I'm Sorry, Stefan

Chapter 7

Maya walked nervously through the hallway, her long red hair falling down to shield her face. She half ran down the hall, bag clutched to her chest, keeping her head down and not meeting anyone’s eyes. It was lunch block, and she was heading for the cafeteria, where she knew Darcie would be waiting for her.

But no matter how quickly she walked, there was still some laughter that followed; the cruel stares started by Katherine. Maya carefully avoided the pack of chatting girls, all dressed pristinely in their school uniforms. A loud, annoying laugh caught Maya’s attention, a harsh, cruel sound. Maya recognized the voice, and tried to dodge out of Katherine’s way, but a foot was stuck out, and Maya hit the floor, her bag sliding out away from her.

Loud sneers filled the hallways. Maya, her face now a brilliant red, scrambled to her feet, facing Katherine with a glare. Katherine smiled sweetly back.

“Having a good day, sweetie?” she said, her voice full of sarcastic kindness. Maya avoided her eyes.

“Leave me alone,” she half whispered. But it seemed that Katherine didn’t hear her. She just continued smiling, and said,

“You know I’m meeting with Stefan later. I wonder what we’ll get up too...” she said, her tone mocking. Maya blushed deeper, hatred filling her chest, but she stayed silent, simply pushing her way through the group of girls and storming down the hall holding back tears. Laughter erupted from behind her, haughty chattering breaking out. It was then that Maya noticed her bag was gone.

Frantic, Maya turned around, looking down the hallway. She couldn’t see it anywhere. She began searching along the wall, back to where she had tripped. It had only slid a few feet away; it must still be there… But had somebody taken it? She glanced around, worried.

Then she noticed it sitting innocently against a wall, and sighed with relief. She grabbed it, and ran down the hall, towards the safety of the cafeteria. She and Darcie always claimed the small, isolated table at the back of the room, and Maya saw Darcie waiting for her there now. Darcie took one look at her, and said,

“What did they do now?” she hissed, anger filling her tone. They both turned to face the doors, where Katherine and her crew were just walking in. Katherine gave the two of them a small, mocking wave. Maya sighed, leaning her forehead on her palms, carefully wiping the tears from her eyes. Why am I so sensitive?  She thought to herself, angry because of the tears.

“Nothing,” she said thickly, attempting to keep her voice from wavering.  “Just what they always do.” She said. Darcie sighed.

“Maybe if you tried fighting back…?” Darcie suggested quietly, placing one of her hands on top of Mayas.

“I can’t Darcie, you know that,” Maya said, frustrated. “I’m not like you.”

“I’ll be around next time,” Darcie said firmly, hatred glinting in her eyes. “I’ll meet you at your class. She won’t bother you when I punch her lights out...” Darcie threatened quietly. Maya shook her head.

“Don’t bother, Darcie.” She said. Darcie opened her mouth to protest, but Maya interrupted her. “Really. Just don’t” Darcie didn’t continue, But Maya could tell she wanted to protest. But she knew the addition of a body guard would only give them another reason to bother her. Exhausted, Maya reached for her bag, opening it up to grab her lunch, and gasped in horror.

Sticky soda had been poured inside, soaking through her textbooks, homework, and lunch, coating the inside of the bag and leaking out the bottom. It was a gross, gummy mess. From behind her, Maya heard stifled laughter erupt. She groaned, putting her head on the table, frustrated. She heard Darcie lean forward, and gasp, her voice taking on a dangerous edge.

“They didn’t!” she practically spat, snatching Maya’s bag up and beginning to unload it, salvaging what she could from the mess, muttering insults and threats under her breath. Maya couldn’t move to help her.

There was a sense of defeat in her muscles, like everything they did was just another weight on her shoulders, pushing her down. Darcie was one of the people who could shake the weights off and throw them back, but Maya had never been like that. She would always just let the weights crush her. She felt more tears escaping her eyes, and she didn’t try to brush them off, instead letting the tears soak into her skirt. After a couple of minutes, Maya felt a soothing hand on her back.

“Hey, come on,” Darcie said, pulling on Maya’s shoulder, “It’s okay. Hop on up, Maya; it’ll be all right,” Maya breathed in slowly, wiped the wetness from her cheeks and sat up. Darcie smiled. “There we go;” she said to her encouragingly “I cleaned up your bag, but it’ll need some time to dry.” Maya looked over, her bag was turned inside out, and a pile of sopping paper towels was on the floor. “I saved all the papers that I could,” Darcie continued. 

“I’ll just be in the washroom, okay?” Maya said quickly, rising from her seat. Darcie glanced at her suspiciously, but said nothing as Maya walked quickly away from the table, towards the doors to the cafeteria. She heard laughter as she passed by Katherine’s table, and felt heat rise to her cheeks, she turned away and walked faster, forcing them out of her mind. Once she was in the hallway and out of Darcie’s sight, she sprinted down the hall to the deserted girl’s bathroom, leaned in front of one of the sinks, and continued to cry.

Her sobs echoed in the empty bathroom, sounding incredibly sad and desolate. Looking up, Maya saw herself in the mirror, and couldn’t believe her eyes. Her normally bright green eyes were pale and lifeless, rimmed with ugly pink. Her fat, round face was wet and shiny, her complexion blotchy. Her hair hung in limp, lifeless curls to her shoulders, her stomach looked fat. Maya stared at herself, disgusted by the image. She wouldn’t have noticed someone enter the bathroom if she hadn’t seen their reflection behind her in the mirror.

Katherine. Maya whipped around, hurriedly wiping her eyes and taking a step back. Katherine was watched her, with an amused and cocky expression. Maya glared back, hating the petite girl standing in front of her.

“What do you want?” Maya tried to sound venomous, but t came out as a pathetic whisper. Katherine smirked.

“Nothing,” she said, smiling sweetly. Maya had learned not to trust that smile. “Looking at your refection?” she asked conversationally, coming to stand next to Maya in front of the mirror. Maya didn’t respond, waiting for her to continue.  “I do that all the time,” she said, turning to look into the mirror and flipped her hair over her shoulder. Maya waited some more, confused. “But honestly, sweetie,” Katherine said with mock seriousness, “I don’t think anything could change that,” she said with a smirk, motioning towards Maya. Maya blushed in spite of herself.

Katherine continued, cruelly. “I mean, I don’t even know if make-up could fix that kind of complexion, and you hair is just repulsing,” Maya bit her lip, trying not to cry, “and well you would do well to lose a couple of pounds.” She raked her eyes over Maya’s frame for a second, then agave a small, girlish laugh. “Who am I kidding? You’ll need to lose more than couple…” she smirked again, and started heading for the door.

“Honestly,” she said quietly before leaving, “I don’t know what any boy would ever see in you…” She said, with fake sadness. She looked Maya in the eye briefly, satisfied that she had been crushed, and left the bathroom.  Maya stood, trembling. Holding back sobs.

That was the day that Maya started to hate herself.

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 Hello everyone!!

Hope you liked the chapter! I am extremely excited for the next one. :D anyways, if you liked it, please comment! Comments make me very happy. And, if you have any suggestions for actors/ actresses, please tell me!!  Thank you all so much. If you liked it, vote, comment, or fan! Thanks!!!