CASTIEL COMES FROM A LONG line of divinity. He doesn’t know how it exactly happened when some higher power gave his great-great-great-great-great grandparents the power but he knows it happens in some basement with people wearing white surrounded by candles. It reminds him of something else, a cult of some sort, but it would be a different story if it was.

Divinity is a weird word for Castiel. He feels human, but he knows he’s not. He’s something much more which is what his mother always told him when he was younger when he couldn’t really get the grasp of things. He never understood it when he was little and how his parents moved across the country to help people who needed it. Or how his surroundings would change. How home is a lot different than the places he’s been to.

Sometimes, he still doesn’t get it. Why he’s this and not that, or why has to do this and not that, or why he feels human when he’s not.

And maybe, this time around, he’ll have his questions finally answered.

When he looks across the centre console of the car that he’s still getting used to driving, he sees the calm over Juniper’s face, which in turn, makes him smile. From the moment he saw her, there was a restlessness in the way she held herself with the never-ending storm that swarms her eyes. He wonders how she has gone through to have so much on her shoulders and to hold so much anger and frustration in the palm of her hands.

Castiel likes her hands. They’re so reckless but so careful at the same time.

When they get to her house, Juniper’s dad is stepping out of his McLaren and eyeing down Castiel’s car that’s coming up their driveway. Juniper tenses in her seat and the storm in her eyes return.

“Shit.” Juniper hops out of the car as her dad waits in the driveway, looking unimpressed as always.

Castiel cuts off the engine and follows suit.

“You almost gave me a heart attack, June.” Her dad says and the harsh tone in his voice is very hard to miss. “You know that you’re supposed to wait for me to pick you up.”

“If you would give me my phone back, maybe I would’ve been able to tell you I hitched a ride with a friend,” Juniper returns with almost the same amount of harshness and venom.

Remi’s steely eyes shift towards Castiel and he can feel himself getting stared down by Juniper’s dad. At first glance, Remi is an intimidating man. Especially when you took his daughter out of court-ordered community service, you’d know a thing or two about the way he’s glaring down on Castiel. A faulty move on his part, he has to admit, and for the first time in a while, he feels like his charm won’t be as successful on someone like Remi.

“Hi.” Castiel stammers and sticks his hand out too fast, “I’m Castiel.”

“Remi.” He says and squeezes his hand before immediately dropping it, still glaring down at him.

“Um,” Castiel is never one to be at a loss for words. He usually knows what to say or when. But right now, he feels like a shy eight-year-old. He shoves his hands in his pockets and flushes, “I was at the library. I just thought I should give her a ride back home. I’d like to apologise-”

“No, it’s okay,” He finally takes his eyes off of Castiel and then looks back at Juniper, “She should’ve known her routine by now and she should know that we have a very important event tonight that she promised she’d go.”

“Shit,” Juniper mutters under her breath, realising how it managed to go over her head. It’s just a fundraiser, or an excuse to throw a soiree to show off, for the charity carnival Delia Huntington always set up for the orphanage as if she didn’t already have the funds. But whatever works in order to get attention away from your son whose being pinned for murder.

One little fundraising event simply isn’t enough. Which, explains the carnival being held.

Delia Huntington isn’t the only one with the ulterior motives. Juniper’s dad comes in with a close second. The fundraising event is always publicised and with Juniper’s recent mishaps and misadventures, he knows it’s a good place to announce the world that she is on her road to some sort of recovery. Wearing a pretty dress, all dolled up at a fundraising event for orphans. It’s perfect.

“Anyway, nice meeting you, Castiel.” Remi forces a grin, “I’m afraid Juniper needs to go get ready now.”

“Of course.” Castiel swallows the lump in his throat and nods his head once as Remi walks into the house.

“I totally forgot about tonight,” Juniper exhales softly and looks up at him with the softest eyes, “Raincheck on our Best Day Ever?”

He smiles lopsidedly and shrugs, “That’s fine. We can have it any other day.”

It’s fine. It really is but Castiel feels selfish for not wanting their day to end right then and there. He wants to stay a little longer and see the smile on her face grow. He likes how it lights up her entire face and how it keeps the storm in her eyes at bay. It even feels like he’d do anything and everything to keep that smile on her face.

“Thanks for the waffles and showing me the cool art museum.” Juniper punches his shoulder playfully, making him stumble a step back, “I had a really good time.”

“Me too, June.” He returns the smile but he knows it’s not as beautiful as hers. It takes every fibre in his body for him not to stop and stare, just to admire her completely. And he’s hesitant to say goodbye and leave.

