Dead Girl Walking ― Aaron Minyard

16. brutal

all i did was try my best
this the kind of thanks i get?
unrelentlessly upset
― olivia rodrigo

♦

THURSDAY'S MAYHEM HAD NOTHING ON FRIDAY'S. The whole school got decked out overnight with vibrant orange and white streamers. Ribbons and banners hung off every sidewalk lamp. Live student bands took over the amphitheater for short concerns and the student newspaper released that morning gave details for the afternoon parade. Cheerleaders roamed the campus in small packs, flaunting their short skirts and bright smiles and revving up school spirit wherever they could. 

Traffic around campus that day was horrendous as spectators flooded in and settled down for the back-to-back weekend opening home games. None of the Foxes expected to win that night, as they were opening the season against their longtime rivals Breckenridge. Until Edgar Allen made its move, Breckenridge was the largest and first-ranked school in the district. 

Mara caused a disruption everywhere she went. Her Twitter mentions were flooded with diehard Ravens fans ripping her a new one for "betraying her team" and "abandoning her family." Students who knew even a little about college Exy stared at her whenever she was in their line of sight. 

Luckily, she only had one Friday class—her art lecture on color theory. Aaron had a class in the same block in Davis, but Matt tagged along as well, since he had an open block. Mara and Matt weren't exactly friends yet, but she was glad for his presence. She doubted anyone would be stupid enough to mess with her with someone Matt's size standing next to her. 

A silver-lining of the morning was finding out Laurel was in Mara's color theory lecture. Afterward, Laurel invited Mara and Nicky (who'd come to walk her back, since Aaron had back-to-back lectures) to eat lunch with her, which they accepted. Nicky and Laurel quickly found common ground on their love of movies, and began devising a schedule for showing Mara all the classics she was apparently missing out on. 

Afterward, Mara and Nicky walked back to the dorms, since afternoon practice was canceled due to the game. Kevin was napping when they got back (eight-thirty classes definitely didn't agree with him), but Andrew was wide awake, scrolling through his phone. 

As Mara set her bag down by the couch and sat down, Andrew said, "User joelmckee1994 says, 'mara west is the reason girls shouldn't have been allowed to play exy. they have no loyalty. #fuckmarawest.'"

"Does he not remember that Kevin's mother literally invented the sport?" Mara grumbled under her breath. 

"Is that a real hashtag?" Nicky asked, taking out his own phone as he plopped down on a beanbag chair. "That's rude."

"It's trending," Andrew said. 

"Of course it is," Mara said. 

"This one says, 'i didn't know who mara west was until today. still don't care. #ravensflyhigh'."

Mara rolled her eyes. "I'm crushed."

"Jesus, why are there so many death threats?" Nicky asked, scrolling through the hashtag on his own phone. 

"This one seems positive," Andrew said. "'i'm glad mara west joined the foxes. now she won't bring down our king.'"

"Must you read them out loud?" Mara asked. 

"I must," Andrew confirmed. "User rikosleftnipple says—"

"Riko's left what?" 

Andrew ignored the question. "'i can't believe mara would betray riko like this. it's despicable. so much for family. #fuckmarawest'."