Annilova

Where the cut hurt

I walked to my locker avoiding eye contact with anyone. I didn't want my anger to make an appearance, because usually, if you didn't like how bullies bullied others, they'd bully you.

I sighed as I rested my forehead on the cold locker.

"Hey there!", said a voice as a punch hit my back.

I was too sleepy to recognize the voice.
"Whoever you are, I'll get back at you when I get my senses back.", I said still facing the locker.

She covered both my eyes with her hands as she said: "You don't know who I am?"
"Well, technically, I'm still sleeping. So, no! I don't know who you are.", I said laughing under my breath.

When I laughed, I usually took some steps back as I covered my mouth with one hand, and repeatedly slapped my leg with the other.
But it wasn't a 'laugh' back then, so I just shook my shoulders a little.

It was only when she said, "Wow! You laughed without making the seal-move! I'm so proud of you.", did I realize it was my best friend, Carol.
Carol wasn't the only one who mocked the way I laughed, but she was the only one who compared me to a seal, anyway.
She had this toy as a kid; a seal that slapped its tail repeatedly when someone pressed the button on its belly.
She called my laugh 'the seal move' from the very first day of our friendship.

Carol and I met at Astrapin-well, like every other friend of mine.
We had never taken classes together, but some common friend brought us together.

I turned around and hugged her as I whispered gently: "You know what I'd rather be doing right now?"
"What?", she asked with curiousity filling her voice.

As I still wrapped my arms around her, I grabbed the cold bottle of water which I knew was always in the side pocket of her backpack. I started opening it, making sure she didn't feel a thing.

"GIVING YOU A NICE, COLD SHOWER!", I exclaimed as I spilt the icy water all over her back.
Knowing how evil her revenge could be, I started running down the hall, laughing loudly.

"NOELLE!!!!!!!", she screamed jokingly, still too surprised to run after me.

I stopped running and turned around.
"That's what you get when you punch me! You know I'm not a morning person!.....OH MY GOD! You look hilarious!", I said laughing, then did the seal move.
I went on: "Oh! And... When you go out on a Saturday without me."
"I was with Martin!", she smirked.

Martin was her crush; the first one ever.
"Well, I could've been handy, you know? Maybe watch you guys,...", I stopped talking and looked around me, then whispered for her to read my lips. "Make out?"

She narrowed her eyes to focus as I said the word.

"That's it!", she said as she took off her backpack and threw it aside. "I'm coming to get you!"

She chased me as I let out noisy sounds; a combination of laughing and screaming.
Minutes later, I noticed that I'd crossed the school gate. Looking behind me, she was still standing at the gate with her arms folded.

"Come back here, you freak!", she shouted.
"You come and get me!", I shouted back daring her.
"Class starts in ten minutes."
"You only live once, Carol. Come on!"
"And that's exactly why I don't want our vice principal to end it so soon."

Mrs. Collins, our vice principle, was Astrapinians' biggest nightmare. She was stricter than the principle herself.
I started walking back towards the gate as I remembered the last time I had been in Mrs. Collins office, just three weeks before.

"You skipped nine classes in one week, Miss Gilbert.", said Mrs. Collins, shaking a pen in her hand. "One more class, and you're out of here!"

I swollowed hard when I thought of it- of me having to leave Astrapin.
It wasn't a rule or anything that I could skip ten classes before getting suspended; very few students dared to skip classes, they didn't even bother mentioning a rule. Skipping classes was simply not something that crossed Astrapinians' minds.