It's Friday afternoon and I still haven't heard anything. It's nearly been 24 hours since I sent the message.
I'm trying to ignore the nauseous feeling in my stomach but it's proving to be impossible. No matter how hard I try, I just can't focus on anything except the fact that my phone could buzz at any moment.
"What's got into you, Valerie?" asks Mr Mayers, my form teacher, after I fail to confirm my attendance on the register.
"Oh. Sorry, I'm here," I say quickly, ignoring the snickering and giggling that creeps around the room like a Mexican wave.
Mr Mayers sighs before resuming the register. I can tell that he would give anything to go home early today.
On the way to English class, I am so preoccupied by my thoughts that I don't see Sydney and her friends walking down the corridor until they are inches away from my face.
"How's it going, loser?" sneers Sydney, her teeth whiter than ever in the artificial light.
"I'm actually doing really well," I smile insincerely. "How are you?"
Her friends look baffled and slightly disgusted, as if I have somehow committed a criminal offence by asking her a question.
"You're so weird," says Meg, pushing her brown bangs away from her eyes.
"Oh, I know," I say. "And you know what you are?"
"Fuck off, freak," says Sydney, grabbing Meg by the wrist and starting to walk away. Her friends look at me over their shoulders, faces plastered with fake smiles, mockery and maybe a trace of disbelief.
I can feel the anger rise up inside me like flames. How dare they treat me like dirt. How dare they put me down, day after day, and delight in my suffering as if I'm nothing more than some sort of sick experiment. I don't know how, or why, I put up with all of this for so long, but I'm not going to take it anymore.
"You know what?" I shout after them. "You can call me a loser. You can say all these cruel things to me, day in, day out. But you're not seeing the bigger picture, are you? All you care about is being popular and pretty and getting boys to like you. But the last part didn't work out for you, did it Sydney?"
They stop for a second, frozen on the spot. Slowly, their heads turn.
Sydney's mouth is wide open, like that of a dying fish. Her eyes are filled with an anger so hot and incandescent that I swear I'm going to burn alive.
But I don't care. I'm not going to back down yet.
"Yeah, you heard me right," I say, walking towards Sydney so that there are just a few inches between our faces. "How you're feeling now? That's how you make me feel every damn day. Maybe, if work on your personality - which is pretty awful, by the way - the next boy will stick around a little longer. You never know."
The corridor is silent. Sydney has turned bright red - from anger or embarrassment, I can't tell.
Her friends don't say anything for a few moments. They just stare at me, dumbfounded, as if I have just announced that I have murdered someone.
"Never, ever bother me again," I say, before turning on my heel.
The corridor is so silent you could hear a feather drop. A couple of lower school students have gathered to watch the drama. I ignore them and keep my eyes on the floor until I reach E block.
By the time I reach English class, I am shaking and covered in sweat. My heart hasn't beat this quickly since I ran the 100 meter sprint in year 10 PE.
"Valerie, are you alright?" asks Mr Parsons. "You look quite ill."
"I'm fine!" I say, panting. "Just didn't want to be late."
"Hmm," he says." He doesn't look convinced, and I can't blame him. I am five minutes early, and there are only two other students in the classroom.
Mr Parsons starts the lesson by writing on the board. He always does this, and it really doesn't help his reputation. Whenever anyone complains, he just looks at them with a blank expression and tells them that being early is a habit they need to learn if they want to get anywhere in the real world.
As a consequence, he is one of the most hated teachers in the school. I quite like him, though. His disregard for time is annoying, but he's one of the best teachers I've ever had.
As I am writing the title for the lesson, Paradise Lost: Book X, my phone buzzes.
I sneak a glance under my desk.
My stomach flips. It's Jude.
Wanna meet at the park tomorrow afternoon?
YOU ARE READING
One More Thing
RomanceValerie's world is turned upside down when she learns that her father is dating the mother of Sydney, the meanest girl in the school. However, things get 10 times worse when Sydney and her mother move in with them. Valerie feels like there is no esc...