“See ya, loser.” Juniper crinkles her nose and chuckles as she gets on her toes to sling her arms around his shoulders for a hug.

“Have a good night.” He says, wrapping his arms around her body, squeezing her in a warm hug.

“Alright.” She takes in a deep breath and finally pulls away. He stands still as she heads through the doors of her house, feeling like he just flown through the clouds and soared through the stars.

_______________

Juniper stares back at herself in the mirror. She looks like she’s made out of the finest diamonds and dipped in luxurious gold. Her hair spills out in curls and her body glistens with minuscule specks of glitter that compliments the silk burgundy dress that drapes over her body. She feels expensive and the makeup on her face makes her feel like a movie actress or a painting. Like the women her mother used to paint.

Maybe tonight, if all things go well, is the night she’ll finally redeem herself.

She reaches to her vanity and grabs one of her Cartier bracelets, slipping it on and resting it halfway up her forearm. Taking a dainty, sparkly necklace out of its Swarovski box and slips it over her chest, making her shine as if she wasn’t already before.

Her mind wonders if strangers saw her, dressed the way she is right now, would they still look at her differently or would they stare and think she is a timeless beauty? She wonders what it feels like to be one of those girls, who seemed to be on everyone’s good graces and be deemed with such bountiful generosity.

Juniper feels as if she’s far from being that perfect girl. It seems like everything and anything she could get her hands on would turn into dirt rather than flourishing with beautiful flowers.

A knock at her door makes her flinch as it echoes in the silence of her room. She runs her hands over the soft silk of her dress as her dad pops his head in slightly.

“We better go soon.” He tells her. His eyes seem to study her, trying to figure out what’s going on in his daughter’s head from where he is standing by the door.

“Let’s go, then. I’m ready to put up whatever show you want me to put up,” Juniper says, hurriedly stacking delicate rings over her fingers and makes her way out of the door, sparing a look from her dad as she pushes past his shoulder.

Juniper’s heels echo as she descends from the stairs and into the foyer. She can hear one of her dad’s car hum outside the door. Her dad comes down the stairs soon after, slipping on his blazer and looking down at his watch before calling out to Heidi who’s stumbling towards the stairs, trying to slip on her heels.

Juniper looks up towards the top of the staircase, seeing Heidi clad in a blinding number. Her dress is tight and hugs her frame with a deep V-cut to show off her cleavage. It’s awfully gaudy, especially with every move she makes, the sparkles on her dress shifts to any light source it can get. Perhaps the dress is an embodiment of Heidi’s personality and Juniper wants to laugh at this thought.

“Wow, Heidi.” Juniper stares down at her dress as Heidi finally makes her way down. She looks at her sideways as Heidi smiles at her in anticipation, “You look like an Instagram ad for a Fashionova sale. What is it? Code ‘DESPERATE’ for 50% off?”

Heidi’s smile falls immediately.

“Juniper. Por favor,” Her dad sighs and takes Heidi’s hand as some sort of offer of protection against some evil entity.

She smiles at her father sickly, “Are we really going to pretend that she doesn’t resemble like an airport landing strip?”

Heidi runs her hands over her dress, “I can change-”

Remi grumbles under his breath, “We don’t have time for a wardrobe change,” he tugs Heidi’s hand and drags her out of the house, with Juniper following closely behind.

On the way to the event, Juniper starts to feel her stomach sink. It’s a high profile event, crowded by familiar faces with a lot of them being her father’s business partners. She knows she’s going to get stared at and that she’s going to spend a majority of the night receiving backhanded compliments.

When they arrive at the venue, her father steps out of the driver’s seat, immediately getting swarmed by flashing white lights. He hands the keys to the valet and opens Juniper’s door. As she steps out, her arm flies upwards to cover her eyes as the lights are becoming much more aggressive. It only gets worse when Heidi steps around the car and Juniper can hardly see anything past the cameras.

She feels her dad’s hand on the small of her back, guiding her up the velvet carpet that leads up to the grand double doors. The people behind the cameras are yelling for her attention and it’s bordering violent, making the lights flash faster. Juniper wants to laugh at the media coverage the Huntington Foundation is getting this year. She’s been to a few in the past years but this is the most coverage they have ever gotten.

Delia Huntington is merely overcompensating because her son is being accused of murder. You’d think a high profile family would lay low for a while, until the press subdues, but not the Huntingtons. That’s not how they operate. They just push harder. It’s like if they don’t overcompensate, it means that he actually did kill that poor girl.

