Journey of Life.

Chapter 43.

After I kept my promise with my father, the next day I had the courage to face my fear: the people's eye. That idea scared me a lot, but I knew it was the only right solution to do. Especially if I wanted to write a new chapter. The more I looked at the time, the more I felt anxiety devouring me. As soon as the bell rang for the recess, without even giving importance to Kelly and Nikki, I ran in search of Alice. The corridor was the worst part of the school, there was a flood of students, where you could even gaze people never seen before. Thus walking alone was new to me. The moment I glimpsed Alice in the distance, I hurried to catch up with her.

Halfway through the destination, I heard various voices like, "Fight! Fight!"

Turning around I noticed a boy being surrounded by a bunch of students, while being targeted by three skate guys. I was petrified by how they beat him, or how he tried to rebel.

"Why can't I move?" I said to myself as I witnessed that fury.

Although I felt the push of other guys running towards that scene, I was literally a statue. The only reason I managed to act was when I saw Alice fall into that crowd.

She shouted "Let him go, assholes!"

But her voice was not considered, in fact she was pushed out. Seeing her on the ground, while those bullies threw bad words at her, I finally had the courage to get in the way. Without even saying anything, I went to that poor boy and helped him to get up. Out of haste I didn't even notice that I found myself in the circle, trapped by everyone. I will never forget those looks of every student- all of that was horrible. There were those who filmed, or who supported, or who even bet on who would win. My heart was beating, and I felt my stomach close. I was afraid.

They pushed me violently to the ground. "Get the fuck out of our way."

I stood on the floor and watched them beating that guy up again. No, stop, please. The more I whispered that to myself the more I could feel their punch as I was the one to receive it.

"I SAID STOP!" I clenched my fists, and I furiously started to punch those guys. But I did it at the wrong time, because I was pushed away by the teachers.

"How do people get to this level of cruelty?" I wondered, feeling pain on my hand which I used to beat those guys up.

"I don't know Iris. I mean I have no comment, or words of what you said." Alice said, while holding my hand. "What matters is that you're fine now. And I forgive you, despite the bad events we had together."

She hugged me tightly, I was moved by her goodness. Because I was aware that I didn't deserve her apologies...especially after what Nikki, Kelly and I had done to her.

Without hesitation I asked "And why should you? I have been cruel to you."

With a beautiful smile, she hinted "Not always what we see, or what we do reflects the true intentions of the people. Like they say, you'll never know unless you walk in my shoes."

After a minute of silence, I said, "So all this time, you managed to understand that I was acting, like, pretending?" I asked nervously, and when she nodded, I suddenly hugged her. "I'm the one who has no words Alice. I'm grateful for your understanding."

After that fight, she and I decided to tell the professors everything about what happened. Including the events that we had to undergo due to Kelly and Nikki. And once I made friends with Alice, they targeted us more and more. But strangely Nikki was the weaker one. Like, I saw in her an old Iris. I knew she was hiding something, but she wasn't aware of it. This was why I left myself be mistreated by her, I wanted to see and understand if that made her feel good. In fact believe it or not, I actually saw her as a good person. The problem was she refused to accept it.

"Do you consider yourself invincible now? Or only when you talk to teachers?" Kelly hinted as she violently pushed against the wall. "Because of you and those stupid friends of yours have ruined my freedom. I am forced to execute rules at home. Mine do nothing but torment me. So I can't even live my life the fuck I want."

Grabbing aggressively my hair, she added, "And you little cunt, you're gonna pay for it."

She hit my stomach. I screamed painfully. "Yeah, please, keep screaming, so that I can do worse."

I was slowly losing energy, I desperately wanted to lie on the ground. Even the things around us, I couldn't focus on them. It was all so blurry and I was confused. Maybe my head was spinning, and looking at the sky was difficult. My muscles were so weak, I wanted to give up. But I didn't want to show myself in that state, so I still tried to endure.

"Now, the final touch." She said moving away from me. "Nikki, it's your turn."

I slowly raised my face and stared at Nikki. She was different, as if she was sad in seeing me that way. "Hello? I don't have all day! Hit her, now."

"Yeah, do it, Nikki!" Another girl exclaimed. "It's all her fault, if we all ended up this way!"

"You know what? Fuck it." Kelly pushed Nikki aside. "I'll do it myself."

As soon as she raised her hand to deliver another punch, a friend of hers said, "I have a perfect idea to take revenge. Let's fucking cut her hair!"

"Great idea. Any scissors?" Kelly asked grabbing my hair even tighter this time.

The idea of that tool gave me so much anxiety. "I know how much you love your hair, Nikki told me that you always had it so long until middle school."

"Well. It's time we cut them!" She added as I tried desperately to free me, or at least to shout for help. But the more I did it, the more she pulled my hair. "Oh, Iris, you better watch out, you don't want me to cut your ear instead don't you?"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Nikki screamed with all her might. Her friends stared at her confused. "Don't you think you've done enough? I mean look at her, she's really pitiful. We should have mercy on her instead."