The girl next door, - ᴛ.ᴋᴀᴜʟɪᴛᴢ

Chapter thirty.

• ONE STEP CLOSER - LINKIN PARK

»-☠︎︎-+>

☠︎︎ 𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙳𝚈'𝚂 𝙿𝙾𝚅

I walked into school, my hand in my waistband and ice under a tank top I had beneath my jacket for my ribs. It was freezing; fucking freezing. Snowing outside. I had to walk.

I called Nora, but her voicemail kept playing. It wasn't great because it just blasted Rihanna every time she missed your call. It was seriously embarrassing on max volume.

But Perrine, Nora and I all made our voicemails our favourite singers as a joke. But mine was maybe the best, since it was actually just Tom's snoring. He was hungover-- I don't blame him.

That was a while ago anyway.

My eyes flickered to the classroom as I pushed my bag into my locker, pushing my flip phone into the waistband of my jeans before heading in.

There was a relief teacher. She looked at me, almost in a focused way, before quickly fixing her gaze to the board and continuing. Was it the bruises on my face? Who knew.

I walked past Tom's desk, watching his eyes follow me before he just shifted in his seat and turned his head away nonchalantly.

Before taking my seat, I just noticed how people gave me dirty looks and murmured to each other. I let out a short hitch of breath and slowly sat down before I turned my head to look at Bill.

He just smiled and avoided my gaze.

I looked at Perrine, Nora, but it just seemed like I was being ignored.

I'm being punished for something that doesn't involve them.

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"Mandy, could you stay behind, please?" The substitute asked softly as she stood by my locker. I paused mid-step, slowly putting down my bag and turning to face her as everybody left the classroom. "You're not in trouble," she said quietly.

"Then why am I here?" I asked, itching at my forearm and looking around before my eyes went back to her.

"Because you're failing, Mandy. When you first came here, I checked your old results, and you passed with flying marks. But now.. Mandy, you're not even up to standard. You're slacking." She mumbled before adding on. "Nor, Mr. Moore or I have seen you at school for a while. Listen, if you.. need any help, or, you know, need somebody to talk to, there's a counsellor..."

"You don't know a fucking thing about me!" I snapped at her, looking the substitute up and down skeptically. "I don't fucking belong here," I muttered, stepping away as I walked off.

It wasn't her business. My grades wasn't anyones business. The teachers here were just leeches. Sucking the fucking life out of you and expecting more & more.

I approached the school yard and sat by a wall with graffiti on it. I pulled my knees to my chest, my bag resting between them as I watched the girls come over.

"Hey!" Perrine called out, approaching with Nora. "You're back!" Nora smiled.

"You'd know that if you answered my calls." I exhaled, shifting slowly as I grunted at the throbbing in my ribs.

"Does it matter? Who beat the piss out of you?" Nora winced at my state, her eyes flickering with concern. "Jesus, Mandy?" Perrine sighed. I gave them both glares, then just shook my head. "No.. just, fell over."

They both looked at eachother, but sighed and continued to talk.

I wasn't listening. I was just there. My eyes were fixated on Tom, and the girl he was talking to. But not in his smirk, smug way, I mean he was literally warning her about something-- he was tensed up, pissed off. Was that Klara?

"Hey, are those pictures still up?" I asked, looking at Perrine. "Mhm," she hummed quietly, nodding a little. "Is that her?" I questioned, pointing towards the girl.

"Yeah," Perrine nodded.

I stood up, approaching as I watched Klara glance at me, turning completely with a big smirk on her face. "What the fuck?" She laughed, furrowing her eyebrows and looking me up and down. "You here to rob me for my shoelaces, junkie?" She asked, flicking towards her forearm.

Tom just rolled his eyes and put his hands on my shoulders, trying to block off the gap between us. "Don't."

"You get the fuck off of me," I pushed him, watching him stare at me and sit down, shaking his head before I turned back to Klara.

"One, I'm not your fucking princess, and two, who the fuck even are you? Stupid bitch." I said, turning back to Tom before Klara pushed me across, onto Tom's lap. My head landed in his crotch.

"Spit or swallow?" Klara asked, glancing at her friends before letting out a small snort and starting to walk off. My head raised out of Tom's lap, who was in surprise. I was almost in tears, watching everybody stare and mutter before I stood up, following behind her and sticking my foot out. She tripped over, faceplanting into the concrete with a grunt as her face smacked against the ground with a pact that made heads turn.

She slowly stood with the help of her friend, giving me a push and sending me slightly back. "Who the fuck do you think you are?!" She snapped. I stepped forward, punching her square in the face as she dropped past a few of her friends.

"I'm Mandy fucking Katsaros, who the fuck are you?" I furrowed my eyebrows, landing a few kicks her to face and watching her splutter before Tom pulled me back, hand pressed firmly below my ribs. I shifted away and just pushed him off of me before I walked off.

»-☠︎︎-+>

☠︎︎ 𝚃𝙾𝙼'𝚂 𝙿𝙾𝚅

After the fight, Mandy was missing, and the principal was searching for her with some cops. It was late, around 6 in the afternoon. I was serving detention with Bill for "Encouraging" them.

"And you're saying you two don't know Mandy Katsaros?" The officer asked. Bill and I looked at each other before shaking our heads. "Nope. "No."

"That's a lie; Tom and Mandy have fucked so many times in the bathroom." A girl behind me spoke towards the cop in the front of the classroom. I groaned.

"Is that true?" The cop looked at me. I leaned back in my seat, tilting my head up to the side in thought. "Oh, man, you know.. I don't really look at names or faces." I shrugged my shoulders, smirking. "I can't see when they're bent over, can I?"

"You know lying to the police is an offence, right?" He leaned down, hands on the edge of my desk. I shifted back, raising an eyebrow as I put my hand in front of my mouth in a tight fist. "The fuck have you been eating? Dick cheese? Your breath is rank."

"Tom! You're excused." Ms. Hahn furrowed her eyebrows, pointing to the door. I stood, grabbed my bag, and nudged past the cop without hesitation. "Cranky bitch," I muttered, watching as Bill also walked out of the classroom and followed behind me.