by Ivy Blake
“Lucky guess, I suppose,” Sophie shrugged and gestured for me to walk with her to the lunch hall. Students started to fill the hallway as they made their way to lunch too. A few of them looked our way, but I tuned out the looks and any mutterings I heard and focussed on putting one foot in front of the other. “How’s your day been so far?” Sophie’s smile wavered as she glanced sideways at me.
“It’s been a lot,” I sighed. “Everyone seems to have heard about what happened this morning with Austin.”
“Yeah, shit travels really quickly here, especially if it involves those three.” I followed Sophie’s gaze and saw Austin and his two friends sauntering into the lunch hall ahead of everyone else. Luckily their backs were turned, meaning that I was safe, even if it was only for the time being.
“Why?” I whispered to Sophie even though they were out of earshot. It was better to be safe than sorry. Sophie chuckled bitterly.
“They’re from the three richest families around here and as you know, money makes the world go around.” We both picked up a tray and made our way down the line of servers who presented us with an array of hot and chilled food that seemed excessively fancy for a high school. I was slowly, but surely, growing accustomed to the extravagance of my new school. I selected something with pasta that looked really nice and accident-free before following Sophie to a table in the corner by one of the large windows.
“Nate and Austin have been friends since kindergarten, they’re basically brothers.” Sophie subtly gestured to the guy with the floppy blonde hair and sapphire eyes. “Then Ross joined them some point in middle school and they’ve been terrorising us all ever since.” I glanced over at Ross, the one with the buzz cut and cringed as I watched him throw his sandwich at a table of freshman boys sitting opposite them. Ross, Nate and Austin burst into voracious laughter as their victims cried out with annoyance, clearly too afraid to retaliate because they were aware of the possible consequences.
“And the teachers don’t do anything because-“
“Most of their parents are funding the school in some way,” Sophie cut me off before taking a bite of her meal.
“That’s crazy,” I mused as I forced myself to tear my eyes away from Austin and his friends out of fear of getting caught and drawing more attention to myself. “Have you ever like, spoken to them?”
“I’ve been to a few parties with them and been in a couple classes with Ross and Nate, but I can’t say we’re close or anything,” said Sophie with a curious look in her eyes. “The best thing you can probably do for yourself is to stay away from them. They’re unpredictable jackasses, as you’ve seen.”
My eyes landed on Austin once more, and I couldn’t help but watch as he laughed and joked with his friends- even though it was at the expense of others. Now that I wasn’t the butt of the joke it was interesting to watch the sheer pleasure he got out of making others miserable. Surely, there had to be more to him than that?
“All the teasing will die down in like a week,” said Sophie, when I failed to respond. “They’ll find a new target and all the attention will be on them.”
“I hope so,” I said, but deep down I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen when Austin decided that I was no longer worth antagonising and how I would feel about that.
“Anyways, enough about those assholes, tell me about you, Megan!”
I chewed on my food slowly, delaying answering the question I hated most. I hated talking about myself because I felt like I either came across as too pretentious or boring as shit, and now the added pressure of possibly forming a friendship with Sophie was making me even more nervous.
“Erm… I moved here yesterday, we moved because of my mom’s job—”
“We? Do you have siblings?” Sophie asked excitedly.
I swallowed hard. “Yeah, actually. I have a sister.”
“You’ve been really quiet about that!” exclaimed Sophie. “Are you guys close?” before I could answer, I glimpsed Lola’s bag out of the corner of my eye and lo and behold, as if the mere mention of her name had summoned her, I spied my sister making her way towards Austin’s table. I groaned internally as I watched her beckoning two girls- both blonde, super model looking- to follow her as she sat at the table directly opposite Austin, Ross and Nate.
“Is that her?” Sophie had followed my gaze and I couldn’t help but notice a bit of shock taint her features.
“Yup, that’s Lola. We look nothing alike,” I said as I busied myself with the rest of my meal. What the fuck was she doing getting close to Austin like that? Was she doing it to spite me or make a point?
“She’s cute,” said Sophie, “and very confident.” A tinge of jealousy stabbed at my chest. I would have loved to be known as the confident one, but no, Virgin Loser it was for me.
“So urm, you tell me something about yourself?” I said, quickly moving the subject away from Lola who I could see casting flirtatious looks towards Austin’s table as she chatted with her friends and laughed a little louder than necessary. He’s not yours, so why do you care? My conscience taunted me.
