Snakes Don't Bite Their Owners

Juggling Skittles

It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and I'm currently sitting on the side of a long empty road, debating whether or not to call my mother and confess to my crimes. 

I should be in school right now. 

I guess I should rewind a bit and let you know why I'm here... well, it went a little something like this...

"MiStER horblahblahblah, I MUST use the bathroom THIS INSTANT! Otherwise, I'm afraid I might explode... I know you're under strict orders from my mother to ignore my every word and never leave me unsupervised, however, if I am unable to reMOve myself from this classroom to RelEiVVE my BladDer, it will most probably end in catastrophe."

"Yes, okay... fine. You may go to the bathroom, Harriet."

"Why, thank you."

And so I began my journey to the ladies' restroom. Okay, saying RESTROOM makes it sound all fancy, but really it's a total pigsty. Discarded lipgloss and stray strips of toilet paper litter the floor, creating a maze that nobody asked for.

Anyway, I was actually planning on returning from the bathroom... but there I was, minding my own business, (while uuhh doing my business) and all of a sudden I hear giggling.

"Come on, it's fine. There isn't even anybody in here."

"But... it's the GIRLS bathroom. I'm not allowed in the GIRLS bathroom."

I recognize those voices. 

"Oh come ON, no one will even know."

"Jessica..."

He wouldn't. 

"Alright, fine. But only this once okay."

...I guess he would. 

I hesitate for a couple of seconds before revealing my existence to the friendship destroying, rule-breaking idiots smooshed together in the corner of the girl's bathroom, wedged between a rusty sink and a broken hand-dryer. 

All the words, the insults, the anger that was running through my head a few seconds earlier leave my mind as my eyes fall on them. 

They're kissing.

Again.

I stand there like a painting waiting to be completed as they become aware they aren't alone. 

We're frozen in a lopsided triangle of silence, our eyes locked on something in the middle of the room that isn't actually there. 

We are all sinking. 

Perhaps you could call it disbelief? 

In their case... guilt? or maybe fear? For me it's betrayal. Loss.

I should have stayed hidden in the stall. It would have been easier to convince myself that this wasn't happening right now. 

"Harriet, I..."

I wait, but I don't know what for. 

"It's not... Uh, I..."

I run out of the room, out of the world... their world. The world that used to be mine. 

I don't belong there anymore. 

I rush to my locker as I try to fight back the tears. I will not CRi. I am not a sponge. 

I have a hard time getting the lock off my locker, because I remembered that I forgot my combination 2 months ago.

I shove my fingers through the slits on the door, in an attempt to reach my backpack and pull it out...I could only push through the very tips of my fingers before they got stuck. 

Once I managed to pull them back out, I was able to reach down and pick up the bolt cutters lying on the floor which I used to empty my locker of its contents.

I start to hear footsteps behind me and immediately sprint for the door... which turns out to be locked, so I double back to the bathroom to hide. Except I almost run into Mrs. Shondilafigon... so I have to woosh into the boy's bathroom instead. 

Long story short... there were a few high-pitched screams. And then I responded with a 'sorry' as I flung open the window and flung myself out of it onto the grass below. 

Thus began my journey to my new life.

...and that's the story of how I ended up on the wrong side of a lifeless street.