1 | ONE BREATH | MINIMINTER ✔️

SIX

SIX
d a l l a s

The water rushing over her face was simple. It washed away the grime as she pulled herself through, ignoring the burn of her muscles as she pushed harder and harder to go faster and faster.

Because faster meant less time to think.

And less time to think meant less time spent doing nothing.

Dallas hated doing nothing because time was precious, time is of the essence. Time is not to be thrown away into the bottomless pit of the non-existent tomorrow.

She dreaded getting out of the pool. She dreaded the praise she would receive from Coach that turned all eyes on her, only for them to turn away in exaggerated rolls and sighs. No one else received the same amount of attention. Some resented Dallas for that, didn't think she deserved it because she was just some rich kid with a pretty face and the right friends.

But she dreaded the shower afterwards more because she'd seen the side glances Allison had been giving her the entire hour and a half they'd been on poolside. Dallas had known Al long enough to know what that meant.

Her assumptions were confirmed as she was basking in the warmth of the shower and Allison stepped in beside her, clad in her long-legged navy swimsuit with the white stripe down the side. She claimed it made her look taller.

"Dallas," She says as she steps beneath the shower. "How've you been? It feels like I haven't spoken to you in ages!"

Dallas turns away, pouring shampoo into her hands. "We spoke this morning. Not a lot has changed since then, if I'm honest, Al."

"Oh, ok," Al steps over, taking the shampoo bottle from her and pouring some out into her own hand. Dallas watches her do it, unnecessary anger boiling beneath her skin. As she's lathering it into her hair, she asks, "How's things with James?" She wears a smug look on her face, which she tries to hide with innocence, that makes Dallas want to rip it off.

"You should know," Dallas replies. "You spend enough time with him." Her jaw clenches and her fingers seem to be rubbing the shampoo into her hair just that little bit harsher.

"What do you mean?" Allison pouts, her eyes going soft.

Dallas doesn't reply.

Allison bites her lip, tilting her head back beneath the wash of the shower as she digs into her memory for anything, just anything, to get beneath Dallas' skin. Then it hits her.

"I saw you with that kid from the football team. Simon? Yeah, James wasn't happy when I told him you were with him."

Dallas looks at the widened smug look on Allison's face and laughs. Her laugh grates against the smugness, clearing it off. "Oh?"

"He said he knew you were cheating on him."

"He's just as delusional as you are, Allison," Dallas spits, a sudden venom in her voice that Allison had never had the luxury of being on the receiving end of. It shocked her. Dallas never spoke to her friends like that, but here they were.

She looks Allison over once more before turning away and finishing her shower in silence, ignoring any comments made and counting to ten over and over and over.

-

Counting to ten didn't work. By the time it reached lunch, Dallas was still mad. She sat alone, aggressively stabbing each piece of pasta as she read her book in an attempt to fend off anyone who would dare sit near her.

The worst part was that she couldn't sit in peace. Several of her friends kept looking over and then huddling back into the group to whisper, clearly about her, and then looking back over again.

Over the top of her copy of Jane Eyre, Dallas sees Allison and Marnie stand from their seats and stride over, stepping in time with one another like they'd choreographed the entire scene.

With a sigh, Dallas closes her book and slams it down on the table, glaring at the duo as they strutted over with full knowledge that they were eye-catching.

Marnie is first to sit down. She folds her hands across her lap and smiles before speaking. "Are you okay, Dal?" She asks sweetly, almost too sweetly for Dallas' liking.

"Yes."

"Then act like it and come and sit with us because people are wondering why you're not," Allison snaps as if she had the authority to do so.

Dallas' grip on her fork tightens and Allison tenses automatically. Steadily she breathes out, only managing to get to four before she forces out an answer. "Just let me have some time alone today," Dallas tells them and Marnie gets up, Allison is close to follow, but a firm grip around her wrist stops her in her tracks. "If I even hear a whisper about you getting close to James I will never speak to you again, and we all know what that would mean for you."

Allison smiles as if she knows something Dallas doesn't and pulls her arm away.

"Don't be so dramatic, its not like you two are a thing anymore."

"I'm serious, Al."

"So am I."

"Then make your move," Dallas quips, picking up her book again and continuing to read, not acknowledging Allison and Marnie leaving.

She wasn't reading. The words were blurring together as she stared at the page. They jumped at her, taunted and mocked her as she tried to read them but they would not allow. The swirled like whirlwinds, bashing into one another at high speeds without a care.

Dallas closed her book, left her remaining pasta and exited the hall.

Not ok.

-

lowkey loving marnie in this chapter because she's so clueless and innocent and adorable and just wants everyone to be ok and to be friends.