Dear lordy y'all, I have been writing this chapter since November and I'm very scared and excited to post this. I hope you lovelies enjoy! ~Shaymie

Molly

I should have brought a hat...

Molly grimaced at the sun beating down on her. Even an umbrella would be nice. Then again, maybe the heat wouldn't be getting to her so much if she just stayed still. She couldn't help her frantic pacing around the beach. She's already seen everything the festival has to offer. There were a couple of stalls offering refreshments, and Simon was taking pictures of anybody who asked, but aside from that there wasn't really much to do. She'd elected to stay out of the fishing contests since it seemed kind of... unfair if the whole fishing family was participating.

"Cinnamon—"

"Freckles—"

Ash and Chase called out for her at the same time. Ash scowled, the expression looking almost foreign on his face. Molly thought Angela had been joking when she was talking about the two of them. Then again, Chase didn't really seem bothered. Ash was the one with the problem. She'd have to talk to him about that later. She wanted all her friends to at least be able to stand being around each other. The last thing she wanted or needed was another situation like with Chelsea, where her friends hated each other.

Speaking of Chelsea... Where on earth was she? Molly knew that Chelsea was never a fan of waking up early for anything, but it was already past noon. The longer she waited, the more anxious she got. She walked over to where her friends were sitting and accepted the sandwich Ash handed her. She'd given the last of the leftovers from last night to Angela and Luke and hastily threw together some sandwiches for herself.

She was so nervous she didn't think she'd be able to keep much down.

"Breathe, Cinnamon. Take a couple minutes to calm down, okay?" Molly sat down between Ash and Chase, nibbling on her sandwich, and let out a content sigh as Ash started rubbing her tense shoulders. She saw a flash of emotion in Chase's eyes but it was gone as soon as she noticed. His gaze was on Ash's hands... Or maybe her shoulders? She wasn't sure. He had also been watching when she applied sunscreen earlier, but looked away and denied he'd been staring.

"I'll be fine, Ash—" She cut herself off with a groan as Ash rubbed at a particularly rough spot in her shoulder. She could imagine the satisfied grin on his face. Back when they were dating, he used to give her massages after ballet. He'd even kept the tradition after she had to quit. On bad days, he'd just stay with her and soothe her sore muscles. Angela would insist they keep the door open even though they were broken up. And even if they were still together, they had no interest in sex.

Well, Ash seemed to have no interest in it. Unlike Mark, he didn't ever try to convince her to have sex. The closest they'd ever gotten was one New Year's where their kisses started getting a bit... heated. She may have technically gone farther with Mark, but Ash has seen more of her body than any other guy. She'd nearly gone all the way with him, but he had frozen up the second her bra came off.

He... he had to have noticed. He had to have known she was losing weight. Did he not say anything because he knew she wouldn't listen? Was that why he blamed himself for the accident? He'd been her dance partner, he used to lift her on a regular basis. If anyone would have noticed something was off about her, it's him. She doesn't know how to bring it up. Should she just leave it alone since it's in the past?

"Sure you are, Molls. That's exactly why you're so tense." She frowned and took another bite of the sandwich. Ash's voice sounded... not angry, exactly. Frustrated was more like it.

"Careful, Freckles. You're gonna give yourself premature gray hairs." Molly made sure to swallow her food properly before sticking her tongue out at Chase. He responded with a teasing smile. If everyone else acted like him, maybe she wouldn't be so worried. It's not the end of the world if she talks to Chelsea. She just wanted some answers. Is that so bad?

She quickly finished her food and stood up, thanking Ash for the back rub. She heard him sigh as she walked off and rolled her shoulder. She couldn't just sit around and wait for Chelsea. Her nervous energy needed to be burned off somehow. She looked across the beach at Angela, who was setting up a volleyball net with Luke, Owen, and Kathy. Actually, it looked like Owen and Kathy were doing all the work while she flirted with Luke.

Alright Molly, calm down. No need to freak out. You've talked to Chelsea before...

"Molly Rose, long time no see! How have you been?"

She felt her blood run cold at the sound of Chelsea's voice. Had she always sounded like this, so blatantly, insincerely nice? Molly took a breath to steady herself and caught her friends' gazes from the corner of her eye. Ash looked ready to fight and had even taken a step forward, only to be stopped by Chase. She gave him a grateful smile. She had to handle this on her own, even though she was starting to think that maybe she'd jumped into this a day or two too soon. It was just yesterday that she'd told Chase she wasn't ready, why did she decide to do this today?

