The Boyfriend Factory

Chapter Seven

Something about the day felt bright.

Like, let's be honest here, it's totally not normal for an average and extremely hormonal sixteen year old girl to be feeling this good on a Monday morning. Especially a Monday Morning. Normally every day I feel like crap anyway, so this was definitely alien to me.

I woke up from a blissful sleep feeling like the heavens were singing. Mum and Jared weren't at home, and the house was in a peaceful quiet, not the eerily gloom that's hover in the atmosphere each morning.

Normally days like this, tend not to turn out very well. Especially for me. Yet despite it all, I decided not to imagine the inevitable.

After I'd taken a lengthy shower as I had time to spare, and dressed normally for school, I stood before the body-length mirror in my room and looked back at the gleaming girl in the reflection. Any other day, I'd have picked out imperfections straight away, maybe assessed my body and decided I should quit eating jam doughnuts – which I never really lived up to. But today the girl in the mirror looked a bit different.

My hair also decided to be a little kind to me today.

Which totally was a sign for bad luck – but I was desperately ignoring it.

If all hope was going to be snatched away, I would prefer to live it in blissful ignorance rather than constant paranoia.

I decided to go for a brighter look, something a bit different. Instead of a messy bun I'd always wore every school day, I tried to tidy it up, maybe throw in a braid or two. For a moment I stared at it, unsure whether I wanted to go through with the new look that scarily outlined my face shape. I bit my lower lip nervously and my hands hovered over the edge of my skirt as if contemplating hitching it up.

I slapped my hands away and huffed. Nope. Not that kind of style. I wouldn't be able to pull it off anyway – it wasn't in my character.

Ignoring the dawning of my gloomy self, I stepped away from the mirror and went on with the normal routine.

I didn't know where all this enthusiasm and positivity had hailed from, but I thought I might as well take advantage of it while it lingered.

There was a faint smile on my lips as I trailed out the house, shutting the door carefully behind me and making my way down to the bus. The air out today was calming and fresh, and it was a bit cold but it suited the atmosphere.

When the bus arrived, I paused for a moment at the entrance, glancing at myself in the window. Did I look different? Well, of course. Sorta. I pursed my lips and clambered on, trying not to think much.

Today just seemed like a good day.

*

Something was up with everyone at school. I mean, normally, something is up. Half the time I even sorta think everyone's just a tad bit high or something – but today, there was something wafting in the air other than cocaine.

Or was that the feeling of the blood-hound girls watching my every move?

I glanced over my shoulder at the oddly high amount of glances I was getting from people who normally wouldn't give me a second look.

Yeah, probably.

My skin felt like it crawling with ants, and I could already feel all the anxiety creeping in. I didn't know why people were staring – I knew it definitely wasn't because of my looks. Like, come on. A simple neat hair bun would never do a girl like me any justice.

If I was looking for justice, I'd need Batman. Not a two minute quick hairstyle fix.

But it was definitely unnerving having so many people watching me, and not knowing why. I could already feel the light of my happy day fading into the darkness. I was freaking out – panicking. I was not the girl to be in the spotlight, if anything, I was the creepy one in the background who'd watch the others with hollo eyes. Like something out of the Ring or the Conjuring.