For Her Undamaged (GirlxGirl)

5. Shutdown Once

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Bailey's POV:

I kept my eyes out for Skylar although I don't exactly what she looks like besides her hair which sounds weird, in my defense, we've only really just briefly looked at each other so I'm going off a limp with her hair and I guess her style of clothing and come to think of it, our styles are quite different it's almost like that video of Bowser walking with Kirby, her style is very Bowser and mine is very Kirby. It's almost the end of the day and I still haven't seen her at all, Carmen told me to give up but I'm not going to give up, I see hundreds of other student's faces and I see their faces multiple times during the school day, how come I can't find Skylar's.

"I shouldn't have given you her name." I hear Carmen say beside me as we stand in the common area waiting for the bell to ring indicating that it's time to go home, "Why not?" I didn't look at her just scanning the other faces in the vicinity. "Because I didn't know you were trying to go all rogue and was actually being serious about it, she's bad news Bailey." I feel her hold my shoulders. "What makes you think she's bad news, not every rebel is that bad of a person, she's not a serial killer or anything." I tell her trying to reason, "Yeah she's maybe not a serial killer but she's hiding something." She tells me and I spot the familiar hair in my peripheral vision.

"We all hide something, Carmen, everyone has secrets, and look there she is. I'm going to introduce myself." I walk away from her focusing on the girl, who just manages to peek over the crowd, I wonder how tall she is? Probabaly not that taller than me, I manage to get into a more open spot and I see her walking closer so I stepped in front of her and she looks up from her phone. She was wearing baggy black jeans with rips at the knees with a white Doc Martins that look really expensive and black hoodie with angry white lettering that says 'Paranoia', shiny silver rings on her fingers that's holding her phone, her other hand is shoved very deep in the jean pocket and a red beanie. She must really love beanies.

"Hi." I waved at her and she just stood in front of me, she looks around then back to me, "Hey, who the fuck are you?" She raises an eyebrow, okay the 'fuck' sounded a little rude but I'll let it slide. "I'm Bailey Skeels." I put my hand out for a handshake but she didn't even bat an eye at it only keeping her sight on mine, okay I guess. "You're the blonde girl that cheated on that test right?" She takes out one of her AirPods and my smile drops a little, everyone really does know, but how did word get around? I mean people in my class were hiding their papers from me and some were staring at me as I worked only to turn around if I looked up.

"I didn't cheat." I stated and she nodded, "Cool, didn't take you to be a cheatin' type." She put her earbud back in, what's that supposed to mean? "Yeah, you seem to believe me weirdly enough even though I don't know you." I laugh a little and she still had her straight face on, "But that's beside the point." I cleared my throat "Right okay, Imma get going the bell rang already." She turned on heel and I quickly stepped in front of her again, "I'm sure you have to get somewhere but I have a favor to ask." I hold my hand out that makes contact with the center of her chest, my eyes widen and she rose an eyebrow, I didn't mean to touch her at all.

"I don't do favors, bye Blondie." She moves away walking past me out the double doors and I just stood there. "That was embarrassing." I look to my side seeing Carmen eating a cookie, "I think we had a nice conversation." I admit, "Sure until you touched her." I feel a pat on my back from her and my phone vibrate, "My dad's here I gotta go, I'll try again tomorrow." I start walking and Carmen quickly follows, "Wait you're still going to try after you got practically ignored?" She asks me and I nod, "Yeah, I'm done with this 'good kid' trope I'm living." We make it to the outer gates of the school and I see my dad's truck line up between other cars. "Did you compare your life to a book reference?" She asks in all seriousness, "Uhh yeah you should know this by now and if my life is book then Skylar is the perfect way to get what I want." I shrug.

"I still think that she's hiding something." I walk out of the gates leaving Carmen on the other side, I'm always the first one leaving between the both of us and she's always the first one here. "I wouldn't know what she's hiding if I don't hang out with her and I'm sure that once we start working together she'll open up." Something to add on my mini plan to change who I am. "Mhm sure, get going know before your dad decides to pull his shotgun on me." She quirks her lip, "He's not going to shoot you, he actually likes you so you're gonna be fine." I waved bye walking towards his truck.

I understand where she's coming from though one time he was cleaning his gun on the kitchen table and when he looked through the barrel it pointed at Carmen as we walked to the pantry, she was scared after that. "Hi hun, how was school?" I get asked hopping into the passenger seat, "It was fine. I stayed low although I don't know why because it didn't do anything at all. Everyone's putting up walls around them to keep me away even some of the teachers so actually today sucked a lot." I complained leaning my head against the window, "Oh, well I'm sorry." He patted my shoulder, I don't believe that. "It's fine, what am I suppsoed to do? I didn't cheat." I move my shoulder away and he puts his hand back on the steering wheel.

"It's okay if you did, I'm sure the test was hard there were probably other kids who cheated." He tells me, is he serious right now? So turns out he's not on my side at all. "Dad, I didn't cheat okay just leave it alone." Its' obvious you don't believe me so why even bother trying to make the situation better. "Okay hun." We didn't look at each other or talk to each other for the rest of the ride and I'm okay with it until we get home. My music stopped the second the garage door opened and I internally sighed seeing my mom waiting for us by the door. I hopped out walking over to her and she kissed the side of my head as I went past her, what was that for? Does she believe me now?

"We're having dinner early with a client so we'll be leaving early, I've made chicken salad and it's in the fridge I also bought you humus and carrots along with pita bread so you should be set for the hours that we're gone." I turn around, "You guys are leaving again?" I asked pointing at my parents. "Yes, I know it's last minute but it's a big case and the sooner we get it done the sooner we go somewhere for summer break before you head off to University." I watch the two kiss making me roll my eyes, at least they still love each other. "Actually hun have you chosen yet?" My dad looks at me and I freeze, ahh shit I haven't and graduation is around the corner, well not around the corner more like 4 months away but still it's getting closer. Do I even want to go? I don't know what I'm even going to study one think I know is that I don't want to be a lawyer.

"Uh no I haven't yet, trying to see what other opportunities there are before I make my final decision." I lie, "Remember Notre Dame is always there." They both smile at me, "Yeah I know, I'm gonna go to my room now." I awkwardly walk away up the stairs, now really need to find somewhere to go because they're not going to take 'no college' as an answer.