The Brightest Star
Vi collapsed onto her bed, head buried in her hands. She couldn’t understand Caitlyn. It was a school camp, for heaven’s sake, and they were leading this together. Her perfectionism and drive for success was stifling to Vi. And it was true that her events were the most expensive ones. Why did she see an issue with simply cutting them out? Why was she making it such a big deal?
Vi’s jaw tightened. She had never seen Caitlyn so stubborn. She tried to convince herself that she was justified, but deep down, she hated seeing Caitlyn so upset. She wanted nothing more than to run after her partner, apologise and try to make things work out between them, but her pride stood in the way, keeping her from doing what she knew was needed.
“Are…you okay?” Ekko ventured carefully.
“I’m fine,” Vi grumbled. “She’s the one going nuts. I just…I don’t think I was wrong, to remove her events. It’s the only way this is all going to fit.”
Ekko picked up the documents Caitlyn had swept onto the floor, but he didn’t say anything.
Vi noticed everything. From the first day she met Caitlyn, she’d seen right through her perfect illusion. She saw the way she toyed with her fingers when she was nervous. The way she tucked her hair behind her ears. The way her eyes narrowed when she focused. The way she ran her fingers through her hair when she was frustrated. Vi could read her like a book, and she knew — even if Caitlyn hadn’t said anything — there was something bubbling and boiling in her heart that she wasn’t showing anyone.
“Something’s wrong with her,” Vi said. “She’s been all flaky, going out of her way to avoid me. She’s been so much more stressed lately, so nervous and uptight. Maybe something’s going on.”
“You should check in on her,” Jinx said, which surprised Vi — Jinx knew how to care for others. “I think you’re right. There’s probably something going on that she isn’t telling us. Or anyone, for that matter.”
“I don’t want to hurt her,” Vi admitted. “I hate seeing her so upset and lost. I just…”
“You’re too prideful to apologise,” Jinx said matter-of-factly. Vi’s eyes flared for a moment, but toned down when she realised Jinx was right.
“Let’s put this on hold first,” Ekko suggested. “You need to work it out with her, Vi. Without Caitlyn, we won’t be getting anywhere.”
“We can do this without her,” Vi said. But even as she uttered those words, she knew Caitlyn was a must-have for this project. They needed her practicality, her ability to look beyond the surface, to plan out every single event in detail, to foresee everything that could go wrong. They needed her smarts for the schedules, her steady hand on the controls. Without her on the wheel, they would soon crash and burn.
“We can’t,” Ekko said. “You know it. Don’t try convincing yourself otherwise. Give her some space, then check back on her. I have a feeling she needs you, too. More than either of you realise.”
~~~
Caitlyn sat on a bench in front of the fountain, replaying the conversation in her head.
It was late afternoon, and the students who had yet to go home were all at practice. The courtyard was quiet, the floor covered in violet petals from a nearby tree.
Caitlyn’s fists clenched at her sides as she replayed Vi’s words. This isn’t about you.
The words pierced her heart, mind and soul like arrows with barbed tips. She felt as though her heart was torn apart, though she wasn’t sure why. The weight of expectations — society’s, her parents’, her own, and what she wanted to believe was Vi’s expectations of her — and pressed down on her shoulders, as though she were carrying the sky on her back.
The camp had to be perfect, or at least that’s what she thought. Failure was unthinkable. And yet, no matter how many times she repeated those words, she had ended up here, at rock bottom.
She recalled Vi’s anger glinting in her eyes. It scared her to death, but she refused to let it show. All she’d ever wanted was to earn Vi’s respect, and when Vi insisted on cancelling out her events, it was like a full-on body slam. Her defensiveness was meant to justify her position, but instead, it seemed to have made Vi see her in an even darker light.
Damn it, Vi, she thought. You drive me mad. She had never, ever yearned for someone’s respect so much, not even her parents’ or her teachers’. Somehow, only Vi had struck that nerve, that drive for her to push herself further and harder than she had ever done.
“Whatever,” she muttered to herself. She pulled out her own copy of the documents — each page a detailed plan of the activities and the total cost of them.
She began crossing out certain details in red — irrelevant equipment, unnecessary manpower, unneeded costs they could cut.
“If only she could see it this way,” she mumbled to herself. “We could still keep all the events, just tone them down a little. These stupid fireworks at the finish line require so many Gemstones anyway.”
~~~
Vi’s voice had been bouncing around her skull for days but Caitlyn just couldn’t get it to shut up.
She wished Vi didn’t matter so much to her. It would be a lot easier if someone she respected and admired so much didn’t sear those words into her brain with a hot iron.
It had been two days since their argument, and Caitlyn remembered exactly how it had unfolded. Every single word Vi said. The way the documents had flown off the table. Her own thick British accent involuntarily omitting the t’s in certain words.
