Read His Mind | ✓

Chapter 6

An unidentifiable thing flew at me and hit me right on the face. I cautiously touched the area where it hit me and felt stickiness. I looked down at the floor below me and saw a piece of orange chicken. I didn't even have the chance to respond when someone threw a half eaten apple.  Then a glop of lasagna was aimed at me. Then a hamburger bun. A slice of tomato. A handful of french fries. An empty juice bottle. All types of things were thrown at me. 

I was frozen in my spot as they continued to throw food and trash at me. 

"I think that's enough. I don't think she's hungry anymore," Alice spoke up. She walked over to me, her heels clacking on the tile floor. She smiled in amusement when she saw the state I was in. "Oh you poor thing, look at how dirty you are. Maybe you should find yourself a trash can and hide yourself in it since you're nothing but a piece of garbage." No one will be friends with you now... no one... this will be a great year..

For the first time, I felt anger instead of sadness at what she said and what I heard her think. I clenched my fists and opened my mouth to give her a piece of my mind when she held up a can of Diet Coke that was hidden behind her back. Uhh.. w-what was she going to do with that... I had a super bad feeling...

She lifted up the tab and brought it up over my head. She looked at me in the eye and beamed. "Here's my present to you, Abbie." Have a nice shower...

Thanks to my ability, I stopped it from happening. I grabbed onto her wrist and forced the can out of her grasp. It fell onto the ground with a metallic clang. The cafeteria went silent.

"What did I ever do to you to deserve this?" I asked. This wasn't making any sense. She said she was just using me, but if that was the case, she didn't have to go this far. Turning the whole school against me? There must be another reason why she was doing this to me. 

"Remember in 8th grade when I had a crush on this boy in our class? I told you about it and we created a plan on how I was going to confess to him. But do you know what happened? On the day I was going to confess, I saw the two of you together. Laughing and talking to each other like old buddies. You took him away from me. I trusted you and that was how you repaid my trust!"

So I was right, there was something else. "Alice, I can explain-" She was misunderstanding what happened that day. I was helping her. I was talking to him to see if he felt the same way. I didn't want him to reject her and hurt her. 

"I don't need to hear your lies," Alice said, crossing her arms. I don't trust you anymore... you liar..

"Alice-"

"From that day, I swore to myself that I was going to hurt you just like you hurt me, but twice as bad. And finally, the day has come for my revenge to be complete. How does it feel, Abbie? To be betrayed by someone you trusted so much?" she asked. Revenge sure is sweet...

"Let me explain about what happened-" I tried again to clear the misunderstanding.

"I'm done talking with you." Alice flipped her hair and went back to the lunch table. 

The once quiet cafeteria returned into noisy self. Everyone went back to conversing with their friends. I was left alone, stained and surrounded by the scraps and trash they threw at me. I wasn't going to get lunch anymore. I quietly slipped out and hurried over to the nearest bathroom.

On the way there, I bumped into the last person I wanted to see. 

Benson looked me over from head to toe. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing, just a little accident." It was not his problem, it was mine and I had to deal with it. I had to find a way to explain to Alice. 

"It doesn't look like one," he pointed out. 

"Well it is," I insisted. I made a move to leave when his cold fingers stopped me.

"Hold on." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tissue. "You got something on your face again." He used the tissue and gently wiped off whatever was on my face.

"I could've done it myself, but thanks." I hurried away to the girl's bathroom.

In the bathroom, I looked at my reflection and couldn't take my eyes off. I was a wreck. My hair had noodles in it. My shirt had a pasta stain. A piece of tomato skin was stuck on my jeans. It was gross. I didn't have any extra clothes so I tried my best to clean it up. The bell rang soon after. Although the thought of going to the rest of classes in these clothes made me shrivel up, I still had to go. I already skipped one class, I couldn't do it again. 

  ◈ ◈ ◈  

I managed to get through the rest of my classes. After school, I walked home and went upstairs to my room. I worked on my homework until I heard a loud slam from downstairs. 

"Abbie!! Get yourself down here this instance!" a deep voice yelled. It was my dad. He was home early today. Did something happen?

My dad was waiting by the stairs with an angry expression on his face. His hands were on his hips, a sign that he was really upset with something. I've seen this a couple times when I did something when I was younger. 

"What is it, Dad?" I asked.

"I got a call from your teacher today. Do you want to make a guess on what she told me?" I can't believe her... how dare she... I taught her better than this..

"Uh.. I have no idea." 

"Don't you dare lie to me. You know exactly what I'm talking about," he said sternly. "Why did you ditch one of your classes?"

"I didn't ditch," I argued. "I went to all my other classes."

"Then why didn't you go to that one too?"

"Something happened so I wasn't in the right condition to go."

"If everyone used that excuse then our society would be ruined. Just because you're not feeling up for it, it doesn't mean that you don't have to do it. You fake it until you make it," he lectured.

I nodded.

"Which is why you're grounded." This will teach her a lesson.. you better not skip another class..

"Dadddd-"