by K. L Hart
“See you later, Railey!” Emma says as she runs off a smile on her face.
“How can I help you?” The Admin woman asks as she looks me up and down,
“I'm new, my names Railey Barnes.”
“Ahh, yes we have been expecting you.” She ruffles through some paperwork and then places a clear folder in front of me, “There you are! In there is a map of the school, your class itinerary, your welcome booklet and your swipe card.”
“Swipe card?”
“You need to swipe it when you enter the school and when you enter and leave your classes, this saves the teachers doing registration. If you look on the door frame to your first class you will see a little black box, swipe you card on there and a green light will flash when it is accepted.” The woman smiles, I pick my jaw off the floor, fucking swipe cards to replace registration which takes five minutes, talk about throwing money around!
“Thanks.” I say finally. I fish out my class schedule and the map and leave the office my head in the paper while I try and navigate myself to English lit. I spin the map around making sure I have it the right way then start walking, glancing over the pages every now and again. I burrow my eyebrows as I concentrate on the map, then I crash into someone’s rock hard back!
“Sorry!” I mumble as I bend down to pick the map, I just dropped off the floor, I grab it and stand, the guy I walked into slowly turns around to face me. He is pissed, his muscled jaw ticks with irritation and his stormy grey eyes are narrowed at me.
“Watch where you're going, new girl!” he snarls and I get defensive.
“I apologized, no need to be shitty, how about you point me in the direction of class 207 and ill refrain from accidently bumping into people.” He narrows his eyes at me, leans in and whispers in my ear,
“You should learn, your way around this school and the people in it, very quickly or you might find yourself in a situation you can't find your way out of!” He leans back slightly and now he is closer I have to tilt my head right back to look in his face, he is one tall mother fucker, even with heels on my eyeline is at his chin.
“Room 207?” I ask again, he points down the hall,
“On the right-hand side. Oh, and be careful, wouldn’t want anything to happen to that pretty face.” The guy snickers and so do the girls all hanging around him. His threat shouldn’t hold any weight but for some reason it does, I feel a shiver of cold run down my spine at his words, so I shrug it off and flip him off as I move down the hallway.
Chapter Four
“Hey Railey, over here!” Emma shouts over the noise of the cafeteria, I spot her and the other girls from the home sat on one of the edge tables and take my tray and join them.
“How's your first day been?” Emma asks and I shrug,
“Boring, I did manage to walk head first into one of the biggest guys I've seen, this morning, that was interesting.”
“Who?” Jules asks her eyes narrowing, I look around the cafeteria, but I don’t see him,
“I'll point him out if he comes in.” We all eat our food and I smile at Emma who chats away, not a care in the world.
“I can see why you protect her; you ever need any help in that department, find me, at least one of us can stay innocent.” I whisper to Jules and she nods, smiling at Emma too.
“Railey, can you show me how you do your eyeliner? It looks so cool!” Emma asks and I nod,
“Sure, but we will go for a more subtle wing with your pretty face.”
“New girl, bump into anyone else this morning?” A shadow forms over me and my food and I turn on the bench to face him, I lean my elbows and look up at the guy.
“No, some really nice guy pointed me in the right direction and all my navigation issues were solved.” I say sarcastically, the corner of his mouth twitches as if he is holding back a small smile.
“Your right, she is pretty!” Another guy says as he comes to stand by the first guys side, he is not as tall but he most definitely makes up with it from pure muscle,
“And feisty,” another guy comes over, this one is skinnier but still has more muscle than fucking god, this one has glasses and he is busy tapping on his phone, only glancing up every now and again.
“Should be fun to play with!” yet another fucking hot guy comes into view, this one winks at me and I suddenly feel hot. I look around, hoping the whole group is here now and I don’t see anyone else so I turn back to the first guy.
“Been talking about me, must have made quite an impression earlier!” I say and the guy smiles a nasty evil kind of smile.