Whatever the reason is, it’s appalling and Juniper only thinks it’s a little controversial for a bunch of rich families to attend a soiree in the name of donating to the orphans in war-torn countries. But whatever makes them look good, right?

Inside is a lot more calm but Juniper isn’t sure if it’s a lot less invasive with the way a few of the rich moms of Calabasas are already staring at her way while chattering under their breath, their top lip heavy with hyaluronic acid. They almost look bee-stung with the way certain parts of their face swell uncomfortably.

It isn’t long until a waiter approaches them with a silver tray of champagne. Juniper’s father takes two and passes one onto Heidi. Juniper lifts her hand to take one for herself before her father clutches onto her wrist, waving the waiter off with his finger.

“I need you to be on your best behaviour tonight.” He tells her in a hush with Heidi standing uncomfortably beside them, having to listen to him lecture his daughter once again.

Juniper scowls. “I already don’t wanna be here. One champagne should be okay.”

“One turns into a hundred with you,” He seethes and sighs before softening his tone after realising how his words came out like bullets at his own daughter. He gestures around them, “This is the perfect place for you to redeem yourself. Go around and talk to these people. You need to help yourself, Juniper. I can’t do it all the time.”

“Yeah, I’m sure you have better things to tend to,” She gives him a sarcastic smile and snatches the flute of champagne from Heidi’s scrawny fingers before downing it to the last drop, making her dad’s eyes enlarge with horror. Juniper shoves it back into Heidi’s hands and steps towards her dad so she’s glaring back at his eyes in close proximity, “So, don’t worry about it, dad. I’ll be the perfect little girl you’ve always dreamt of.”

Before he could say anything, Juniper storms through the tall archway and makes a beeline towards the bar, successfully avoiding every pair of eyes that watch her like she’s a fish in a tank with nowhere to go. She leans against the counter and asks for a martini. It’s an open bar, might as well just loosen herself up before putting up a good girl show.

The bartender is attractive and young, maybe fresh into college but he looks too young to be a senior. He fixes her a martini and hands it down in front fo her. She takes a sip, giving him a once-over, seeing the small kind smile on his face on the brink of turning almost playful. The type of grin that always led Juniper to do other things.

“What? Never seen underage drinking before, darling?” She asks, stirring the olive that’s in her drink.

He pushes his glasses up his nose, “Nothing. Everybody’s mingling, but the first thing you do is coming straight to the bar.”

“It must be your appealing aura then, Bartender Boy,” Juniper shoots him a sickly sweet smile before taking her glass of martini and walking away from the bar and towards an empty table. It’s tall, bar height, with a bouquet of flowers occupy the middle. There are a few identical tables scattered across the room with a few occupants standing by it, talking in their small groups with drinks in their hands.

The air is cold and she can’t figure out if it’s the crippling loneliness or it’s just the air itself. Her dad and Heidi are talking to Julia and Mika Ernst, laughing in the distance. Juniper feels out of place and she doesn’t know what to do. Is this what her dad wants her to do here? Just stand idly by, not making a peep?

“Oh, thank god,” She hears someone behind her say. When she looks over her shoulder, she sees it’s Luke looking back at her in absolute relief, wearing a navy blue tuxedo with a crystal glass of bourbon in his hand that’s adorned by several rings. His hair has been combed back neatly until he runs his fingers through it and stands across her at the table, “If I have to engage in another conversation about college, I’m gonna implode.”

Juniper laughs softly and asks, “Where’s Clem?”

“She’ll probably get here soon,” Luke replies and then scans the room. “What a turn out, huh?”

Juniper scoffs and nods her head. Last year, the venue was a lot smaller and the guests were a little more limited. This year is a little different due to the circumstances. High-profile businessmen and women have flown in from every state as it seems, which seems contradictory to the at the matter at hand with the Huntingtons.

“I’m surprised the Huntingtons are able to pull this off given what Timothy is being accused of,” Juniper hides her sick grin behind her martini glass.

Luke glances over at her and snorts incredulously, “Oh, you know how it is. When you’re white and you’re on your way to inheriting a billion dollars, people will always have you in good graces.”

She guffaws and shakes her head, “Too bad for us then.”

“At least you’re the only child. You’ll inherit whatever. But me? I have 6 older siblings,” Luke pauses and looks into the distance in thought, “I basically only have the yacht to inherit at this point.”

“Oh, not the Sudarso yacht in St Barts. Anything but the yacht!” Juniper fake cries, making Luke laugh.

