Author Note: Time to focus.

Emira didn't get much sleep that night; her mind was too restless to relax. Whenever she managed to calm it, she would hear Viney's words in her head again. She would remember how she harmed Viney, how much her rejection hurt. She'd remember the sound of her voice, telling her to leave.

Despite barely sleeping and feeling like she'd been attacked by a slitherbeast, Emira still got up at the usual time to go to school. She wanted to find Viney before class and talk to her, though she wasn't sure if Viney would be willing to listen. She probably wouldn't, but Emira still wanted to try.

After walking to school, trying not to yawn while she did, Emira swapped the library books for her school textbooks at her locker. Then, since she had plenty of time until class would start, she walked around to see if she could find Viney.

As she passed through the wing of the school where Viney's locker was, Emira didn't see her. It was still early though. Emira kept walking, looking in another set of hallways without success. Maybe Viney had stayed home, or hadn't arrived at school yet?

Those guesses turned out to be incorrect. Emira passed by Viney's locker one more time on her way to class. This time the other teen was there, putting something in her locker. Emira's heart squeezed painfully at the sight of her, bringing back all of the feelings she dwelt on the night before.

"Viney." Emira called out her name as she approached. Viney tightened her grip on the book she was putting in her bag, but otherwise didn't react.

Emira stopped to Viney's right, trying to look at her face. Now that she was closer, Emira could see that she was scowling, her whole body tense. Her hair, which was usually in some state of disorder, was even more disheveled than usual. "I need to apologize, for ev-"

"Don't talk to me." Viney cut her off, still not looking at her. Her voice was slightly hoarse, sounding strained. She closed her locker and turned away from Emira, starting to walk away without another word.

Emira mustered her courage and trailed after her. "Please, let me explain." She tried again, keeping her voice down to not attract the attention of bystanders.

Viney spun on her heel, finally looking at Emira. Her eyes were red, like she'd been crying recently. "I said, leave me alone." She didn't way for a reply, turning to again walk down the hallway.

This time Emira let her go. It was a familiar feeling, being rejected like this. It was one of the first things Viney did when they met. That didn't make it hurt any less.

Already feeling drained, Emira went to class; there was no reason to stay in the hallway any longer that morning. When class started she tried to focus, but it was hard to do. She couldn't stop thinking about what had been lost, how things could never go back to how they were.

If Viney refused to listen, there wasn't anything she could do. Maybe she would just have to accept it, accept that their friendship was over.

At least for now, she had no choice.

A little over a week had passed since the incident. Emira spent that week alternating between moping and trying to convince herself to snap out of it. Moping was winning. Even playing pranks would only improve her mood for a short while.

She hadn't tried to talk to Viney again in that time, though she wasn't sure how long she should wait before trying again.

The closest she got to Viney was walking past her in the hallway. At the time, Viney had been talking with her multi track friends. Viney had her back to Emira so she didn't see Emira pass by, but the teen boy and dog both did. If looks could kill, Emira would've died twice.

It was Friday, the last day of the school week. Emira was going to try one more time, give herself one last chance to apologize and make things right. If it didn't work, at least she'd have the weekend to start trying to figure out how to move on.

She suspected that Viney would stay after school to work on her healing spell, as she had for the last month. She would probably be in the usual healing track room, still translating the same book. She'd be trying to find a replacement for the spell Emira had used to enhance her healing spell. Emira tried not to dwell on that when she went there after school.

From outside the door, she couldn't tell if Viney was inside. The window was too small to see the part of the room Viney liked to sit in. Emira knew this, but she tried to look in anyway.

As expected, she couldn't see if Viney was there. She would have to go in to find out.

Emira took a deep breath, then entered the room. Viney was sitting with her books, in the same spot as usual. Her eyes flicked up towards the sound of the opening door, but immediately went back down when she saw who it was. She looked irritated as she wrote in her notes, a deep frown on her face.

Emira approached her slowly, not wanting to startle her. "Hey," Emira said. Viney didn't respond, but she did stop writing, pressing her pen harder against the paper. "I know you don't want to talk to me." Emira said as she reached the table Viney was at. She stood in front of her, with only the table and books between them. "But I need to talk to you." She paused, giving Viney a chance to say something.

Viney didn't move, didn't speak. She also didn't get up to leave, which was a plus. Emira took a chair from the next row of tables and turned it so she could sit down. Viney still didn't look at her.

Emira cleared her throat, and then continued. "I know you might not forgive me, and I understand why. If you don't want to, you won't have to see me again." She took a deep breath. "I hurt you, and I'm sorry. I never wanted to, but I did." Emira tried to keep her voice steady as she spoke, which was difficult to achieve. She had been waiting to say these things all week, but that didn't stop the pangs of pain in her heart as she spoke. "Yes, at first I was only thinking about the passages, but my feelings changed. I had so much fun getting to know you, being your friend." Her voice was shaking now, wavering despite her best efforts. "The passages don't matter, only you."

This finally drew a reaction from Viney. She looked up slowly, still holding her pen against the paper. She locked eyes with Emira, her gaze clear. She was still frowning, with gritted teeth. "Then why did your brother say they did?" Viney asked, her words firm.

"I…" Emira's voice trailed off after the first word, trying to figure out how to say it. This was a question she'd asked herself over the last week, why hadn't she just told him the truth? This whole situation could've been averted if she had. She was starting to figure it out though, no more holding back. "It was easier to lie to him." Emira admitted, bringing her hands together on the table.

Viney scoffed, putting down her pen and crossing her arms. "That doesn't make any sense. Aren't you twins?"

"Yeah but," Emira paused mid-sentence to consider her words. "I didn't think he'd understand."

Again, Viney didn't buy it. "What's so hard to understand?" Her eyebrows were furrowed, her tone biting.

Emira had earned her criticism, but she tried to keep it on track. "It was too embarrassing."

"Do Blights not make friends like everybody else?" Viney mocked her, clearly irritated with the conversation. She had raised her voice, increasing the tension in the room.

Emira's emotions spiked and she slipped up, words coming out that were true, but she never intended to say. "I couldn't admit I was falling for you." Oh no, Emira cursed in her head, she hadn't meant to say that.

Viney eyes widened at the statement, looking shocked. Her arms gradually fell away from her chest. "What did you say?" She asked, as if she couldn't believe what she heard. She looked at Emira like she had grown a second head, confused with a hint of something else. Emira couldn't tell. Her cheeks were slowly turning red.

"That is… I just…" Emira was absolutely mortified at what she just said. Somehow, despite everything, she had made everything worse. She had to get out of there. "Nothing, I have to go." She stood abruptly, the legs of the chair making a loud scraping noise as it was pushed back.

Emira tore her eyes away from Viney and bolted for the door, not looking back. She couldn't bear to see when Viney's expression would change to the inevitable next step, disgust.

She practically slammed the door to the classroom, trying to look composed as she walked through the school. Almost all of the students were gone by then, but there could still be a few around.

She had just gone to apologize and explain herself, how had she ended up confessing? In the heat of the moment, the words just slipped out. What she had been thinking for the last few weeks, that she was slowly falling for this girl, couldn't be kept in any longer.

The way Viney reacted though, her stare and confusion, she clearly didn't return Emira's feelings.

At least Emira had already designated the weekend to recover from heartbreak.