Shadow Girl

Chapter Fourteen

I groaned at the sight of a classroom again the next morning. Science enlightened my spirit...temporarily.

On my way to second hour, a voice stopped me. "Hey!" It was Alisha. She wasn't alone. A tall girl with auburn, red-brown hair followed behind her. "Alex, this is Jessica."

Jessica shot me a weird look, almost a look of arrogance, but I ignored it and said, "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," even her smile seemed odd to me, threatening.

I'm being stupid. I shouldn't assume things about her when I don't know her yet, but it seems like she's assuming things about me...

The tone went off for the next class and I ran to catch up with the rest of my group. "Bye," I said over my shoulder. "Katy, wait up," I called, catching up to the line for P.E. 

She turned back and slowed down and at the same time we said, "Did you see the new girl?"

"She seems...I don't know...just different. It felt like she was not quite fond of me," she continued.

"Same here, and did you notice her smirk?"

"Yes, definitely not a good sign."

"But we shouldn't judge her, she's new and we haven't gotten to know her yet," I said, doubting and ashamed of myself for doing so.  

Katy just nodded in agreement. 

P.E. was miserably long. We played volleyball, which is...not my talent, let's just say that. 

Time passed and I had gotten through a couple more classes. I saw Jessica and Alisha swinging next to each other on the swings. Katy walked by my side and we exchanged a look as we saw them laughing together. To my surprise when we reached them, Alisha gave me a glare. "Are you okay, Alisha? Is something wrong...?"

"Don't play dumb, you know what you did," Alisha's eyes got red and she strained not to cry.

"I don't understand what is happening," I had said. What have I done that has made Alisha so upset? Then I met eyes with Jessica. Her usual smirk became longer and had turned into an evil grin. I stared back at her, giving her the death stare. By then I knew: Jessica had been spreading rumors about me. My heartbeat sped up at the thought and I suddenly became nervous. 

"Hey," a voice said as I walked in to social studies after lunch .

I turned to see a guy I hadn't met before with blonde hair and hazel eyes. "Is it true?"

"Is what true?" 

"Is what Jessica said about you true?"

"What did she say?" I tried to act astonished and surprised that she would do such a thing. 

"She said you are a liar and a manipulator. She posted this on Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, everywhere! Take a look," he showed me his phone screen. 

It said: 'Hey everyone, Jess here! I just thought I should warn you about the new girl, Alex Goodwin. She is a girl I ran into at my old school in junior high before we came here. She gets close to you, gets information about you, and then stabs you in the back! Just like she did to Alisha! Alex told me that she hates Alisha, and she called her a gullible bitch--and for what?? Just for her own well-being of course! Everyone should stay away from Alex, of else you'll end up like Alisha!' 

I covered my mouth with my hand, but it shook too much to be of much help. "What?" It came out in a whisper. 

"Yeah. It sounds really bad."