Bad Reputation

Bad Reputation (4)

Chapter 4

Someone was laughing at the expense of my grief.

Someone found it amusing to watch me wallow in my own private misery.

And that thought didn’t settle well with me.

I turned around and stared at the tree, only a few feet away from the bench I was sitting on.

Riley Lewis was leaning against the tree. Or rather leaning her butt against the tree, as she was bent over, slapping her knees while a loud, booming laughter escaped from her lips.

It was highest sound I had ever heard her make.

And she was making it at me.

“Do… you… mind?” I snapped at her, through my sobs and tears.

My voice was horse and raw. It almost hurt to speak.

“No, I don’t,” Riley Lewis answered me once her laughing had calmed down.

She pushed herself off the tree and walked slowly over me. Her eyes were raking over my face, taking in my most likely red and splotchy cheeks, red-rimmed and puffy eyes and the tears covering it all. She still let out an occasion chuckle as if my situation amused her immensely.

“I’m sorry,” she said when she was standing in front of my bench. “But you have no idea how hilarious you look right now.”

With those words said, she plopped down on the bench beside me.

In all the years I’ve known about Riley Lewis, I have never been this close to her. She tends to keep to her group of friends, and I to mine. We belong to two completely different social circles. Well, used to at least. I don’t know where I belong right now.

“You’re Melissa Miller right? We go to the same school,” she clarified.

Like I wouldn’t recognize her just by looking.

She had very short, black hair, usually styled into a small Mohawk. Her big brown eyes were always rimmed with ink black eyeliner and her lips were painted black. She was very pale, so the make-up made both her eyes and lips stand out. She sported a neon yellow lip ring and several piercings in her ears. The end of a tattoo peeked out of her sleeve.

I had never seen her casual clothes, but she never wore her uniform correct. The tie was always hanging around her neck and not under the collar. She had hitched up her skirt several inches, so it stopped about mid-thigh. The socks were completely missing. The blouse was never buttoned to the top. Three buttons were always unbuttoned. And the blazer had taken permanent residence in her locker. But the most unusual think about her uniform was the bright neon yellow converse she chose to wear with it.

I glanced down and realized she was still wearing the shoes. But the skirt had been swapped with baggy jeans and the blouse was replaced by a black T-shirt. I couldn’t help but wonder how she didn’t freeze to death.

“Yes, and you’re Riley Lewis,” I stated.

Why bother asking when I already know?

Riley Lewis laughed again. Why did she keep laughing at me? Why was she even here? Did she want to torture me with the loss of my boyfriend and best friend?

“That was quite the show. Truthfully, I didn’t know Damian Young had it in him to be so cruel,” Riley Lewis said, not bothering to acknowledge my statement. “Though he were right about a few things.”

She glanced down at my outfit and she frowned.

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” I asked angrily.