Fawkes

It Ain't Over 'Till the Fat Lady Sings

The bell for break rang, and I picked up my bag and exited room 225. I was more than thankful for two reasons. A) we had a substitute teacher today, meaning I didn't have to put up with Mrs Donolly's bullshit when I wasn't in the mood, and B) we did a lab all class, meaning I didn't have to talk to Dick or sit next to him.

I was still avoiding him. It wasn't like he was making any effort to talk to me, but I knew that I didn't want to talk to him. Especially if that meant talking about it.

The venture to my locker was short, just down a few halls. Left, right, left, left, straight.

When walking through the school, I always felt like people were staring at me, but usually that was just paranoia.

For some reason it didn't feel that way this time.

People's eyes followed me as I walked, and I frowned in confusion. Was there something on my face? Was my hair messy? That was ridiculous my hair is always messy.

I didn't have to wonder the reason for long when my locker came into view at the end of the hall. It wasn't hard to find, partially because it was the only one spray painted with the word BITCH on it.

There were a couple ways I could've handled this. My hunch, easily, was that this was Lauren Sing's genius way to get to me. I had twenty steps until I had to deal with it. I could A) pretend like nothing is wrong, B) find that slut and slit her throat, or C) just not go to my locker at all.

Before I had any time to process the three options, I felt a bubble of laughter emerge in my throat. Upon really looking at the letters, I realized that the word looked more like BILCH than BITCH, as Lauren's job of crossing the 't' was not a job well done.

I let the laughter out, because I couldn't handle it. I couldn't handle how much she failed at a job that was so easy. My laughter was a little manic, but not too much so. It was a habit of mine anyway, and old habits don't really go away.

What was even better was that Lauren was there, standing with Derrick, Alice, Jasmine, Lukas, and Mindy.

And she looked pissed. The smug smirk she undoubtedly had was wiped from her face when she saw my reaction. Out of my peripheral I could see most of the others held looks of confusion, except for Mindy, who was trying not to laugh with me.

When I finally arrived at my locker I had to wipe tears from my eyes. People were staring.

"You—" I couldn't get the words out as I turned to laugh at Lauren, whose face was heating up, "You seriously . . . You seriously messed up on this? What the hell is a bilch, Lauren?"

I started laughing hysterically, and opened my locker to swiftly pull out the spray paint I kept in there for no particular reason.

"It's a—a five letter word and you failed!" I wheezed, and people around us were laughing now too. "Not only is this a petty, pathetic prank, but you screwed it up!"

More laughter as I shook the can, and Lauren was angry, her face as red as the locker behind her. I made a big deal out of crossing the 't' properly, still cackling uncontrollably.

"There you go!" I laughed, "You're welcome! Next time you try to pull this find someone who can actually spell and pay them to do it."

I chucked the paint back into my locker and grabbed my history textbook before turning and walking right past Lauren with a grin on my face. Mindy didn't hesitate to high five me, even despite Lauren and her posse being right there. That's what I liked about Mindy, she didn't hide her hatred for her fake friends.

"I knew you'd pull through," she whispered through a chuckle as I continued to walk down the hall.

As I turned the corner, I heard the unmistakeable sound of someone kicking a locker angrily and letting out a shout of rage, followed shortly by one of pain. Poor Lauren, I just made a fool of her in her own territory. Did she seriously think she could get to me like that? She was acting like this was some shitty, cliché high school movie. It was hilarious. There was no other word to describe it. Except maybe pathetic.