My first reaction is to run and hide. Zoey is the last person I want to see. I know she’s still mad about everything. Because she’s Zoey, and when Zoey’s are pissed, they can’t let it go. Which just makes this whole situation that much more difficult to navigate.

“Zoey? What are you doing here?” I said as calmly as possible. I don’t want to set her off again.

“No, what are you doing here!?” She demands, stomping over to us.

Well keeping things civil is out the window. She looks ready to burn me at the stake.

“W-we’re on a date,” I say.

“A date, fantastic. Because everything you’ve already done to me wasn’t enough. You had to ruin the one last safe space I had.”

“What? Zoey I didn’t know—”

“Don’t lie to me! You’re doing it on purpose now!”

I stand up just as she walks over to us. Hilary stands behind me.

“I’m not doing anything! This all just happened! I said I was sorry.”

“Sorry, sorry can’t even begin to fix what you’ve done.” She shakes her head at me.

I look into her hazel eyes, trying to find some way to fix this. Some hint of the right thing to say. But all I see is pain and anger. She really hates me now. Nothing will ever fix this.

“Zoey, please,” I beg.

“You know, what stings most of all is that I trusted you Poppy. I told you everything, I trusted you!” she pushes me.

I stumble back.

“You were supposed to be my best friend!” she pushes me again.

“I’m sorry!”

She punches me in the jaw and I fall on my butt.

“Leave her alone!” Hilary jumps in the way.

Zoey laughs and shakes her head at Hilary.

“Zoey don’t,” I plead.

“You don’t have to be so mean! Poppy really cares about you.” Hilary says.

“She lied to you!” Zoey says.

“Stop it!” I stand back up.

“Why should I?” Zoey says.

“Look, I know what I did to you was very bad but it’s not like that anymore. The way I feel, this, is real.”

“And what about the way I felt!?”

“Ruining my relationship won’t make her magically like you!”

There is a moment of silence.

She clenches her jaw and tears fill her eyes.

“Zoey, I’m so sorry. For everything. But it wasn’t like I planned this. It just happened. I just want my friend back. Can’t we just move past this and move on?”

“Move on? Poppy, no. There is no moving on. You’re not the one who got the short end of the stick.”

“You’re not even trying,” Hilary says.

We both turn to her.

“You’re not even trying to make up. You can’t just go on hating someone forever. Poppy really wants you back in her life. You should at least try and get over it.”

“You have no idea,” Zoey says.

“Don’t,” I step in the way and block her view of Hilary.

“She deserves to know.”

“Zoey please.”

“Whatever it is, I don’t want to hear it,” Hilary said.

“So you don’t care? You don’t care that Poppy is a two-faced liar, that everything you two have could be a lie?”

“Zoey stop, please!”

“I don’t care.” Hilary stood firm.

“She was pretending! She didn’t like you at all! In fact, she hated you. She was spying on you and talking about you behind your back every day! She wasn’t really your friend; she was only doing it to stop me from being your friend.”

“Hilary I can explain,” I quickly turn to her.

She narrows her eyes at Zoey and says, “Why would she want to stop you from being my friend?”

“Because she was jealous! She didn’t even like you; she was just mad that I liked you. I… had a crush on you.” Zoey admits.

Hilary doesn’t even seem surprised, she’s more annoyed than anything.

“Hilary, I promise it’s not like that anymore. I know I should have told you something, but I was scared. Maybe I was pretending at first but then you were so nice to me and one thing led to another. Before I knew it I wasn’t pretending anymore. And… I got feelings for you. I’m sorry I lied to you. Please don’t hate me.” I beg.

“I don’t hate you,” Hilary’s gaze softens on me. “It’s okay. I understand.”

I sigh in relief.

Zoey wasn’t happy with that outcome. She pushes me, “Get out.” She demands.

“What?”

“Get out! I was here first, you can’t come here.”

“It’s not exclusive. We can be here if we want!” I say.

“You should really be a better friend,” Hilary says. “A real friend would support Poppy and hope for her happiness not try and ruin her relationship.”

“This is my place, it’s special to me. You know that!” Zoey says to me.

“What? No, I don’t, I’ve never even been here till today. We’ve never come here together.” I say.

Zoey thinks about it for a moment before turning to Hilary.

“You brought her here?” Zoey says.

Hilary shrugs.

“Wait, what is she talking about?” I turn to Hilary.

“After what I told you?” Zoey looks at Hilary in betrayal.

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Hilary and I came here, I brought her here. This is my place.”

“Wait, Zoey showed you this place?” I turn to Hilary.

She shrugs.

“Unbelievable, I thought there was only one backstabber here, turns out there is two.” Zoey spat.

“Don’t call her that!” I got defensive.

“You two deserve each other, she’s just as sick and twisted as you are.”

“What are you talking about?” I demand.

“You should leave,” Hilary says to Zoey.

“All that stuff I told you, about my family, about everything, did it just mean nothing to you? Didn’t you know I liked you? I only made it super obvious. I thought… I thought you were really my friend. But you bring her here?”

“I don’t understand, what’s going on?” I ask.

Hilary takes a deep breath before looking Zoey in the eyes. “I’m sorry if I led you on, but I was only ever interested in getting to know Poppy.”

Zoey’s eyes go wide.

“I knew if I was your friend, she’d finally talk to me.”

“You used me?” Zoey says in disbelief.

She shrugs.

Tears finally spill over, running down her cheeks. She backs away before turning and running away.

“Wait, what are you saying?” I turn to Hilary.

“I wanted to get to know you, and I knew Zoey was your best friend so I got to know her. To learn more about you. That’s why I understand what you did. I’m not mad you were only pretending to be my friend Poppy because I kind of pretended to be Zoey’s friend to make you jealous.”

It takes a moment for her words to sink in, my mind wrapping around the initial sting and betrayal.

Suddenly it all makes sense.

Hilary ruined my friendship, on purpose.

She used Zoey to get to me. She turned Zoey and I against each other.

I should have known; everyone is hiding something. No one is perfect.

Turns out Hilary was hiding that she’s a conniving little…

I can’t believe it…

Hilary King is a lying, friendship ruiner, betrayer. She’s not perfect, she’s a lot of things but most of all Hilary King is a backstabber.