Mud Girl

Faking

After the last few hours of class, William and I had to stay in detention. Apparently a teacher had seen me throw water at him. His friends blamed him and avoided taking responsibility for the consequences, they basically betraying him. He really deserved it. We have to clean up the cafeteria for detention.

"Are you going to clean?" William asked.

Georgia rolled her eyes and stopped writing. She grabbed a rag and started wiping down the tables.

"What do you have against me?" Georgia asked.

"Huh?"

"You made me fall in the mud and put a bucket of water in my locker"

William remained silent.

"That's what I thought, I did absolutely nothing to you and suddenly you and your little group started attacking me" Georgia said.

"Listen, high school is hard, okay? You should get used to it" William replied.

"It would be easier if people didn't attack without reason"

"Well, you did stole my book"

"That was after the mud thing, and it's a very dumb excuse to put a bucket in my locker anyway"

"Well, I'm sorry, we can forget all that now"

"I do not accept your apology"

William looks at her confused.

"Not until you promise not to prank me anymore" Georgia said as she stood up from the floor.

"I'm not going to promise that."

"Why not?"

"It's not your problem."

"Listen to me William" Georgia grabs him by his shirt and pulls his arm up as if she's about to hit him.

"What the hell?"

"I've suffered all my life for idiots like you, but not this time, okay? Promise me you won't mess with me again."

"Fine, I promise, now let go!"

"Thank you" Georgia says as she lets go.

"What's wrong with you? You're crazy!" William yells at her

"I told you I'm tired of people like you."

William sighed and lowered his head, as he leaned against one of the tables.

"You know why I was going to keep bothering you?"

Georgia looked at him confused by his question.

"Because when I entered this school I was like you. That group of kids I call 'friends', they played the same pranks on me that I played on you, and the only way to get them to leave me alone was to turn me into them."

"What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah! I'm sorry for playing those pranks on you."

"So... you tease other kids so that the target doesn't become you?"

"Something like that... You must think I'm an idiot"

"Well, yeah. You shouldn't pretend anything, they aren't worth it".

"I know."

"So... we're good?" Georgia stretched out her arm to William in a sign of peace, but William looked at her strangely, shook his head and continued cleaning, ignoring her.

After that, not another word was heard. Now I know William's truth. Deep down he is not a bad person, he went through the same thing I did and in a way he understood me, and I understood him. It's too late now, he's already gone home and I'm still at school. I am very afraid to go back again. I can't even feel welcome in my own home. Anyway, I should get going.

Georgia put her things away and walked back home. It was already getting dark. When she arrived, none of her cars were parked, her father was probably still at work, but why wasn't her mother at home? The lights in her house were off too. She lifted a rock where the spare key used to be, grabbed it and opened the door, which was locked. She went inside and there was no one there.

"Hello? Anybody home?" Georgia shouted.

Suddenly she turned her head toward the living room. Clarisse was sitting on the sofa, she was looking down.

"Clarisse? Where's mom?" asked Georgia.

Suddenly, tears began to fall from Clarisse's face onto her legs. What had happened?

"Hey, are you crying? Is everything okay?" Georgia asked worriedly as she sat down next to her sister. Clarisse looked up and looked at Georgia, suddenly hugging her tightly.

"Georgia, I need you to be strong" Clarisse said and pulled Georgia away from her.

"What?" Georgia whispered.

"Grandma... She's in the hospital."