There was just one major social event left before school started back up again, and that was the New Year's party at Feferi's. She figured she'd shoot Tavros a message before heading over, if only just to hint at what she had in mind for the evening.

arachnidsGrip [AG] began pestering adiosToreador

AG: Heeeeeeeey, Tavros.
AT: ummm, hey, vriska
AT: funny you messaged me
AT: i was about to talk to you
AG: Oh reaaaaaaaally?
AG: What would you want to talk to little ol' me about?
AT: well, i, uh,
AT: thought about the way you were teasing aradia on christmas
AG: Ugh, that emotionless automaton?
AT: hey, aradia is my friend
AG: Whatever.
AT: anyway, i think you kind of
AT: might be pushing friends away with your attitude?

Vriska faltered. He was right; she knew that much. But she couldn't tell him that.

AG: Wow, Tavros, what the fuck?
AT: i just mean,
AT: some of the things you say are kind of harsh
AT: i'm not saying it to be mean
AG: Yeah, I know, you're saying it because I'm your friend and you don't want to see me isolate myself. Whatever, Tavros, don't tell me how to live my life.
AT: i, uh, didn't mean it like that
AG: Then how did you mean it?
AT: i dunno
AT: uh, sorry
AG: You should be.
AT: anyway…
AT: what were you messaging me about?
AG: Just wondering if you're not so much of a lame-ass that you'd bail on Feferi's party.
AT: i was planning on going
AT: if that's what you mean
AG: Alright then, Tabros.
AG: See you later :::;)

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased pestering adiosToreador

Part of Vriska felt a little bad, playing Tavros like this. But he was the one who always bought into it, and he needed to learn! Vriska let out a sigh and grabbed her stuff before heading downstairs. Aranea had been waiting in the car. But of course, Vriska's attempt to leave the house was met with an argument with her mother.
"I don't understand why you're going out all the time," Suzanne hissed as Vriska headed for the front door.
"Because I have friends? People who care about me?" Vriska answered, even though she wasn't so sure lately. It would probably be easier for the entire group if she stopped hanging around with them. Even Terezi, which was probably the worst sting of all.
"They don't care about you. Not like I do. Nobody could love you more than your own mother."
"This is what you call love, Mom? You're always telling me how worthless I am and how I'm ungrateful and I better pull my weight around here. That's not love. That's not caring. That's manipulation."
"Hey! You don't get to talk to me like that. I am your mother."
"Yeah, then treat me like a daughter, not like I'm just here to run your errands!"
"Vriska Annabeth Serket, if you go out that door, don't bother coming back."
"Fine, I don't wanna come back anyway!" Vriska shouted, slamming the door behind her. She stomped out to Aranea's car and got in, scowling. Aranea glanced at her.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine. Let's just go," Vriska grumbled. "I've got shit to do at this party."
Aranea tutted. "I really don't think this is a great idea, Vriska." Vriska's scowl deepened, if that was even possible. It was always such a bad idea to confide in Aranea. It was almost as though she found some kind of enjoyment out of being contradictory. It was almost certainly easier to just keep Aranea out of the loop entirely.
"Why don't you mind your own business?"
"I only mean that, continually airing your dirty laundry at big social gatherings like this, it's only going to give them cause to ostracize you further."
"I didn't ask for your advice. Besides, at least I have a party to go to for New Year's. What are you doing?"
"I am spending the evening with Porrim and Kankri."
"Ugh. Kankri? How can you stand him? He's so pretentious."
"He's not so bad, really. Quite smart, if overly critical."
Vriska rolled her eyes. In every encounter she'd ever had with Kankri, he always seemed like such a prick.
"Whatever," Vriska huffed as she got out of the car. She was more determined than ever to make this plan work. There was no better motivation than spite.

