I exit the male’s changing room; my mind endeavoring to contain the frustration brimming inside of me. Out of the blue, I see a leg being stuck out from behind a wall. I wasn’t swift enough to dodge and thus I trip over it; bumping the side of my hip against the cold marble floors in the fallout. I slant my head up in search of the bastard who had deliberately tripped me over. It turns out to be none other than Aubrielle; the school’s controversy powerhouse. She has a creepy grin smudged across her face and a terrorizing stare that shoots daggers into my back. Her naturally conceited face looks as if she wants to slay me in my living state.
            Yet what she does next is rather surprising—she offers me a hand. I give her a look of skepticism. I have way too many doubts that question her generosity, because for her to be sincerely kind with people is very seldom if not impossible. Again, why am I even overthinking such a trivial matter? I quickly ward off all of my dubiety and reach one hand out to grab the hand she’s offered. Needless to say, my assumption toward Aubrielle has proved right. Just as I reach out, she jerks her hand away. The abrupt movement makes me fall back over to the ground.
            ‘Do you seriously think I was going to help you up?’ She queries repulsively in an obnoxious slur, chewing bubblegum in her mouth. The noise she makes by each munch of that pink gum is extremely unpleasant. If we weren’t at school, I would’ve snipped her tongue off. ‘Who would want to touch your tarnished hands anyone? You represent the perfect habitat for salmonella.’ She affronts again; flipping strands of her artificial blue hair behind her shoulder.
            In defense of myself, I quickly jolt up on my feet with a witty smirk curved upon my lips. I seize her wrist and punctually rub her impossibly smooth hand against mine. ‘Then, have a feel of my salmonella-infested hand, bitch.’ I say harshly. I bet she didn’t see that coming. I’m very proud of myself. I can sense her quivering in distaste once I finally finish ruining her perfect hands. Then I inch myself closer to her and swat my palm across her cheek; letting her have a share of the salmonella. She looks taken aback for a moment, but fails to respond with another threat of hers. Perhaps it’s because her infamous social group isn’t present to have her back. I admit that that was quite ill-mannered of me to do but she was the one who started it. I have all rights to finish it. Not all geeks are timid and awkward. Some may actually be pretty brutal and punch you straight in the face when they feel like it.

            I arrive home in a completely dreary mood. Lately I’ve been getting home with a frown plastered on my face; in fact, it’s becoming a customary ritual of mine. That’s no good, taking into account the fact that I haven’t even enrolled in university and am already beginning to hate life and its many facets. I halt by the bathroom and peek in. It appears that the window is still wrecked. Who am I kidding? Of course it is. Why would I even presume that a non-living piece could repair itself overnight? The base of the window frame is bestrewn with tiny microscopic fragments of thin glass that was left from the incident whereas the large shards had been taken care of in prior. Despite my sluggishness, I still proceed to clean the mess up. Mishaps may happen, and they’re best prevented. I don’t look forth to cutting a toe off due to those almost indiscernible fragments of glass.
            As for the hole on the window, I decide to cover it with masking tape for the time being. I do acknowledge how masking tape is not the best alternative especially to screen a damaged window, but at least it’s sufficient and cheap. By the time I finish, I hear the front door bell go off.
            Anticipating for it to be dad, I quickly sprint downstairs to check. Unfortunately for me, it appears to be none other than Dee. I open the door and welcome her inside, in the honorable type of way the Queen of England is usually welcomed. Yes, Dee demands to be served faithfully like a Royalty by me as if I were her maid. Sadly, Dad can hardly do anything in regards of that. From a third point of perspective, it appears that he’s constantly being held captive in a stupor by her mesmerizing presence. He’s possibly falling deeper and deeper for Dee overtime. Even adults make unwise decisions and do irrational things when it comes to love—even a bold man like dad.
            ‘Dee...! What can you possibly need at a time like this?’ I ask, faking my enthusiasm.
            ‘Is your dad home?’ She queries, staring at me strangely. I return her a dubious look. Last week, she asked me whether dad was home and the week preceding that she asked the same question also.
            ‘Geez, that’s literally the third time you asked me that. No, he’s not home and he won’t be until a few more hours!’ I say, emphasizing my words as I cling onto the door.
            ‘What time? Precisely.’ she asks again.
            ‘Eight o’clock in the evening on regular Mondays I suppose? Why?’ I ask, raising a suspicious eyebrow at her.
            ‘What’s wrong with being concerned!?’ She snaps, suddenly being defensive.
            I look at her in disbelief. There’s really nothing wrong with being wholeheartedly concerned, but specifically for Dee, it is. She’s never usually worried about anything but luxury and expensive things, therefore the fact that she claims to be genuinely concerned about a person is rather unbelievable. You see, I’m beginning to overthink again. Nevertheless, I opt to shrug the idea off with a sigh, ‘Anything else that you need?’ I mumble in a tedious voice. She shakes her head then eventually leaves moments after; scarcely bothering to mention a single bye. I shut the door and prance around in pride upon her leaving. The witch is out, finally! Yet I stop my little joyous dance when my phone suddenly vibrates on my thigh, startling me. I glance at the caller ID and it’s indeed Howard.
            How’d he acquire my number? I’m not answering him regardless. He seems very desperate to reach me. He’s delivered a long apologetic paragraph to simply apologize to me through every single one of my social media accounts. I roll my eyes upon his hopeless attempt and turn my phone off instead to shut him up completely. Afterwards, I slam myself on the bed in exhaustion and opted to simply nap everything off. It has been a long day and the idea of death doesn’t seem terrifying as of now.
