Who needs boys when you have rage? (Axelle)

[Marnie Sullivan]

As Marnie ran, the sounds of her footsteps were somewhat muffled by the dirt beneath her. In her head, however, each one was punctuated with an invective.

Stupid. Stupid. Hate him. Stupid.

She had been so sure she was almost over it. God, she should be over it - she and Lucas had barely been together a month, it wasn't even a romance, just a fling... although it hadn't felt like it at the time. Sure, he was inappropriate and obnoxious even then, she never any delusions about that, but he'd been trying so hard to impress her, he'd kissed like he meant it -

Like you'd know the difference, idiot.

But after the fight in the library and another solid month of successfully avoiding him it had felt like she knew better. Like she'd pulled her head out of the clouds and stopped mourning what could have been and instead was maybe even thankful that it hadn't gone any farther. 

And then he'd turned up on her birthday, on a date with her beauty queen track teammate, and it had turned into another fucking scene, because everything with Lucas had to be a fucking scene.

It should have made it better, made her feel better about leaving him, because what good was he? How could it possibly have worked? But it didn't. It only made her embarrassed and angry - that she'd fallen for his tricks in the first place, that he'd already moved on to someone prettier while she was just trying to put herself back together, that he had the nerve to ask to be friends. Fat chance. And now there was nothing for it but to hope that the burn in her legs and lungs could alleviate the one in her thoughts.

Huffing and puffing, Marnie charged over the path, setting a pace that could have beaten her personal record if she'd bothered keeping track that day, when an almighty crash rang out somewhere to her left. Marnie ducked involuntarily, hands over her head - what the hell had that been? A glance over revealed a sight she'd been previously blind to in her narrow focus - vibrant red hair and uprooted tree. 

"Hey! Are you okay?" Marnie called, racing over, her thoughts replaced by panic. Had the tree fallen over on somebody? They could be dead! But as she got closer, the sight became all the stranger - it was a red-haired girl just straight up holding a tree, a full-size tree, over her head, dirt dripping from its roots. 

Well, at least she wasn't dead.

"...What are you doing?"

[Axelle Flint]

She was just so angry. She was pissed that she had fought with someone and pissed that she had so much emotion invested in someone she hadn't even liked all that much. They had flirted once, fought the next. She wasn't even sure what to call that kind of thing except a train wreck. Her father had wanted to talk about it and she had shut him down. She didn't want to talk about it, she didn't want to talk about him because he was nothing. Except she couldn't stop repeating that "dumb fucking bitch" line in her head when she had a moment to think. It kept her from sleeping at night, it made her cry in the shower and she avoided making eye contact with male strangers whenever possible. In fact it was safe to say that she had stopped making eye contact with almost everyone because the words "dumb fucking bitch" wouldn't stop.

So she'd come to the middle of nowhere to vent her anger. Uprooting trees was literally the only thing she could do that required actual effort on her part. She had already uprooted and replanted two today and was getting tired, one more would do it she thought because the words "dumb fucking bitch" were fading with every pull and strain of her muscle. She had gripped the tree securely and heaved, legs braced effectively as she uprooted the plant in question and held it above her head for a moment just to feel the ache start in her arms. She was almost startled into dropping it when another girl ran up to her asking if she needed help, but she managed to keep her grip steady. "I'm....one moment," Axelle grunted as she put the tree back into the ground and made sure it was stabilized before letting it go and wiping her hands on the back of her shorts. "I was...releasing some anger. Sorry if I startled you," she apologized.

[Marnie Sullivan]

After enough years at Hammel, and this close to campus, Marnie didn't need to ask how this tiny girl could possibly maneuver an entire tree above herself and then back into the ground. She was honestly just glad that's what was going on, rather than a random stranger being crushed to death.

"Don't worry about it," Marnie replied, some surprise still seeping into her tone. After a moment she realized she was staring - just because she knew about super strength didn't mean she'd ever seen it in action before. Should she continue on with her run? It would be weird to just leave the girl behind, right?

"Do you... want to talk about it maybe?" she asked hesitantly. As soon as the words left her Marnie kicked herself mentally - of course she wouldn't want to talk about it, if she did, she wouldn't be out here tearing up the forest in privacy. "I mean, you don't have to - " Marnie added quickly. "Just, you know, if you wanted to."

[Axelle Flint]

"Maybe...I don't know," she sighed as she repacked some of the dirt around the tree and pushed on it a little to make sure it was well and truly stuck back into the ground. "I thought he was okay, not like the best obviously...we just flirted a little, I thought he might be into me and then he just comes over and says how he's totally into this other chick and then he friggin’ touches me and then goes off about how I should just enjoy the attention I'm getting because he's a guy and he's "always" going to be interested in some other girl," she scoffed at a mile a minute, crossing her arms angrily across her chest.

"If you ever meet a guy and he says his name is Lucas Blacke, just walk away," she advised with an angry sigh. She still couldn't help feeling stupid when she thought back about it. She really had been dumb to think that any guy that showed an ounce of interest in her was legitimately interested.

[Marnie Sullivan]

At first Marnie only felt awkward as she listened to the redhead unload - maybe she should have just continued on, it's not like she could help at all - although as the girl spoke Marnie found herself nodding sympathetically. Was there something in the water here, something that apparently turned boys into hurtful jerks?

Or maybe just one boy, Marnie realized, his name hitting her with a jolt.

"Lucas...?" she repeated, eyes wide. Of all the names the redhead could possibly have given, why did it have to be that one? "But he -"

-was with Karalie now, she almost blurted out, as the gears in her head turned. Except apparently he wasn't, or he was and that just didn't stop him from flirting and touching other girls and immediately her mind reeled back to the month she'd spent with him, thinking he was sweet and attentive when really he'd been waiting for an excuse to fight someone half his size and what if that wasn't the only thing he was lying about? It's not like they were together 24/7, and if he was willing to run around on someone like Karalie, who was so pretty and always seemed so nice and poised then was it even possible that he hadn't done the same to her?

As Marnie's thoughts raced something in her ribs was growing, expanding until she had to bury her face in her hands to muffle an infuriated scream.

"That idiot!" she spat, before straightening back up and clenching her hands into fists. "I can't believe - " Marnie took a deep, steadying breath, but it didn't help much. "The next time I see him I'm not walking away, I'm slapping his stupid face."