St. Bartholomew's Private School

Prologue

          I swear it was an accident.

            Melanie Porter had been the prettiest, yet rudest girl in the eleventh grade. She never failed to make me feel out of place or like an outcast.

            My last week at Lincoln Prep had been dreadful. The first semester of the year, I had swimming class fourth period every day. And guess who was in my class. She and her friends snickered in the corner about me for any reason whether it was the way the school-borrowed bathing suit fit my body or even if it was coming in last place while doing laps. Even in the locker rooms she laughed at my body.

One day while I was showering, the curtain suddenly ripped open. I covered my body in embarrassment as I turned around and realized it was Melanie, with three of her friends. Melanie had her cell phone in her hand and took a picture of my naked body. I reached out to grab the phone and she moved her hand away instantly, as if she was expecting that to happen. I felt my face grew red hot with anger and embarrassment.

            So I ran. I ran after her as she swerved through the different aisles of lockers in the lock room. I heard her laughing loudly as she ran away and I heard the footsteps of her friends chasing me.

            As I grew closer and closer to her, I grabbed her long blonde hair and tugged as hard as I could. She let out a shrill from pain as I threw her against the locker. I had my forearm against her chest as I reached for her phone and forcefully threw it against the wet tile. I didn’t take my eyes off of her as I heard the phone shatter.

            “You bitch!” One of her friends yelled as they caught up to us. Her three friends had me pushed up against the locker, leaving my whole body exposed.

            The pretty redhead who held my slender right arm against the green lockers slammed my head against it as well with her free hand. I turned towards her as she was smirking at me and I spit in her face angrily. Melanie punched me in the nose and I felt the blood trickle out my left nostril.

            I felt the anger boil inside me as the blood slipped in between my lips. I just wanted to hit her back. I wanted her to feel the embarrassment she has made me feel.

            Suddenly, as if on cue I watched the open locker behind Melanie shut tightly on her long blonde hair as she reached to hit me again. A chunk of her hair ripped off as blood started dripping onto the tile.

            I was just as shocked about the situation and her and her friends have been. Melanie let out a blood curling scream as Coach Duncan ran towards us. She rushed to Melanie’s aid and screamed for someone to get a towel. I was frozen in my position as her friends ran off.

            “Get dressed, Price,” she said as she gestured across the locker room.

            I distantly walked to my locker on the other side of the room as people shuffled past me in the direction to Melanie’s screaming. No one worried about my naked body, only about what was wrong with Melanie.

            I slipped into my underwear, with a pair of jeans and a navy blue drawstring hoodie. I then put on my canvas sneakers and walked to the bathroom. I tended to my bloody nose as best as I could. I had time before the bell rang, so I walked out of the locker room for some peace and quiet in the hallway.

            I slid onto the marble floor and threw the hood over my head. My wet, messy hair became matted onto my face as I stared blankly at what was in front of me.

            Did I do that? I asked myself. Surely, I couldn’t have done that, no one even touched the locker. It had to be an accident.