            The thought of Howard had been haunting me throughout my sleep. He has got me utterly confused, which is not a preferred emotion. I hate being confused. I have all sorts of combined feelings towards him; dominated mostly by vex but there’s also a little part of me that cares and feels sympathy toward him. It’s clear I have to resolve this problem with him. Feuding with him is seriously tugging on my last strings of sanity and I can’t possibly bear with that. I seldom feel this way toward people. And yet here I am, feeling absolutely troubled because of this child.
           

            When I arrive to school the following day, I’m instantly greeted by my name on the front page of the school papers. How terrific!? Yet it’s actually pretty imminent to say the least. Everyone saw this coming. As I was striding through the halls and minding my own business, Aubrielle shows up in front of my face all of a sudden. This time she brought along her lethal colony of friends. I gulp down a clot of saliva down my throat. Something horrid is going to go down. Aubrielle must be a very likeable piece of rubbish, because among her massive group of followers is Camryn. Camryn is one of the cleverest pupils in Woodcreek High. In fact, she takes part in the student council. She is renowned around here for the very elaborate speeches she formulates and performs. The girl is a powerhouse! Camryn doesn’t usually befriend school sluts and thus her decision to befriend Aubrielle is quite intriguing. Aubrielle is probably going to utilize the girl to help defend her ass in front of the board of teachers when she gets herself involved in another infamous quarrel. As she gets to me, Camryn immediately drags me inside the janitor’s closet; lugging me by my hair. ‘Ow!’ I squeal in pain, as she shoves me onto the wall. Will this lunatic even dare to sacrifice her reputation by assaulting me?
            Aubrielle enters the room next and approaches me in her usual confident gait. Being the daring and stupid baboon I am, I decide to mock her to try and get me out of this; with a lick of sarcasm, of course. ‘Hey Aubrielle, are you scared of me?’ I mock with a slight chuckle. With an agitated expression, she steps forward to face me.
            ‘What did you say, rat!?’ By now, her furious face is only inches away from mine.
            ‘Why’d you bring them over? Is it because you know you’re too weedy to confront a geek all on your own?’ I insult with a smirk, my eyes motioning to her troop of girls.
            ‘You wish!’
            ‘It looks like the Queen Bee isn’t so powerful after all! If it isn’t for the pathetic fan boys who kiss her stinky feet, she would just be another unknown identity’
            ‘At least people fancy me! And you?’ She scoffs.
            ‘I have true friends who have my back at all times, whereas you offer fame and money for a friendship—scratch that, a perverted follower. You’re that afraid of me, huh?’ I smirk devilishly.
            ‘Why would I be afraid of someone who barely exists? If my girls are the reason you think likewise, I suggest that you think again.’ She asserts self-assuredly as she steps back to discuss something with the two girls at her back. Their chatter took minutes to finish. Eventually, I see the other two girls nod in skepticism and before exiting the room. Now, there’s only the two of us left here to brawl it out.
            ‘What do you want? Bring it on.’ I contest in coolness. She nears me and brings up her palm. Through the milliseconds, I watch as it swings and hits me right across the cheek. In effect, I collapse to the ground.
            She bends over with a wicked expression, ‘Sorry not sorry.’ She spats. Not accepting defeat, I immediately jolt up to my feet and ram her against the wall. ‘Don’t be pathetic. Without those heels, you’re a midget compared to me’ I warn, still holding her body up against the wall by her collar. She returns me another smirk. A smirk so intimidating that it makes me want to smash her jaw out of place. But instead of doing so, I simply free her from my grip. I’m not looking forth to getting my school record tarnished with savage behavior. Additionally, two wrongs don’t make it right.
            ‘Do you actually believe I tripped you without purpose yesterday?’ She asks in between breaths; her body spread over the ground.
            I raise one eyebrow at her. ‘My only belief is that you’re a repulsive devil who aims to destroy the lives of the innocent.’ I reply, scoffing internally.
            ‘Excuse me? Ashy, I know what you did and where you’d gone yesterday! I knew what you did in the male’s changing room. You do know that you don’t have a chance with Howard right? He’s never going to go for a pitiful girl like you. Listen, I’m his best friend. I would know.’ She smirks, gradually picking herself up from the floors.
            The moment she said that, thousands of thoughts discharged into my head. How did she figure? Did Howard tell her? ‘Why are you accusing me?! I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ I exclaim in a wary voice.
            ‘Oh come on liar, be frank already. Just tell me your motives! Your secret’s safe with me.’ She slurs, trying to extract as much truth from me as possible.
            ‘I don’t have anything to do with this Howard boy you’d spoken of’ I defend.
            ‘Really?’ she sniggers.
            I cuss under my breath. ‘Look, don’t get me wrong. It was a mere accident! I never intended for that to happen! The male restroom incident was thoroughly an accident?’ I persist to lie, trying my absolute best to persuade her.
            She rolls her eyes, flicking strands of hair behind her shoulder. ‘Do you really think I’m that foolish to be unaware? What an impossible coincidence.’ She teases.
            ‘How can you ascertain the truth?’
            She inches closer towards me and leans closer to my ear; whispering, ‘Didn’t you notice how you smelled like a certain someone?’