Chelsea looked the same as ever. Same pin straight chestnut hair, same icy eyes, same teasing smile on her face. She took after her father a lot, something Molly knew she was self-conscious about. For some reason Chelsea seemed to think of herself as ugly when she couldn't be the furthest thing from that. Molly's always sort of envied Chelsea's sharper features. They made her look more mature and were a stark difference from the soft features that Molly's certain are the reason people treat her like she's some fragile, delicate little thing.

Even though the two of them were practically complete opposites, in a way they sort of... complemented each other.

"H-Hey, Chelsea." She cursed her stupid anxiety. Now certainly wasn't the time to start stuttering. She saw Chelsea's eyes light up slightly when she stumbled over her words and tried to swallow her nerves. Relax. Breathe. It's going to be okay. Just one conversation and then she doesn't have to see Chelsea ever again. She can stop stressing herself out over this.

"You look well. Nice to see you've finally got some meat on those bones. You were looking so... ghastly the last time I saw you." Molly bristled at that. The last time she had seen Chelsea was moments before her final performance, when she'd given Molly a smile that, in retrospect, was nothing but a cruel taunt. After that, Chelsea didn't come to see her at the hospital at all. Molly only heard about her from Mr. Jacobs, who was a regular visitor to her hospital room.

He had been like a second father to her.

He'd apologized countless times, begged for her forgiveness. Between him and Ash's constant apologies and her struggling to process everything, it was all too overwhelming. And on top of that, Mr. Jacobs insisted on paying for everything. He seemed to think money could fix what had been broken. They'd only accepted his offer to pay the hospital bills because it was too expensive. Kasey had a crappy job in a warehouse while Angela used to work at a call center. They had enough money problems without having to worry about the ridiculous price of her hospital stay.

Kasey and Angela had argued about it for days. Angela wanted to bleed the Jacobs family dry, while Kasey's pride refused to let him rely on them for anything. He didn't want to owe Mr. Jacobs anything. He didn't even want to see the older man, which is why he told Mr. Jacobs to leave them alone after he paid for her hospital stay. It was awkward seeing him around the neighborhood after that but he stayed true to his word and didn't try talking to her again even though she could tell he really wanted to.

He's probably been really lonely after Chelsea moved out. If things hadn't gone down the way they had, she would have kept him company. Chelsea didn't realize how lucky she was. She could still talk to her father. She could still hug him and tell him she loved him and spend time with him, but like everything else in her life, she took him for granted. He'd give her everything she could ever ask for and then complain that it wasn't enough. And she didn't see anything wrong with that.

"Everyone's been worried about you, you know," Chelsea said with a transparently fake smile. Was she always so easy to read? Is Molly just a blind idiot? "You just dropped off the face of the planet. You don't log into anything anymore and you sold your phone. How was anybody supposed to find you?"

"You managed to find me, no problem." She's surprised by the bitterness in her voice, but there's no way she's taking it back. She moved here to get away from everything and try to heal and Chelsea had the nerve to show up and open up old wounds. She's heard from Angela and Ash that Chelsea (and Mark, though he strangely wasn't with her today) have been nothing but rude to everyone here. She doesn't understand why Chelsea's like this. "Why are you here, Chelsea?"

"I don't think I like your tone, Molly Rose." Chelsea's eyes darted over to Ash and Chase, who were watching the interaction intensely. She rolled her eyes and turned back to Molly with a scowl. "Can we go somewhere private to talk? I don't like the way your pretty boy brigade is watching us."

The thought of being alone with Chelsea is terrifying, though there was a part of her that wanted to move into the shade. She's never been great at handling hot weather. She could feel the heat prickling her skin, making her itch uncomfortably. Maybe it's the stress catching up to her, but she could also feel a headache coming on. She's spent so long trapped in her own head worrying about this. She didn't know how to handle her feelings after spending all this time squashing them down.

"No. I want to talk right here." Molly could feel curious eyes on the two of them. She could feel Angela's eyes worriedly watching her from across the beach where she was setting up a volleyball net with Luke and Owen. It meant a lot to her that Angela was willing to let her do this on her own. She can do this. She has to do this.

