She woke up late.
She opened her eyes slowly and barely lifted her head off the pillow… she stretched like a lazy cat, then yawned until she felt her jaw would come off.
"Ahhh… first day of punishment. How boring."
She got up sluggishly, put on her clothes, and slung her bag over her back:
"At least I'll go out. Maybe I'll go to the abandoned house, to that old man. To get some answers…"
But as soon as she opened the door, her mother was standing on the threshold, arms crossed:
"Haaah! Where do you think you're going?!"
Lavinia froze.
"Huh? Mom… I'm suspended from school, not from home."
Her mother shouted, waving her finger:
"And what do you think? You're punished here too! You won't take a single step out of this house for three days!"
Lavinia laughed sarcastically:
"Hahaha… wait, wait, are you joking?"
Her mother's stern look made the walls of the house tremble:
"Go back to your room! And think carefully about what you've done! You troublemaker…"
Lavinia turned toward the stairs, mumbling angrily.
"As if I committed a crime! All I did was teach them a proper lesson for mocking me!"
Before she could finish her sentence, she felt something hit her back…
"Ughhh!"
She screamed as she ran,
"Heeey! Mom! Why the flying shoe?!"
She laughed as she climbed the stairs, and as soon as she closed the door behind her, she fell back onto the bed again.
She sighed and stared at the ceiling:
"I just wanted to go to that old man… but damn it. It's all stupid Mira's fault… I just… I just thought of her as a sister, a friend… but everything between us is over."
She closed her eyes and began to remember…
---
Middle School Memories (Flashback)
In the second year of middle school, Mira joined Lavinia's class. Mira was beautiful and kind.
As soon as the bell rang at the end of the lesson, the students crowded around her. She quickly became popular at school.
Although Mira received many confessions, her eyes were on only one person — "Mikel." But no matter how much she tried to get close to him or talk to him, he paid her no attention.
She always saw one girl around him and saw how "Mikel" changed from a cold boy into a kind person…
His smile toward her stirred Mira's jealousy.
She began to hate "Lavinia" and envy her. Lavinia wasn't just a friend of the boy Mira loved — she was also beautiful and amazing. Her height made her stand out among everyone, like a model. She was even more popular than Mira at school, surpassing her in everything despite Mira's beauty.
So Mira found only one way — to use Lavinia to get closer to Michael and make him hers…
And so, the three of them became friends.
She came back from the memory and opened the album, flipping through the photos…
One after another…
But suddenly, she froze.
> The photos showed what happened yesterday.
The fighting, the shouting, Michael's stare, her breakdown…
Then more photos.
Photos of her in the hallways… alone.
Laughing to herself.
Screaming into the emptiness.
Talking to someone who wasn't there, as if she were insane…
She rested her head on the desk, buried her face in her arms, and screamed:
"So this means… I'll stay alone? Without friends?"
Page…
Page…
Until she reached a photo she stared at for a long few seconds.
> Mikel and Mira…
Holding hands.
Laughing.
She said to herself:
"Mikel hates holding hands… Impossible."
But she leaned closer to the photo, looked beneath it…
"20 / 12 / 2009"
She gasped.
"We're now in the seventh of November…
That means… in a month, they'll start dating?!"
She stepped back a little and muttered:
"I'm not upset that they're dating…
But because of the way she betrayed me… damn it…"
She kept flipping through the photos…
But the surprise was that all the following photos were of her and Rocky.
In the library, in the lab, in the courtyard…
Laughing, talking, cleaning together.
She said:
"Rocky… he's the only one who didn't abandon me. At least in the photos… we look happy."
Then she added with a sad smile:
"Maybe… he's the one who really loves me. Maybe… if I can't change or stop his betrayal, then maybe it's better than running away…"
Then she decided…
To go to the end of the album, to see how it ends.
She looked at the last photo.
And the betrayal was still there.
But…
Something strange.
The picture changed before her eyes.
Same place… same position… same death…
But instead of Michael being the one driving the car with Mira,
It was someone else entirely.
She couldn't see his face.
It was blurry. Unknown.
She held the photo with trembling hands.
She whispered:
"This photo… wasn't like this before."