Survival Of The Fittest

Emmett's eyes widened in shock at what Marco said at the end of his story and his hand was almost squashing the cup of water in his hand. His face was getting hot with shame and anger. Who the fuck did Marco think he was?! He couldn't even get a response out of his own mouth and he hated this. God, he never wanted to hit a guy so badly.

"You.... What....? Seriously, Marco?!" His voice was sounding more shaky than he wanted it to and he hated being in this room with Marco right at that moment. "F-Fuck...!"

She'd stepped in and and that should have been the end of it. Most people would have backed up, put their hands in the air, and said 'sorry guys, too far, too far'. That was the reasonable thing to assume. Of course, as the circle was finding out, Marco Volker wasn't necessarily a reasonable person. For whatever reason, he continued on with his story - his graphic, unnecessary sex dream story, and just when she thought that it couldn't possibly get any worse?

He squared up and fired a verbal shot right into Emmett's forehead.

The poor guy never saw it coming, and his flushed reaction, stammering words and loss to do anything simply made Ariana's blood boil. This was a pointed attack and it had no reason, which was fucking ridiculous. All they'd been sitting down to do was play a friendly game of Never Have I Ever, and Marco had walked in with an agenda. It almost made Ariana sick to her stomach, but instead, she clenched her fists as the circle reacted with simultaneous shock and horror to Marco's proclamation; and as she looked from Emmett to Marco? Her jaw set with anger.

He was enjoying this.

What the hell had Emmett done to him? He'd backed her up, but other than that, he was an innocent bystander. So that was bullshit. She knew some people, herself included, who might count what Marco had just done as sexual harassment, which just made her teeth clench even more. Who the fuck was Marco Volker to think that he could just walk around and say whatever he wanted to whomever he wanted, without any repercussion? It pissed her right off. And then - and then? He had the gall to mouth off to her, and suddenly it was her turn and the game felt like it didn't mean a whole lot anymore.

Taking stock, Ariana realized that her fists were both clenched, the beer in her hand barely holding its shape as she exercised what restraint she could. She couldn't imagine the look on her face was anything but a firm scowl, and the more she thought about it, the more it burned within her. She took another look around the faces of the people in the circle, until she rested on Emmett's. He looked embarrassed, hurt, and most of all? Ashamed. It was that shame that caused her anger to bubble. She knew this feeling - she was on the verge of losing her temper, as she almost had back in the library with Misty and Max. So she took another deep breath and tried to put a lid on her fury.

Marco looked smugly at her, expectantly.

Her lid didn't have a chance.

Fuck this asshole. It was good Ross was elsewhere - he would have stopped her. She knew exactly what she had to do.

"Okay then," she began, her words terse and clipped, "it's my turn now."

Looking to her left, she gave the still-reeling Emmett a sweet smile and placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze. She then turned around to the group, addressing them all.

"Never Have I Ever," she paused, trying to keep her voice even, "slapped an obnoxious, loathsome classmate."

Ariana paused for effect, looking around the circle as though seeing if anyone were going to drink. Suddenly, she put a finger up in the air, as though realizing something.

"Oh - wait. Of course."

She took a long drink - actually downed her entire beer, and in one fluid motion she dropped the empty cup on the ground, turned to Marco and slapped him hard across the face. As the moment sat there, she pointed an accusatory finger at him.

"How dare you! You don't get to say things like that to him," she boomed, "and you need to have a little more respect for the people around you!"

She didn't know how Marco would react, but she braced herself for any reparation. He was small and slight, but his appearance said nothing about the size of the fight in the dog. Besides, he wouldn't hit a girl, would he?

Ariana half-hoped he'd try.

Tanisha had to raise her eyebrows and look away when Marco unveiled the sexual partner of his needlessly graphic and drawn out sex dream to be Emmett. It was clear several people in the circle were getting annoyed with Marco's story, which she could understand since he was talking even though no one was listening. Tanisha had to learn to be patient with people rambling without awareness of their surroundings. It came with having three younger siblings and was necessary if she was going to work with children in the future.

