The Better Me

Chapter 16 | Hugs For Everyone

Tension was one of the many things I disliked.

The emotional and mental strain that came with it, prevented me from thinking clearly and instead made me focus on the reason why it was there in the first place.

I always felt pressured whenever this happened, because it made me fully aware of the discomfort and uneasiness in the atmosphere.

And this started the moment I left them on campus. I knew I was being over dramatic but I had been angry and frustrated in that moment, a whole sense of deja vu fell on me when I watched those bullies in action and the realization that Kina and Sofia both saw me behave that way caused me to panic too.

So with all those emotions swirling through me, I was obviously not in the mood to talk to them.

And I guess they knew I needed some space for the time being because neither of them approached nor stopped me that day.

However with me being the unreasonable girl I was, I just had to go out of my way to extend the time of space I didn't really need anymore. In the evening, the girls were ready to talk and ask me about what had happened back there and why the hell I had reacted in that way.

But I wasn't ready to talk at the time. And I guess the girls also expected it since they knew I wasn't always the kind to easily open up.

So only three to four words were exchanged that night before I avoided them once again and hid in the solace of my room.

But the less time we spent talking, the more aggravated was the tension amongst us.

Sofia couldn't care less. She hated it when silent treatments were given to her and would usually get irritated whenever that happened but when it involved someone close to her, Sofia was the type who would try talking to you at first but once the approach proved to be fruitless she'd instantly give up.

I couldn't blame her though because I knew I was being inconsiderate.

However, despite my behaviour, Kina always made sure to keep some kind of conversation going on between us, no matter how short and awkward it was.

Her attempt slowly made me feel guilty about what I was doing, my anger was never targeted at them in the first place, so why did I keep treating them that way?

With this question in mind, the next morning I decided to join in on the plans they had made for that day, which included going to the mall to purchase everything that was missing on our list of things to take to Hawaii.

However, me accepting to go with them did not instantly make us get into one of our full blown out converstions nor did it reduce the tension in the group and this showed as we currently shopped for bikinis at Zaful's.

Kina and Sofia were both in one section of the airy room searching for what I presumed were beach dresses while I was at the other side looking for bikinis, I wasn't standing too far from where they were, so some conversations they had, I could hear without having to strain my ears.

"You honestly want me to believe that Estefanio really did that?" I heard Kina ask.

"It's up to you to whether believe it or not" Sofia replied, "That little brat is capable of anything, it's like he does what he wants as so far it satisfies him. There's no ounce of respect in that scrawny body of his, I swear to Dios that one of these days I'm going to act on my threat and bash his head against a wall"

From the tone of her voice, Sofia sounded serious but Kina did not think the same and instead chuckled.

"You've been saying that since the beginning of time Sofia"