The moment I hear a grunt, I know it’s about Ann-Marie and that Amelia surely is implied. I overheard my nemesis mentioning that she had to speak with her, and something happened to make her this angry. This furious, even. I’ve never seen her this brutal, this aggressive towards someone, and I don’t understand what Amelia did wrong. The reasons are in the past, naturally, as I haven’t spent the last four years  alongside them. For the moment, my new friend seems to handle herself well. She may not be the best for this kind of things, but at least she’s not struggling too much. I direct my gaze somewhere else for an instant, keeping my eyes open for anything too much, listening carefully.

I just know that Ann-Marie will end up being more intense, and that somehow, in this moment, she’ll try to get my attention. She has as an idea in the back of her mind, I’m sure of it. If she’s trying to get my attention, it’s working. What is she up to? Something bad. I know it. I hear light footsteps behind me, yet I don’t pay much attention to it. I’m stuck in a trance, as always, lost in thought for something stupid that doesn’t matter, and I’m not talking about the fight but other delusional ideas of mine. A low and husky mumble catches me off guard, its slight British accent barely audible as I can’t tear my gaze apart. Jules is standing beside me, and he seems to be saying something, but for me, it’s a low, careless murmur, my attention caught by the sudden punch Ann-Marie gives to Amelia.

“Right, Nora?” A voice asks me, surely Jules, though I’m too distracted to answer anything, rushing to help my buddy out. If I want her to trust me, I’ll have to prove it to her.

I feel myself acting in a way that I shouldn’t, and for some reason I’m not quite in my right mind. It’s not that I’m acting like a drug addict or that I’m not being myself, but I have enough of Ann-Marie always trying something for my attention, wanting Jules back and imagining herself her plan will work. When my boyfriend is clearly not attracted to her, as he never truly had feelings for her. He could’ve. He could be lying. I shake off the thought, grabbing the blonde girl’s wrist, pulling her apart and speaking through gritted teeth.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I ask her, not even expecting an answer, glancing at the girl with the cherry red hair with worry, regretting not intervening sooner, “What did she do to you?”

She smirks widely, as if she expected me to say something-well, she probably did, with the numerous conversations that we had in the last two years, and the usual comebacks that I keep repeating again and again.

“Stop trying to make yourself the main character, Nora, not everything is about you. You don’t even know what has happened before you were there, so let me take care of this myself. I’ll do the great job. You know you can trust me with that, honey.” She tells me, sliding my hand off her arm suggestively, clearly teasing me.

“I hate to admit it, but she’s right. This isn’t about you. She doesn’t take care of it the right way and should be the one getting this treatment, though it doesn’t really matter.” Amelia says as she walks over calmly, glancing at me, then Ann-Marie, again and again. Her insecurity is visible, and she is anxious.

Even if she tries to hide it, I can see it in her eyes. She doesn’t know me well enough to believe that I can face Ann-Marie and confront her without an ounce of flinching. I do, sometimes, yet I am never caught off guard by what she does. Clearly, Amelia thinks that I do not know Ann-Marie very well-when herself hasn’t spent the last year with her. I know, I know, I may be quite prideful, thinking of myself this way, though it upsets me selfishly.

“See, even this nerd agrees with me.” My enemy replies, staring right at me, her gaze piercing through my soul as if she could read every single thought

“Shut up.” The concerned one retorts, shifting back to her, her eyes holding thunderstorms.

“How funny.”

***

If I had to be honest, it made me a little sad that Nora completely ignored me while I tried talking to her. It’s as if I wasn’t right there, next to her. It makes me feel as if I made her outraged, for some reason, yet I don’t recall saying anything that could’ve made her mad. She could’ve surprised any conversation against her, as I’d never do that. And I haven’t. I believe she flinched at the sight of my ex and that German girl fighting, but it wasn’t like they were struggling too badly. I feel frustrated at myself for reacting this stupidly with such a small action, but the idea that I do not exist in her mind makes my heart throb. I haven’t been annoying lately, have I? Overly clingy? I don’t think so.

In a way, she’s being quite distant now that she has Amelia as a new friend, recently. We’re not even half-way through the month, and usually, she’d pay attention. Nora isn’t avoiding me, but today’s an exception-I shake off the thought, it’s surely not intentional, is it? But what if it is? I mean, I’m her boyfriend, I don’t get where the deal is. Perhaps she does that to the girls as well and focuses on Amelia. Who knows? It’s odd. As if something was planned- it might not be from her, but I seek something.

I hear some words from time to time, and I can’t bring myself to step forward and to snap at her. This could be about Nora or about Ann-Marie that I’m mentioning right now. This is messed up; I’m frustrated, sad, anxious and wondering what I could’ve done wrong. I don’t believe I hurt her somehow, so she may be the problem, and not me. I may be overthinking it, but it’s not her style to begin avoiding me. The moment she walks back to me, I feel relieved, but not for long.

I can see the frustration in her eyes, the obvious tendency of not believing my ex-girlfriend when she could decide not to lie to her. Nora knows it very well that the blondie is a great liar and that she could blurt out the truth in front of her eyes. That’s exactly what Ann-Marie’s trying to do to Nora. Mess her up. I grab her arm firmly, gentle enough not to hurt her, but enough to make her notice my presence.

“Nora, please, tell me what’s wrong.” I beg her, pulling her towards me, “I didn’t like you ignoring me just now.”