"You've always been so fucking stubborn. Fine, we'll talk here, then. The reason I'm here is because Dad thinks I should... apologize." Chelsea let out a huff and tugged at a loose thread on her shirt. It's clear she's not thrilled about the idea. She's never apologized for a thing in her life, why did her dad think she would start now? Even if she was sorry, the time for apologies was long gone.

"He sent you all the way here so you could make an empty apology?"

"Don't get me wrong, Molly Rose. I'm not apologizing for shit. I only came here because he threatened to cut me off otherwise." Chelsea's icy eyes narrowed as she turned to Molly. It was hard not to lose all her nerve when Chelsea was glowering down at her like that. Not only was Chelsea taller than her, but she just had an intimidating aura around her. How had she managed to stand by her side for so long?

Okay, Chelsea wasn't going to apologize. Molly honestly didn't expect her to. She's never apologized for a thing in her life. Molly was always the one who had to apologize when Chelsea said or did something mean. It was exhausting. She didn't understand how Chelsea turned out like this. She's nothing like the rest of her family. Her aunt was strict, but never outright mean, while her father was nice and a bit of a pushover. He spoiled Chelsea rotten so the fact that he'd threatened to cut her off was shocking.

"If you're not apologizing, then why even bother talking to me? Why don't you just take the free vacation and then lie and tell him you apologized? It's not like he'd know." What was Mr. Jacobs' plan with this? And why would he promise to leave her alone and then send Chelsea to talk to her? She supposed it's technically not him talking to her so he hasn't broken his promise.

"That's why Mark's here with me. He's supposed to tell my dad if I gave you the stupid apology, but he couldn't come to this dumb festival since he got food poisoning from breakfast." Chase snorted from his spot on the sidelines, earning him a glare from Chelsea and a rough nudge from Ash. Oh. Looks like Maya got to cook after all. Molly knew Maya's cooking was bad, but she didn't think anyone would get food poisoning from it. If it was anyone else she'd probably feel bad, but Mark deserves it.

If only it had affected Chelsea in the same way.

"I wanted to talk to you because there's some things you need to know. I don't like you. I haven't liked you since middle school. In fact, I hate your fucking guts." It went back that far? Molly doesn't even know what happened in middle school to make Chelsea suddenly stop liking her. And... if Chelsea didn't want to be friends anymore, why didn't she say something? Why spend so much time around someone you hate? Chelsea isn't the type of person to hide her feelings. When there's someone she doesn't like, she makes sure to let them know.

"Why? I didn't do anything to you! I don't understand—"

"Everyone was absolutely obsessed with you, Molly Rose. You were always cute, but then you went through puberty and suddenly you turned into this perfect princess and just left me in the dust." Chelsea glared down at Molly, her mouth set in a scowl. Molly frowned in confusion. She... didn't do anything. Chelsea was the one who wanted to be popular. Chelsea was the one who wanted all of the attention, which was why she always auditioned to be the lead in all their school's theater productions.

Left her in the dust was also misleading. Nothing about their relationship had changed. Molly might have dove headfirst into more rehearsals and getting things right, but she had never neglected Chelsea. She did her best to still spend time with her, but Chelsea's the one who started acting distant. She's the one who would be in a bad mood most of the time and not want to hang out outside of school or the studio. She's the one who started getting distant!

"And then," Chelsea continued, not even letting Molly get a word in. She wasn't even sure of what to say. "Because of you, everyone started putting these expectations on me. They wanted me to be more like you, some goody two-shoes or something. I swear my dad wishes he had you as a daughter instead of me."

Maybe it's the heat prickling at her skin that fuels her anger and frustration. She knew, she knew what Chelsea was like, how bitter and petty she could be. She knew that Chelsea could be vicious when she felt like she'd been wronged. But absolutely none of what she said was Molly's fault! Molly hadn't done a single thing to her! She tried her best to be a good friend and stuck by her side even when she started acting meaner than before.

"I'm sorry people made you feel like that, but none of it is my fault. Maybe if you weren't such a bitch to everyone, people would like you more." It seems like if there's anyone Chelsea should be upset at, it's her father. Molly might have been oblivious to a lot of things but even she noticed the way Mr. Jacobs seemed to always want her to spend the night. There was one point when he'd even told her that he hoped she rubbed off on Chelsea a bit, but she never would have thought he'd say that to his daughter's face.