“Oh, you certainly did, but that’s not a good thing, sweetheart!”
“Look, as nice as, whatever this is, is, I really don’t have time for idol chit chat, so if you want something can you get along with it already?” I say and the girl's gasp. I look over my shoulder too see the pure shock and terror on their faces. That should have been my warning to stop but of course I don’t, I turn back to the guys.
“Oh, she will definitely be fun to play with, maybe we should start the games now.” The one who winked at me says,
“Why don’t you run along and find some prissy little princess to play with, I'm sure she would be more accommodating to four dickheads!”
“Let the girl finish her lunch, her friends can explain the rules around here and then the free for all can begin!” The guy with glasses states as his tapping on the screen phone gets more furious.
“You enjoy your lunch, let's see how confident you are by the end of the day!” The first guy says and then they all walk off, I spin around on the bench again and shoot a look to Jules who shrugs, I look over to Emma who looks mortified.
“What the fuck is happening?” I ask
“They are the Knights, and they have just declared to make your life a living hell!” Lisa says,
“The tall one is Rick, the one with glasses is Oliver, the one with the huge muscles is Harv, and the one that is so excited to play with you is Tyler, they make up the Knights, their dad run this town and so do they!” Jules states,
“What has that got to do with me?”
“They sometimes get bored, when they do, they find someone to mess with, looks like you’re the target!” Katie answers,
“So, what's the worst they can do?”
“It’s not them that mess with you, it’s the whole school, everyone does what they say and everyone tries to please them, even the teachers.” Lisa replies.
“You're kidding, right? You're telling me after lunch, I'm being targeted by the whole student body and teachers are what? Ignoring it?” They all nod.
“Well fuck that and fuck them, mess with me all they like, they won't fucking win!”
As soon as I leave the cafeteria, what the girls told me proved to be true, I walked to class and the student body shouted every name under the sun at me, I was shoved twice and I managed to avoid being tripped a few times but I made it to class anyway, fucking history. I grab a desk at the back and watch as the other students throw dirty looks my way when they enter the class, I hear the whispers and ignore the looks, and pray this don’t escalate, this I can deal with.
It’s the start of a new week at school, last week nothing major happened, the shoving and name calling got easy enough by day two, classic bullying shit happened all week but I gritted my teeth and got on with it. When I walk into the main hallway of school, I immediately notice all the lockers and walls covered in posters, posters that has a naked woman on but she has my face! The poster reads ‘Railey Barnes, in business! I'll get you off for a small fee.’ I feel the rage take over and I have to remind myself to breathe, I can get through this, I can keep my cool and handle this, I really don’t want to be kicked out of here and sent to another perv! So, I act calm as I walk towards my locker, dodging hands trying to grab me and ignoring cat calls. I'm shoving my stuff in my locker when a group of girls surround me,
“Can I help you?” I ask,
“Bitch!” one grabs my hair while the other punche
s me in the face, I go to fight back but think of how much worse my situation could be, I think of the homes I have lived in before and where I am now and just shove them off. As much as I'm aching to fight, how much I need to fight, I stop myself for the first time in a long time I go against my basic instinct and walk the fuck away!
Chapter Five
Another few days go by and the bullying has dramatically escalated, I have a black eye and a swollen lip from yesterday's attacks and now the boys are joining in the physical stuff too. I'm on edge as I head to the cafeteria, this morning has been easy, just a few shoves and name calling, they are gearing up for something big I can feel it. My arm is tugged and I pull it away spinning around, my eyes and posture soften when I see Emma,
“Railey, don’t go in there!” she says, she looks so scared.