She flinches, “I’m not avoiding you. I just didn’t want Amelia to get hurt. I thought Ann-Marie was being unreasonable, insisting on her case right when she comes back. Usually you’d like a break, wouldn’t you?”

“I know...I feel like you’re quite distant lately. I know, I know, it’s barely been a week since she came back, and it’s stupid to be jealous like that, but you can tell me if there’s a problem. You know that, right?”

I release my grip, feeling her tensing up. She seems to compose herself after a while, standing before me, gentling her anxious glance as she sighs and shakes her head. She knows I’m right and that she can trust me, say anything on her mind. But Nora’s always been a mystery to me, barely opening, always having something on the mind. It’s like she only trusts Avery and it makes me sad as if I didn’t make her feel happy. Of course, she does love me, I’m sure of it, with the way she acts and that dreamy look in her eyes, but that’s not the problem. Not right now.

"The problem is Ann-Marie treats her unfairly and I don’t know why. I must know what she did wrong or I’ll go crazy. If you have answers, give them to me now, because I can’t understand. This girl is getting worse day by day.” She tells me, her eyes pleading me to help her, say anything, reveal anything. Yet I don’t.

It’s not like I have anything to hide anyway, and she knows it. The girl who calls me her boyfriend and that has a delusional plan in her mind to break down my real one is getting on her nerves. When I thought she couldn’t get worse. What’s wrong with her? She must understand that what she’s doing is not okay, to Nora, to Avery, to that german girl and everyone else. I bet she knows but is too stubborn to admit it even to herself.

“I don’t have the answers you desire, sweetie.” I tell her with a sigh, rubbing the back of my neck with my palm, “You must stop freaking out. Amelia exists, but I do too, I’m part of your life, did you forget that?”

“Of course not! I can see you right there, right here, and your name pops up on my phone every time you text me. I’m not this oblivious, Jules!”

I sigh deeply, “That’s not what I meant, you know that. You can’t just acknowledge me as your boyfriend only and say “okay, he’s this and that, he only exists”! I matter, don’t I, right?"

She seems to be thinking for a moment, then her ego stops getting the best of her. In a way, she knows that I’m right, but she won’t admit it to herself. My girlfriend is often worrying about herself, and now that she must care a little bit more for someone else, thinking she has to prove herself-it’s a lot for her. Naturally, she’s already friends with the girls and already showed them that she was worth their friendship. Now that this girl was there before and that we all knew her, perhaps she felt the need to fit in with what Amelia was used to see.

“I’m sorry.” Nora mumbles in a low tone, trying not to avoid my gaze, “I’ll try to make more time for you, I promise.”

“That’s not about jealousy. Well, yes, but not completely. I find this unfair how you keep going past me as if I didn’t exist, as if I’m just a ghost, or may I dare, as if you only use my status as a relationship.”

The brown-haired girl’s eyes widen, and her expression hardens as well. Fuck. I shouldn’t have said that. In the back of my mind, I don’t believe she does just like Ann-Marie did, and I might see it a bit too far, but in the last four days, she kept ghosting me non-stop. She seems upset that I said that, and she just watches me without a word, her eyes glazed over with shock and regret. I don’t think I messed up. I think she did, and that my ex-girlfriend has something to do with it. And that, I have no doubts about it-whatever she plans on doing, she wants me back.

***

I can’t stop my lips from curling into a smirk as I hear Nora storm off angrily, Jules standing there like he was late to the party. It’s not much, considering that I know they’ll talk things out and stick together, but it’s already a start. It’s working even better than I thought I would, and all I did was provoking Amelia. She already left, letting the not-for-long lovebirds have their little fight. I don’t think she expects what’s going to happen. I knew that the odds were going to be in my favor for this. I deserve to be with Jules, no matter what. I can’t wait to see his face when we’ll get back. He was always and secretly mine.

As he’s standing there all alone, his brown hair covering his eyes as he scrunches his nose, I decide to tap his shoulder playfully. The moment he feels my presence; he immediately steps back and glares at me as if I was a disgusting bug that he wanted to step on badly. My eyes sparkle-I can see the underlying desire, that he wants to get back with me. I’m sure of it. He’s acting so good, I’m so lucky to get such a good actor as my boyfriend-well, Nora doesn’t know about us yet.

“You planned all of this, didn’t you?” He snaps at me, his blue eyes wide with fury, and a hint of something else, something dangerous.

“What can I say? I’m always planning something; I thought you knew through the years.” I admit with a shrug, arching a brow without daring to stop the eye-contact

“Why do you keep doing this? Whatever you have in mind, I suggest you stop it. You’re too much, right now. I don’t know how many times I have to say this, but please, leave Nora alone.” Jules begs me, showing a lot of vulnerability as he utters his fake girlfriend’s name

I laugh softly, “I didn’t ask her to do anything. I took my revenge on Amelia, but it was her decision at first to be friends with that girl and to go and defend her. Do you really think I was setting this up?”

“You’re clearly up to something. You wanted to get her attention, for some reason.”

I raise both my hands in innocence, “Think whatever you want, Jules. She’s the one who came over.”

The boy seems relieved. He glares at me suspiciously then walks off, leaving me there, feeling giddy and evil, yet in a good way. Oh, I love how he remains this oblivious and that he doesn’t feel the need to ask me anything, for now. His suspicions won’t bring me to an interrogation, for sure, and even though they might doubt it, they won’t be able to stop it. Nora brought herself to the trouble by herself. I can’t wait.