I hadn’t expected them to go this far. I hadn’t expected to care if they went this far, but try as hard as I freakin’ might, I did. I hadn’t expected to cry, because I should’ve expected the rich bitches to spread stuff like this. I hadn’t expected them to get so caught up in me – the short, quiet new girl. But they did.
In short, there was A LOT that I hadn’t expected.
The tears silently made their way towards the sides of my eyes, where along with a few particles of mascara, they slid down my cheeks at a snail’s pace. They were warm, but I felt cold as ice on the inside. Numb, even.
As I shoved my way past the bastards in the hallway, I bumped into a firm and familiar figure, whose hands spun me around as I tried to shove past him, too.
“Em, history is this-” he started to point out, but he must’ve noticed my face because he then asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing you don’t already know about,” I choked, glaring at his perfect features and his merciless emerald eyes.
Then with one strong tug, I pulled myself out of his hold and ran for the gym. I knew it’d be free this period, and I could care less that I was skipping history. For once, I could’ve cared less about grades and behavior and attendance and being the perfect student.
I let it all out, whimpering like a freakin’ baby. I had a good cry, letting the warm tears rain down my cheeks and plop into my lap and onto my shaking hands.
Why was it so hard to just… blend in? To just wander throughout the school year like a ghost? A ghost who got good grades and aced her tests? Why? Why wouldn’t they just leave me the fuck alone?
Two words: Fox. Evans.
I wish he’d been smart enough to just spend the night at the party; at least made it home without getting caught with DUI. He was such a dumbass, and it was all his fault that I was getting all this unwanted attention. The worst part of it? He didn’t give a damn about who he hurt. I bet he could care less about all the drama and stress I’d been dealing with.
He was such a heartless pig I wished he would just –
“Emery?” a voice whispered softly from behind me.
I slowly twisted my head around, and my fears were confirmed.
There stood Ms. Tibble, in the flesh.
“Honey, what are you-” she stopped, and rephrased, “What’s the matter?”
I sat there for a long time, the trails my tears had left on my cheeks were starting to dry and my eyes were probably all puffy and my makeup all smudged, but it didn’t matter to me.
“What are you doing here?” I muttered, staring aimlessly at the pattern on my uniform skirt.
“I saw the mirror in the bathroom, and I tracked you down in history to make sure you were ok, except you weren’t there,” she said in the same soft, almost caring voice.
She tucked her skirt beneath her thighs as she took a seat on the bleachers beside me for whatever reason.
“Emery honey,” she said, placing a hand on my shoulder which I shrugged off quickly.
Honey? Only Nina called me honey, and I liked it because I knew she wasn’t half-assing it.
I started to calm down. The sadness and self-pity had subsided, leaving nothing but fury in its place. Ms. T exhaled and I prepared for her to leave, or to ask that I go to the guidance counselor or something.
“The girls at this school can be complete bitches,” she stated sourly, and my jaw dropped as I stared at her hands. I couldn’t look her in her perfect face, but I managed to look at her perfect, small hands. Her nails were painted hot pink, and cut at a fair length. Not long enough for claws, but not short enough to be ugly.
“Yes, they can,” I murmured, “And they are.”
“You don’t deserve this kind of treatment, Emery,” she said solemnly, “You and I both know that. The staff and anyone else who isn’t completely senseless can see that.”
The staff? New tears formed.
“That doesn’t change the fact that I’m getting it anyway,” I muttered, water threatening to spill from my eyes again.
“I know, but it’s high school. Everyone at one point or another gets talked about. You have to move on and let them talk.”
“Just let them talk?” I asked incredulously, glaring into her bright blue eyes which were lively as ever. “Are you aware of how hard that is? It’s easy for you to talk, but having everyone talk about you, judging you and writing those vile words all over the bathroom – that’s not something I can just shrug off Ms. Tibble.”
“Why do you think I dress like this?!” she laughed as she gestured to her short skirt and her tight dress shirt. She laughed.
I gave her a quizzical look.
“I try to take the attention from the other students, by dressing like this,” she explained, “You’d be surprised how many rumors end up back in the lounge by the end of the day about me,” she smirked.
