dangerous woman| phantoms book one| Wattys2016

better have my money

donova|her first letter

Dear Donova,

As Isiah and I sat together in English, your words were the only ones I could hear.

'Did you see the new girl?' You asked, trying your hardest to whisper. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat, a sign that was supposed to let you know that I knew you were speaking about me. Apparently you didn't catch on.

'She's sort of pretty.'

Sort of??? I thought.

'Are you kidding? The girl's totally hot.'

Isiah nudged me, and I smiled at him, mentally thanking you for that compliment. As the class went on, I quickly learnt that you were the star pupil, you answered every question perfectly, you managed to make the rest of the class laugh without being scolded by our teacher and I knew that you were the popular girl everybody loved.

Then me and Isiah parted ways and I saw you and Michael, kissing against the lockers. You looked so happy with him and he looked so happy with you. I didn't want to spoil the moment, trust me, I didn't, but you guys were blocking the way to my locker and I wasn't willing to start a scavenger hunt for my next class carrying three four hundred page textbooks and a bag on my back.

I tried to get your attention by coughing and awkwardly standing there looking like an idiot, but you wouldn't give me the time of day. And then, as lactic acid built up in my left arm, I shifted my books to my other arm and accidentally dropped one in the process, interuppting the both of you.

I didn't know what to say. 'S-sorry.' I pathetically mumbled, 'Yo-you're blocking my locker.'

You then proceeded to smile at me, flashing your perfectly white teeth. 'It's fine.' Then you turned back to Michael. 'I've gotta go, Delarosa's going to have my head if I show up to Spanish late.'

Then you left, leaving me and Michael alone in the empty corridor. I know you didn't know his other side, you don't (and won't) need to explain it to me. But why'd you leave me? Better yet, why didn't you make him drop you off to your class like most girls would have their boyfriends do?

I opened my locker, trying to go as fast as possible without looking so miserably awkward. And I obviously failed.

'Second time.' I heard him say. I wanted to ignore him, truly I did, but I didn't want to be the victim again. So I slammed my locker door shut, looked him in the eye and said, 'It was an accident, alright? I didn't mean to. And I said sorry.'

'I'm starting to get the feeling that you're going down a very dangerous path here.'

And that was it. That was the breaking point for me. I'd accidentally bumped into the guy and he was acting like I'd nearly killed his mother. It was ridiculous, he was making such a big deal out of it that it sounded like the cliche beginning to a very cliche teen fiction book.

'You're pathetic. You know that? It was a damn accident. Get over it.' I spat. And then I walked away from him. You'd think that that was the end but, it wasn't. When I walked away, I saw you standing there. I know you heard the whole thing and I sort of felt bad because I had just yelled at your boyfriend and I might have come off as a total female dog to you. But you should know me well enough to know that I don't feel guilty about that. Nope. I don't feel guilty at all.

But soon, lunch came around and I found myself standing in front of the cafeteria looking for a place to sit. I'd originally planned to sit with Isiah but ever since he disappeared for his student council meeting, I'd been left on my own. I finally spotted a table at the far back filled with a group of girls that seemed nice enough. I smiled at them as I made my way over.

'Hi.' I said, feeling nervous, 'Can I sit?'
The girls looked up at me and then turned away, smiling and giggling. I was confused at first. Even though I'd taken that as a no, I actually wanted to know why.

There were no empty tables so I couldn't sit anywhere by myself. I walked towards the toilets, mentally hoping that somebody would come and speak to me and ask me to sit with them. Huh.

A girl can dream.

'They've heard.'

I turned around to find a girl I hadn't met seen before speaking to me.

'Heard what?' I asked, pretending to sound 'unbothered'. I wasn't particularly fond of gossip, but if people were talking about me then I'd rather it be about something that I knew about. I already knew that it was something bad. Something that starts with Michael and ends in Anders.

The girl crossed her arms, staring me down. She didn't seem happy Donova, and I couldn't tell if it was because of me.

'About Michael. You've been here for one day and you've already made a move on him-'

'What?' I say, nearly dropping my lunch tray on the ground. Me making a move on Michael? Ha ha ha ha...no. 'That's not true, I-'

'Save it. Donova's already told me what you did. She said she heard you herself.'

'Well she's lying because I never did that.' I gulped, swallowing my spit. 'I promise I never d-'

And then there you were, suddenly appearing out of thin air.

'Toni?' You said, and I knew you were talking to the girl standing in front of me because my name sounds nothing like Toni. She looked at me with distaste in her eyes and then walked over to you. You gave me one last glance before walking away from me too. I spent my first lunchtime at Hunterfields High in a toilet stall.

'How was your first day?' My older brother asked me a little while later as I walked into my house. I sighed, throwing my keys onto the counter.

'It was rubbish.'

He chuckled, taking out a pack of pancakes.

'I'm sure it wasn't that bad.'

'Yeah...' I mumbled, because I didn't really want to explain to him the things that happened. My heart literally hurt. I knew that I was a target and it had only been my first day. To this day, I still don't know why you did what you did. What was the point? After all that, you never spoke to me again. You'd send me occssional glances and such but...you never spoke to me again. Did he tell you to do what you did? Nah...he probably knew you would have done it anyway. See, I have this weird theory. It's like...I believe that in order for someone to understand what someone else is going through, you have to go through it too. And now you're going through something horrible and I'm proud for causing you that pain. I don't feel the least bit guilty for that.

I hope you know that this isn't over. Not by a long shot. Your boyfriend may be dead but...there's plenty more blood to go around. You might even think that I'm some sort of psychopath, a sociopath maybe. But I'm not. I think. I'm just as sane as the rest of you are. But there's more reasons for you to be scared than just me. After all,

I'm not the only one who wants revenge.

Yours Truly,

Me

P.S. Catch me if you can 😘