120 — The forum star.

Laura glares at me but still tries to keep her sweet girl mask, saying in a soft voice, “What do you mean?”
“I’m asking if you’re really pregnant,” I say even more firmly, pressing my arms a little closer together. Yes, my heart is pounding so fast it’s going up my throat, and I’m breaking out in a cold sweat, but I’m trying my hardest not to show it.
“That’s absurd.” Laura’s voice trembles, and that attracts Jackson’s confused eyes, but she just looks at me like she could kill me with a single glance. “It’s not enough that you’ve destroyed my life... now you’re saying that I’m faking something like this?”
*“I destroyed your life?”* I repeat, simply shocked. “Laura, you’re the one who’s been making my life a living hell! And I should ask you that — *it’s not enough* sleep with my boyfriend; now you’ve been spreading lies and absurd rumors about me!”
“I’m not a liar, unlike you!” She laughs sarcastically and tosses her red hair behind her shoulders. “You pretend to be the good girl, but you’re always belittling people who don’t have money like you do. And just because your father owns this company, you act like it’s yours too!”
“I don’t do that,” I say through my teeth, feeling my heart beat even faster.
“No? You’ve already threatened my job!” Laura points her index finger in my direction. “You’ve always been looking for an opportunity to get me out of here, and now you’re finding any reason, even lies, to keep up your good girl image!”
Her words hit the bottom of my soul, and I slowly understood them... “You mirror yourself in other people, Laura... You’re so rotten that you throw your sins onto others and condemn them when, in truth, it’s *you* who does it.”
She stops suddenly, trembling, and I think reason will enter her mind, but it doesn’t... In fact, she laughs sarcastically again and makes a dismissive gesture, “I’m rotten? Angelee, you’re boring... Everything you are, what you do or think... Do you think you’re capable of doing anything on your own?”
My eyes fill with tears.
“I was your friend, and you never appreciated that. It’s thanks to me that you’ve achieved what you have today. If I hadn’t pushed your back, you’d still be that depressed girl who stayed in her room mourning her mommy’s death-”
My hand slams hard against Laura’s cheek, marking my fingers on her smooth skin. Her face doesn’t turn, but her eyes widen as she realizes that I’ve hit her and made her swallow all those damn words I’ve put up with for far too long.
It stings, I won’t lie.
My palm is burning, but I don’t allow any glimpse of pain to reach my face. And even if I didn’t care, I doubt that anything other than anger would be in my countenance.
“Don’t you dare talk about my mother with your filthy mouth!” I say between my teeth, my eyes aching like the hand I slowly retract, ready to hit her again if necessary. “You can talk whatever you want about me; you can sleep with my boyfriend and spread lies about me, Laura, but don’t you ever dare speak another word about my mother, or I swear to God, I’ll kill you.”
She lets out a sob and puts her hand up to her red cheek. Her watery eyes meet mine angrily, but it only lasts a second because she starts crying loudly, putting a new mask on her face, once again with a pitiful expression.
Fake tears run down her face as she abruptly turns around and buries her face in Jackson’s chest, saying between sobs, “See? I told you, Jackson, look with your own eyes, listen with your own ears! That is the real Angelee, do you see now? I’ve never lied. That’s who she really is!”
Jackson remains silent, his hands folded at his sides, not responding to the hug.
“And now, she’s offending me, the mother of your child. Will you be quiet?” She says between sobs, snuggling even closer to him. “Jackson!”
“Save it, Laura,” I say in a harsh voice, letting my hand fall to the side of my body. “Your lies, we can all see now. You’re the one we can really see, but you dug that up for yourself.”
“Jackson...” She ignores me, shaking her head sideways. “Please help me... I’m feeling tense, and this isn’t good...”
“That child of yours, how many fathers does it have? First, you told me that my ex-boyfriend was the father... but now it’s Jackson’s?”
“Don’t listen to her... You see, she likes to put me on edge. She’s provoking me because she wants me to hit her back, but I’m not like her!” Laura shakes her head even quicker, desperate.
“You haven’t answered me yet.” I insist and catch a glimpse of Jackson’s blank expression. “Are you really pregnant?”
“Shut up!” Laura shouts, clutching Jackson’s shirt tighter. “What’s wrong with you? Do you take some pleasure in upsetting pregnant women?”
“Whenever I find out about an employee’s pregnancy, I make sure she has all the support she needs and that her health insurance covers all the costs of the pregnancy.” Julian’s voice is like a refreshing breeze that calms my chest. “You’ve already had your first pregnancy tests, haven’t you? Considering it’s been quite a few weeks since you confessed to Angelee that you’re pregnant.”
She moves her face slowly, looking at us both angrily, “Of course I did.”
“Then we can check and put an end to the doubt once and for all... what do you think?” Julian starts to pull his phone out of his pocket when Laura interrupts him in a louder, higher-pitched voice.
