Chapter 5 Maya

If I had known that Jason would come to the arcade yesterday, I would have stayed home and damn the consequences of Hayley.

Because here I am being dragged on social media by Tiffany.

After I and Tiffany's fall-out, I tried my best to steer clear of her to avoid another dramatic explosion, but Jason thought the best way to deal with a break-up was to drag someone else down with him.

On top of that, he did it in front of Chad, there is my chance of ever getting a shot at him.

I woke up trying to pretend nothing had happened yesterday, but that went to dust when I opened my Instagram to burn time before I went to the arcade.

Lo and behold, it was Jason's lunatic girlfriend shedding crocodile tears saying Jason cheated on her and, to make things worse, she brought out video evidence.

I immediately turned off my phone and hung my bag over my shoulder. Getting on my bike. I wheeled to Hayley's.

"Bitch, you are trending," Justin said while I dropped my bag behind the counter and sat down.

"Thanks for reminding me," I said, rolling my eyes.

"I didn't know you and Jason were dating secretly," he said in a mocking tone.

"Ha, ha real funny," I said sarcastically as I stood up to get soda from the vending machine.

"Has Hayley seen it?" I asked in panic as I opened the can, letting the fizz out before fully opening it.

"She hasn't come yet, so I don't know," he said, wiping the display glass.

"You have to fix this before she finds out, or it's going to be bad," he said, dropping the rag to place his hands on the counter.

"You think I don't know, I can't afford to lose this job. I'm barely making ends meet," I said, burying my face in my palms.

"Well, you've got a rich boyfriend now, don't you?" he said teasingly before running off.

"You better not let me see you again," I said after him before turning back to face the counter.

My thoughts were all scrambled as more videos kept popping up from Tiffany.

I thought I blocked her. How come she kept showing up in my feed?

Worse, her zombie followers were now trolling me and storming my DM, calling me a slut and a loose bitch.

Hot tears burned at the back of my eyes, but when I was at work I couldn't afford to cry and risk someone walking in on me.

I had the urge to set up my camera and explain to myself, but what's the use? Tiffany had over three hundred thousand followers?

It would just be like pouring water on a rock, and I really didn't have the headspace to battle hate comments.

Hayley walked in minutes later, her face in a bad shape as she stopped by the counter.

"I need you in my office now," she said before walking off to open her office door.

I made a sign of the cross before walking after her.

"We're sorry you have a big problem in your hands," she said, dropping her phone in front of me a video in the background.

I hesitated before picking it up and playing the video.

"So Tiffany, I'll be dropping the name and picture of the girl who Jason cheated on me with, and I need you guys to tell me if she's any better than me," Tiffany said before placing a bad picture of me in the background.

Come on, I have more beautiful pics than this. If she wanted to drag me away with my picture she could have looked for something cuter.

"She works at Hayley's arcade, she's just a gold digger who has dirt on my boyfriend, and now she's tying him down to collect funds," she said, fresh tears flowing on her face as she talked.

"Funny how I used to know this creepy years ago. We used to be best friends until she tried to assault me in the cleaners' closet of our high school," she said, cleaning her eyes as her mascara stained the bottom of her eye.

"Open the comments," Hayley said in a stern voice.

I opened the comments and each one was more mean than the other.

Mira_cake*: Eww, what a pervert"*

Bazzle2345: I can't believe you had to go through that with a creek."

Magret_who: Who knows what she did to Jason to tie him down?"

Eliza789: Babes that bitch should be arrested for physical assault."

User_563783991: She belongs to an asylum."

I stumbled on one that almost had me in tears.

Toxic_Mf567829: I'm never going to Hayley's arcade anymore, not when that creep works there."

That comment had over a hundred thousand likes, with people under the comment thread agreeing with him.

I dropped the phone on the table and cleaned my eyes.

"You already know what this means, Maya," Hayley said, taking her phone back.

"All these don't matter, she's just an attention-seeking whore" I said in controlled anger.

"You saw the comments, it's bad for my business. If nobody decides to patronize me anymore, I'll have to shut down, and I can't," she said, her voice becoming soft.

"You'll have to leave. I'm sorry," she said, standing up.

"I, I, you can't do this," I said, stuttering as fresh tears poured down my cheeks.

"I'm sorry, I'll send you your salary for this month so you take care of groceries," she said, opening her drawer, bringing out an envelope and pushing it in front of me.

"I can fix this, I will fix this," I said, trying to reassure her.

"Well until you do, you have to leave," she said dismissively before going out of her office, leaving me crying alone in her office.

I picked up the envelope and walked out of her office to my locker to pack up.

"I'm really sorry about this, Maya," Justin said, Patting my shoulders as I picked up the last item in my locker.

"Where do I start from?" I asked, hot tears falling from my eyes as I hugged Justin, crying into his shoulder as he softly patted my head.

"I promise you'll be fine, all this will blow away in the blink of an eye, I promise," Justin said, reassuring me as he placed a light kiss on my forehead before walking me out to the counter.

I took one last look around the arcade, recalling memories I had smiling as I walked out.

I stopped by the door to look at Hayley, who was trying so hard not to cry. I waved finally before walking out.

I arranged my stuff on my bike before wheeling myself back home.

I rode past the street, my tears making the road blurry as I cried, trying so hard to keep control of my handle.

I changed my mind about going home. I swerved and went straight to the rink to confront Jason myself.

I knew Chad usually goes to the rink by 4:30 and, since Jason was his best friend, I knew they were always together.

I stopped in front of the rink. The doors were closed. I knocked on the glass door until an old security man opened the door.

"Miss the rink is reserved for private use. You can't come in," he said, holding me back as I tried running past him.

"Jason, I know you are there. Come out and face me," I screamed as the security man tried to shush me.

I kept causing a scene till Chad came out to find out what was happening.

"Hey, hey, calm down," he said, patting my shoulders to calm me down.

But at that moment, I wasn't rushing or trying to look decent.

"Where's your bastard friend Jason?" I asked in anger. The security was still holding me.

Jason came out looking confused. I walked up to him and gave him the hottest slap my strength could allow me to release.