i dont rlly know what this chapter is except character-building and school drama so have fun

The entire apartment was silent, aside from the constant whirring of the engine beneath the compound. The pluggable air conditioner blew light breeze on Demi's uncovered legs, which had slipped from the blanket in the midst of her restless tossing and turning. It was no use, she could not sleep. The girl used her feet to pull on the cord, that was draped slightly over the leg of the couch. It came undone from the outlet, and the air conditioner grinded to a windy stop, now the apartment was even more silent than before. Demi hummed to herself just to make some relative noise, just to hear something other than her own heartbeat and the scattering of cars outside. She warmed her vocal cords up, she even chewed on the dull nubs that she called nails. She tried counting sheep, she tried fluffing her pillow and she tried imagining she was flying.

However, her body kept her awake, as if she were a 24-hour gas station selling half-melted slushies for two dollars. Her eyes drooped for a second, but shot back open if she so much as twitched her arm. Demi hummed again, wondering if she could lull herself to sleep like a soft-spoken siren. In the meantime, she had forgotten that Selena was a light sleeper, unable to sleep if there was anything unusual about the constant white noise around her. Demi had altered the noise quite a bit, by unplugging the air conditioner and squeaking the couch, humming to herself old nursery rhymes - so it was only natural that the girl emerged from her room, two fingers in her eyes like Demi had been banging pots and pans.

"Could you… not?" Selena breathed, her slippers making light poofs against the wooden floors.

"Sorry, can't sleep."

"Why?" Selena asked, clearly trying to get her beauty rest.

"I dunno. I just can't." The restless girl couldn't help but shrug.

Selena scuffled forward to the girl, breathing out a bit before sitting next to her on the couch, "So what do you want me to do, sing you a song?"

"No…" Demi almost laughed, but it would break the beautiful silent whispers they were using.

"Okay. Then go to bed."

Selena moved from the couch after patting the girl's forehead, heading back to her room silently over the cracks and creaks of the floor. Demi sighed, but she pulled her blanket over her shoulders and turned to her side, luckily finding sleep a few hours later. Maybe it was because she had nothing else to think about, but deep sleep. Or maybe it was a small bit because Selena told her to.

Demi rolled to her back, whimpering at the face above hers, a scolding look breezed against it. of course, even with her blurry vision, she knew it was Selena urging her to get up. The problem? The sun was barely peeking over the ground, and the orange haze was only beginning to fade into the black remains of the night sky. Why did Selena have to get up so fucking early? It was Sunday - wait…

"What day is it?" Demi shot up from the couch, rubbing her eyes wildly.

"Monday," the girl answered dryly, taking a sip from her coffee. With that, Demi shot up further and to her feet, pacing around the back of the couch in fear.

"Wait, so there's school?"

"Are you new to this?"

"Ugh, I just don't wanna go." Demi breathed into her hands, using her pinkies and leverage to pull her eyelids down.

"I'm not gonna tease you anymore," Selena stirred some creamer into her coffee, "So you'll be fine."

D's eyes popped open, and she looked to the girl and then back to her hands. However, whatever she was contemplating seemed to rule out in her head, so she sighed. "No, you can't, you'll be crucified."

"Why's that?"

"Remember Sophie? She tried being my friend for about a week and the entire school shamed her for it, nobody even talked to her. She had to move schools, Selena." Demi explained vividly, remember the blossoming feeling of happiness when someone talked to her like Sophie did.

"Right…" Selena shrugged, "Whatever. It's not like I'll announce some sort of engagement with you, I'll just leave you alone."

"Mmf, fine," she agreed slightly. "I'm gonna go get ready."

The two girls sat quietly in the car, the radio thumping and rattling in the box of the car. Even though cheesy pop music was ringing in D's ears, it felt like unmovable silence was packed around them, like they had just got into a car crash and the airbags of silence were smothering her and rubbing against her face.

"Y'know," Selena attempted to joke, "I didn't know you took 2 hours to get ready. You're lucky I woke you up at 5:30 am now, right?"

Demi didn't respond, only briskly nodding and trying to shut off the world. She was afraid to go to school, she was afraid how people would treat Selena if they even saw her in the same car as Demi was. Before, if they were even deskmates in a simple class, Demi would have to leave class early for injuries and having a breakdown.

Trying not to seem like there was something wrong, the girl glanced from the window as they parked in the lot, eyes widening when some of Selena's friends walked by, taking account of the misplaced girl inside the car slowly but surely.

"Uhm… I hate you!" Demi screamed suddenly, making sure the girls could hear it.

"What? What did I…"

Trying to keep the act up―she knew they were staring now,―she let out another yell, "You have the nerve to put me in the hospital then pretend to be my friend just to mess with me emotionally! You're just the same as everyone else, you're horrible! You're no better than the sluts that parade through the hallways!"

Demi moved her face to the side, making sure Selena's shocked face couldn't be seen out of the window. Demi begged the gods Selena would insult her, just this once! It was the only time the girl would ever beg for something like this to happen, but it needed to happen. Just for the small bit that her friends were passing by.

Meanwhile, Selena's face was curled into deep, unreadable sadness―even tears were beginning to form. Why was she crying, you might ask? The truth is, she didn't really know―she just knew that she had came to trust Demi with even the secret about her pearl earrings, and now it was spilling. The passenger-seat-rider turned to her window again letting out a sigh of relief when she noticed that the girls had left and probably thought nothing out of the ordinary. When Demi turned back around, her eyes gaped at the tears spilling down Selena's cheeks.

"Woah, I'm sorry! I didn't―"

"Don't even talk to me!" Selena blurted, rubbing her tears away with the backs of her wrists. She attempted to grab the handle of her car, but a force pulled her back from her opposite arm.

"Selena, wait! I was just trying to save your reputation, some girls were watching us and―"

"Don't talk to me!" the crying girl bursted, finally breaking from her grasp and running into the school dejectedly. She could just not believe that Demi had done such a thing―and covered it up with such an implausible lie. Why would her friends be listening in on her conversation, anyways? It was so… stupid! She was stupid. Everything was stupid!

thNK U for reading,,,, yknow what i gotta do