Chelsea gaped at her, cheeks growing bright red. It took Molly a few seconds to realize exactly what she'd blurted out. She's not the type to swear. She had been hoping to keep her cool when talking to Chelsea but she supposed being mad was better than breaking down crying like she thought she would. She's spent years pushing away her negative emotions, stamping out anger whenever she felt it burning up in the pit of her stomach and forcing herself to smile even when she felt like crying.

Well, no more.

"What do you know, little miss Molly Rose has some thorns after all." Chelsea regained her composure and glared down at Molly, who glared right back. Too late to back out now, not that she wants to. She's in the thick of it now. "I would have been fine with everyone fawning over you like you were royalty if you had actually done something with it, but you just acted like you were better than everyone."

"I didn't—"

"Every Valentine's Day guys would flood your locker with cards and you didn't do a damn thing about it! The least you could have done was turn them down but you just ignored them like a fucking tease! God, and then you came out and made the girls think they had a chance but you just let the whole school worship you as some unattainable goddess!"

"I didn't think I was better than everyone. I never thought that. I was just tired of telling people no." She feels her head starting to hurt, but she's unsure if it's from the heat or Chelsea, who sounded legitimately upset about stuff that happened years ago that was out of her control. She had a feeling Chelsea would be mad even if she'd taken the time to turn the whole school down. And... was Chelsea implying her sexuality made her a tease?

"Is this stupid grudge the reason you decided to sabotage me, Chelsea?" Molly asked, deciding to rip off the proverbial Band-Aid before her headache worsens even further. She wanted to get this over with so she could go back to feeling normal. Chelsea had a way of affecting her, always making her feel on edge. Chase was right to question why she'd bothered staying friends with her as long as she had. Friends shouldn't stress you out or put you in uncomfortable situations the way Chelsea always did.

Molly still didn't understand why Chelsea kept hanging around if she hated her this much.

"I don't know what you mean by sabotage. I just gave my best friend some dieting advice. You're the one that took things too far." Chelsea's eyes were cold and uncaring, but her lips curled up in a cruel smile, one that was so similar to the one she'd given before that fateful final performance. "Do the people here know that perfect little Molly Rose is nothing but a bulimic faker that's spent her whole life trying to be like her mother who couldn't even stand to be around her?"

"Why do you feel the need to bring that up?" Even for Chelsea, that's a low blow. Probably the lowest blow there is. Molly's hands trembled at her side. She never thought Chelsea would go there, and she starts thinking maybe they should have gone somewhere private after all. It felt like her anxiety was at an all-time high, and she suddenly realized that she's missed a couple doses of her medicine. Not on purpose, of course. Her mind's just been somewhere else.

"Why did you feel the need to step out of your lane? You had ballet. I had theatre. It was supposed to be simple but you started poking your nose in and ruining everything!" Molly frowned. She only started getting into theatre because she was curious about Chelsea's passion and wanted to spend more time with her friend. She hadn't been trying to take anything from her. She wasn't even remotely interested in acting as a career.

A play and three musicals. That was all she'd ever been in. Two of the musicals she'd done in high school for extra credit, and one of those she didn't even have any speaking lines in, she was just a background dancer. Chelsea got jealous over that? Held a grudge over something that Molly didn't even think that much of? She's acting like she's the only person allowed to be in theatre productions! How childish and selfish do you have to be? Does Chelsea ruin the lives of everyone who gets a part over her?

"I didn't ruin a damn thing, Chelsea. You—"

"You ruined your mother's life. I mean, she killed herself to get away from you."

Molly's pretty sure the slap hurts her more than it hurts Chelsea, the way her hand is stinging. Angela is yelling something across the beach but Molly can't hear a thing past the ringing in her ears. It feels like her blood is boiling. Even before she started stifling her emotions, she's never felt angry enough to hit someone. But Chelsea deserved it. There are certain lines you don't cross no matter how (stupidly) mad you are at someone.

Chelsea's speechless and staring at Molly with a mixture of anger and bewilderment on her face. She's clearly not used to people actually standing up to her. People at school were too scared to confront her about her awful behavior. Her father gave her everything she could possibly want and her aunt, while strict on everyone else, never really scolded her for skipping out on practice. She got away with doing whatever she wanted.