“Alright, we get it.” He waves his hand dismissively at her and trains his eyes towards the string quartet that’s starting play something and a lady in a flowy gown performing opera.

Juniper grimaces. Does anyone really listen to opera and actually enjoy it? Maybe it’s a highbrow thing. Even though she’s born into a world of glamour and glitter, she still feels far from it.

As she sips, she starts to feel a little better, especially with Luke’s company. But then, she notices how a few people are glancing over at her again and muttering under their breaths. Luke is too busy watching the lady singing in Italian to notice Juniper’s eyes falling to the table and her shoulders tensing.

Usually, she’d soar above the judgemental looks and the buzzing whispers. But right now, she can feel feeling so tired from rising above everything no matter what. After a whole day of just being able to breathe, she finally feels how tiring it is to deal with everyone and everything.

“Hey, Luke.” Juniper’s voice comes out in a whisper that he almost doesn’t catch it.

“Yeah?” He asks, absentmindedly, still watching the performance with mild interest.

“Do you have Castiel’s number on your phone?”

Luke turns his head and quirks a brow, “Yeah, I do.”

“Can I use your phone to call him?” She feels her cheeks heat up. She quickly adds, “I think he has something of mine.”

“Oh, okay.” Luke seems shocked. He takes his phone out from the pocket of his pants, unlocks it and hands it over to her.

“Thanks.” She snatches it and walks out into the hallway and into the ladies’ toilet.

The toilet itself is as grand and opulent, with the same marble floors and the spectacular chandelier hanging from the ceiling. There’s a plush lilac ottoman in the middle. Juniper sits down and scrolls through Luke’s contacts until she finds Castiel. She presses his name and stares back at his phone number.

Would this be weird?

She just wants to hear him.

Wait, is that weird?

She just wants to talk to him and feel calm again. But maybe she shouldn’t. She doesn’t want to bother him with the hysterics of a privileged rich girl.

Sighing, she presses the button on the side fo the phone so the screen turns black.

Standing up, she walks to the mirror by the sink and checks her makeup. The toilet seems to be vacant, until she hears somebody sniffling in one of the stalls. One of the stalls swing open, the creaking noise echoing eerily as a girl with a wavy bob step out, hurriedly drying tears off the corner of her eyes. Juniper watches her from the mirror. The girl is wearing a pink body-hugging dress with a matching fur shawl sitting around her arms, exposing her bony shoulders.

When the girl looks up and walks to the sink to wash her hands, it’s only then Juniper realises it’s Kara Akiyama.

“You okay?” Juniper asks quietly as Kara avoids her gaze, walking to the tissue dispenser to dry off her dainty hands.

She’s silent for a while before she turns around, showing Juniper a glimmering smile. For a second, she almost had Juniper fooled with that convincing gleam of a smile. Her eyes a little red but her makeup is still in tact.

“I’m great.” She replies, “Juniper, right?”

“Yeah. You’re Kara?”

“Kara with a ‘K’, in the flesh, baby.” She says with pride and turns back to the mirror, taking out a YSL red lipstick from her sparkly clutch and reapplying it over her lips. She stashes it away and fixes her hair, studying her features through the mirror, “I believe we went to the same ski trip in sophomore year.” she turns sideways to look at her, “If I remember correctly, you were the girl who threw a party in her room while the chaperones were sleeping.”

Juniper laughs at the memory. It’s one of the tamest things she’s ever pulled. She got suspended during the trip and after the trip as well as being grounded for two weeks. Obviously, her misadventures didn’t just end there when it should’ve.

“One of my finest works,” She smiles at Kara through the mirror.

“And it only got better since then, I assume,” Kara returns the same grin. She takes her clutch and pats Juniper’s shoulder, “I’ll see you around!”

With that, she leaves the toilet with her high heels clicking against the floor, walking away like some high-end model. At this point, Juniper is used to seeing prim and proper girls crying in the bathroom and then coming out of it as if nothing even happened.

She looks at herself in the mirror again and tucks a stray hair behind her ear. Juniper can hear a bunch of ladies laughing outside of the toilet. It’s cacophonous, as if someone said something extremely funny. Then, she hears:

“I can’t believe he even brought that demonic daughter of his to this party,” Juniper watches herself suddenly solidifying into stone in the mirror at the words that has been uttered disgustingly in a croaky woman’s voice, “Imagine showing up to a Huntington Foundation event with a daughter like that.”