“Well, what can I say?” started Sophie, but I was only half listening. “I’m a senior like you, I’m hoping to study Music Philosophy at college next year. I’m the school’s band captain too, but don’t get me wrong, I do love to party- and we have some pretty good ones here.”
“What do you play?” I asked, as I tuned back in, once I realised that Austin wasn’t paying Lola nearly as much attention as she hoped he would.
“What don’t I play?” Sophie chuckled and began listing instruments on her hand. “Piano, violin, guitar, drums, saxophone, clarinet and a bit of cello too. And I sing, of course.”
“Of course,” I echoed, nodding. I was impressed and also a bit envious.
“I wish I could play even half as many instruments as you!”
“Well, why don’t you try? It’s never too late to start!’ said Sophie enthusiastically.
“With the move, I’m not quite sure we can afford it…” I said, even though it was a half-truth. There was no way Mom would let me spend money on music lessons, hobbies weren’t a priority to her.
“Megan, and I mean this, you can literally come to the music rooms with me any time. While I’m not the best teacher, I’m sure I could show you a few things.”
“Really?” I said, bemused.
“Of course!” Sophie beamed at me. I smiled back at her and for that moment I relished in her kindness, something my other peers had denied me of all day.
“I’ll be sure to take you up on that offer soon,” I said.
“Awesome,” said Sophie. “Oh before I forget, and you get lost again, do you want me to take you to your next class after lunch?”
“Yes, please!” we both laughed as we finished our meals. In my peripheral vision I looked up to see Austin leaving the hall out the back door, Nate by his side. Ross lingered behind him and was to my surprise was talking to Lola but I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Ross turned as Austin called his name and him and Lola shared a smile before he followed his friends.
What could that have been about?
Chapter Five
Megan
When my English teacher announced that the school day was over, I’d never felt more relieved. I practically sprinted out the door and towards my car more than ready to step on the gas and get myself back home to safety and comfort. I was glad that Sophie and I had traded numbers at lunch. It seemed that she was interested in being friends outside of her tour guide duties and my loser status at school, which was surprising but I wasn’t going to question it. I waited in the car for Lola, watching the numbers change on the clock. As I prepared myself to call her, a text message flashed on my screen:
I’m going out with friends, so I’m making my own way home. See ya, Virgin ;)
I was annoyed and upset all at the same time. Who the hell was she hanging out with on the first day? Would it be worse if she actually had a group of friends or if she
was spending time with Austin and his friends? Also, the fact that she was now using my new nickname meant that even home wouldn’t be a respite from the bullying at school. Great. And what’s more, Mom was going to wonder why Lola was already settling in and I wasn’t, and there was no way in hell I was going to tell her about everything that was happening with Austin, whatever that was.
I put my most recent playlist on and decided to drive back home, alone. It would have been nice to have someone to vent to, even if it was Lola. As I sat listening to Bon Iver, I realised how likely it was that my senior year was going to be depressing as fuck and had to bite down on my tongue to stop myself from crying. Sure, I had Sophie, but I couldn’t help but feel mad at myself for messing up so badly on the first day. If only I could turn back time and do it all over again, maybe I wouldn’t have brought my fucking book to school.
* * *
I realised how glad I was that both Mom and Lola were out when I got home. An empty house meant no questions, at least for a couple hours and meant that I could decompress in peace. I decided to have another shower, and played my music loudly as I washed my hair with my favourite shampoo and treated myself to Lola’s nice body scrub that I knew she’d kill me for using, but I didn’t give a fuck because I deserved it.
After my shower, I sat in my dressing gown as I looked for something to watch while the Autumn darkness took over the sky. I flinched as I heard something outside my window. Carefully, I walked over to the window and looked out to the front of the house expecting to see Mom or Lola arriving. The street was empty, except from one tall hooded figure standing on the other side of the road. The figure had quite a masculine gait, but the darkness prevented me from making out any of their features. I didn’t know if I was imagining it or not, but it looked like the hooded figure was looking up at my window. I suddenly grew paranoid and ducked down out of site. I held my breath for a few seconds but once I realised that I was being stupid, I stood upright again and the figure was gone, as if they’d vanished into thin air. Weird. But who was I to police when people took their daily walks?
To distract myself from being alone, I put on a show as I prepared dinner for the three of us. I was nearly finished when I heard the keys in the front door and Mom’s voice in the hallway.
“Megan, we’re home!” she called. I lowered the temperature on the stove and went to say hello.