“I didn’t use this company’s damn health plan!”
“We were considered the most concerned company when it’s about our employees, and we have the best insurance for them. Are you telling me you didn’t use it?” Julian’s voice is sharp and makes Laura wince.
Then she falls silent for a few moments and starts crying again, this time louder, hyperventilating as she says, “Why? Why do you make me say it... Why do I have to feel this pain again? Is that what you want? Do you want me to say it out loud? All right, *I lost... I lost my baby!* I lost my baby because of what you did to me, Angelee! Because of how you humiliated me, how miserable you made me feel!”
Oh, I think I’m going to faint...
“If that’s the case... There must be some record in the hospitals... I mean, at least you used the health insurance for that, huh?” Julian says again, but she ignores it.
“It’s all your fault, Angelee!” Laura whimpers, sinking her face into Jackson’s chest, her fingers digging into his shirt. “You killed my baby, and you still try to blame me for it? Do you want to make me feel like a liar for not accepting the loss of my child? How can you be so heartless?”
“Why are you doing this, Laura?” I say now with my voice faltering, my eyes stinging. “Why? Seven years... You were my first friend in this town. And I... I loved you, Laura. I saw you as a sister... So why are you doing this to me?”
My throat narrows, but I force myself to ask, feeling my heart beating fast, so fast... “Why do you hate me so much?”
*“Love me? Sister?...”* Laura murmurs, so low and slurred that I can barely hear. She repeats it over and over again, squeezing his shirt between her fingers... until she explodes and turns to me, “SISTER?”
I jump, startled by her scream, and take a step back, feeling Julian’s solid chest against my back.
“I HATE YOU, ANGELEE!” Laura screams, breaking away from Jackson as if he were garbage, and points in my direction again.
There is no longer any sadness on her face, no intention of keeping lying. “I hate you so, so, so much!”
A heavy tear falls from my eye and gets lost on the floor.
“I’ve hated you since the first day I laid eyes on you! So innocent, so sad, so broken... Everyone pitied you, but why? YOU HAD EVERYTHING!” She screams, and I shudder again. “EVERYTHING! You always had *everything!”*
I feel Julian’s arms wrap around my body in a hug, and I snuggle into his warmth as she laughs sarcastically, “SEE? EVEN NOW, YOU HAVE EVERYTHING! You even got Julian Adams, your dad’s best friend, the biggest womanizer in New York, and he’s head over heels for you like a fucking puppy!”
“So you’ve hated me from the start, is that it?” I ask in a shaky, resentful voice. “Why did you pretend to be my friend? Why have you forced yourself on my side all these years?”
“Because you’re stupid!” She retorts with a laugh and begins to dry her fake tears with a mockery expression. “You’re so stupid, and you didn’t notice... you kept thinking I was your friend and doing everything to please me. But don’t you think it was easy being by your side... Sometimes, I had to make up any excuse to have a bit of peace and get rid of you because if I stayed by your side for one more second, I’d kill myself!”
A sob escapes from my lips, and I immediately cover my mouth to prevent others from escaping. However, my sadness is Laura’s joy — and she smiles victoriously, “When you finally saw that, I was so happy, so relieved that I didn’t have to spend another day looking at your stupid face! Imagine, I could finally say everything I wanted without having to listen to your whining! Seriously, it was unbearable every time you were locked in your room, puking, all depressed… when you had everything, *absolutely everything!* Manors, money, designer clothes, and jewelry worth more than five of my parents’ annual salaries... And you were whimpering in the corner of your room about a death anniversary!”
“You’re a hollow person,” I mutter bitterly, and Laura raises an eyebrow.
“I’m hollow? You who looked like a soulless puppet, who only did what other people wanted, and I’m hollow?” She laughs and tucks a lock of hair behind her ear. “I am what you will never be, Angelee. And that’s why everyone gets tired of you eventually. Eric was a fool in love... He loved you so much, he cried, begging me to help him have a chance with you. But he got sick of it... You weren’t enough. And you think it will be different with Julian?”
Her words hit me with the strength of a punch in the stomach, and my legs went weak... if it hadn’t been for Julian’s arms, I would have fallen to the ground.
“Actually, it’s you who will never get to be Angelee,” Julian says calmly, drawing Laura’s angry eyes to him. “Isn’t that what you always wanted to do? But you can’t be her.”
Laura opens her lips to reply, but a phone notification interrupts her voice. Then two or three more phones buzz, and I hold the air in my lungs with an odd sensation...
She picks up her phone, and the next moment, the sound of a video begins to echo around the room, a familiar talk that I had once. I pick up my phone and see that it’s the forum — the same one where my photos and videos have spread.
But this time, it’s not about me...
*Now, Laura is the forum star.*