“Maybe she needs dinner first.”
Simone stared at her.
“Walk away, Madison.”
Instead, Madison raised her foot.
The kick caught the side of the clear container. It rolled over, lid separating as lake water spread across the grass. Fish spilled beside the box and began thrashing.
Simone immediately crouched.
“Oh my God!”
She grabbed the container and started trying to return the fish to water. Chloe finally stopped laughing.
“Madison, that’s enough.”
Madison stood over the mess.
“She can catch more.”
Simone looked up.
Something in her changed.
She stood.
“What did you say?”
Madison repeated herself.
Simone stepped directly toward her.
They argued for several seconds.
Madison told Simone she always acted as though Bellmont belonged to her because professors had made her a “special project.” Simone said Madison had spent a year trying to reduce every accomplishment she earned because accepting a Black transfer student could outperform her was apparently impossible.
Chloe asked both of them to stop.
Neither listened.
Madison smiled again.
Simone hit her.
The first strike was Simone’s.
It sent Madison stumbling toward the overturned fish box.
That fact became important later.
So did everything that happened before it.
Simone did not claim Madison was punching her at that moment. She did not call her own retaliation self-defense. She had been pushed into a lake, mocked, and watched her research animals dumped onto the grass, then allowed months of accumulated anger to become one physical decision.
She regretted that decision almost immediately.
Before she could step away, Chloe rushed her.
The blonde swung hard.
Simone ducked.
Chloe came again.
Simone raised both forearms.
“Back up!”
Chloe did not.
She threw another punch.
Simone finally countered.
Madison was on the grass behind them, recovering.
Chloe and Simone exchanged several strikes as Simone moved away from the shoreline.
A few students on the walking path began shouting.
One started recording.