“Hey,” I said, relieved to see Mom’s face, Lola’s less so. Mom held two big grocery bags in her hands and fumbled with them as Lola yawned and covered her mouth with her manicured hand. Ignoring my sister, I rushed to grab the bags from Mom’s hands because I could tell how tired she was from the look on her face and the way that she was walking.
“Lola was just telling me about her day, how was yours?” Mom asked.
“Oh, it was alright, you know- school,” I mumbled as I busied myself with packing the groceries in the fridge.
“Made any friends? Your sister’s just come back from milkshakes, isn’t that right, Lola?” Even though I couldn’t see her as I’d gone back to the kitchen, I could hear how Mom’s voice had lit up.
“Yeah, milkshakes were great,” said Lola as she joined me in the kitchen with a wink.
“Oh yeah, where did you go?” I asked Lola pointedly, “would you recommend?” Lola narrowed her eyes as she set the table.
“I don’t remember the name, it was some independent place. But I know it when I see it, and you should definitely check it out,” she shot back. “Meg, you didn’t tell us- did you make any friends?” Lola’s eyes shimmered with glee as she awaited my embarrassment.
“There’s this girl called Sophie, who’s pretty cool,” I said hotly, taking Lola by surprise. “She said I can come and practice instruments with her anytime,” I said.
“Oh that’s nice,” said Mom as she joined us in the kitchen. “Don’t forget that grades come first though, okay?”
“Yeah, I know, but I want to have fun too,” I said sarcastically, but Mom was too distracted with the cooker to pick up on my tone.
“Mmm,” she said, “you girls ready to eat?”
* * *
Austin
I opened another beer and took a long swig from the can. I’d wanted to spend a couple more hours outside of the house and decided to hang out at Nate’s after school before inevitably having to face Steven.
“What the hell are you doing, pass the controller!” shouted Ross, he always got ridiculously loud when we were gaming and the drinking didn’t help.
“Nope, I like to play rogue,” I chuckled as I held the controller out of his reach. As expected, I made me and Nate’s team lose, but I couldn’t care less. It meant that there’d be a rematch, and a rematch meant more time in my little safety bubble without them getting suspicious.
“How did you guys do on the English test by the way?” I asked, as nonchalantly as I could. Even though I hated to admit it, my failing grade had been at the back of my mind all day. I’d never failed anything before. Scraping passes was what I did and it had always worked. So what had gone wrong this time?
“I got a B,” said Nate smugly.
“A+,” countered Ross as he raised his can above his head. Shit. They usually did better than me, but this was embarrassing. I contemplated lying to them, but what would be the use in that?
“No way did you get an A+,” scoffed Nate. Him and Ross were especially competitive with each other, always battling over the position of ‘the smart one’ even though Ross usually held onto the title without putting in nearly half as much effort as Nate.
“Read it and weep, bitch.” Ross whipped out his phone and showed us a picture of his test result. How lame, I thought to myself, but that didn’t stop me from feeling angry about my own result that I was still yet to reveal.
“What did you get, Austin?” asked Nate, and from his tone I could tell that he was hoping I got the same or worse than him so that he could feel better about being beaten by Ross.
I took a longer sip of my beer, but I couldn’t stall any longer. “I flunked it,” I muttered under my breath. Nate inhaled sharply and Ross burst out laughing.
“You’re kidding, bro!” he exclaimed, not even attempting to hide the gleeful expression on his face. I wanted to punch him, but kept my fists to my side, shaking with anger as I tried to get my words out as evenly as possible- I didn’t want them to know how much this stupid grade had affected me.
“Nope, I got an F,” I spat as I started rolling another joint.
“I thought you studied,” said Nate slowly, a more concerned look on his face. I hated when he looked at me like that, like he pitied me. Like he thought I was beneath him.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said as I took a drag and blew a large cloud of smoke out in front of me. I felt the familiar haze take over my brain and I instantly felt more relaxed. “It is what it is,” I said as I pressed the joint to my lips.
“Why don’t you find a tutor?” asked Ross, and while his question had good intention, his delivery notified me that he still couldn’t believe that I’d fucked up this badly.
“Fuck that shit,” I murmured as I gestured for Nate to start the game again.
“What about college, Austin?” asked Nate. I stared at the screen and refused to engage in conversation. I didn’t want to think about something that suddenly felt so out of my control. Luckily, Ross and Nate picked up on my mood and dropped the subject, instead moving on to talk about what most guys liked to talk about: girls.
“Who was that girl you went home with last night?” asked Nate.
“Do you really expect me to remember her name?” I chuckled as I shot at the enemy team.
“Bro, she was your type on paper.”