“Why?” I ask,
“They’re planning something and it’s happening in the cafeteria, please don’t go in there!” she pleads and I shake my head,
“Sorry Emma, but I have too, I can't let them win like that,” Emma lets out a sob, “Emma everything will be fine, you go to your next class, I don’t want you to see this.” she nods, tears falling from her eyes but she does as I say. I fucking knew I had it easy this morning and this is why. I take in a huge breath and stand straighter my head held high, I slam open the Cafeteria doors and everyone turns to me at once, the tables are all pushed to the side and most of the students are sitting on top of them waiting for the show. I walk in and the only noise you can hear are my heeled boots clicking on the floor as I walk. I spot the Knights sitting around their table on the dais at the back of the room and I smile at them, it probably looks fucking nasty but oh well. I stand there for a minute before the girls make their move, only a few at a time barrel towards me and I block most of their punches and shove them back, this goes on for a while. The guys then take over attacking me at full force, I decide to fight back and dirtily too. I dodge and block punches and wait for openings to throw mine, when I do, they land! At first the guys look shocked but then they just come harder, I manage to stay on two feet but their punches are staring to connect and they fucking hurt. I feel the usual red mist descend through me when I fight and I smirk, we go at it me against six or seven guys, I punch like my life depends on it, soon though there's just me and one left, the others backed out when I punched one hard and he’s now unconscious on the floor. This one is a big guy though and it will be tough to beat him but the need to fight is still strong and I smirk, that makes him move, he lunges for me and I don’t dodge it time, he cracks the side of my jaw and my head snaps to the side, he goes in for another punch with his left fist but I do dodge that, I duck under his arm and come back up quickly, I land one punch, two punches, three punches, in quick succession, I can see the cut to his eye and focus on that, he steps back and falters momentarily before coming at me again. I do the same move and land all three punches to the eye that’s cut making it bigger, his eye is starting to swell and his balance is off. I swipe his legs with mine as I crouch and he tumbles to the ground with a hard thud. I straddle him, landing multiple punches until he is Knockout. I stand wiping my fists on my skirt smearing the blood there and looking up to the dais. Every single Knight is on their feet, staring down at me in a mixture of surprise and pure anger. I smile, a sickly-sweet smile and do a courtesy,
“Is that it for today's show? Or do you want a turn?” I raise my eyebrow and nobody responds, I shrug and walk out of the cafeteria, leaving behind a gob smacked student body.
I am high on adrenaline and sated from fighting, finally, so I head out the main doors and head to the side of the school where the dumpsters are, I lean against one and pull out my cigarettes, sparking one up and fully taking a moment to enjoy the nicotine inhaled in my lungs. Fuck me this is what I needed, a proper fucking fight, I feel like all the weight on my shoulders has eased and I can relax for a bit, I know I can't though the Knights will make sure I can't. I have to be on high alert, I have no idea how far these people will go and as much as I can fight, they didn’t attack all at once or try and hold me down, if they did, I wouldn’t have made it out of there with just a few more bruises than I had this morning.
“Hey, Railey?” one of the Knights walk around the dumpster and spots me, it’s the one that likes to wink and always has that sexy smirk on his face, was it Harv or Tyler? I'm not even sure and If I'm honest I don’t give a fuck. I shoot him a ‘why are you here look,’ he ignores it and leans against the dumpster next to me pulling his own cigarette out and lighting it. “So, you fight, huh?”
“No, it's just a natural talent!” I drawl, flicking the end of my smoke into the grass. I move away from the dumpster and start to walk back to school, the dude grabs my arm and pulls me back, he offers me a cigarette but I just cross my arms.
“Temporary truce, take the smoke and hear me out!” I sigh, take the cigarette and go back to leaning on the dumpster, I light up and wait for him to talk.
“I have a proposition for you, we are willing to call off the bounty on your head but you have to come and fight for us in the underground rings.” I snort a laugh,
“Ha, fuck no!”
“Seriously, you’ll be paid and if you win it’s a lot of money.”
“If you had asked me on the first day I came here, I would have said yes, no question, but now after the shit you put me through because you were bored! Yeah, still fuck no! I'm not doing shit for you or your friends ever!”
“Brothers, not friends.”