"Yeah, sorry Marco, but I think you're beating this joke harder than you were beating yourself when you had this dream. Let's move on."

Ariana then had the next statement. Tanisha covered her glass again right as Ariana declared, even though she had to chuckle.

"Nope. Sorry. Never did that."

Before Tanisha could add more, Ariana revealed that she had indeed committed the act of slapping an obnoxious, loathsome classmate. She then demonstrated it by slapping the shit out of Marco. Tanisha let a loud chuckle burst out before catching herself. Now she was somewhat glad she hadn't been made to drink much this game. She could be sober enough to witness a Bad Girls Club worthy fight.

"Ohoooohh shit," she said. "Ok, I may never have slapped a bitch, and again, not for lack of trying, but I'll drink to that. I'll drink to you, Ari."

Tanisha took a quick sip of vodka. Maybe it was because she had to refrain from imbibing for a few rounds, but this vodka tasted extra good.

“CAAAAAATTTTTTTTFIGHHHHH-ahahahahahahahahahahaa-”

Girl buckled on toppa tha kitchen bench, took a little bit of effort to keep herself standin’ right.

Dios, this game did not take long to fuckin’ deliver.

Whoa fuck okay alright this was going south.

"Hey. Hey hey hey." Andy spoke up a few seconds and half a thought too late. Not that he was super against shutting Marco up, but this was escalating quickly, as the kids used to say. Or maybe still said. Andy wasn't hip with the kids. He was more like... shoulder. Or just an ass.

What was he talking about, again?

Right. Marco. Ariana. Also Emmett, the universal constant. Poor Emmett.

"Chill the fuck out. I'm the bouncer, right? Don't make me bounce anybody." Andy planted his hands on his hips and promptly spilled the rest of his drink on the floor with the movement. "...Fuck."

Yuka smiled a little as Teresa stumbled over to fill up her cup. She wasn't the only one. She didn't know exactly how to feel that her only company was Teresa, right now, but beggars couldn't be choosers. It's not like she looked bad, too.

Now that she thought about it, was thinking of someone else considered cheating? Like, mind cheating? Emotional cheating? It's not like she intended it. It just happened. Men and women just waltzed in her mind from time to time. It wasn't her fault her partner couldn't keep her entertained enough to keep her focused. But, if it were cheating...

She shook her head. She was single now, so it didn't matter. That was something for future Yuka to worry about. Not here. Not now.

Marco said Emmett's name just as she tuned in. Said he was who he was dreaming about. She took in a sharp intake of breath. She didn't like this, not at all. The air felt packed with tension. He was a friend, but this was too far. This wasn't fun anymore.

She said Marco's name, but no one heard. She wanted to stop this, but she didn't know how. She, a 17-year-old human, still didn't know how to handle confrontation. She considered just walking away right there and then, but there was nowhere else to go in this party, and she'd be damned if she went home this early. She'd stick it out. It was fine. The night could turn around, right?

And then it did, sorta. Just not in the direction she intended.

"Oh my god!" she said as Ariana slapped Marco.

She was supposed to say something else. Stop it, that's enough, everyone let's calm down. But it wasn't her fight, not yet. She just stood by on the side, paralyzed.

And then Teresa started screaming, giggling, almost falling.

You know what? Maybe Teresa would make good company.

She mumbled a quick "Me neither" at Tanisha, then poured herself another cup of vodka. Andy got this, he could handle this. They were adults, they could handle themselves. She just wanted to have a good time. That's all she needed. She grimaced as she took a large swig, as the acid made its way down her throat. Why wasn't she feeling dizzy yet?

Juliette didn't drink, just swished the contents of her cup again. No, she'd never slapped anyone in their class. Well, except herself. She assumed that didn't count. She certainly wasn't going to clarify.

Not that anyone else was drinking or paying attention at this point, of course. The circle devolved into pandemonium as Ariana took a swing that left an echoing smack of impact and everyone else tried impotently to stop the chaos or else reveled in it. Juliette wasn't going to get involved, though. It really absolutely wasn't her responsibility. She'd chat with whoever needed it after the fact, calm them down or console them or whatever would be best for them, but she took no more joy in the thought of trying to break up a fight than she did in watching one.

