third person pov

valerie's dreadful thought of going home was now coming to a reality. for the last couple days she had been at victorias.. and last night she was with ashtray. the last time she had left without asking her mom, she grounded valerie. and well, it had been longer than three days and valerie knew her mom was going to be pissed.

valerie took a deep breathe before opening her front door that was surprisingly unlocked. her dad, also surprisingly, wasn't asleep on the couch. he sat there, the same blanket he always uses, watching some show on tv.

"hey.. where have you been?" he asked her, leaning up a little.

"my friends." she replied, and he nodded with a quiet, "oh.. okay."

luckily, she missed her mom and basically jogged to her room, closing her door behind her. she changed out of her cheer uniform, finally. and once she turned around, maddy was sat on her bed, making her jump. "fuck, maddy!"

maddy would usually laugh at this, but ignored her. "where the fuck have you been, val?"

valerie rolled her eyes, thinking that maybe she missed an argument happening.. but of course not. "victorias."

maddy scoffed, "i saw you leave with fezcos brother after the game."

valerie turned to her, her eyebrows raised slightly. she had thought that no one was around when her and ashtray walked over to fezcos car the night before. and it confused her on why maddy was mad at her.. she assumed her and nate were in an argument and she was just taking it out on her.

"okay.. yeah, i was with ashtray. so?" she said, sitting down on her bed.

"you don't need to be hanging out with him." maddy told her, shaking her head.

valerie opened her mouth, shocked by maddys words. "why the fuck not?"

maddy snapped, raising her voice, "he's a drug dealer, valerie! he's not a good influence!"

never in a million years did valerie think she would be defending ashtray in an argument between her and her sister, but here she was. "you're a bad influence, maddy!"

maddy was taken back, but was getting more annoyed by the second. "what the fuck does that mean?"

"taking me to partys, fucking someone in the pool, trying to smoke with me.. i mean, you can't be much better, maddy." valerie said.

"he's a fucking drug dealer. you could get killed! or he could hurt you, or you could get involved in-." maddy tried to continue, but valerie cut her off.

"oh, and nate's better?"

maddy knew exactly what she meant by that, and it pissed her off even more. "nate lov-." maddy tried to speak again, but valerie cut her off.. again. "loves you, right? someone who loves you would fucking choke you, maddy."

"valerie, shut up! you don't even know what love is." the two sister went back a forth.

"yeah, cause that isn't love. you're delusional."

their mom had finally heard their arguing, and ran to valerie's room, opening the door wider and speaking up to stop them. "stop! enough."

valerie's head whipped to the side at the sound of her moms voice, and let out a quiet groan at the fact she knew there would be more yelling in minutes.

maddy stood up, pushing past her mom. "valerie's a bitch."

val's eyebrows raised, and tried to walk past her mom to follow maddy, but her mom grabbed her arm to prevent her from doing that. so instead, she just yelled it. "how'd nate's charges drop? huh?"

valerie knew that would cause a reaction out of maddy, and maddy knew, val knew the real story about what happened the night of the carnival.. she knew nate was guilty. so it caused maddy to stop dead in her tracks, not wanting her mom to start asking questions. but she was tired of arguing with her sister, so she just said, "mind your business."

valerie pulled her arm out of her moms grip after that, walking back over to her bed and throwing herself down. she mentally prepared herself, knowing at any moment her mom was going to speak up.

"where have you been?" and she did.

val let out a sigh, burying her face deeper into her pillow. "victoria's."

her mom knew that's where she went anytime she was gone for days, but she still asked just because.. her and valerie didn't have the greatest relationship, she didn't know much anymore.

"why are you always leaving, val?" her mom asked, sitting down on her bed next to her.

valerie let out a groan, covering her ears in hopes her mom would walk away, but she stayed put.

"i mean-." her mom started again, but valerie had enough, and raised up. "i don't know, mom, maybe because every time i'm home all we do is argue? it gets fucking tiring after awhile!"

in all honesty, she didn't want to raise her voice at her mom. she hated how her relationship is with her now, but after the argument with maddy and her already being annoyed with that.. it just happened.

her mom looked taken back, but also got annoyed when valerie yelled at her.. not finding it fair when she leaves all of the time. "because you leave without asking me! you're fourteen, you can't do whatever you want to!"

in this moment, valerie would've probably gotten up and left to victoria's like usual.. but victoria was also in trouble with her mom, so she just shut her mom, blocking out everything else her mom said to her, and eventually her mom walked out of her room, and valerie fell asleep.

...but not even an hour later, she woke up to a call from her best friend. knowing she was most likely grounded, she jumped up and answered.

"vic?" she spoke, her voice a little raspy from just waking up.

"hey." victoria said, snickering a little.

"i thought you would've been grounded.. are you okay?" valerie asked.

"yeah- i'm okay." victoria took a pause, "and yeah, i am grounded.. but i found my phone so."

valerie chuckled, "what happened, anyway? why are you in trouble?"

victoria didn't want to tell valerie, she knew she'd feel guilty and she didn't want that, but as soon as she was silent for too long, valerie spoke up again so victoria sighed and told her anyway. "my mom saw my tattoo."

and valerie did. in that moment, valerie felt more guilty than she had about anything in awhile. being the reason her best friend is grounded? fuck, she thought.

vic knew this by her silence, and quickly spoke up again. "it's not your fault, val.. i could've said no, and i didn't. okay?"

valerie shook her head, even though victoria couldn't see it. "okay.."

and victoria chose to change the conversation, "did you just wake up? you sound tired."

and for about an hour the two talked about whatever they could think of, valerie told victoria what happened when she went home, and victoria told her everything about the argument she had with her mom and dad. valerie felt better than she did an hour ago, all it took was speaking to her closet friend.

AUTHORS NOTES:

sorry for the slow ass updates, i haven't been home in like a week and i had no time to write. but i have some ideas so i'll try to get them done, but i also started school so i'll just have to see how that goes (time wise and all)

but HOLY SHIT, 5k views already !! thank you 💞