CHERRY. [JESS MARIANO]

The Odyssey

It was basically the scene from The Princess Bride where Inigo Montoya and The Man in Black where fencing at the edge of the cliff. Only ten times more intense.

The whole class was in the Chilton fencing room with our fencing uniforms on. I got paired with some kid named Olive who fought like she wanted to strangle me with the thin sword. Luckily, fencing was one of the sports I relatively enjoyed, next to baseball.

But when I realised that the whole class had stopped fencing, I took off my mask and tore my eyes away from the girl before me and turned towards Paris and Rory. Usually, I wouldn't have stressed so much about arming Paris with a sword and giving Rory as her target. They had become good friends over the time that had passed.

However, the scene that played out before us looked like a battle to the death. Rory kept blocking Paris' advances as you could hear her frantic breathes. No matter how much Rory backed up away from Paris, she kept coming forwards with the foil in her hand.

"Paris!" I made a move to stop her but I felt someone pull my hand back. I looked behind me to see Madeline shaking her head at me. We both knew there was no stopping Paris when she wanted to get back at someone.

"Stay out of this!" Paris exclaimed to me, shifting her focus away from Rory for a split second. Rory took this opportunity to thrust her foul toward Paris' chest but it came up short as Paris took a step back. I looked toward the coach to see if she was going to intervene but she herself looked to scared to come between Paris and her poor victim.

They continued to thrust and parry back and forth with the occasional conversation between them. "I didn't go behind your back!" Rory explained in between her parries. "Francine said she wanted to meet to call a truce!"

Personally, I stayed as far away from anything to do with this school beside my academics and extra curriculum. Especially the people here, beside Paris and Rory. I don't knew the details, but I remember Paris and Rory mentioning so long of feud with Francine. The crazy egotistical brat that came straight from the pits of hell whose fire is as red as her hair. Paris' words not mine.

Paris and Rory went back and forth while Rory tried to defend herself from Paris' never ending accusations. I couldn't hear the whole thing over the sound of the foils clashing together but I got the gist of it. Francine has framed Rory to make it look like she was conspiring with her to make Paris mad and go on a rampaged frenzy on Rory. Props to Francine, cause it worked.

When Rory got disarmed I was ready to jump in and help her if it weren't for Rory running away from Paris. She chased after her with her sword in hand shouting. "Come back here, Gilmore!"

I was fairly sure that Paris wouldn't actually stab Rory but I was cautious just in case. Rory ran straight toward Madeline, Louise and I. She would've collided with us if it weren't for her tripping over a fold in one of the mats on the floor. She landed flat on her back as she took off her mask.

Taking the mask off her head, Paris pointed the sword at Rory's chest. "The worst part is," Paris began with a shake in her voice. Her face slightly red from all the running as her eyes were filled with unused tears. "You told her about Jamie. I can't believe I ever considered you my best friend."

Rory looked up at Paris with a face full of astonishment and regret. Sending one last glare down at Rory, Paris retracted her foil and sent it through the chest of a stuffed dummy on the wall. Without looking back, Paris stormed out of the room. She sure knew how to make an exit.

I extended my hand to help Rory up from the floor. She pushed herself off the ground with some help from me. "God, I feel awful!" Rory told me with a frown. Brushing back some stray hairs from her face she put her face in her hand.