2017 Preeti Lunt
All rights reserved
Cover and chapter banners by @humorously
Character banners by @SassyReads
Movie poster by @shadednights
blurb under construction
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Even though I've just managed to get out of the crowd, I can't resist staying behind and watching Leighanne and Kendelle's horrorized reactions as they try to avoid a sea of glares; not wanting to be noticed, however, I leave the canteen and hide behind the entrance door.
As I hear footsteps, I try to walk away, never looking back, but I'm caught by someone putting their hands on my shoulders. I don't turn my back at all, until I hear them clearing their throat. Therefore, I'm forced to face the two people who have just approached me.
"Are you realizing what you've just done?" Kendelle's voice is the epitome of contempt and hatred. Even though she's supposed to be right, I won't give her and Leighanne the satisfaction of humiliating me once again. They have to get their dose of their own medicine at least once in their lives.
"No, Kendelle, she's right. I'm done with playing pretend." Leighanne's answer somehow shocks me, leaving me petrified even after she and Kendelle retract their hands from my shoulders. I can't believe what I'm hearing right now. It must be a nightmare - oh, come on, who am I fooling again?
"We are dating." Three apparently simple words, though as sharp as pieces of shattered glass, as heavy as bricks, as dirty as shit, as straight-forward as an arrow hitting bullseye. Three words that aren't supposed to harm, though they are more painful than a knife in your stomach.
In other words, they've been ganging up on me just not to tell me that they are a couple. I've always thought of them as two filthy liars, two pieces of scumbag (for they always find ways to humiliate me in front of large crowds) and, most importantly, none other than a pair of backstabbing bitches.
Now that I've just caught them, there's no point for them to keep lying and pretending that everything is okay. Now, they both have to learn how they face their own demons. Luckily for them, I'm on their same boat, so we've all got nothing to lose.
Still, I can't find anything bad to say. I'm somehow relieved they found their voice and gathered a good amount of courage to tell the truth about their feelings. I wouldn't be strong or brave enough to do so if I were in their shoes.
Therefore, I just say, "Big deal. You're perfect for each other," before getting back into the canteen, ready to face actual hatred from people who actually dislike me. Trust me, getting a dose of my own medicine is not enough for me to get some comeuppance.
I'm ready for the entire student body to vomit insults on me, as usual.
***
People know me worse than I thought.
What the heck is their problem? Do they really think some homophobic slurs here and there will break me? Do they think saying that I'm a bitch is enough to hurt my pride? (Not that I'd be proud to be a self-entitled brat at all, but, hey, this is what they think.)
So, if they believe I'm a midget, then they chose the wrong words to define me.
Especially Mellicent Killian.
I don't know why she's obsessed with that specific word. She likes it, and I can't deny that, but is she really sure that everyone who isn't worthy of being her friend deserves to be labelled like that? To be honest, I don't think so, and I'd like to believe she doesn't either. Still, I don't know exactly what's going on in her mind.
As soon as I find a quiet table where to sit and have my lunch in peace, her show starts, ruining my perspective of an already hard day further and making me run out of patience as soon as she bellows. "Raylynne Singleton, here you are, then. I guess you're the one to hold accountable for literally outing Kendelle and Leighanne. You were an asshole, weren't you?"
That's pure bullshit. How dare she? Especially coming from a prude whose favorite pastime is lecturing every single person on who they date, befriend or just sleep with, as if everyone is supposed to tell her what they do underneath their fucking sheets. If it were for me, I'd just go and throw this nosey brat off of a cliff.
"I might be an asshole," I retort, "but you're as much as one, if not worse. Whether they're dating or not, it's not your fucking business, okay?"
Things go from bad to worse as soon as Kendelle and Leighanne reach us, even going as far as taking their cellphones from their backpacks. If they film my little scuffle with Mellicent combined with my outburst and post it on social media, I'm done. I already have a bad reputation and can't put it on the line any more just because all these people are trying to test the little patience I have left.
Mellicent pulls a low blow on me by asking Kendelle, "Is it true that she shouted out loud that you two are dating?" She points at me with a disgusted look that perfectly blends with her resting bitch face.
"What are you talking about?" replies Kendelle, shocked at the other girl's snide comment.
"Everybody knows. You and Raylynne clearly were the last to know the truth," states Leighanne, much to my shock. Have I been so uninterested in the rest of the student body's lives to the point that I'm not even updated on their social status?
The answer at this point is clear.
"Yeah, it looks like you don't care about anyone but yourself, Raylynne," says Mellicent, angering me to the point that blood is boiling in my veins. While she's not wrong, she has no right to say that, let even to just humiliate me! She's a hypocrite, she isn't interested in having actual friends. She just bases everything on appearance.
Why am I under the impression that she's not okay with same sex dating? Why do I believe that she's trying hard to repress her disgust to the idea of Kendelle and Leighanne dating? Why am I rooting for them in first place?
Maybe I do care about people but don't want to show it. Perhaps out of pride or out of shame, or just because I don't want to deal with a bunch of idiots who will judge you even if you wear a hideous Real Madrid shirt. (If I see one of those again, I swear, I'm going to burn it even at the cost of being expelled or tried for arson.)
Although Leighanne filmed my outburst, she decides wisely not to post it on Facebook or Instagram. "That'd be too much of a humiliation," she explains. Then, she asks, out of curiosity, "You don't think Kendelle and I are that bad, right?"
To be honest, I don't even know what to say. On one hand, I'm coherent enough not to pull a 180 on them just yet, since they're not my friends and I need to understand if I can truly trust them. On the other hand, if I insist that they're rotten to the core, I'll only prove other people right about being judgemental and blinded by prejudice.
