Flipped Switch

A Fresh Start, Or Is It?

Ivy's PoV:

Shoving closed my front door, I groaned as I checked my phone and realised I had missed the bus. On the first day of school no less. I hoisted my bag up my shoulder and after one last look at my phone, I started the long walk to Lyrings High.

As I finally reached the  doors to hell, I heard the tardy bell ring and caught the glimpses of students rushing to get to their first classes of the year. Realising I hadn't gotten my timetable yet, I raced over to the reception and nearly collided with one of my friends, Misha. I was about to greet her, when she looked up and glared at me, shoving past then hurrying down the hall. I stared after her in confusion as my mind pondered over what had just happened. Shaking my head, I walked in the office and collected my timetable off of the counter before running out into the hall. 

Glancing down, I noticed that my first subject was biology. I looked up and to my relief, noticed that I was right next to the lab. As I opened the door, the class went silent and the teacher stopped writing on the whiteboard and turned to look at me.

"Why are you late Miss Johnson?" she asked me sternly, glaring over her rectangular glasses. I mumbled an excuse before rushing over to the only open seat. Sitting down, I hunched over as the teacher continued writing on the whiteboard and started taking notes.

***

I raced out of class to lunch, eager to see my friends again and to confront Misha for glaring at me earlier. As I entered the cafeteria, I immediately noticed my group of friends sitting at our regular table. I quickly bought my lunch and walked over to the table. Sitting down, I looked up, ready to greet my friends, but when I did, they were all glaring at me. I scanned over each of them in confusion until my eyes met those of Alyssa, who was staring at me with a look of anger and disappointment in her eyes. I was about to say something, but she beat me to it.

"Don't try explain what happened, Ivy, we know it all and quite frankly, I never knew you could be so fucking stupid. Xalia was your best friend, how could you let that happen to her and not do anything about it." she demanded, and the others nodded around her. 

"Do you really think I wanted that to happen to my best friend? How damn shallow can you be Alyssa? To think that I just let her leave without a fight! I can't be blamed any more than you can for what happened." I snapped back. By now, the whole cafeteria had quietened down and was watching this go down. 

"Thats a lie Ivy and you know it," she exclaimed, standing up roughly and pushing her chair over in the process, "What happened to Xalia was entirely your fault, so don't try to push it on us. I can't believe that you are so selfish as to say that." I looked at her, not knowing what to say. She was crying now, which was extremely unusual for her. Without saying anything else, she turned around and stormed out of the cafeteria, the rest of or friend group following close behind her, sending me glares as they left.

As students got over the shock and started talking again, I stared at the table in utter shock. I had just lost all of my friends, their trust, their loyalty, everything. After sitting at the table for a while longer, I got up and left the cafeteria, my food long forgotten. As I left, I heard whispers of what had just happened floating around with all the students, probably making up rumours as to what we had been talking about. Shaking my head, I tried to imagine why they would all turn on me like that, and so suddenly too. I reached my locker and absentmindedly sorted through my books, picking out the ones I needed for my next classes and shoving them in my bag. Slamming closed my locker door, I trailed slowly to the math block and into my trigonometry class. Sitting down at my usual desk, I held my head in my hands, the full weight of what had happened finally falling onto my shoulders. 

After sitting there for what had seemed like ages, the door slammed open and when I looked up, students were piling in and picking their seats. I adjusted my denim jacket and suddenly wished that I had chosen something less fashionable, but rather something more suitable to hide myself behind. Deciding to slide down in my seat instead, I tried to avoid the scrutinising gazes that my classmates continuously threw my way. When the teacher finally showed up, they started the lesson and I zoned out, trying my best to believe that today had never happened.

***

I lifted my head from my desk as the last bell rang for the end of school. Collecting my notes, I rushed out of class before the gossiping even reached my ears. As I reached my locker, I tried to ignore the eyes that were boring into my head from Alyssa's locker. I put in the code and swung it open just as she slammed hers and stalked off. When I was sure she was gone, I looked over my shoulder, only to see Misha leaning up against her locker, talking to a bunch of seniors. It took her a while, but as soon as she saw me staring, she stopped talking to them and walked over.

"You know, I was willing to believe you until Alyssa told me that you tried to blame us." she stated as I slowly collected my books. When she realised I wasn't answering her, she scoffed and walked down the hall to catch up with the girls she had been chatting with. I sighed and closed my locker door, before racing outside and towards the bus. Managing to get on before it left, I took a seat next to Willow, a girl that I barley knew, but had probably heard the rumours about me. She looked at me weirdly, but didn't move, which I was grateful for.

When we reached my stop, I got of the bus and trudged to my house, unlocking the front door. Going inside, I realised that nobody was home and sighed in relief. My parents didn't need to see me like this. Not that they would care anyway. There were too caught up in there petty work lives to notice anything that went on in my life. Dragging myself up to my room, I sat down on my bed and proceeded to send a very rattled text to one of my most trusted friends...

Hey...

Today something really strange happened. During lunch, Alyssa confronted me about the thing that happened at the end of last year. She said that what happened to Xalia was all my fault and that I'm the one to blame. The others all seemed really on board with the idea as well. Is that really true? Did I really make Xalia leave? I don't know what to do anymore and there are just so many questions swirling through my head that I don't have answers for. What do you think I should do. Should I confront Alyssa or should I just leave it? Will she ever forgive me?

Thanks for never truly leaving me...

Ivy

 Once it was sent, I crawled off my bed to do my homework. If this was really going to be my life now, I wasn't going to throw it in the trash just because of this.

After finishing my homework, I checked my phone to see if Tratie had replied. She hadn't. I decided to forget about it and went to have a shower. When I got out, I heard the familiar buzz of a text being emitted from the device. Rushing over, I checked to see what Tratie had to offer...

Ivy, I really don't know what to say...

I understand that what happened last year might have shocked her, but I would be lying if I told you that I didn't expect this. I know she is your friend and you probably don't want to believe this, but Alyssa is a rash girl who has a lot of secrets to cover. I want to be the person who is going to tell you that its all going to work out and that Alyssa will take back her claims, but I just can't do that. I definitely think that you would be better off staying far away from Alyssa. She knows what she is doing and although you don't think it, she won't hesitate at all to make your life a living nightmare, believe me... Keep yourself safe Ivy and remember I'm always a phone call away.

I read and reread the message over and over again, trying to pull some sort of closure from its depths that would reassure me that what she said about Alyssa couldn't possibly be true, but there was none. If what she said was true, then there was probably a way to figure this all out, to see if Alyssa was truly who she said she is. I  decided that I wasn't going to just lay down and roll over at the first sight of confrontation, I was going to face it head on. 

With that, I strolled over to my computer and sat down. Cracking my knuckles, I logged in and got to work, perfecting my master plan to uncover the truth before it was all to late...