Little Drop of Peace?

"Yes.." Heather would say before she would go to leave at Taylor's words. The girl just wasn't taking Heather's words for how Heather was trying to give them. In Heather's mind, she had no ulterior motives or anything when she was saying what she was. She wanted to cool things off between her and Taylor, and for the most part, she wanted to help.

The rest of her words, Heather would try to ignore them as much as she could. It was killing her that Taylor was taking her efforts in such a way, and it was making Heather feel she couldn't do anything right when it came to mending things. She felt like she went about it all wrong and that perhaps what Taylor was saying was right after all, though Heather was sure they weren't.

What came next though, caused her to stop in her tracks. She would clench her fists a bit as Taylor said what she did about Cecilia before she would turn around. "Like hell would she kick you when you're down like this! She's not--Ah!" Heather would start yelling out before she saw Taylor drop to her knees, holding her side. Her eyes would widen a bit as she would run back towards the girl, trying to get down to help her up. "Don't fight me, you're crazy for pushing yourself and yelling if you can't even take that"

Taylor's already badly wounded pride couldn't bear having Heather try to help her up, and she tried pushing her away. When that wasn't enough, as she was standing up, she winged a wild haymaker that was supposed to hit Heather on the chin but it missed, and only the side of her forearm collided with the side of Heather's head. She put a hand on the ground for balance and scrambled away.

"You don't GET it do you!" She screamed tearfully. "You ruined everything! I'm better than you! Now everyone's gonna think that... that..." She stalled for a moment and tried to regroup. "We should've beat you, I should've beat you, and now... I... God, fuck you, you think I don't know what people think about me? Maybe Cecelia wouldn't actually take a shot at me, but I'm sure she'd love seeing me like this. She'd probably fucking get off on it. Now why don't you just fuck off and leave me alone, huh?" She sat down on the grass, holding her side, and leaned to one side with her elbow on the ground.

The worst was the thought that she just couldn't get out of her head, that she'd disappointed Akashi, that she'd failed, and that she had to earn Akashi's love. She felt like a failure, and she knew Akashi didn't feel that way, she was pretty sure, but being face to face with Heather was salt in the wound.

Trying to help the girl up, Heather would be suddenly taken back as Taylor's forearm hit the side of her head. She would stumble back a bit, letting Taylor scramble away as she would look back at her. Heather wanted to lash out at her for hitting her away, but she held herself back, hearing out what Taylor was about to say.

Heather would slowly cross her arms as she listened intently to everything Taylor was saying. She felt incredibly bad that she had brought the girl to this point, and she would let out a long sigh. "She wouldn't..she isn't like that and neither am I." Heather would say, keeping her eyes on the girl as she sat there on the grass. "Who cares what people think about you. Most people think things without knowing a single thing about that person. I know. But you know what? I don't like you claiming to be better than me but even I know you're one hell of a wrestler and if all that bothers you this much, you can't be a bad person either."

Letting out another sigh, Heather would drop her arms, looking off to the side a bit. "I'll leave you alone. I'm sorry I did this to you. If I had known coming here would just make things worse for you, I wouldn't have done it...sorry.." Heather would say, turning to leave again as she felt her own eyes starting to tear up a bit as well again.

Taylor hugged her midsection and squirmed for a moment and stomped her foot until the pain abated enough that she could speak. "I know what you think of me." She said, more quietly. "And it doesn't matter. But it matters that I win. This is my last chance, and everyone... Look, don't pretend you care. We aren't friends. We're just competition. I didn't go after you when all your shit was going down..." She said, referring to the thing with Clyde.

She still wasn't quite sure what all happened with that, but she knew it was bad. Enough that she figured bringing it up would drive a wedge between them once and for all.

She watched Heather walk away for the second time, and while she could still hear her she added "I am better, and you are never going to catch me. I'll give you one thing, though, you sure are luckier than me."

And with that she turned and left the park in the opposite direction. Home was actually the way Heather was going, but she wasn't going back there yet. The walls of her small apartment loomed closer and closer just over the course of one day stuck there with nothing to do, and she'd have a lot more days like it coming. She wanted to get away as long as she could, and from as much as possible.