. She struggled and scuffed in the chair, muttering angry curses under her breath. Finally, on Luna's cue, the officer came and pulled Ivy to her feet.

"So, you think you've won?" asked Ivy, once again upright.

Luna put a hand behind her back, motioning Jia to come forward. Ivy watched as Jia strut to beside Luna, a smear of smug on her face. Luna smiled and leaned an elbow against Jia's shoulder. "What do you think?"

"But she-she was use-"

"Yeah, yeah....and so were you." Luna added, "But you know what's the difference-I like her 'using' me. And you,"-she stole a quick glance at Jia's smile-"not so much."

"This isn't gonna last very long." said Ivy, trying to cut Luna down. 

Even when her hopes of Jia 'finishing the job' had crashed, Ivy was still desperate to break the two apart. By hook or by crook.

"We'll see about that." said Jia, mirroring Luna's confidence.

Ivy watched as the two stood shoulder to shoulder, not a smear of hatred in sight.

She rolled angry eyes at the two. Defeat was real now.

 "What are you gonna do now?" she barked.  "Throw me in juvi?"

Luna leaned against Jia once again. "What do you think Jia?"

Jia closed her hands into tight fists, her eyebrows held down in a sharp 'V'. 

"Give her the worst punishment possible." she said, holding back the same urge that Luna had; to give Ivy the thrashing of her life. What? Don't underestimate a girl in a blazer. Never.

"Miss, it's time." Officer Susanna stepped forward, holding out a mini-tablet. "I've got the form out here."

Without a word, Luna left Jia with Ivy. The latter watched as Luna and the Officer exchanged hushed whispers in a corner of the room. Jia tried her hardest to read their lips, but the darkness made it near-impossible. A few minutes later, the two watched Luna hand the tablet back to Susanna.

Sensing that she was tensed, Luna gave Jia a pat on the back.

"What did you choose?" asked Jia, holding Luna's arms in breathless anticipation.

"I'm not pressing charges against her." 

"What?" exclaimed Jia and Ivy in union.

Luna turned to Ivy, her fists clenched. 

"I'm not because I don't need to put you in juvi to feel like I won. Cuz when I've got friends like her by my side, I'm a winner everyday."

Ivy burst out into a loud cackle, spitting droplets of water onto Luna's face. Luna took a step back, and shrugged with a grin.

"You just won the battle, Luna. The war's still remaining." she said at last, rubbing her watery eyes.

Luna wanted to punch the stuffing out of Ivy, but then again, would Ivy ever learn not to mess with her and her friends?

Never.

With synchronized determination, the two friends declared, "Bring it." 

With their arms wrapped tightly around each other, the two confidently strut out of the room, leaving Ivy alone in the ignominious darkness of her defeat.