No, for Juliette the primary concern was a little bit simpler. This sort of conflict would inevitably become the center of attention, and once the shock and novelty wore off in a split second or two, someone would pull out their phone and start filming. She wanted to make sure that, when that happened, she wasn't in frame.

Juliette took a couple steps off to the side and leaned against a bookcase, looking away from the spat but still tracking the action a bit out of the corner of her eye. The circular motion of hand and cup had accelerated and as soon as she became conscious of that she willed herself to be still, to wait.

Well, Emmett had definitely not thought that that would happen at all. Ariana just basically slapped the shit out of Marco for him and he thought that it was the best thing that anyone had ever done for him. And he was fucking loving it!

Holy shit, holy shit! Marco just got fucking owned!

Emmett felt himself starting to laugh a little out of glee and he was just smirking at Marco. "God, you are the fucking best, Ariana! I'll drink to you taking care of this dumbass." He took a sip from his drink and he was still chuckling as he was waiting to see what Marco would say or do.

Marco watched Emmett’s reaction as he turned redder than Marco’s hair. It looked like Ariana shut up too, she wasn’t doing all the holier than thou bullshit anymore.

He waited for her question. How much you want to bet she’s gonna grasp at straws and try to throw him for a loop. How much you wanna bet?

Once he heard her answer, he scoffed. Aw that’s funny you’re gonna start virtue signiling now? Hurr durr Id totally hit you but I’m too good of a person.

Bitch.

Please.

And then she paused.

And then she shotgunned her drink.


Wait-

And that was when Ariana literally slapped Marco thirty years into the future. No seriously, she slapped him that hard that he had premonitions of things to come. Marco had legit become a psyker, he legit- whatever, it wasn’t his future he was seeing, but Ariana’s.

Marco could tell that Ariana was going to be ‘the hag’. You know the one. The ones you see at Walmart, McDonald’s, the local pool, and parent teacher meetings. The one’s who’s idea of fashion was the hillbilly top knot, and a pair of leggings with ‘Juicy’ printed on the back that could barely contain a wedding cake top because a muffin top was too generous.

That hag who’d bring her snot nosed crying children wherever she went, her miniature Verucca Salts were orbiting her screaming incoherent bullshit about wanting some rando’s phone, and her somehow getting offended over the fact that said random stranger would not hand over their phone to some trailer park nut and their grubby little hellspawns. The kind of hag who’d go to the school bitching and moaning about evolution being taught, because they promote vaccines and fluoride in the water and her little angels weren’t going to get poked with needles that’d increase their eight year life expectancy at the price of ‘becoming a pagan’.

Marco blinked and he was back to reality now, the little circle of fun and spectacles had just become a spectacle. It was at that moment he realized what type of person Ariana was.

She wanted to make this big scene, and get all offended over shit that didn’t involve her, she wanted to be the center of attention, and to do that, she had to be the white knight in shining armor coming to the rescue. God she was pretentious!

She probably felt like she was a hero too! Aw yeah, you slapped a guy littler than you, and because you’re a girl he can’t hit back! How brave, how noble! Take that patriarchy!

It was at this point Marco had two options. He could cower away and shut up, that was the smart option. But it was not the fun one. It was time to Dante’s Inferno this shit, if Ariana wanted to show her wrath, then so be it! Marco was a fan of ironic hells, And would probably play a wicked Satan some time later on if his acting career picks up, so he may as well start now.

If Ariana wanted to be violent, then let her be, but Marco wasn’t gonna lift a finger. He was gonna stay calm, and just talk, and let Ariana make a fool of her self, even if he gets a couple bruises in the process.

This would be funny so it’d be worth it. Genius planning you lil devil you.

Marco looked at the crowd watching him, then smiled and played it off like a joke. He turned back to look at Ariana and smiled, and with the most blatant ass sea urchin voice he could muster, he spoke.