Another woman laughs boisterously, “Poor Remi. Nobody deserves to have a child like that. And imagine if Rosalia was still around. That woman would be devastated at how Juniper turned out.”

“Claire!” One woman gasps but there’s humour in her tone. She finds this funny. “My god, don’t be so harsh on the poor thing.”

“What, Olivia? I’m just saying what’s on everybody’s minds,” The lady defends herself with a smug tone, “This is why we hire nannies. I basically don’t have any real responsibilities over the little shitheads I gave birth to. I just need them to inherit everything else when I’m long gone so it doesn’t fall in some ingrate’s lap.”

The woman with the croaky voice chuckles and then says, “Imagine being Louisa Sanders. Her poor boy had been defamed by that girl. I feel terribly sorry for Louisa.”

Juniper’s hand clenches around Luke’s phone. Her eyes are becoming teary and she’s beginning to feel tired. Not the physical type where she wants to lay down and sleep but emotionally. She knew that this is what she’s going to get for being here but her dad was persistent on showing up. But at what cost? For all these middle-aged women to ridicule a 17-year-old girl?

“I heard that Remi’s going to send her to Fettes College in Scotland.”

One of them gasp wildly, “He’s finally doing something? Who knew?”

All Juniper wants to do is get away from everything. She just wants to shut out everything she can and just lay still away from the world. As she stands there, listening to the words streaming from outside of the toilet, the weight of the small sealed bag that she has placed over her left breast starts to feel heavy, almost tempting her to take the white powder just to make it easier for her to endure the rest of the night.

She lets out a shaky breath, quickly wiping the tear off her cheek and slips the tiny sealed bag out of her dress. Holding it up, she feels guilt swarming her chest, seeing the fine powder staring back at her. Juniper opens the seal and lines it up in a neat line by the sink before it disappears as she breathes it all in.

Numbness hits her and she can hear her heartbeat ringing in her ears. Everything is quiet and she feels like she’s sitting at the bottom of the swimming pool with the noises outside being muffled. It’s so muffled, she can hardly make out what the women are saying.

It hasn’t hit her fully yet but she already feels a lot calmer and relaxed. She wipes her nose clean and dusts off the surface of the coutner of any residue before heading out of the toilet. When she steps out, the women are mid-laughter, standing by the large windows with drinks their hands. When they see her, they freeze as Juniper shoots them a lovely smile.

“Juniper!” The lady with the croaky voice greets, laughing nervously. Her greying hair is pinned back into a chignon, giving her that facelift she so desperately needs. It’s Nyla Salib, the wife of State Attorney, Jafari Salib. She steps towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder gently, “You look absolutely gorgeous, sweetheart.”

“Anybody can be gorgeous, Nyla,” Juniper keeps the sick sweet grin on her face, “As long as you have the funds, you’re free to change parts of your body. But you can never change the ugliness of your personality with any amount of money.” Juniper looks to her friends, Claire Phan and Olivia Whiteley, who’s afraid to say anything but smile at her, “Right, ladies?”

The three of them stay quiet.

“I hope you all have better things to do here than just mocking a high schooler.” Juniper add and begins to walk away, feeling every step getting heavy and her chest tightening with so much anger and humiliation.

When she gets back to the grand hall, her father and Heidi are standing in a group, facing the stage where Delia Huntington is talking through a microphone, holding her glass of champagne up. There’s a gorgeous diamond necklace on stage with a huge tear-drop pendant, glistening with a brilliant blue. It’s the item that’s being auctioned off for the Huntington Foundation. She can see Luke standing where she left him and Clementine is already here, standing by him, her arm linked with his.

A waiter comes to her, offering her a glass of champagne, seeing her empty-handed in the midst of a toast to officially start the night. She takes it, forcing a smile and walks towards Luke and Clem, where they shoot her a polite before returning their attention back on Delia Huntington.

She raises the glass up with her slender hand as everyone follows suit. The sound of glasses colliding twinkles before the string quartet takes over again. Juniper lugs the champagne in one go, receiving the same stares from a few people around her.

Placing the empty champagne flute down on the table, Juniper taps Luke’s shoulder with his phone and gives it back to him.

“I love your dress!” Clementine admires her dress, fully taking in the silk that caresses Juniper’s body. It looks delicate as it holds onto her shoulders with thin, spaghetti straps but it’s risque at the same time with how high the slit travels up her left thigh.

