Scars

5. Jumping off a Bridge Will Not Solve Your Problems

Billie rolled her eyes so hard she thought they might never turn the right way again. It was the third day of school and she had heard the word slut muttered as she passed people in the hall too many times to count. It didn't bother her as much as it bothered Chris and Brian. Chris was too much of a nice guy to actually say anything to the girls that muttered under their breath, Brian was a completely different story. During lunch, when Billie and Brian had walked past Katie's table Brian told Katie she was a worthless bobble-headed skank that would never amount to anything beyond a trophy wife, if the weight didn't catch up to her, after she attempted to trip Billie. It could have been disastrous if it hadn't been for Billie's excellent balance.

"Hey!" Chris jumped and landed next to her at her locker.

"Hey," she muttered.

"Having a bad day?" Chris asked as he leaned against the adjacent locker.

"I'm running out of patience with the devil spawn over there," she glared at Katie and her minions.

"She's–"

"Have you guys seen Carey? I haven't been able to find her all morning and she's not responding to my texts," Leyna interrupted.

"Is it just me or has she been acting different these past couple of days?" Chris asked both of them. Billie shrugged, she didn't know Carey well enough to judge normal behavior. Leyna nodded solemnly. It was pretty obvious to Billie that Carey was madly in love with Chris, who wanted nothing to do with her beyond the confines of an average friendship. But it wasn't her place to point that out.

"Can you try to call her Chris? Maybe she'll answer if it's you," Leyna asked. Chris whipped out his cell phone and pulled up Carey's contact. He held it up to his ear; over the noise in the hallway Billie recognized the ringtone coming from across the hall by Katie. Maroon 5's Payphone played just loud enough to hear.

"Plot twist," Billie said as she stared at Carey from across the hall, "seems your girl is a cheerleader now." Leyna's head whipped around so fast that her tight curls whapped Billie in the face. Carey glanced down at her phone for a moment before ignoring Chris' call.

"What the fuck?" Leyna hissed, "What in the actual fuck?" She was teeming with anger. Chris' eyebrows were crumpled together and the phone was still at his ear.

"She hates the cheerleaders," Chris said. Billie could see him trying to wrap his brain around what was happening.

"Fuck this," Leyna stormed across the hall, shoving a few cheerleaders out of the way so that she could get to Carey.

"Hey thanks for returning my calls and texts!" Leyna shouted at her.

"You're not my only friend," Carey spat back with more venom than anyone had been expecting.

"I am though," Leyna, "The only friend that doesn't ever use you for anything. The only friend that genuinely cares about your well-being. Besides Chris of course." Carey's eyes trained on Chris for a moment then fell back on Leyna.

"I have some new friends now. We can still hang out but I needed something else. She," she spat the word out like poison as she looked at Billie, "has been monopolizing all of your guys' time recently."

"She's only been here for three days! We're trying to make her feel welcome," Leyna snapped. Katie scoffed and Billie tilted her head and stared at her.