“Aww, thank yeh ma’am, may oi please ‘ave another?”

“Oh my God!” Came a shriek from behind the group.

[Regina Petrov Continued from The Good In Everyone]

Regina had come into the house only a few minutes earlier. She’d made her way to the kitchen, seeing that Tyrell had been kind enough to unpack all her baked goods he’d brought in for her and set them up on the table. He really was a sweetheart underneath it all. She busied herself for a bit unpacking the rest of the goodies, and hoped that the other party-goers would enjoy the treats. After she’d set everything up to her liking, she opened up the fridge to find herself something to drink. Now, Gina wasn’t really a big drinker, but she wasn’t against a nice glass of white wine every now and again. Her mother let her drink wine at home whenever the mood struck, so it wasn’t as if it was something she thought she’d be in trouble for if caught. Besides, one glass wouldn’t hurt her. She was planning on being here for a few hours, so the single glass of Chardonnay she planned on drinking wouldn’t impede her ability to drive when all was said and done.

Finding a suitable bottle, Gina grabbed a solo cup from one of the counters and poured herself a generous cup. About halfway to full seemed like a reasonable amount, after all she planned on babysitting this wine all night. Now with drink in hand she planned to seek out some friends, and maybe even head downstairs to dance a bit once she’d found some company. The kitchen was relatively empty, so she figured she should wander a bit to locate more people. Stepping outside the kitchen, she could see a few people milling around, but found her focus set on a group of students huddled in the corner of one of the rooms. She saw a few familiar faces, and decided to head over and see what was going on. She began to make her way over, but before she could reach the group something stopped her in her tracks.

Ariana, a girl who she only really knew in passing, slapped Marco, a boy who she’d had a few classes with in the past. She didn’t just slap him playfully either, she saw the girl wind back and really have at the smaller boy. Regina stood there in shock for a few seconds. What on earth was going on?! Physical violence was a big no in her book, no matter the situation. Feeling her instinct to resolve the situation before it got any worse take over, Regina stormed over to the group, physically placing herself between the two.

“What is going on over here?!” She loudly questioned, scanning her eyes over the whole group accusingly.

“I don’t know what’s happening, but I’m shutting it down right now!” She looked Ariana in the eyes.

“We’re far too old to have to resort to putting our hands on each other, don’t you think?”

"Regina's right."

Juliette's resolve to stay quietly out of the proceedings had lasted pretty well right up until the newcomer had barged into the fray, adopting the comparatively mature stance that this was all going too far. For a moment, Juliette had run her fingers along the wood grain of the bookcase, looking at nothing. She'd thought to just keep doing the easy thing and let Regina handle it on her own, but two things had stopped her.

First, she'd thought about the bystander effect. What sort of person, when it came down to it, did she want to be: the sort to become scarce and useless while everything fell apart and the actually good-intentioned tried to put it back together, or the sort to lend a hand when she had something to contribute? And she didn't even have to worry about looking bad on some Facebook video of all of this; she was doing the right thing. If anything, this being taped would now be to her long-term advantage. It would be proof of her nature, of her leadership capabilities.

Second, Regina had her heart in the right place, but she just did not have the necessary spin to make it work. She was bellowing, demanding, couching her attempt at peacemaking in an implicit insult. That was not going to win Ariana or Marco, not with how keyed-up they were. Regina needed backup, and Juliette knew how to deliver a message, and so there she was, taking a half dozen quick steps to stand off to the side of Regina, though not between the feuding parties, and offer an agreement.

Of course, the next step was to reframe everything to what the girl should've said, rather than the mess she'd made of it.

"We're here to have a good time. I get that we're all a bit tipsy and things got tense, but let's take a step back, take a deep breath. If anyone wants to go somewhere else, we can let that happen. Otherwise, I think it's someone else's turn to call."

There. Brush the conflict under the rug, offer an excuse for the misbehavior, offer an out for anyone uncomfortable, and hurry the game along, all while using inclusive language and dodging any implication of individual blame. That wasn't so hard, was it?