I stared at her disbelievingly again. She’s seriously insane…
“Well your brilliant plan couldn’t help me,” I scowled. “In fact, this all started because of your stupid Tapeline of Truth game.”
She looked at me, the smirk gone from her face. It looked as if her eyes grew gray and hazy, clouded with something that resembled remorse.
“I’m so sorry, Emery,” she said softly, “I really am. I thought a smart, beautiful girl like you would have a steady boyfriend by now.”
“Nope,” I smirked, “Not even close. The guys at this school are repulsive.”
“Repulsive? I don’t know about you, I think they’re rather adorable.” She tried to hide her smile.
“Snakes are only adorable until they bite you and poison you,” I muttered, “Then the venom destroys your tissue and you suffer because you got too close.”
“Are you always this deep?” she asked all of a sudden.
I don’t know how I managed it, or where it came from, but the look on Ms. T’s face was priceless. I laughed.
“No, I just wanted to ruin your image of men,” I admitted.
“You can’t ruin the image of Fox Evans,” she smiled, nudging me.
My spirit, short-lived, died when his name escaped her lips. My smile had a heart attack and its flat-lined on the spot.
“In my case, you can,” I growled. “He’s the reason everyone’s talking about me.”
“What? I thought that was my fault…?”
“No, spreading my virgin states was your fault,” I smirked, “But being a whore was his.”
“Oh,” she nodded. “Wait – but, you’re not a whore. Are you?”
“No, Ms. T,” I told her, “Stay with me here.”
“Emery, Emery, Emery…” she sighed, “This will all work out. But I’m sure Fox didn’t mean for the gossip to start.”
“No, he probably didn’t,” I shrugged tearing up again. “But that’s the thing about Fox. He doesn’t think, at all, about what he’s doing and how it’ll affect others.”
“Ohh, harsh,” she whistled. Ms. Tibble is way too young for this job.
“Bastard deserves it,” I muttered under my breath. Then I looked up to see if she would scold me for the language. She only smiled and shrugged.
“I’m not Mrs. Sawyer,” she laughed, “Relax, hon.”
I didn’t cringe as she added that last part. I think Ms. Tibble and I just… bonded.
“Things will all blow-” she cleared her throat, “Um, pass. Soon,” she assured me with a pat on the back.
I laughed, wiping any stray tear trails from my face. “You know, I never would’ve caught on to that if you hadn’t paused. I’m not as perverted and corrupt as other teenagers,” I laughed.
“Sorry,” she said sheepishly.
We both got up, and I ran a hand through my hair as I swung my backpack over my shoulder and headed for the bathroom to fix the disaster on my face. We walked through the empty hallways, a good four minutes before lunch.
“Hey, Em?” she called.
I turned around and walked back over to her. “Hmm?”
“Thank you,” I chuckled awkwardly, feeling guilty for hating her and judging her.
“Anytime, Emery,” she replied, releasing me and sending me off into the direction of the bathroom, “See you in health!”
I nodded and held my breath as I walked back into the dreadful bathroom. I exhaled when I glanced at the mirror, now clean and sparkling.
I fixed my face real quick, wiping away the smudged makeup and reapplying mascara.
I can do this… I can last the day. Such a mantra I repeated over and over.
Oh, who was I kidding? All that ‘The Little Engine That Could’ bullshit, pshh. I wasn’t climbing a hill; I was dealing with high school. That was like… trying to climb a mountain, with no trails or guiding bright colors or beautiful scenery. Just snow, and ice, and wind, and jagged rocks at the bottom, which was where I was about to slip at any minute.
You can’t write a cute little book about that. You can only write a check to a therapist.
I found Lily at our regular table and practically ran over to her, taking a seat and acting as if nothing was wrong. She acted too, God bless her soul. She smiled and offered to split her lunch with me, seeing as I was too scared to go up and get something.
***
.FOX POV.
I stared at Emery from across the cafeteria. She was pale white but her cheeks were pink. They didn’t look normal; she wasn’t doing the whole blushing thing. No – they were more… pink and blotchy. Holly looked like that every Sunday after she finished wailing about how we wouldn’t go see ‘Emmy’ at the Daycare.
