A Harsh Reality | ✓

Chapter 22

Noah

I entered school to find a huge crowd gathered around a locker. As I got closer, I realized it was Amanda's locker. I speeded up my pace and made my way through the thick layer of students. They were all taking photos and laughing. In what seemed like bright pink lipstick, 'psycho girl' was written on the locker's door.

Suddenly, the crowd parted in two and Amanda appeared. She saw her locker and gasped. I noticed she had scratches on her face and her bare arms. She shouted at the crowd to go away, after a while they left, getting bored of laughing at the locker. When no one else was left but me, she frowned before grabbing a paper towel from her bag.

"I hate her," she said as she started to wipe away the lipstick, "It's all her fault."

"Who?"

"Aubrey," she replied, "She obviously did this, that's her lipstick colour."

"And do you know why she did it?" I asked.

"Um, duh. Yesterday? At the cafeteria?" She turned around and I looked at her in confusion.

"Oh, right," Amanda said, "You were absent." She turned back around and continued to clean her locker.

"She confronted me because apparently you hadn't texted her back, so she assumed I hadn't told you about her message because I liked you and was jealous of her, even though I have a boyfriend," she rolled her eyes and continued, "Then she said some pretty offensive things, and I guess I lost control." She wiped off the last part of lipstick, leaving a trace of glitter on her locker's door. "I slapped her." I choked and then coughed.

"You did what?" I asked incredulously.

"I slapped her worthless face," Mandy repeated, "And she scratched me with her fake nails. The fight ended with both of our pair of hands on each other's hair, fighting and screaming until the Principal came. I think I accidentally declared war between us." She shrugged. "It's not the first time I have to deal with a bitch like her."

"Woah, I'm absent for a day and I lose the chance of seeing you fight against Aubrey?" I said, Mandy looked at me as if she was going to kill me. I coughed and asked, "What did she say?"

"Things I won't be repeating," she said as she grabbed her backpack from the floor, "Thanks to her, I have detention for a week. She, obviously, convinced the Principal I attacked her for no reason at all and ended charge free." In conclusion, I pulled Amanda into this mess by talking to her. Great.

Amanda then looked behind me. "Oh fucking awesome. There she comes. Don't let me slap her again, I don't want suspension."

I turned around and surely Aubrey was sashaying down the hall. Heels clicking as she placed one leg in front of the other. She had on a short skirt and a blouse. I trailed my eyes higher into her face and choked back a chuckle. She had a black eye.

"Are you sure you only slapped her?" I asked Mandy.

"I may have thrown a punch or two..." She smiled, her dimples showing up for the first time in a while and I laughed.

Aubrey stopped in front of us and crossed her arms. She looked Amanda up and down with disgust.

"Noah, psycho girl," she greeted us, "What are you two laughing about?"

"Nothing," I said at the same time that Amanda replied, "You." Aubrey rolled her eyes.

"Oh no," Aubrey said looking at Amanda's locker, "Did someone write a rude name on your locker? That's terrible." Aubrey smirked.

"Whatever. Oh, by the way, I wanted to know something," Amanda stated, "What kind of sane person finds out about the life that another person had before moving to a new state? I think that's stalking, and that's kind of a symptom of a psychopath, maybe you should check the internet before accusing someone of starting a fight and being a 'psycho girl'." Aubrey scoffed.