"You're the one who ruined everything. You threw away my friendship because of your stupid petty jealousy and you ruined my life. Not just my career, Chelsea, my life. But you probably don't care about that. You don't care how bad you hurt me or about the consequences of your actions. You don't care about anybody but yourself. I always bent over backwards to try and make you happy and you couldn't even say a single nice thing to me in all the years we were friends."

"Mol—"

"I might be a 'faker,' but at least I'm not an insecure little bitch who needs to tear people down to feel better about herself." Molly felt lightheaded and nauseous. She took some deep breaths to calm herself. Between the adrenaline and the heat, it was all too much, almost overwhelming. Her thoughts were swimming around in her head. She'd wanted answers but they... didn't change anything. She's not sure why she thought they would.

Knowing why Chelsea did what she did doesn't make her feel better.

If anything, it made her feel worse.

It's not going to magically fix her, though she's not sure she'd go back to ballet even if she was physically able to. It's been so long and she's adapted to life without it, even though sometimes it still felt like a part of her was missing. She lost a lot of her confidence in the past year, confidence that she'd only really had on stage.

Maybe she shouldn't have put so much of her self-worth into ballet. Her father always told her not to put all her eggs in one basket, told her to think about what she'd do once she got older and couldn't dance as well. She always told him it was a future problem because she'd be dancing for years. She thought there was no need to worry about it. Why would she have needed to worry about it when she was perfectly healthy?

"You..." Chelsea seems to have found her voice. Molly's head shot up to look at her, and she frowned as her vision blurred into a mess of colors. Her head was throbbing. Chelsea's shrill voice wasn't helping much either. It was hard to focus on anything she was saying when she felt so dizzy. She slowly blinked back into attention when Chelsea shoved her shoulder roughly. Miraculously, she managed to keep her balance and only stumbled slightly. "Don't just stand there ignoring me, Molly Rose! Fucking say something!"

Molly glared at Chelsea. She was tired of this. Tired of being yelled at and pushed around and resented for things that were absolutely not her fault. Chelsea wanted to hit her where it hurt and bring up things that had no business being mentioned in front of everyone? Fine. Two could play at that game. She took a deep breath and silently prayed for forgiveness.

"You know, you keep saying I ruined things, but you seem to be the root of all your problems. People don't want you to be 'like me,' they want you to just be a nicer person. It doesn't cost a thing to be nice, and maybe if you were a better person, Vaughn wouldn't have dumped you for Sabrina." She should have stopped there, but she couldn't help adding, "Maybe he wouldn't have cheated on you."

She should have seen the slap coming, but it still caught her off guard. Chelsea's face was so red, she looked like a tomato. Maybe this was the one thing Chelsea actually had the right to be angry about. Molly knew Vaughn had cheated and didn't say a thing. It was none of her business and Sabrina had begged her to keep their secret and said that the two of them would tell Chelsea themselves since it was the right thing to do. But the weeks went on and Chelsea was still with Vaughn until one day he just broke up with her without an explanation.

He barely waited a month to make things with Sabrina public, but who knew how long they had actually been together? She wasn't surprised by him cheating in the slightest. He was probably the only guy who could deal with Chelsea's attitude without losing his temper, but he didn't seem that invested in the relationship. The first time she'd seen him smile was when she happened to stumble onto him and Sabrina hooking up at the mall.

"Everyone thinks you're so righteous and perfect, but I guess you can be just as awful as me. The only difference is I don't try to hide it." Molly felt her cheeks somehow grow even hotter as Chelsea leaned over to get in her face. The two of them weren't even remotely comparable. "I'll let you in on a little secret, Molls. I knew Mark was only dating you because of a bet. I'm the one who suggested we double the money if he fucked you, but you were too much of a prude to let him go through with it. I bet even now you're still just a pathetic little virgin—"

She could feel that familiar fog settling over her. A tingling in her fingertips, a buzzing in her ear. She started to back away from Chelsea, towards where Chase and Ash were standing. Of course Chelsea followed, still rambling on. She wanted to make sure she had the last word. She always had to have the last word. Molly had given up on trying to talk back to her because Chelsea just... knew how to hit back harder.

The last thing she sees before blacking out is Chelsea's blurred, off-color face.