((Mikki Swift continued from Just Dance))

Mikki was making her way through the hall when she heard the slap, followed by yelling and laughing. Well shit violence was happening at her own party, who'd have seen that coming. What was she even buying that pizza for Claude for if he wasn't doing his job? Fuck, did she have to do everything herself around here? She didn't have enough energy for that, seriously.

The yelling only got louder, so Mikki resumed movement, only this time it was faster and heading towards the source of the noise. She walked through the doorframe and saw it was a large group of them with drinks. At first glance she saw Teresa, class bicycle, stumbling over like she'd been given Coachella tickets and an unlimited bar tab, but other faces soon formed as she got closer. Emmett looked mortified for some reason, Ariana was angry, Tanisha was laughing, Yuka was drinking, Juliette was distancing herself, probably because Mikki herself had suddenly appeared, Regina was yelling, Marco was preening, and Andy was being a cute-ass boss.

Well, eleven's not a crowd, is it?

"Heeeey folks, enjoying yourselves? Not up to too much trouble are we?" Mikki announced snaking in besides her boyfriend, planting a quick peck on his cheek as she made herself known.

"We wouldn't want to have to get our big ol' bouncer in here to deal with people hurting each other now, would we?"

Well, fuck.

Ariana had slapped Marco - hard, because if you were going to do something wrong; do it right. He had deserved it, and her anger still burned in the pit of her chest. As the sound of cheek meeting hand had echoed out through the room, the shit had taken one look back and had taken its grand leap into the spinning blades of proverbial doom below it. It had seemed like the room had quickly filled up with people begging to give their opinion on the matter. To his credit she supposed, Marco hadn't retaliated with anything except a smarmy retort. She should have expected as such. Someone like him probably didn't think he'd done anything wrong. That Regina girl appeared out of nowhere, screeching and wailing like a wounded banshee. Ariana was too pissed off to pay her words any heed, but snarled at her as she tried to busybody the situation.

"Back the fuck off."

Taking a step to the side, she aimed another accusatory finger at Marco, conscious of the appearance of one of the party hosts - shit, how was that for bad timing - suddenly at the side of the imposing form of Andy Silverman, who'd mumbled something before spilling his drink everywhere. Classic Andy. More for Mikki's benefit, she decided an explanation was warranted. Her words were clipped, angry.

"This little fucking weasel," she thrust her finger a few times, to emphasize whom she was referring to, "doesn't seem to understand that sexual harassment isn't fucking funny."

She looked around the circle at the other onlookers for a moment, ignoring Juliette's paragon act.

"If he'd been saying the same reprehensible shit about a woman, half of you would have been up in fucking arms." Her glance went to Andy now - whom she liked, but he was collateral in this instance.

"How would you have felt if he was describing in graphic detail about what it felt like to have Mikki wrap her lips around his cock in a dream? Pretty fucking pissed, I'd bet." Ariana emphasized the name of their host, so Mikki would be drawn in a bit more and realize that she hadn't just hauled off and belted him for no reason. She looked back at Marco.

"We asked you to stop. Over, and over, and over. But no, it's all funny, because you have to nail the punchline, right? Well how the fuck do you think that made him feel? That's not okay."

Her gesture went at Emmet this time. She still couldn't get his ashamed and embarrassed look out of her mind. It still burned her, but as the fire dimmed a bit, she suddenly realized she might have been steps away from being tossed out of the party. She adjusted the tone of her voice - still loud, still assertive, but not as harsh.

"That was a bitch slap. A bitch slap for a bitch. You need to apologize to Emmett right now, because what you did isn't a joke."

Ariana folder her hands in front of her, and scowled at Marco as she waited expectantly. Ross, who was milling about somewhere at this party, would likely be super confused if he came back and Ariana had been asked to leave, but this was worthwhile. For every single time she'd been cat-called on the street, or leered at, this just made her even more upset. For many years, she'd gotten flustered and afraid when it happened, but as she'd gotten more comfortable, more confident in her own skin, Ariana realized that she too, had a voice that she could use in defense. If someone cat-called at her, she would shout right back at them. People didn't like being confronted, and there were some - like Emmett - who hadn't yet found their voice; who couldn't stand up to people like Marco.

