Ginny and Georgia: The Younger Shadow

Chapter 38- Class Project
"Alright class, put your books away for a second. I have some news for you all." Mr Jensen announced and, curious, I shoved my books into my bag and glanced around the class. In my biology class only Madi and Aria were with me, but we might as well have pretended Kara didn't exist anyway. And I know maybe it didn't seem like I cared, but it hurt my heart every time I saw her in the hallway, and she would give me a dirty look. Where was that giggly, amazing Kara I knew? Buried somewhere, probably. It had been a few weeks since Amaya had told us the news that Jonathan was in Wellsbury, and I had been meaning to set up some kind of meeting, maybe trick him into meeting up with me, but I had been swept under my feet with masses of schoolwork, till my eyes were panda rings, my skin pale, shoulders hunched in every class and my hand hands stung with fresh blisters every lesson. Aria and Madi hadn't been doing too well either. After our disastrous family dinner with Paul and Zion, Ginny had gone to Blue Farm Cafe so her friends could fill her in on Abby and Aria's parents' divorce. But apparently (and this was from Max) Ginny had acted like a saucy bitch, and told Abby her problems were greater, and that Abby acted so self absorbent. Well, she hasn't taken it too well and Abby had slapped Ginny in the middle of their conversation. Everyone was frozen in shock, and Abby slapped herself after and so did Max. But Norah said she didn't want to. And all eyes had been plastered to them, snatching at their every word after that. And to add the cherry to the top of the extremely sour cake, there had come an interview on the Wellsbury news in the cafe that I had been listening to at home with mom and Austin, where Cynthia had said Kristina Nilsson, Norah and Kara's mom, had confided to Cynthia that Georgia was a dangerous, creepy psychopath who kept guns in the same home as her children. And I hadn't the foggiest how Norah even knew that, but all the Mang girls had left the table that evening with mistrust circling around all of them and a wretched feeling in their hearts. Over the course of the next few weeks they made up and now they were eating lunch together. You wouldn't be able to tell anything had happened in the first place. But Kara was a stubborn cow, as Aria had commented. She was angry and unforgiving sometimes, and I never knew how uncomfortable she felt with me finding my dad. I didn't mean to hurt anyone, but it seemed whatever I did, that's what happened.
"Charlie? Charlie!" A rough, grated voice hissed in my ear, wrenching me out of my thoughts. A boy and girl were pulling their chairs up to my table.
"Uh, sorry, but why are you doing that?" I gulped, wanting to curse at myself for not listening to his speech, however much he droned on and on.
"We're working on a group project, and Mr Jensen paired us up with you, sadly." The girl, who I vaguely recognised as Willow Rogers, chewed at her own pen aggressively and fixed me an annoyed look. I returned it and saw the boy, who was Ibrahim Abadi, and he smiled at me, which made me feel a bit better, suffice to say.
"Uh, sorry, I wasn't really- I didn't quite catch what Mr Jensen said. I might've been daydreaming a bit..." Willow scoffed and flung her heavy books onto the table, which made me jump.
"We're doing a Family Tree kind of project. We have to make family tree of our ancestors as far as we know, and hand it in in two weeks." Ibrahim filled me in, but each word he said made me feel more violently sick. I wished I had been paired with Madi and Aria, who were throwing me sympathetic glances and trying to drag their chairs as silently as they could to mine.
"Well, mine will be awfully short." I muttered, and Willow, who gasped in a surprised and mocking way,
"Really? I have so much family members! I can't even count them all, there's tons! So are you not related to your 'sister?'" She pronounced the last word in a slow, mocking drawl and I had to fight the urge to hit her right where it hurt.
"What do you mean? She is my sister." I replied, gripping my pen extremely hard and trying to get my thoughts under control. Because then I would burst.
"Your sister? Oh, that's funny. How can she be your sister, when she doesn't even look like you? Her whole family is probably rotting in jail anyway. And my mom said yours is a whore. Probably a stripper and got mixed up with the wrong sort." I didn't even pause to think as I grabbed her silky dark hair, and pulled as hard as my strength would allow me to. Red hot anger seethed through me and helped me, and all I could hear was Willow's piercing scream. But that didn't stop me. How dare she fucking say that? Racist bitch.
"Miss Miller and Miss Roger, to the Principals Office, now!" A voice bellowed. Aria was staring at me in some new found awe. Madi had her hands to her mouth, and my breath came out jagged and uneven. I stormed out of the classroom, eyes blurring with tears and rage. How was I the one who had to suffer the consequences? It seemed barely a second till I had reached the door. Well, I guess you haven't lived life till you go to the principals office, I thought.