“Whatever!” I stomp the cigarette into the ground and walk away again.
“We called of the bounty anyway!” He shouts after me, I ignore him.
“Railey!” Emma runs to me when she spots me coming back into the school, she hugs me hard and its weird, no one hugs me and I do not hug other people. I prize her off me and she smiles,
“See told you I wouldn’t let them win!” I wink at her and she chuckles,
“The Knights have called off the bullying and everyone has been warned not to touch you again!” Emma’s look of relief makes me smile; she really is so innocent; she has no idea.
“I have to go clean up and then get to class, but I will see you after school ok.” She nods and I head to the nearest bathroom, there’s a few girls in here but they see me and flee. I shrug it off, I look at my reflection in the mirror, my curls are unruly, my makeup smudged and I have two black eyes now, Fucking brilliant! My face has a few small cuts and I get some tissue and clean them, I sort out my makeup the best I can, I really should bring my makeup with me. I try to flatten my hair but without washing it and putting a load of anti-frizz in it nothing will help, so I use one of the ties around my wrist to put it in a high ponytail. My shirt is untucked and ripped at the bottom, I rip the hanging bit of material off and now I have a crop shirt, I'm going to be in so much trouble with the teachers for this. I leave the girls room and head to class; everyone stares and either looks scared or pissed but not one word is said to me and people move out of my way when I walk. The teacher looks at me up and down but doesn’t say a word, what the fuck is happening, this is more unsettling than the prospect of being bullied every day. I don’t concentrate at all in class and have learnt nothing, I was trying to listen to the whispers and work out the strange looks everyone kept glancing at me but I couldn’t. I walk through the hallway towards Home room, but I spot the Knights gathered around their lockers looking sneaky as fuck. I stand in front of them hand on my hips,
“What the fuck Is going on around this goddamn school?” I ask knowing they will be behind this. They all turn and look at me then, Rick looks me straight in the face, Oliver glances at me then looks at his phone, the other two stare at the skin where my top tore.
“We called off the dogs.” Oliver answers matter of factly,
“Thought you would have been happy about it.” Rick says, his eyes narrowing on me,
“Why?”
“We want you to fight for us, Tyler was meant to have gone
through this with you already.” Rick glares at his brother and he shrugs, ahh, so that one was Tyler so the other one must be Harv.
“He did but I'm sure my answer was no.”
“Fuck no actually.” Tyler adds,
“So why the change of heart, thought you were all bored and needed a play thing to torture!”
“We did but we also need actual students left too, we like someone who fights back, you fight back a little too good. We have to keep order and you being a target is not helping us do that.”
“Hmm, well, I'm still not fighting for you bunch of dickwads!” I state, Ricks jaw ticks in frustration but I stand my ground staring him down,
“Come on Railey! Surely you could do with the cash, by my calculations you have, well, nothing.”
“I could do with the cash but I could also do without having to deal with morons like you every day but alas here we are, I have survived much worse with much less, don’t even worry about it.” I say walking off, fucking pricks, who do they think they are! Telling me I need the fucking money! I could always turn over a few cars, fighting isn't my only option if I need cash. I storm into home room and slump in my seat at the usual place, the back of the class. I must look as pissed as I feel because some of the girls are looking very wearily at me. Tyler walks into the class and instead of sitting in the middle of the room surrounded by a posse of girls he sits at the same desk as me, I roll my eyes and cross my arms.
“Railey, don’t be like that!” He says in mock upset,
“How do you want me to be like the drooling fuckwits over there?” I ask nodding my head to the group of girls who now look like they have just been dumped. Tyler chuckles,
“That would be far too easy!” He winks at me before leaning back in his chair and playing some game on his phone. I get some homework done so I can get just get high later and not have to worry about it, this school is hard, you actually have to study just to maintain an average gpa, nope scratch that I have no dealer! I look at Tyler and contemplate asking him for a dealer's name but I shake my head,
