I dare you.

Chapter 5

"Mum?" 

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing mum. I'm just checking up, I haven't heard from you since you and dad left."

As I wait for silence to end on the other end of the call, I see a familiar face walk in. It's Lady, thank god. 

"Your father and I are going to be away for another 2 months, I'll send you some money for food."

"What? Mum, this isn't what we agreed to."

"Stop acting like you care Ma, try to limit how much you're calling me."

Mum ends the call, as blunt as she normally does. Another two months? I can't help but feel abandoned for the 2nd time this year, and it's only February. I watch Lady as she gets her matcha and begins to walk over to me, looking better than when I last saw her. 

"Hey Mari."

"What are you doing here?"

"A friend who asked to remain anonymous," she sarcastically states, raising her eyebrows at me. "Let me know that you were here. Sometimes I think you forget that you're my best friend."

"I know, I'm sorry. You know how I am. I really am trying to be different this time." I explain, looking down at my phone.

"Don't apologise. Who was on the phone?"

"Mum."

Lady's eyes widen and she puts her hand over mine.

"They're not coming back, are they?"

"Nope. I don't know what I expected, but it doesn't matter."

"It does. You can't keep pushing down these feelings Mari, you've been so sour. Have you thought about seeing... someone?" Lady looks at the table, not making eye contact with me.

"What's the point of that? I talk to people," I pause for a moment, thinking about the last time I spoke about my personal crap. I just don't see the point, it makes me vulnerable. "You. I talk to you. That's better than nothing."

"I'm going to make you an appointment with a psych that my friend sees. If you find it isn't for you, you can just stop seeing her."

"Yeah, okay. Anyway, are you going to tell me what happened last night?" I tease, knowing she won't tell me for whatever reason. 

"Why can't you just ask Ace? You owe him an apology."

"A what? That really doesn't sound right, and doesn't sound like me." 

"He tried to help but you were just laugh-" I cut her off by lifting my finger to her face.

"I only apologise to people who deserve apologies. If you won't tell me, I'm just going to go."

"Mari, Max tried to take advantage of you. I don't know how, but luckily Ace heard and stormed in. He beat up Max, pretty bad too. After all that, you were treating him like he was a joke. I know you were drunk, but... but sometimes it's not a good enough excuse."

I decide to ignore everything she said. I highly doubt that was Ace who helped me, him and I hate each other and I saw him go into a room with a brunette anyway. 

"I've got to go. Do you think the cleaner would've finished by now?" I ask as I get up from my seat, grabbing my car keys. 

"What? Are you just gonna ignore everything I just said?" Lady gets up as well, shocked.

"Lady, Ace doesn't have one nice bone in his body. That's coming from someone who barely knows him."

"Exactly! You barely know him. I'm not saying that he's a good guy... I'm just saying that he can do good things like the rest of us."

"Whatever you say!" I sneer, leaving the coffee shop before she can say anything else. I wonder what to do today, then I remember that I need to drop off money to the sorority house. I get in my car and make my way there, luckily traffic isn't too heavy so it's only a 5 minute trip.

As I park my car in my parking spot, I spot some commotion at the front of the house between the frat boys and our girls. I take my time leaving the car as I know this is something I will have to deal with. As I leave the car and begin to walk up to the lawn, I see the same brunette I saw with Ace at my party screaming at him. The girls from the sorority house are on the left and the frat boys are on the right, surrounding the two. I walk up to the brunette, not looking at Ace once. 

"You told me I was hot!  We just about had sex Ace, how is that getting the wrong idea!?" The brunette screams, making Ace and the rest of the frat boys burst out into laughter.

"I'm flattered. Really, I am," Ace sneers before looking at me, we make eye contact but I look away. He makes me feel uneasy. ''I don't do relationships. And I didn't fuck you, you're overreacting. I didn't even kiss you." Ace continues. 

"You're not special because you don't kiss anyone but your deadbeat mother!" 

An uproar comes from the crowd, each and every person having something to say about the brunettes comebacks. Ace doesn't seem phased at all. 

"Actually, I don't kiss her either. I don't think you belong in your pathetic little sorority, you're too much of a prude."

The brunette and the rest of the girls turn around to look at me. I know that it's because I hold applications and who gets kicked out, but the last thing I want is to get involved in this. 

"You girls know what happened last time you involved Mari, I'll handle this." A voice from the back insists, making her way to the front. It's Lady, accompanied by Lex and Ari. 

"No, you won't." I snap as I stand next to the brunette, facing Ace and the frat boys. I really didn't take Ace to be in a fraternity. I feel all eyes on me, particularly Ace whose eyes are boring into mine. 

"Well what are you gonna do about it?" snarled one of the boys standing next to Ace. 

"I can handle her," Ace snaps and takes a step closer to me. "You aren't going to do anything, are you Cherry?" 

"I don't actually care about any of this. I wanna talk to the head of your frat, not the bottom." 

"Yep, okay." Ace laughs along with the rest of the boys. He makes a lap around the boys with both hands in his pockets and comes back to where he was standing before. 

"Well?" I question. I don't understand what's going on. I really am trying to keep my cool, I feel like I'm doing a good job at it. I have to admit, it wasn't the brunettes place to make comments about Ace's mum, no matter how much I hate him. I of all people know how it is to have a bad relationship with your mum.

"I AM the head. I have better things to spend my time on, just kick her out and find some other airhead." Ace exclaims. He smirks at the girl behind me, winking at her and then turning his attention back to me. I don't know what to say, he makes me feel so uneasy. I don't think being nice is getting me anywhere, all it's gotten me is a happy Lady and less self-confidence. I watch the crowd as they all turn to look at me, I look at the brunette as she balls her fist at Ace. I shrug my shoulders at her and the frat boys go wild. They cheer and pat Ace on the back, each boy dropping off until it's just Ace and another boy. The brunette frowns at me and storms off into the sorority house. Some girls follow her and the rest stay on the grass talking about some party that's on Friday. 

"Don't think I did that for you." I groan, defeated. 

"Oh, I know you did. So sad." He laughs alongside his friend. 

What the!? What a jerk. I've tried being nice, I'm not doing it anymore. Not with him anyway.

"No, what's sad is that you act all tough when all you are is damaged." 

I turn on my heel and go to walk into the sorority house when he grabs my arm and turns me around to face him, and he's fuming once again. 

"You do the exact same. I'm not fucking damaged either you bitch!" he yells. 

I laugh in his face and watch him become more angry, "Yeah, I guess I do. Just like you said." 

I pull my arm from his grip and walk away.