Aubree was more than just someone who had bullied Holly while they had lived together. She represented her youth, in a way. Looking at Aubree, and hearing her voice, reminded her of things that she had spent so many years trying to forget. It was so easy for her to be taken back to those traumatic times, like now, when Aubree making a point of her relationship with Makayla being stronger by blood, than Holly's with her, quickly brought her back to a time when that had been brought up years ago, when Holly was nine or ten. It was probably around eight o'clock on that summer's night when Aubree had walked into her bedroom, to find Holly sitting on the floor of her room with the contents of her purse sprawled out across the floor. Makayla had left for work a couple of hours before, and after accidentally spilling fruit punch all over the kitchen floor, Holly's mother had ordered that she remain in her room until morning, or she'd make sure that her boyfriend would ensure that she would learn to listen in the form of a "lesson" that would leave her skin sore for weeks. Startled from being screamed at and having her hair yanked hard by her mother following the spill, Holly had managed to keep herself settled in her bedroom for the first hour following it. She sat on her bed, and then got off and moved to Makayla's bed, which was just a few feet away in the small bedroom they shared. She stood in front of their mirror and make funny faces, and looked through all of Makayla's clothes, trying to find something that looked new and interesting. She picked at the white paint that was peeling off of their wall in so many places, that from afar, it was hard to tell if the walls were supposed to be white or the grey color of the concrete that had been painted over. She did the best that her hyperactive ten year old mind could do, to keep herself sane while remaining in the small bedroom, but time was moving so slowly.
When the sound of the television in the living room playing some sports game, coupled with laughter and unfamiliar voices grew louder, she thought that she was safe to wander a bit. Their apartment wasn't big in the slightest, but the bedroom were located in a hallway that wasn't visible from the living room, and Holly knew that when her mother and her boyfriend invited people over, they usually became so engulfed in the socialization (or more accurately, the drugs), that she was the last thing they were worried about. The act of her leaving her bedroom against her mother's orders likely would have went unnoticed, had she not decided that the bedroom that Aubree was living in was the most interesting room she could stop in. Maybe she would have had a chance too, of escaping the beating, had she not sat down on Aubree's floor after dumping out a purse she found on the girl's dresser, and looking through all of the treasures that the bag held. The things that could have been concerning, like the condoms and the weed pipe and the tiny bag of cocaine didn't even come close to catching her interest, compared to the container of half-consumed Tic Tacs, or the compact mirror that had rhinestone jewels all over one side of it, or the eyeliner pencil that Holly couldn't stop herself from testing out on the rug. Holly likely hadn't even been concerned with Aubree's whereabouts at the time, but she got unlucky because Aubree wasn't out of the apartment, but had only been showering, and when she returned, was livid to find Holly looking through her things. The details of the conversation that followed were lost over the years, but Holly could easily still recall that when she tried to reason that Aubree always let Makayla come into her room without asking, Aubree responded by informing her that Makayla was her real sister, not the "spawn of a trailer park trash whore".
It was hard to say that comments like that were what solely instilled the negative feelings that Holly associated with Aubree, and more likely than not, the fact that following that conversation (and countless others like it), Aubree would go on to shout for her father to come in and "handle it", which would sometimes lead to Aubree's uncle coming in, and handling it in a way that would make Holly burst into tears even today, just thinking about it, played just as much, if not a greater role in that. Simply put, though, Aubree's mere presence was triggering to Holly, and she did feel somewhat betrayed and dumbfounded when Makayla caved in and said that Aubree could stay for the night. She had allowed Brooklyn to tug her back onto the couch and had sat back down due to the guidance, but she was more focused on Makayla than Brooklyn, even when Brooklyn offered to allow her to sleep in her room for the night. The way that Holly had blatantly ignored that offer, which normally would have resulted in her becoming ecstatic instantly, spoke to how off putting this situation was. "No, I don't want her to stay," Holly said, in a whining manner as she shook her head adamantly. When their history was considered, Holly wasn't being a brat, and she wasn't on the verge of having a breakdown over just being selfish and not wanting to share Makayla or their space. Anyone who knew Holly knew that that simply wasn't in her character. She was on the verge of tears because of how anxious Aubree's mere presence made her feel, and even if Aubree was going to be spending the night on the couch, in a separate space than her, Holly likely wasn't going to feel any more at ease. "I want to stay with Chanel or Cara. Can you call them? I don't want to stay here if she's staying here."