Bakersville high school***“Gabriel hasn’t come by here in a while, is he okay?” Terry asked.Emily froze. She debated quickly on whether lying to her mother was a good idea, but she also didn’t want her to intervene in the situation, because she knew her Mom would go overboard and get everyone else involved and the last thing Emily wanted was for everyone to know what had happened between her and Gabriel.That was the first time they had argued in a long time and he had simply left her room and gone to his, packed up a few of his things, and left. She had seen him around in school, and he looked fine. But she knew that this was a facade. She knew that looking like he was fine was something he did every day even when he had stayed up all night trying to stop his parents from fighting.She felt guilty: she wondered how she could apologize to him but she also knew that he would take that chance to be especially mean and she didn’t feel like going through embarrassment and humiliation o

GABRIEL***I tapped my finger on my phone screen, thinking of what I wanted to write. I was writing a message to the person who had texted me and I wanted to make sure that it was a message that would make them feel like they were losing because I was sure Emily was involved.I wanted to piss her off and get a punch of my own in after the absolute chaos she had brought into my own life. I needed to get some points on the scoreboard I was sure she had a mental record of. I needed to catch up.What message would piss her off? I needed it to be something that she didn't expect. What had she expected when she got the person to text me and ask me if I was sure I was okay with being exposed? I suspected that it was the response I had given: the fact that I had actually gotten nervous and shown her that I was afraid.She had gotten so much satisfaction from it, I could tell by the way she had acted. The crazy look in her eye shone like something crazy when I showed her I was afraid. The app

GABRIEL***The more time went by without getting a response, the more I knew that I had won this round. I didn’t know what her scoreboard looked like, but mine was at one-one. I wasn’t too petty to admit that she had won with the thing at dinner but I had definitely won with this one.I didn’t have to see her face to know that I had pissed her off and immensely at that. I had done the opposite of what she had expected me to do and I was sure she was wondering what her next move was. I couldn’t lie, I was thrilled. I was excited and overjoyed and I couldn't think of anything better to bring me joy. It suddenly didn’t matter that she had embarrassed me that night. Besides, did it really matter if there had been no other witnesses? It was her word against mine and I had always won in instances like those.I had the power to influence a crowd and she didn’t. I had just scored it as a victory on her part so that it was a more realistic win when I actually won at the end of it all. It had

EMILY***“We seem to be meeting a lot nowadays,” Harry said as he sat across from me.I couldn’t help but laugh. It was true. This was our second meeting since the last one was interrupted by Tiffany. He had called me out this time and it was just as well because u needed to tie up loose ends and make sure the both of us were on the same page and also to make sure I was in Tiffany's good books. I didn't want to risk getting in trouble with her. She held too much power and I couldn't anger her.She had walked away from me that day after showing me the text from Gabriel and after I had recovered I had noticed that she was not happy. She was not at all pleased with the fact that I had met with Harry, for whatever reason. She had left me with two things to worry about. Not only was I worried about Gabriel and how I would exact my revenge, but I was also worried about her and whether she would stay on my side given the new circumstances.I hoped she would. I prayed she would. She had to.

EMILY***I had one less thing to worry about now that I had wrapped things up with Harry. It freed me up to focus on the other thing that was worrying me, which was Gabriel and his infuriating response to the text I had sent him through Tiffany.It still made my blood boil when I thought about it, and it was almost two weeks since he sent it. It was just as well that we had not met in that time because I couldn't possibly imagine seeing his face. He would know I was angry because I couldn't hide it.He wouldn't know why but he would get some strange satisfaction from it given that he needed a win. I needed to work fast. I had given him enough time to gloat, whether he knew that it was a chance I'd given him or not. I needed to put him back in his place and make him quiver once again. The scores were one to one on my scoreboard and I needed to get a few punches in while he was still unaware of what was happening.For all he knew, he was just being threatened by someone behind a phone