As she walked up the Peixes' obscenely long driveway, she thought about that word. "Manipulative." It's what Terezi called her, and it's what she'd just called her mother. But… no, she was nothing like her mom. Her mom was horrible to her. Vriska only ever pushed people around for their own good. That meant she had to be different, right? Vriska let out a sigh before walking into Feferi's house. Even just upon her arrival, Vriska could tell there was tension around her. She couldn't talk to Terezi, and John and Tavros weren't there yet, so the only person that bothered engaging with her was Feferi, and even that was only cordial niceties before Vriska dropped onto the couch. Maybe Aranea had a point about Vriska ostracizing herself. Maybe she shouldn't go through with this plan; she thought it might make her look foolish. And then, John walked in. Vriska glanced towards him, and their eyes met before John's eyes flitted away. Vriska blushed, not sure why she was embarrassed suddenly. She watched John as he got a drink, exchanging a short conversation with Terezi that Vriska couldn't quite hear, then sat with Jade, Rose, and Dave. No, she needed to recapture his attention again. It sucked feeling so isolated. She knew how jealous Tavros had gotten of John—Tavros always made his emotions so obvious—so it was time to turn the tables. Almost as if on que, Tavros rolled in, Feferi greeting him with an overabundance of enthusiasm at the door. Fef was always being so cordial—Vriska thought hosting like that would give her a headache; it took so much effort to put on that 'nice' front all the time. Yeah, even Feferi had her bitchy moments. But Vriska's focus really was on Tavros.

"Hey, Vriska," Tavros said, smiling at her.

"Oh, heeeeeeeey, Tavros. What's with that stupid grin? You look like you won the lottery. Which is impossible, 'cause it implies you winning." Ok, bad start. But she was already pissed off about her mom and her sister.
"I was just saying hello?" Tavros muttered, his smile fading.
"Yeah, well… ugh. Whatever." She took a deep breath, far too aware of John's presence in the room.
"Sorry, uh, for bothering you." God, Tavros' voice could be so grating.
"Hey, it's all good," she said, intentionally speaking more gently. "Just got to remind you who's really in charge of the relationship here."
"R- relationship?"
Vriska grinned at him, scooting closer. "Please, Tav, you know you and I have always had something." Her eyes darted towards John. This time, he got flustered, and he looked away. When Vriska looked back at Tavros, he looked different. Nervous, perhaps.

"I gotta—gotta talk to Gamzee," Tavros sputtered.

Vriska pretty much stuck to Tavros for the rest of the night. That boy sure was drinking a lot of punch. Vriska didn't even think too much about it besides noticing that he'd started speaking with a bit of a slur, until Karkat shouted at Gamzee, "You piece of shit! You spiked the goddamn punch!"

Vriska covered a laugh. "No wonder Tavros looks worse than usual." It was probably the most entertaining Tavros had ever been. Vriska shifted closer to him, running her hand up his leg. The countdown was ticking closer and closer, and she was beginning to get impatient, scooting into Tavros' lap on his wheelchair at about five minutes to midnight.

Tavros gave a sort of unsure laugh at Vriska. "Waht're you doing?" he slurred.

"I was gonna kiss you at midnight, you drunk fool."

"Ahah!" Tavros shifted his arms, forcing Vriska to stand from the chair. Her face heated up as faces started to turn towards her. "I, uh, no. Nnnno. You don' wanna kiss meeee, you! Jus; wanna make… John… Jealous." Shit. Vriska was frozen in place, just looking in a panic towards John. "An' anyway! I don't think I wannaaa kiss you, anymore." Anymore? So he had wanted to kiss her. It wasn't all just made up in Vriska's head. But of course she blew it. "You're uhhhh, a mean. Person. You are mean to me. I don' like it. And if I haaaad to geuss, I don't think that, uh, mister John likes it very much, either. I know… most of us? Don't like it either. And uh, that's just. Sad. Vriskers. That most of us don't really like you? You're… too mean, eheheh. Gamzee! Can I have anudder drink?" Gamzee cackled wildly in the background, but Vriska was far too aware of how quiet the room had gone, everyone just looking at her. Then, with nowhere else to go, she just fled from the Peixes house.

She sat at the park for a while, not wanting to deal with the consequences of the fight with her mother earlier. She'd told her not to come back. What were the odds she actually meant it, though? That house would be wildly dysfunctional- well, even more than it already was- without Vriska around. Aranea just pretended to listen to their mother. Well, there was no point in staying out this late all alone. Vriska had been hoping John would come after her, or call her, or something, but no, she'd blown that too. Ugh, why was she like this? Why did she have to be so abrasive, and drive away everyone who cared about her? She stuffed her hands into her pockets and went home, climbing up the trellis to sneak into her room through the second-floor window.

