The Division

49

The familiar sound of girlish giggling entered my ears as my eyes fluttered open. I noticed three girls hovering over me laughing, their phones in my face. From the lights on their cameras, I was certain they were recording me. I internally rolled my eyes and groaned. If you're videoing someone, at least do it with flash off.

"Rise and shine." The one in the middle joked and the others joined her in laughter.

I got up and they laughed even more. I felt a blush creeping onto my cheeks, going down all the way down to my chest.

"Aw, don't be embarrassed." One of the girls with long platinum blonde hair spoke, she looked a year younger than me, around Michelle's age so, maybe fourteen. "We all need a little toilet nap once in a while." Their snickers grew louder, scratching like a brain eating amoeba. I was not going to take this. I already had a lot on my mind and these ninth graders were just adding to my frustration with their giggling, cheap dollar store makeup and brightly colored phones.

 I rubbed my cheeks to get the blush off and let out a huff, "Delete all the videos you took of me."

The girls just stared at me, their leader, the one in the middle with strawberry blonde hair and green eyes glared at me, her eyes glanced over me as if she was looking at a dead rat in her kitchen. The look of disdain was irritating.

"Now." My tone was stern and I was seriously not messing around with these wannabe power puff girls.

"And why would we do that?" The one with short brown hair scoffed, batting her fake lashes that were already falling off. I pushed back the urge to just yank them off her eyes. I am better than that.

"Cause I said so." My tone stayed firm, "Delete the damn video or I do it for you."

The platinum blonde cackled and took another picture of me. She turned her phone around to show off my badly taken picture.

That was the last straw for me. I grabbed the phone out of her hand and threw it in the sink before turning the tap on.

Her screams bounced off the bathroom walls, the gasps of the other two following after. I didn't wait around to find out if her phone was dead forever or not. I shoved my hands in my pockets and left the scene, even though I would've loved to see the end.

Over the next few days, Tristan remained absent from school (obviously). News of his strange and abrupt disappearance spread like wildfire and, after a week of theories and conspiracies, we finally had an assembly where they spoke on how he was missing. I really did want them to find his body because I wanted his family and friends to have some closure, the guilt gnawed at me relentlessly and I hoped that that closure for his family would calm me a bit too.

Jay was antsy and a little all over the place, displaying his anxiety through non-verbal means. Michelle noticed this behavior and since she is his girlfriend she decided to confront me about it, asking me what I knew about Tristan's disappearance.

How did I not think about this before!?

Of course she was going to be suspicious!

"Go on, tell me." Michelle urged with crossed arms, looking at me intently. Her eyes held a worry for Jay I couldn't ignore, it was almost like his anxiety was rubbing off on her and spreading like a virus.

I gently grabbed her arm and dragged her into the  janitor' closet, my heart pounding with fear as I thought of all the ways to avoid this question.

She looked at me expectantly, resting her hands on her hips, "Go on!"

I took a sharp breath in and looked for the best way I could word this without telling her an unbelievable lie that would only increase her level of suspicion. "W-we were fighting on the bridge, for the book a-and he just-he just fell off! It was a mistake!" My eyes were already brimming with tears that were real and fake at the same time.