The Hate Game

2 | Sadie

Ouch.

That was the thought that flew through her head before the impact even struck her body. She flew backwards, sailing through the air, her feet numbly attempting to catch her but doing her no good. Her eyes widened, her heart pounding, and pure panic racing through her brain, she awaited the last painful sensation in her body before death would finally take its toll on her.

Her awkward tumble finally ended with a thud, and she found her head aching with every beat her heart made, a quick reminder that she was still alive. Rubbing her head, Sadie turned around and looked at the hard object she just crashed into. Of course. The door to the boy's bathroom, which was just magically open. Typical, right?

Sadie straightened herself, fastening her backpack once more as she continued down the hallway, in a painful effort to get to her next class. Before she could even make another step, a huge gust of wind spiraled past her and a hand slapped her shoulder.

"Some parkhour, Leftwich!" a guy she didn't recognize grinned at her, a toothy one but she knew that he was totally teasing her. "Yeah, I wonder how long it took you to master those moves!"

"I didn't do that on purpose!" she shot back. "Someone pushed me..."

He waved a hand at her. "Excuses, excuses!" he laughed, and continued to strut down the hall, high fiving girls who passed him.

"You're full of it!" she shouted at him.

"That's what she said!" he called back, and Sadie bit her lip hard, squeezing her eyes shut as she took another step, glancing down at her schedule real quick to remind herself where she was going. Health, great, she thought to herself. As if I need to learn more about human privates.

She walked into the classroom, eager to sit down at a desk and massage her head, only to realize that all the desks were full. As in, full with the population of high school juniors. Her teacher, Mr. Nuzzo, was already scribbling down the year's curriculum on the board. She let out a breath, desperately searching for an empty desk. There were none - which meant she'd have to stand in the back of the classroom until Mr. Nuzzo noticed she was in desperate need of attention.

Sadie stood in the back, keeping her cool as she stared at the words on the board, but she felt everybody's eyes on her. She shot a few quick glances - only to her dismay that about half the class population was staring at her, whispering every now and then.

Since when did I become the hottest girl on the planet? she wondered. Must be an overnight thing.

"All right class, let's have your attention, please!" Mr. Nuzzo cried, clapping his hands together. He squinted at the students and then looked back at Sadie. "Excuse me, missie, don't you have a desk?"

Sadie shook her head. "No, there's no room."

Mr. Nuzzo skimmed the classroom again, until he pointed to a spot towards the back, closer to the bookshelves. "I believe there's an empty desk right there, miss. Right behind... Miss Taylor."

Sadie turned her head and looked, only to realize that he was right. There was an empty desk, only it was occupied with a huge duffel bag with pom poms exploding from it. Behind the desk, sat a girl who boredly chewed on her gum, scrolling through what looked like the latest iPhone.

"Miss Taylor?" Mr. Nuzzo asked loudly.

The girl looked up at him, and her big eyes fell into slits. "What?" she demanded, her voice far from puberty with a bold tone to it. Her eyes wandered over to Sadie, and the slits became more noticable. "She wants to sit here?"

"Not in your seat, Miss Taylor," Mr. Nuzzo replied. "In front of your seat. You know that all bags may be placed in our lockers."

"But Mr. Muzzo," the girl whined. "My locker isn't big enough to hold all my stuff. I have cheerleading things in here, and they're too valuable to be stuffed inside some smelly, cramped, dark space."

Sadie decided this girl was a waste of space.

"Now, now," Mr. Nuzzo said. "My name is Mr. Nuzzo, and Miss Taylor, surely we can offer some leeway to your good peer Miss..." he turned to Sadie. "What was your name again, dear?"

"Leftwich," Sadie said quietly. "Sadie Leftwich."

The whispers of the class slowly died down as they all turned and looked at Sadie.

"Leftwich - as in, the..." Mr. Nuzzo trailed off, waving a hand. "Nonsense, dear. We musn't judge you over who we believe you are." he gave her a warm smile and turned back to the girl who took up too much space. "Now, Miss Taylor, please kindly remove your bag and allow your fellow peer to sit."

The girl shot an icy cold glare - icy cold - at Sadie and turned back to Mr. Nuzzo. "Okay, Mr. Muzzo," she said loudly and pulled her bag from the desk. She kept her eyes on Mr. Nuzzo as Sadie walked over to the desk, and slunk into it, ready to let the attention of her class die down.

She was wrong.

Mr. Nuzzo just begun talking about daily procedures when Sadie felt somebody poke her back. She turned around and the girl was staring at her, a hard look on her face, and the longer Sadie stared at her, the more she realized that this girl was deadly. A pretty, deadly kind of girl who took up too much space. Not because she was fat - this girl was far from it - but because it was the way she had a control over everybody, including the teachers.

"Don't ever mess with me again, Left b****," she said, swearing on the last part of Sadie's name. Sadie quickly turned around, her face burning with embarrassment. Some girl.

As class continued on, Sadie didn't realize the hatred burning up in her.

Well, someone else did.