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She laughed humorlessly.

“No, I know you're a poor fuck.”

Straightening her posture, she went to the sink and gargled before walking past me, bumping her shoulder into mine. Upon reaching the restroom door, Kendra added:

“Martin told me you called me that, I just thought something as stupid as that was really in the past.”

“It will be, from now on.” I laughed in disbelief.

“Next time, I won't stop.” She warned me. “I'm going to punch your slut face until I get tired.”

I smiled bitterly at the pain that perpetuated through my body.

“Yeah, you can expect the same from me, you bastard.”

Absolutely everything hurt, from my lips to the tips of the fingers that Kendra had crushed in the door, but I already knew who to take my hatred out on: Martin.

He was wearing speedos and was probably bragging about something. Great, that way I could finish him off once and for all. I was fed up with Martin making my life as difficult as he could. I had seen the two of them together last night, but I knew nothing had come of it. And now he was probably making up a victory about last night to brag about to his friends.

“Hey, Martin!” I arrived at the pool area shouting for him.

His full attention came to me instantly and his smug smile flashed my way.

I had pain all over my body from the fight with Kendra and I felt like my face might be a little swollen, but I didn't care. In fact, I was more than ready to fight again, but this time with my ex-boyfriend.

“You really are a piece of shit!” I noticed I was already close to him.

“If you came here to insult me, you can leave, Veronica...”

“No, I didn't just come to insult you. I came to tell you to stay away from the whole cheerleading squad.”

“Wow, are you jealous because I hit on the blonde you hate the most?” He teased.

That son of a bitch had no idea he was playing with fire.

“No, I am sorry you had to stoop so low.” I replied, confident in myself. “And I felt sorry for Kendra because, despite everything, even she deserves a guy who knows how to make her cum.”

His teammates laughed and his smile disappeared instantly.

“Stay. Far. Away.” I scored one more time before turning my back on him. I would probably lose it with him if I stayed there any longer.

Outside Belinda's university aquatic gym, after a shitty day, with my entire body sore, I finally gave in to the tears. I was exhausted and really hated Kendra and Martin. Each one in their own way managed to bring out the worst in me and I simply couldn't stand them for it.

I could feel my hair, even when it was tied up, hitting my back every time I did a backflip, but I had been doing this for so long that I had simply learned to ignore the force with which the strands hit my skin. When I finally landed on the mat, after one last spin in the air, I was satisfied that I had managed to accomplish everything that I was asked to do.

I knew life could be complicated, but the last week had been too much. Hitting Veronica was surreal. With a certain distance from what happened, I even felt a hint of shame for having done and said everything I did and said. And that's why I avoided her a lot in the last week, I didn't speak to her or even look in her direction.

Partly, obviously, because I wanted to avoid confusion, but, on the other hand, I felt like I needed to prioritize other things... like college and practice. It wasn't because I didn't want to go tomy parents' dream college, yet, that I didn't need to focus on my studies.

Having finished my sequence, I ended up going to the side of the mat to drink some water. I was exhausted. I leaned my back against the wall behind me and took a deep breath.

“Hey…” Colleen sat in front of me, crossing her legs while having a wide smile on her face. “We're going to karaoke today, do you want to go along?”

I looked at her, suspicious.

““We are going”? Who is “we”?”

“Just me and Zorah, but you can go with your roommates too.”