Catherine’s POV
After I made the search, Google wasted no ti reminding that the first step to "getting physically strong enough to beat two girls at once" was... exercising. And eating healthy. And drinking water. And basically doing every single thing I had not done since arriving at the Vaughn mansion.
I sighed, but I wasn’t backing down. If I couldn’t destroy Lucy and Sasha emotionally, I would build myself like a small but mighty tank. Enough of them hitting , while I watched and cried.
So I searched "beginner exercises," and the list looked encouraging enough: light jogging, morning stretches, simple cardio. Jogging seed like the easiest of the bunch, and honestly, the one that would let escape my thoughts for a while.
I got up imdiately, pulled on joggers, tugged a hoodie over my head, grabbed my headset and phone, and left my room before I could change my mind. When I stepped into the hallway, I took a cautious glance around.
There was no Lucy or Julian in sight, thankfully. Though, I already that they were probably in his room together, doing whatever the universe used to punish ntally.
I stepped outside into the cold evening air and walked down the driveway until the gates opened for . The estate roads were clean and quiet, lined with tall trees that made the wind whistle softly.
I plugged in my headset and started jogging.
At first, I felt awkward, like my arms and legs weren’t on good terms. My breathing was uneven and my hoodie suddenly felt like it weighed eight kilograms. But after a few minutes, my body relaxed into a rhythm. My thoughts stopped tripping over themselves. My mind cleared a little.
That was when I noticed that there was another girl jogging ahead of . She had her hair up in a ponytail, her pace steady and confident. This obviously wasn’t her first ti.
For so dumb reason, seeing soone else jogging made feel... normal, like I wasn’t the only one running away from chaos.
I kept my own pace, watching the ground briefly and that’s when I spotted sothing brown on the pavent. It looked like a wallet.
I could have ignored it, but sothing told it belonged to the girl ahead, so I picked it up and jogged faster.
"Hey!" I called out, trying not to sound winded. "Wait up!"
She turned, and raised her eyebrows. I quickly held up the wallet and flashed it to her. "This yours? I think you dropped this."
Her eyes widened. "Oh my God! Yes, that’s mine. Thank you so much!"
I handed it over and nodded, ready to turn back toward ho but she stopped with a squint.
"Uhm, do I know you? You kinda look familiar," she said.
Not this again. I forced a smile, not because I was angry but because I already knew why she recognized . It was obviously because of my popular stepfather and his interviews and stuff, as a Vaughn that made recognizable by association.
I scratched my hair awkwardly and pointed behind .
"Maybe you do. I... live right there," I said.
Her mouth ford a perfect O. "Ohhh. The Vaughn mansion. Wow. I’m not always around, but I know a few things about the Vaughns."
I braced myself.
She grinned. "Richard Vaughn is an obsessed politician. He’s always on the news and I know he has two sons. One is grumpy, the other is lovable. So I have heard."
I burst out laughing so loudly that a bird flew off a nearby branch. That description was painfully accurate. Julian was the grumpy one.
At that mont, she reached out her hand with an easy smile. "I’m Kiera."
I took it, still smiling. "And I’m Catherine. Nice to et a new face."
"The pleasure." She tilted her head. "So... you’re jogging to clear your mind? That’s what I do when my brain starts acting like an overloaded laptop."
Oh wow. Lucky her. I wished that was my reason.
But I wasn’t ready to admit that I was out here because I wanted to train for a hypothetical two-against-one girl fight.
So I shook my head. "Not really."
"Why then?"
I looked away. "Nothing. It’s... sothing stupid."
"Ouu. I like stupid," she said imdiately. "So tell because I won’t stop bugging you."
I groaned internally. I had just t her, and she already had that persistent friend energy.
So I inhaled and told her the truth.
"Well," I started slowly, "there are these two girls and... they kind of... bully ."
I expected pity or shock. Instead, she burst into laughter.
"That’s it?" she said between giggles. "Two girls bullying you? Please." She seed to think I was joking but when she looked at again and noticed the look on my face, she realized I was being serious.
"I would never have imagined you to be the type to be bullied but trust , you do not need to stress about them now that I’m around."
I blinked. She flipped her ponytail back with dramatic flair. "I love dealing with girls like that. Trust , having around is like having a personal chaos consultant."
I snorted before I could stop myself.
She leaned in, and her eyes brightened with mischief. "So what are their nas?"
"Lucy and Sasha." I listed, their nas getting myriad angry. "Lucy is currently living with us."
"Ohhh." Her grin widened. "They sound annoying already." Then she lowered her voice. "Finally, I get to have fun in this boring neighborhood."
We shared the most unholy, evil little laugh.
"I’m free tonight," she said suddenly. "Invite over. We can start planning our revenge."
Revenge. That sounded perfect.
Excitent lit up inside like fireworks.
"Deal," I said imdiately.
She nudged my shoulder, smiling. "Good. By the ti I’m done with those girls, they’ll think twice before ssing with you again."
Payback ti, bitches.
It felt nice to know that I had backup now.
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