Boy Who Broke In My Window

IX-The Unanticipated

"Morning dad" I greet dad as I tread pass him, grabbing the cereal box.

I tip in some milk from the pitcher, cereal loops and pieces of chocolate into my bowl as dad observes me handle my food. Finally settling down with my bowl set upon the table; I sit myself across dad.

Have I been living in the Stone Age? It feels like a decade since I last explored the obscured contents of my phone. I avert to my social media. Surprisingly, lots of people had left me a message. I usually don't open social media because I don't frequently text and the majority of mortals on planet Earth don't even recognize my existence.

I was curious why people had started to text me thus I decide to open one of the texts on the topmost segment.

A picture instantly pops up. It's a picture of my white polished butt, on the freaking Potty; mildly censored with a blur.
I recall that one moment when I noticed two little rascals peeking through the hole on the bathroom window (Chap.2) They had apparently snapped a picture, and one of them; Stepahan Burley had obviously shared it with his brother, Otto Burley, one of the superior jocks at school.

Shit. I cuss under my breath. Apparently, all the other messages either contained that degrading picture, or a disgusting comment about it. Great, now it's gone viral!

"Dad, may I not attend school today? I think I've caught a severe cold." I lie. I don't think I can abide the humiliation if I ever show up at school.

"Lol. Nope. Bear with it honey. You were incredibly fine this morning; it will fade eventually." He suggests.

"Please?" I plead, sniffing my nose, pretending to have an awful flu.

Dad shakes his head. "Never miss a day of school; it's your obligation as a student. Oh, and I thought you said you have an exam coming up today?"

"Nobody cares about the exam anymore! Are you sure I can't stay just for today?" I whine.

"That's guaranteed." Dad says as he dumps the dishware in the sink. I pout at him, knowing that there isn't a point in arguing. "Don't you think you should be heading off now? You don't want to be late." Dad reprimands.

I roll my eyes and stand up, slinging my bag over my shoulder. "Bye dad." I say, giving him a peck on the cheek.

---

I geared up the car engine and drove out of the carport. I don't want to face any of my fellow students, with them ever seeing that picture.

I can't believe the universe, I thought to myself heaving out a long sigh. Well. Let's just see what chaos this day has got to offer.

---

As I drive past our complex, I see a familiar figure strolling along the sidewalk. I decelerated my speed to discern the being; he looks somewhat like Howard.
Well, whatever. I drive past him and hustled all the way to the building I refer to as 'hell'.

---

The second I walk through the double doors, gasps and mutters can be heard. I'm certain they're all gossiping about my incident.

I plunge my head down timidly and bolt away to the classroom like a coward. Thank God, Ms. Aaliyah coincidentally came early today thus I was let in the classroom earlier; therefore I won't have to deal with the sneers and insolent remarks from my the boys and girls.
---

The sound of the bell reverberates within the room followed by glorious chants. Lunch break. It's a session that's supposed to be wonderful. Yet for the first time ever; today, the idea of lunch sickens me to my stomach.

I see Sapphira approach me; she's perhaps one of the very few trustworthy and blunt friends I have here at school.

"I heard of happened." She says.

"Well, hasn't everyone heard?" I sigh; walking by her through the corridor.

"News circulated quickly. I've been wondering though,-was the picture fake or nah?" She asks candidly. I nod, admitting.
"Wow, seriously!? How did that come to be?" She seems concerned. "It's a long, awful tale. You don't want to know" I say with a disconsolate frown.

I slant my head to the side to notice a set of people pointing and laughing at me. They are clutching crumpled piece of papers within their hands and then tossing them right at me.

Sapphira watches as the bullies sprint straightaway, speechless; unable to utter a word. "Unbelievable." I hear her say in disbelief. I crouch down upset, burying my face within both palms.

She hunkers down beside me and picks up one of the crumpled papers. She straightens the sheet and instantly, her eyes grow wide. She hands it over to show me, and as predicted; it's the same picture, just shot at a different angle. The same picture of my butt on the potty.

"You seriously have to confront the jerks that are doing this to you." She advises, standing up to tidy her skirt; smoothing out the crinkly edges.

"I know." I mumble, still frozen in a squat.
"I'm going to go grab lunch, okay?-before famine kills me." She says with an arm resting over her stomach as if she's starving, as she proceeds to head off.

---

I took Sapphira's advise and bit by bit neared the cafeteria; still reluctant to confront them. The popular clique is having lunch in their regular round table, babbling and ranting to themselves.

I obviously know who'd distributed the papers. Otto Burley; the notorious relative of the devil who snapped the original images.

I try to propel my courage to confront them and ask to retain the copies back, yet I can't help but feel belittle already. 'You can do this, Astrid' I embolden myself. Here I go...

---

I intrude their conversation, stepping in front of their circular table.

"Hey! Give me back those copies!" I stammer, clutching onto Otto's shoulder blade and turning it swift so that he's facing me.

Wow, I've never expected myself to have gone this mean so soon...

"What copies?" Otto mocks; obviously knowing what I'm referring to.

"Don't act as if you've got no clue, bastard!" I yell at him, obviously irate. All the girls around the table sneer upon my presence; "Oh, we're so afraid!" says one of them in sarcasm.

"You mean this?" Otto holds up some papers. I reach out to seize them, leaning towards the table. My whole body is inclined against their table, as my hands struggle to get hold of those sheets, "Give me!" I stammer, in the verge of bursting into tears.

Out of the corner of my eye; I come across a familiar sight.

"Howard?"

Our eyes meet. His jaw drops in astonishment.

"Astrid...?" He mutters; eyes wide open.