I concluded that she’d been crying, a lot. And she’d skipped history, which I had to admit, I was seriously in shock about. That was so un-Emery. And it was so unlike me, too, because I actually paid attention. The only reason I lived through that grueling 45 minutes was because we had a quiz coming up and Emery hated me, so I doubt she’d be tutoring me anymore.
“You guys should have seen what we did this morning,” Teresa bragged and all eyes turned to her, including mine.
“Tell them, Trisha,” she squealed, and her pet took stage.
“We had experimented with a little Arts n’ Crafts,” Trish smiled wickedly, flashing her yellow teeth.
Crest whitening strips, anyone?
“In the bathroom!” Teresa interrupted.
“Cool…” Nick nodded humoring them as he rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, and Emery actually cried when she saw it,” Trisha laughed. My brain went off like an alarm clock.
“What?” I asked, and they flashed me a pleased grin. Shit, now I’d have to beg them for details.
“We just wrote some stuff on the mirrors,” Teresa shrugged nonchalantly.
“What stuff?” I almost growled.
“Stuff we thought,” Trisha paused, examining her claws, “the whore should know.”
I shoved my tray of food in their direction on impulse, and they squealed as the contents threatened to spill on them.
Nick actually looked interested, for the first time in months, as I stepped onto the rectangular table and scanned the cafeteria. Half the faces were already looking at me; it was just a matter of getting them to shut up.
“Hey!” I yelled, making sure I was loud enough, “SHUT THE HELL UP!”
They all quieted down in an instant, and I locked eyes with Emery for a few seconds before continuing.
“Damn,” I whistled, surprised they listened.
“So, as most of you know,” I started loud and clear, “We have a new student this year.”
Most of the faces turned to look at Emery, whose face was as bright as a fire truck. Even from this distance I could tell.
“Instead of you being nice to her, or completely ignoring her, you won’t freakin’ shut up about ‘er,” I stated. “It’s none of your business whether she’s a virgin or not, whether she wants to be a nun or whether she’s had tons of guys in her bed-” I stopped when I realized I was only making it worse.
Exhaling I began again, “Well, she doesn’t want to be a nun, and she’s no whore. So just because stuff is going around, doesn’t mean it’s true. You people need to shut your mouths and focus on your own problems, it’s pathetic,” I concluded.
The guys at the table sneered, and I flashed them a glare.
I figured they got the point, and Nick got up and extended his hand to me, as if I needed assistance getting off the table.
“Asshole,” I smirked, placing my hands on his head and jumping over him, as if he were a hurdle.
“Teresa, no more ‘Arts n’ Crafts’,” I scowled.
“We’ll see about that, Fox,” she smirked.
“Unless you wanna decorate the bathroom on your own behalf, you’ll shut the hell up,” I assured her.
God, why did I ever sleep with her?
“Fox, please follow me,” a high-pitched voice said, and I turned to find Ms. Tibble strutting past me and out of the cafeteria.
I followed her, expecting a detention or two because of the remarks I’d made.
If this didn’t make Emery happy, I didn’t know what the hell would.
We walked until she decided we were far enough from the cafeteria, and then she spun around on her heels.
“Mr. Evans,” she said, trying to imitate Mrs. Sawyer. She and I both knew she couldn’t pull it off.
“I’ll be brief,” she sighed, “I should be giving you a detention – a Saturday detention, if anything.”
I nodded, rolling my eyes.
“But I won’t,” she said, and I eyed her curiously, “Because Emery really needed that. People listen to you, so you’re off the hook… this time.”
“Cool,” I nodded, a little confused, but if she was letting me off the hook I didn’t want to risk her taking it back.
I turned and headed back to the cafe, but she called after me.
“And I’m sure she’d give you a chance,” she said smiling knowingly, “That was really sweet of you.”
What the... she thought that I – no. Hell no. Me and Emery?
I strolled back into the cafeteria, where everyone watched me head for my table. But as I did so, I looked at Emery, who was still a little red in the face.
She stared at me, with something that resembled a smile.
I tore my eyes away from her, and focused on the death glares Teresa and Justin were sending me.
“Suck it up, bitches,” I muttered as I took my seat across from Nick.
I guess I paid attention in history today for nothing. God, Mondays suck.
White is for Virgins Page 12
