ʍoɹplǝss, ᵇⁱˡˡⁱᵉ ᵉⁱˡⁱˢʰ

009: Humiliation

             Along with Margo, two other girls with distinctive voices resonated off the white walls. One was quiet, yet firm. The other was rough, yet timid. Oddly enough, they complimented each other.

Margo was, at the moment, interrogating the girls I assumed she took hostage.

"Why won't you just tell me? It's so much easier that way." Margo huffed. Her foot tapped against the tiles rhythmically. "Don't be so stubborn."

"Says the girl who won't take no for an answer," said the firm, quiet one. Her voice was familiar— Frankie's, the girl who I would catch staring at me sometimes along with her friend.

"Y-yeah. Leave us alone," said the rough, timid one. Sounded like Frankie's friend. Silence curdled in the air. I knew for a fact that Margo was fuming and about to burst, but she was never the kind to show her true frustration. I, along with Billie, waited with our chests puffed with oxygen to keep as quiet as possible. We would have to strain our stomachs whenever we needed to release.

I can hear her heart palpitations, I thought as my eyes traveled down her cheekbone, landing on her button nose. Up the ridge my pupils journeyed until they met her ocean irises.
At least this is a sign that my body and mind are comfortable near her. Thank goodness.

"Listen, I know you two like to keep your heads low. Out of view from those who keep them high," said Margo, though her tone indicated a different agenda. I wanted to scream out don't trust her!, but something told me they already knew better than I ever did.

"That's why I have an offer," Margo continued. "I can make sure you don't appear on anyone's radar for the rest of the year. Not a cough coming from you will go noticed. But I can only promise that if you tell me what you have on Ambrose."

My heart flickered a deadly beat. Billie's eyes whisked over at mine asking what is she talking about? Obviously, I can't respond and instead perk my ears as close to the door as I can.

"We'll be just fine without your 'protection', Princess Margo. Nothing you can offer will be enough," said Frankie. Though, I knew Margo would not hesitate before fighting back.

"Oh, well that's fine. But just remember,–" Margo's footsteps seemed to inch closer and closer to where Billie and I stood with clamped jaws–"the same way I can make your high school lives effortless, I can make them living hells." Just then, a loud smack shook our door and frightened the trapped breaths out of us.

"Aw, so sad that you two tried so hard to not make a sound. Unfortunately, you forgot that I'm not blind and can see your feet from underneath the door." Margo pounded her fist against the door once more.

My heart rattled in my rib cage uncontrollably. My breathing shallowed and my throat began to sting. Pound after pound thrusted the door, causing it to clatter stridently. We both remained quiet and allowed the deafening noise to shatter our eardrums. Billie's teeth clenched and her palms covered her ears. Her chest heaved unevenly, which only prompted me into a spiral of nausea.

"Oh, is that who I think it is?" Another strike to the door. "The girl who managed to get your bike back? I forget her name." Another strike.

I feel sick.

"Don't tell me you're going for girls now, Rosy. So desperate that no one wants you so now you go for the other weirdos in school?" Batter, thump, strike. A tear streamed down my bitten cheeks. Blood began to trickle between the crevices of my teeth.

"Might spread the news around. Ambrose caught in a stall with a girl! Turns out not even humiliation can stop her from going at it on school grounds." Margo rattled the door ferociously. My heart fragmented at her last sentence. Once it rolled off her tongue, I knew it would be too late for me to hold my sobs backs.