Chapter 2

I grabbed my phone and tapped into my email inbox. The latest email was from the panel of judges from the art competition.

"Due to the inclusion of forbidden elements in your competition portfolio, which compromised the integrity of the artwork and violated the anonymous judging rules, your entry has been disqualified from this year's Stargaze Artist Awards competition."

I brandished this email right before Derek's face.

His smile froze on his lips. Then, he scratched his head and looked rather embarrassed, though he tried to hide it.

"Jeez, doesn't the judging panel know how to take a joke? How was I supposed to know that they would be so rigid about it?"

He then cleared his throat, speaking in a voice as though he was the wronged party. "I was just trying to ease some of the weight you were carrying. You were so stressed about this competition that you had that frown on your face for days. How were we supposed to put up with that?

"Don't look at me like that, Josh. It's not a big deal. I'll just reimburse your registration fee if you want."

Bailey then pulled him behind her. It was a very familiar action, like I was supposed to immediately give in the moment Derek showed a hint of weakness to me.

"Josh," she said, her voice turning serious. "Derek didn't mean to do it. He did mess things up for you, but his intentions were good."

I stared at her.

"I've been disqualified from the competition."

"Then just wait until next year again," she said, frowning. "You have the talent. What's the big deal about waiting for another year? Must you make things ugly and awkward for everyone now?"

Derek continued hiding behind her and softly added, "I already said I'd reimburse your money."

I suddenly felt as though the apartment was way too small and narrow to contain their overwhelming sense of entitlement and what little dignity I had left.

I lowered my head and took screenshots of the cancelled flight ticket, the group chat, and the disqualification email. Bailey frowned even harder when she noticed what I was doing.

"What are you making screenshots of these for? Are you collecting evidence to sue us?"

I put my phone away, walking to the entryway.

She instinctively called out.

"Joshua Abbott."

I snapped, "You guys disgust me."

Derek's face turned pale, then purple with anger, looking like someone had just slapped him in the face. Bailey also finally lost her temper with me.

"If you walk out this door today, you can forget about me trying to coax you back ever again!"

I opened the door and walked out. Just before the door closed behind me, I heard Derek mumbling to her, asking, "Don't you think he's going too far this time?"

However, she didn't answer him right away.

Just as the elevator doors slid to a close, I received a text message from her.

"Come back on your own after you've calmed down enough."

The cab was already waiting for me downstairs when I got out. I brought my suitcase out with me, and the driver asked me if I needed a hand.

I shook my head and held my phone close to my ear to listen to my art professor, Professor Ivan Dawson's voice message.

"Joshua, there's still one opening available for the Northland residency. If you've decided that you're coming over, I'll get the studio to send you a formal invitation."

I tapped on the voice message button and replied, "I'm coming, Professor Dawson."

After sending him the voice message, I forwarded the rejection email to him. He replied quickly and said, "Just come over first. It's not the end even if your painting was ruined. You're the artist. You're still around."

I stared at his last line and felt my throat tighten.

When I was in college, my parents divorced and abandoned me, saddling me with their debts. Derek was the one who shared his pocket money with me and helped me through the darkest months of my life.

Later on, I had a panic attack and nearly suffocated on the rooftop balcony. Bailey was the one who found me and rushed me to the hospital, staying by my side throughout the entire ordeal.

I wasn't an ungrateful person. So, I kept telling myself that they didn't mean to hurt me on purpose. They probably just thought that I would be able to take the jokes because we were such close friends.

But that day, it finally dawned on me.

They couldn't just trample all over me just because they'd been kind to me once in the past. Their past kindness wasn't some sort of get-out-of-jail-free card. This wasn't Monopoly.

While waiting in line to check in, I unlinked my bank account from Bailey's shopping apps and removed the function that allowed us to share our locations.

Bailey called almost immediately.

I picked it up.

"You unlinked your account?" she asked, her voice as cold as ice. "Are you seriously going this far to draw the line?"

"Yes."

There was a brief silence on the other end of the line. Then, Derek's voice could be heard.

"Josh? Don't tell me that you're really at the airport. Who do you think you're trying to scare? Bailey's not even holding it against you anymore."

Bailey seemed to have held the phone away from her. Then, she brought it back and asked, "Which terminal are you at right now? I'll come and get you. I'll try to talk to the people from the Stargaze Artist Awards and see if we can appeal."

"Forget it."

"What do you mean by that?" Bailey asked, her voice tinged with frustration and impatience. "We can't get a refund for the hotel rooms in Beachland. There's no point for us to go if you're not coming along."

Derek added quietly, "It's not really that. We just won't have a photographer with us."

I handed my passport to the airport check-in staff. After confirming my details, she handed it back to me and said, "Have a safe flight."

I took the boarding pass from the staff and spoke into the phone again. "I'm busy now. I'm hanging up."

Bailey finally lost her temper with me.

"Joshua Abbott! Did you think that we would always have to revolve around you and your emotions like this? Derek's already feeling guilty enough. What more do you want?"

I looked at the destination printed on my boarding pass and said, "I want to stay away from both of you as much as possible."

I hung up after that and went on social media.

Ten minutes earlier, Derek had posted a selfie on his feed, wearing a frustrated expression as he held a snorkelling mask in his hands.

The caption read, "There I was, thinking of surprising someone who turned out to be an ungrateful brat. People who can't take a joke are so hard to get along with."

There were comments under his post comforting him. Bailey's reply stood out amongst them.

"Ignore him. Let's just enjoy the beach in Beachland. He'll come back apologizing on his knees after we ignore him for a while."

I didn't like Derek's post. I didn't leave a comment either. I just blocked him and Bailey instead.

Just before my phone screen turned dim, a text reminder from the airport appeared.

"The flight to Ice City, Northland is delayed due to polar air currents. Boarding is estimated to be delayed by four hours."