Unrequited love

5»Pact

Nicole found us in our room and on my bed when she arrived home. She had entered through the kitchen. The dorm room also had a living room and television. This University was something else.

"Am I... interrupting something?" She asked hesitantly, her hand on the door nob.

"Nope," I said. "We were waiting for you."

"For...me?" She asked confusedly.

Michael nodded.

"Hey Nicole," he said with a wave.

"Hey Mike...long time no see."

She dropped her backpack on her desk and sat down on her bed, facing us.

"What's this all about?" She asked.

"We're here to talk," I began.

"About what?" Nicole asked.

"About Reina."

Nicole flinched like someone had slapped her.

"What are you — "she began, but I cut her off.

"It's okay, Nicole," I assured her. "We won't judge."

She glared at me.

"I know Michael won't, but I'm not sure about you!" She spat, her voice laced with enough anger to set of a nuclear bomb 💣

I lowered my head.

"I'll understand, I promise I will," I said in low voice. "Reina hurt me too."

Nicole's face and voice softened.

"Oh...I'm sorry," she said.

"It's alright," I said. "I want to hear your story, if you'll let me."

"Okay. So, Michael, Michelangelo and I were childhood friends, until Reina came along. At first, she was nice and all that, but then I started noticing how absurd she was. How different she'd act in front of others compared to the monster she'd become around other kids our age. In grade school, I developed a tiny crush on Michelangelo.

"Reina found out. It was horrible. She started saying bad things to me like how ugly and fat I was. I developed an eating disorder and became obsessed with being skinny. She turned my own family against me after worming her way into my personal life. I lost friends and companions, my name was tarnished.

"I became depressed, thinking nobody loved me, but then I found salvation knowing that someone did. That Someone loved me enough to create me, to bring me into the world. Loved me enough to come down to Earth to die on the cross to save me from sin. If I hadn't had God, I doubt I would have survived those dark times.

"I stopped being obsessed with my weight, but I moved away because I had been ostracized from everyone. Even my sister, who was once my best friend, chose her over me. She's obsessed with Mikey, and the douche doesn't even know it. For him it's like he's her knight in shining armour, protecting her from the evil he thinks is us, or more accurately, Michael."

"What the hell is her problem? He doesn't even like her like that!"

Michael looked at me with a sickeningly sweet smile.

Right, it was my turn.

"I met Reina on my first day of school. Unlike you guys, she wasn't open about her dislike for me. She pretended to be my best friend, and me being the naive person I was, I told her everything about me. Michelangelo and I had become confidants at the time. Not really friends; we would just share each other's secrets with one another.

"I wrote them down in my diary, along with the big fat crush I had on him. One time when I told him I had never been kissed, he let himself be my first. I wrote that down in my diary too. I didn't tell Reina though, but somehow she still found out. She found my diary.

"Every secret he and I had ever shared, every moment we had ever spent together, was printed on A4 papers for the entire school to see. I was horrified. Michelangelo was livid. He called me a wench and a leech, said he regretted ever meeting me, plus some really hurtful words after that. But Reina didn't stop there. She pushed his mother down the stairs, and while everyone else believed it had been an accident, she told him I did it.

"She killed his dog, and blamed me. Obviously all that time I had been confiding in her, telling her everything.

"When I was in my Sophomore Year, a senior had asked me to the prom and I went. Reina had gone with Michelangelo. While we were there, she set the building on fire and made it look —only to Michelangelo though —that I did it. Somehow she manipulated the situation to make it look as if I had been trying to burn her alive.

"People got injured, but their wounds healed. My date burned in those flames right before my eyes. He was the only casualty, and I watched it happen. I tried to save him, to rid him f the flames, but ended up being burnt in the process. Not too badly though, just a few lines here and there. To everyone else it was an accident. To Reina and him, I was the cause.

"If he had hated me then, it was nothing compared to what happened just a few days later when I took the blame for something Reina had done. She tried to kill his first love. He was so in love with this girl and had even thought of marrying her once they graduated. She almost succeeded had I not walked in on her holding the girl at gunpoint. She pulled the trigger, but because I intervened it missed her and grazed her shoulder.

"I took the blame. Even when the girl had wanted to tell Michelangelo the truth, I stopped her. Once again, only Michelangelo, Reina, the girl, Mikaela, and I knew. Michelangelo was the only one who knew the lie and believed it.

"Still, Reina did not stop. She turned the entire school against me. I was left all alone, and that's when I discovered God. He brought me out of the hellhole. Cyan tried, he really did try to at least be there, but it was difficult since we went to separate schools. She even tried to turn him against me, but she had obviously underestimated the bond between twins. Mikaela and I still keep in touch though, and... Reina did much more to her than try to kill her. She should be arriving in a few days."

There were tears streaming down at me, but I didn't realize. All I could see were the horrible memories of those dark days.

Michael and Nicole stared at me wide eyed. Was my tale really that bad? I didn't think it worse than Nicole's, and it was definitely nothing compared to Michael's.

Michael shared a summarized version of his experience with Reina to Nicole, who looked horrified.

"From now on," Michael said determinedly, "we're a pack. A pack of friends with a common enemy."

We all nodded in the affirmative. It was nice knowing that there were others who believed them.

"You said Mikaela's gonna attend uni here?" Michael asked me.

"Yeah."

"Good. Get her on board."

"She'll be glad to," I said.

Nicole got up and gave Michael a hug, and boy did he not expect it. Then, she gave one to me. When she pulled away, she looked at me sadly.

"Now," she said to me as Michael wrapped his arms around me and pulled me into his chest, "now I understand it."

"Understand what?" Michael asked as I cried into his chest for the second time that day.

"I understand why everytime both of you laugh or smile, it never quite reaches your eyes. Your lips will look happy, but your eyes...they hold pain and grief."

So do yours, Nicole, but at least your smiles are real.

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😭😭😭😭😭

I'm starting to really hate Reina guys. Why would she do this do them? Why? 🙀

I'm apologizing in advance for all the pain I'm putting you through, my sweet characters, and the life threatening situation you'll encounter waaaay further in the book.

Please don't blame me for getting a miserable life if you end up Isekai'd into the book.

Please vote, comment, and...I forgot the other thing.

Danko!

Valhala, out!

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