shades of green | stella & parker

Stella Provence makes her want to vomit.

These halls were hers to walk, even as others disagree, there's enough people on Stella and Cleo's side to make her voice weaker than theirs. Fear rules the school, even when it comes down to everything else, Cleo and Stella made everyone afraid of what they could do. Friends didn't seem like the right word for them, but she didn't know what snapped out of place for her this time. Broke the dam that she's been holding back, leaving her words with more strikes than anyone else. She was once afraid of them, acted like she didn't care and avoided them both like a fire coming across the horizon, but now, she's in the fire, lets it burn her completely as she shouts from the top of her lungs.

"Parker!"

Who did she piss off to end up running into the queen bee herself?

"I was hoping to find you, it seems we have a problem." The way she speaks makes Parker glare back, knowing the problem wasn't going to be something she liked. "I got lost earlier, and I found myself in the dark room."

Her heart sinks; knowing what photos could be hidden in there. Stella could have found the one image that she's been waiting to show Grady since the start of the new school year, but she waits, listens to the laugh that strikes her as fake almost immediately. "I'm so, so sorry to tell you this, but I got so excited looking at the photographs you were developing that I got clumsy."

There it is. The reason Stella Provence is the biggest asshole of them all. Fake innocence to throw at her, all bark and bite between those perfect teeth. Stella Provence may have been one of the prettiest girls in their school, but her insides were the ugliest Parker's seen. "I knocked over a bottle of chemicals into the bath, and it started bubbling and the pictures got warped and," Hand over her heart as if she truly were being sympathetic, but Parker knew how Stella would have reacted if it were her dance shoes. She was digging for a reaction, wanting to see her crumble, but Parker wasn't the same girl she had been the years before. After Scarlet Hyde's death, things seemed much more real than before. None of them were invincible, but Stella Provence acted like she was. "I just wanted to apologize personally. I can't imagine this is easy to hear."

It wasn't.

Photography was her heart plastered into photographs. A sigh from her throat as she lets herself lean against the lockers nearby, ignoring the headache that was already starting to bubble up. She craved for a nicotine break, but she knew it wouldn't come until this was dealt with. For a moment, she smiles. She lets herself breath calmly and smile kindly to Stella Provence even though it felt like poison in her chest. Words calmly leaving her lips as if she weren't mad those photos were ruined.

"It's fine. I'm sure Tammy got some photos of last year's dance recital."

Fingers twitch at her sides as she almost dares to reach out, but knows she can't.

"Thanks for letting me know, I uhm appreciate it."

A fake smile on her lips as she can already feel her headache throbbing even harder.