That was okay. She had a loud enough voice for both of them.

Emmett didn't even know why he and Marco had been friends for a while and he was starting to feel a bit of hatred toward him. He didn't even care if Marco was going to make excuses for his shitty behaviour towards him. He was still shocked over the fact that Ariana had stood up for him and he didn't even feel embarrassed by it. He wasn't going to stop her from speaking her mind and she was actually making a lot of good points.

Emmett almost choked as Ariana basically demanded that Marco should apologize to him and he glanced at Marco with a blank expression. As if Marco would actually say sorry to him. Marco would probably just say something to piss everyone off again and Emmett didn't want to be the attention of it anymore. But it was already too late for that.

What a wild fucking night!

He continued to stare at Marco. Not saying anything. Just waiting. To see if Marco would deliver the finishing blow to their rocky friendship. Hah, friendship. What a shitty feeling. Emmett couldn't let Marco see the hurt, he had to keep up the distrust and a stoic expression. Not like it would matter.

It didn't take long for Regina and Juliette to get involved and start trying to calm down everyone, errr everyone. They weren't saying names, but it was pretty clear who they meant. There was only one person here who decided to start shit, but Marco knew they were trying to play it safe, because if they called her out by name, she'd obviously just go even more into bluh bluh huge bitch territory. Whatever, if it works it works.


Except it wasn't. Figures. Ariana wanted to keep making an ass out of herself and starting shit, because she couldn't just understand that flipping shit and smacking people over jokes at a party wasn't normal party behavior. It didn't help that Mikki showed up, neither. Marco knew that it wouldn't be long before the screeching hag known as Ariana would bitch and moan like a Kyle's mom until Mikki decided everyone had to leave because Ariana wanted to go nuclear.

She stepped past the mediators and pointed at him, ranting and raving like motherfucking Miss Carmandy or whatever from The Mist, and then said some really dumb ass shit that actually got Marco a little bit pissed. Sexual Harassment. Okay. Okay, you want to play that fucking game now, right? You want to start doing that bullshit, you wanted to say that shit, okay, bet.

Marco's eyes looked around between Ariana and Emmett, and at this point he was really having trouble hiding his disdain for them both. Emmett was fucking spineless, he still didn't say shit trying to hide behind her. He really disliked Emmett for being such a fucking coward, but really, his true enemy right now was Ariana. She was the exact type of people he fucking hated. She wasn't a good person like she probably thought she was. She was just an opportunist looking to throw shit out of proportion and make herself look better, regardless of everyone else's situation.

"Alright, Alright..." Marco walked forwards past the group to stand in front of Ariana, his points of view locked in on her, and Emmett behind her. "I'm sorry."

You want an apology Ariana, well all right, I'll apologize.

"Emmett, I'm sorry with the joke, I'm sorry I got carried away. Ariana..."

You want to play games? We'll play some fucking games.

"I'm sorry my joke towards Emmett offended you. I'm sorry that, clearly, I assaulted you, and that I headbutted your hand with my face. I'm sorry that what I said drove you to start shit in the middle of a party, and I'm sorry that I angered you enough to make an ass out of yourself in front of everyone. But you know what I'm sorry for the most?"

"I'm sorry for the way you have to get offended for someone else, and I'm sorry that you making this whole thing about you backfired, and I'm sorry that the attention you got wasn't the attention you were hoping to get. I'm sorry to everyone else that we're holding up the game right now because you wanted to make it all about you and make an ass out of yourself, blowing everything out of proportion. I'm sorry that you thought this would work because you think everything should revolve around you twenty four-seven."


Marco took a step back, expecting the worst, and expecting worse to come with this last statement. He hoped Ariana went off. He hoped she'd get pissed again, he'd hoped she'd come at him.


"We're all here to have a good time, so lets get back to playing... Never Have I Ever, Virtue-Signiled off of somebody else to get attention."

Do your worst.