“Thank you, darling. Givency makes everything better,” Juniper gives her a hug. When she pulls away, she takes in the dress Clementine is wearing. It’s baby blue with off-shoulder sleeves and the length of the dress reaches the floor, making her look like an ethereal princess especially with her soft blue eyeshadow with a touch of sparkle in the outer corners of her eyes. “And you look like a daydream, Clem.”

She twirls around once gracefully, making the bottom of her dress to bloom like a flower, “Why, thank you.”

Juniper smiles warmly at her and then looks towards the back where the bar is at. The bartender is still there, handing out drinks to a few men that are casually waiting by. Juniper runs through her thoughts for a second: is she bored or is she this desperate to feel good?

“Look who has decided to show up!” Juniper’s blood boils the second she hears the familiar voice. When she looks away from the bar and to the voice that’s standing in close range to her, she feels like she’s about to break out into a raging fire. It’s no other than Ridley Sanders, of course, with his obnoxious grin and mop of blonde hair pushed back.

The night has been created to test her patience as it seems.

“Haven’t seen you since our court date.” Ridley smirks. That smile on his face used to get its way with Juniper but now, it’s nothing but infuriating. It’s a smirk of unjustifiable victory. He slings his arm over her shoulders, suffocating her with the strong cologne that wafts off of his coat, “Looking hot as always, Juniper. You always worn anger tastefully.”

Luke and Clementine aren’t as happy either. They’re just looking at him like a pair of disapproving parents.

“Read the room, Ridley,” Luke mutters, sighing harshly under his breath and sips his drink.

“What do you mean? We’re all friends, right?” Ridley chuckles and rubs Juniper’s shoulder.

Clementine groans, “My god, dude. You have some nerve to even stand here.”

“Aw, come on,” He frowns as Juniper shoves his arm off her, “Are those oestrogen shots getting to you, Clem? Are your tits growing yet?”

Luke slams his glass down on the table and steps towards him but Clementine successfully stands in between them before anything could get ugly. Juniper rolls her eyes in disgust. She silently wishes Clem wasn’t such a saint and just let boyfriend throw at least one single punch at Ridley’s cocky grin.

“Being transphobic is not a personality trait, dipshit,” Clementine seethes, glowering at him, “And neither is having the nerve to fucking stand here after what you’ve done.”

It only causes the grin on his face to widen. He lets out a scoff as he takes a step back frm how close Clementine is standing. Ridley turns his head towards Juniper, holding her cheek.

“Can’t stand up for yourself, sweetheart?” He ridicules, “The Juniper I remember was a lot more feisty. She liked being in charge, in control-”

“Don’t fucking touch me, Ridley!” Juniper snaps and slaps his hand away. She thought she’d be numb to the point nothing could bother her, even for the remainder of the night but with Ridley being here and constantly getting stared at, the line of cocaine doesn’t seem to be enough to get her through the night. Her eyes are stinging with tears that are threatening to pour. She stands before Ridley, glaring back at his cocky face, “You have no right to walk up to me like this. You should be fucking begging for forgiveness because I don’t think you’ll ever find out what it’s like when a white boy gets praised for something you’re getting called ‘a whore’ for!”

“Don’t be dramatic, Juniper.” Ridley shakes his head, still oozing with that audacious bravado that Juniper wants to slap away, “All you had to do was go on one date. We could’ve had it all until you decided Ethan was the next move to fuel whatever you need to escape.”

“Okay, so, in conclusion,” Luke speaks up quickly, giving Juniper no chance to completely claw at Ridley’s face and drag him across the floor by his tie, “You’re fucking pathetic. You were petty because Juniper decided she didn’t want anything to do with you anymore so you had the need to get even by spreading an inappropriate video around.” Luke feigns confusion and pretends to be in deep thought as he scratches his chin, “Tell me how you’re supposed to come on top for this one?”

“Shut up, Sudarso.” Ridley dismisses and eyes Clementine tauntingly, “Worry about what’s at hand for you.”

Fuck it.

It happens in a flash and Juniper doesn’t realise it until she feels the aches in her knuckles. When she realises what had happened, Luke and Clementine have taken a step back as Ridley lurches over, holding onto his nose. Everyone starts to look their way. George and Louisa Sanders come rushing over to their son’s side, looking at the three to deduct the situation. It doesn’t take long to realise what happened because Juniper is shaking her fist, trying to relieve the stinging pain on her fingers, accidentally undoing the gauze around her hand.

A small crowd has gathered around them and right through the chaos that’s beginning to arise, she can see her dad on the other side muttering under his breath aggressively with Heidi trying to calm him down.