Soaked to the skin, feeling like I'd crawled through every trial the flood could throw at me, I finally reached the college gates.
The moment I got word of where Alex and Clementine were, I ran over, only to hear the two of them talking about me.
"Alex, your girlfriend won't be mad later, will she? What if she picks a fight with you? I'd feel just awful about it."
Alex sounded dismissive, not the least bit concerned about how I felt.
"It's fine. She sulks for a couple of days at most. I know she can't stand the cold shoulder, so I'll give her the silent treatment for a few days, and she'll come crawling back to me on her own."
"But this really is my fault. Maybe I should go apologize to your girlfriend—"
"Don't do that. You apologize and she'll never let it go. She'll have you in tears, and then I'm the one who has to smooth things over."
They both laughed, a faint flush rising in their cheeks.
The intimacy hung thick and sticky in the damp air, and it made me sick.
I stepped forward out of nowhere, and Alex flinched hard.
The second he saw me, he instinctively moved in front of Clementine, as if terrified I'd get jealous and start a scene with her.
But my heart had already gone cold.
I had neither the urge nor the energy to make a scene.
"Give me back the necklace."
I didn't want to waste a single word more.
Alex froze, then deliberately changed the subject.
"There's flooding everywhere. How did you even get here?"
I ignored him and reached straight into his pockets. When I found nothing, I went to check Clementine's, but he grabbed my wrist, hard.
"Search my pockets if you have to. What gives you the right to go through Clem's? Have you got any manners at all?"
"Manners? So manners means you can steal the necklace my mother left me? Don't you know that's the only thing I have left of her?"
I said it low and fierce, and Clementine's face changed.
I expected her to be embarrassed. Instead, what came out of her mouth was even more revolting.
"Huh? Alex, it's a dead woman's keepsake? Something a corpse wore? Won't wearing it bring me bad luck?"
Alex looked stricken and rushed to apologize to her.
"I didn't think it through. I just saw it was a jade protective-charm pendant and figured it'd help calm your nerves. Didn't think it'd be a problem."
Clementine let out a breath and wiped at her neck with her sleeve, her face twisted with disgust.
"Good thing it's gone. I'm not wearing it anymore either way."
"Gone?"
Rage shot through me.
"What do you mean, gone? Where's the necklace? Where is my necklace?"
Seeing that I was really furious, all Alex could do was tell me to keep my voice down, to let him save a little face.
"All right, all right, Fiona, stop shouting. The school inspection team confiscated the necklace a little while ago. I'll get it back for you later."
"That's my necklace. Why would they take it?"
"It was during the charity livestream. Some viewer stirred things up, said Clem had makeup and lipstick on and was parading around wearing a necklace, said it looked bad. So the inspection team took it away."
The anger boiled over. I wanted to shove both Alex and Clementine into the flood and rinse their brains out.
"But it's my necklace! The only thing my mother left me! Why would you steal it out to give to Clementine, and then lose it on top of that?"
"Alex, I'm not done with you two! There's no reason for us to keep dating either. We're breaking up, right now!"
"And if you don't get my necklace back for me, I'll call the police and have Clementine arrested!"
