Toast

Chapter Forty Five // Superwoman

- Priya's POV -

After lunch I had English, nobody dared to speak to me as I made my way through the halls with my head held high. They were in shock at the news I shouted from the top of a dinner table in the cafeteria, Carrie-Anne followed behind me with a proud smile on her face. She pointed to me while walking passed other girls as if to say "That's my best friend!".

I entered the classroom and everybody went silent, they stared at me in horror. I glanced around the room at the many faces before heading to my seat, Carrie-Anne joined me shortly after. The class settled down once our teacher had arrived with an excited expression on her face.

"As you all know, first semester is almost over which means the Halloween Ball is approaching! Well, it's next week" The teacher explained while jumping around, the girls began to cheer and discuss with their friends what they would be wearing. Elizabeth glanced across the room at me with a frown on her face, we stared at each other for a second before turning away again. Ashley raised her hand in the air and sat up so that the teacher would notice her.

"What about the Halloween Ball committee? Is there one? I would really like to join" Ashley asked politely, it was the nicest thing she had ever said.. believe it or not. The teacher nodded before approaching Ashley's desk and handing her some notes, Ashley thanked the teacher and began her preparations while the rest of us actually did our classwork. Girls walked passed our classroom and peeked through the small window on the door, they stared directly at me while talking to each other and pointing. Elizabeth noticed them and glanced across the room at me once again, she looked worried for me but I continued to smile widely at the fact that everybody knew who I was and how strong I could be.

Ashley still hadn't confronted me about the situation and I was certain she would've abandoned me or never spoke to me again. She has bullied Jade since the beginning of school, why would she stop now? Is she suddenly not a homophobe because a good friend of hers has came out? She seemed to be defending me once she saw the banner that Jade had created to hang in the cafeteria.

An hour of silence passed in the classroom before the bell rang loudly which meant the day was over. Everybody packed their stuff away quickly before rushing out of the room, still chatting about what they would be wearing to the Halloween Ball. I was unsure if I wanted to attend after my stunt at lunch, my confidence had suddenly disappeared into thin air. Me and Carrie-Anne left the classroom together and headed down the corridors to the exit of the school, Ashley caught up with us and began to show off her ideas for the Ball.

"I've planned the whole Ball already, jack-o-lanterns in every corner and the colour theme will be dark. We can have simple foods sitting by the side, not a sit down meal because everybody prefers to dance at parties instead of eat.." Ashley explained to us while pointing to the messy sketch book she held in her hands, she had filled four pages with ideas and how much they would cost the school. Carrie-Anne rolled her eyes at Ashley before the principal of the school walked passed us, he then stopped and reversed like a car to see what was going on.

"You? Halloween Ball committee? I don't think so" He said while shaking his head. Ashley stared at him in shock before angrily throwing her sketch book on the ground and storming out, I sighed loudly and watched her leave.

"Why not? She's great at this stuff" Carrie-Anne defended Ashley's honour.

"She beat up Jade Johnston in the cafeteria today, she is constantly getting into trouble with teachers and other students.. She doesn't deserve to be rewarded" He explained with a sympathetic smile before walking off, me and Carrie-Anne frowned at each other and then agreed to go find Ashley.

We headed back to the boarding house to make some Toast and then we would search for Ashley, it seemed we didn't need to do much searching as she was sitting alone in the common room. Me and Carrie-Anne entered the common room quietly, Ashley was staring at the wall in silence.