She sighed. She had spent hours trying to justify her own — and Vi’s — actions, but no matter how she looked at it, they were both wrong. She knew what was needed — an apology, from her to Vi, but she just couldn’t bring herself to walk to Vi’s block, up the four flights of steps, down the hall and to her dorm room. Even in class, both had been giving each other the cold shoulder, although Caitlyn occasionally felt a bit of spring sun breaking through the snow between them.
She herself was concerned for Vi, too. Without Caitlyn’s help in class, she was like a chicken without its head — constantly lost and confused. Caitlyn had noticed the way her grip tightened on her pen lately, the impatience she almost emitted, the way her eyes hardened as she stared at the board, unable to understand what the teacher had been teaching, as though she could scare the concepts into her brain. She wanted to help Vi, but she knew it would only make things even more awkward between them.
Now sitting in the library, with schedules and papers everywhere, Caitlyn felt hopelessly lost as well. She didn’t realise how much she had depended on Vi during the planning. Vi was constantly able to push her to think more creatively, to come up with new ideas. Her adaptability was what gave rise to solutions, her street smarts allowing her to see situations others would not have. It was like putting on a pair of glasses.
Caitlyn leaned back in her chair, spinning a pen in her fingers. She was buried deep in thought, with images of Vi flashing through her head, interspersed by the mental calculations she had been doing.
“Hey, Cait.” A voice broke through her thoughts. She looked up and immediately resisted the urge to smooth out her hair, which she was sure was a rats’ nest.
Vi stood before her, her eyes as soft as a cloud, hands tucked in her pockets.
Caitlyn scowled, but secretly she was glad Vi was here. Her presence was like one’s eyebrows — she never knew she needed Vi by her side until Vi was gone.
“What do you want?”
“To talk.” Vi pulled out a chair from across Caitlyn and sat down. She flicked her eyes over the documents on the table, registering the numbers, Caitlyn’s efforts and her spiking stress levels all in one sweep.
“I’m sorry,” she said quietly — completely out of character for her usual boisterous and loud mannerism. “I…shouldn’t have snapped at you. You’re right; all the events I cut were yours, and I wasn’t being fair to you.”
Caitlyn wasn’t sure how to react — be cold and aloof or apologise as well.
Vi picked up the papers and neatly put them in one stack.
“It’s…fine, Vi. I’m the one in the wrong. I overreacted and lashed out.”
Vi shook her head. She reached across the table and wrapped her calloused fingers around Caitlyn’s smooth and slender digits. “I don’t want to push you, Cait. But…it’s obvious to me you’re under a lot of pressure again. Whatever it is, though, I want to be there for you.”
Caitlyn sighed, but she didn’t pull away. Her shoulders tensed. Her voice was soft, almost fragile, like one misstep would break her. “It’s just…all my life, I’ve tried so hard, but it never seems to be fully enough. And…you cutting those events…to me it just felt like you were another person I’m not good enough for.”
Vi squeezed her hand. “That’s not true, Cait. You’re incredible. Your ideas are incredible. And I don’t need you to be perfect. I just need you to be you.”
The words wrapped around Caitlyn’s heart like a hug. She had never heard anyone speak so genuinely, in such a manner that struck her very core like a tuning fork. “I’m used to working alone,” Caitlyn admitted. “Even in a team people thrust all the work onto me because I’m the star student. But this…”
Vi’s eyes took on a determined gleam. “This is a team effort, Cait. I’m not letting you carry this project all alone. No matter how brightly a star shines, its energy isn’t infinite. Even the Sun will run out one day. I’m going to help you with this, okay? We’re in this together.”
Caitlyn’s lips twitched into a faint smile, the tension in her shoulders slowly melting away. “Together,” she echoed, as if the word itself were a foreign concept she was just starting to understand.
Vi grinned, her thumb brushing lightly over Caitlyn’s hand before she pulled back, respecting the moment. “Now,” she said, leaning back in her chair, “let’s figure this out. I’m not just muscle, you know — I have ideas, too.”
Caitlyn raised an eyebrow, her smirk sharpening. “Oh? Like the brilliant ‘powder-in-the-water’ prank you mentioned before?”
Vi laughed, the sound warm and unguarded. “Okay, maybe not all of my ideas are great. But I meant it when I said I want to help. Let’s rework these plans — your way and mine.”
Caitlyn studied Vi’s expression, seeing no trace of condescension or judgment, only a quiet determination to support her. It wasn’t something she was used to — someone meeting her halfway without expecting her to carry the load.
“Alright,” Caitlyn said at last, her voice firmer. “But if you so much as misplace a comma in my schedule, I’m coming after you.”
“Deal,” Vi said with a mock salute. “Now, show me what you’ve got.”