By the morning, Vriska was done pitying herself. Now she was just mad. How dare Tavros embarrass her like that, in front of everyone. What a FUCKING IDIOT.

arachnidsGrip [AG] began pestering adiosToreador

AG: Tavros!

AG: You want to tell me what the FUCK that was all about?

AG: You're a goddamn embarrassment.

AG: I can't believe you got wasted and SAID all that shit.

AG: In front of EVERYBODYYYYYYYY!

AG: Was your goal to humiliate me?

AG: Make me look like an idiot?

AG: Because NEWSFLASH!

AG: It doesn't matter what you said, because you were fucking DRUNK!

AG: Why were you even drinking?

AG: I bet you knew there was shit in the punch.

AG: Don't think we didn't all see you in the corner whispering to Gamzee.

AT: wow

AT: hi, vriska

AT: dont think im not paying for drinking

AT: my head really fucking hurts

AG: Serves you right, dumbass.

AT: but um

AT: i dont think what i said to you was wrong?

AG: Excuse you?

AT: i mean

AT: blunt? yes

AT: but…

AT: i dont think im really romantically interested in you

AT: and i dont think you are or have been in me, either

AT: i stand by what i said last night

Vriska paused for a moment, and grew a bit more sad than angry.

AG: You really think all our friends hate me?

AT: ...no…

AT: but i do think you were using me to make john jealous

AT: and i dont think it would make a difference

AG: Maybe you're right, Tavros.

AG: Maybe I just don't know how to be nice.

AT: wow…

AT: really?

AG: Maybe.

AG: I don't know.

AG: I have to go.

arachnidsGrip [AG] ceased pestering adiosToreador

Vriska signed off of Pesterchum, and stayed signed off for the rest of the break, not really wanting to deal with the implications of her actions. She didn't even want to look Tavros in the eye, and wound up maintaining her habit of skipping English class. For once, Meenah wasn't there. Probably somebody had said something about her shoddy attendance, and since she was actually graduating… it didn't matter. Vriska was already alone as all hell. There was hardly even a point in staying there, but at the same time, she really didn't want to go to class. Everything she'd done in her life was beginning to crash around her. Was she really just destined to be a shitty person? She looked at herself in the mirror, and was beginning to feel just as broken as she looked. She'd never let that accident define her, never let being half-blind and missing an arm stop her from getting ahead in life, but now? She couldn't help but feel just as helpless as she did when she was in the hospital. She took a deep breath.

"Come on, Vris. Get it together. You're tougher than this. You got this." The door creaked open and Vriska glanced over to see who it was. Aradia. She looked… different. Darker, and almost, like… punk. Something had happened. She wasn't at the New Year's party, either, and Vriska- to her own surprise- was a bit worried. "Droog? What the hell happened to you?"

"Suffice to say, Equius and I had a little falling-out." Oh.

"Oh reaaaaaaaally? What a shame. You two seemed to hit it off pretty we-ACK!" Vriska's taunt was cut off by a harsh slap in the face. She rubbed her stinging cheek, and before she could retaliate, Aradia kneed her in the stomach, and then grabbed Vriska by the collar and punched her again, sending her glasses flying. This was so weird. Vriska always thought she'd be able to handle a fight, but here she was, getting her ass handed to her by Aradia fucking Droog. Aradia shoved her out the bathroom door and Vriska spilled onto the hallway floor. She heard a screw pop out and grabbed her prosthetic arm. She could feel the bruises on her face and the blood from her lip. Aradia stood over her, blurry.

"Don't! Screw with me, Serket." Holy shit. She'd fucking snapped. The bell rang and classes got out, a crowd forming in the hall around Vriska. She couldn't make out individual faces, but she still knew she was being stared at, until the crowd parted and a wheelchair desperately in need of some oil came squeaking towards her. Tavros handed Vriska her glasses and helped lift her up as much as he could, while she tried to keep her entire arm from falling off.

"Come on, I'll take you to the nurse," he said, letting Vriska sit on his lap as he wheeled down the hall.

"Why are you helping me?" she couldn't help but ask. After everything, he was still so nice to her. She couldn't understand it.

"Jeez, Vriska, just because I don't want to date you doesn't mean we aren't friends," Tavros answered.