Lost in the Game {Brollins}

| Chapter 4 |

Rebecca quickly walked down the halls, being mindful of her bloodied fist and making sure to keep it hidden from others.

As she got in the washroom she noticed the obviously neglected state. She saw the dirty floors, stalls, and sinks. She noticed abandoned wrappers of all sorts overtake the floors, and realized there was absolutely no soap in the holders whatsoever.

She made her way over to the sink and noticed a group of girls walk in behind her, huddling in the corner, looking at their phones and most likely gossiping. She looked at them through the mirror and saw the stares, she noticed whispers, and she witnessed the snickers.

She knew she wasn't particularly liked by the people that knew of her friends, and even though they didn't know her, she was thrown into the pile of being disliked as well. Ashley was obviously hated due to her boyfriend stealing nature, and all of the girls detested Mercedes due to her lack of friendliness but still overwhelming popularity, as for Pamela she was an easy target that was normally picked on. Other than those three girls, nobody really knew who Rebecca was, and she didn't mind it.

She forced herself to refocus on her hand, forcefully trying to scrub off the blood with the freezing cold water. She ignored the slight stings of a few small open cuts on her knuckles and grabbed whatever small amount of paper towel was left in the holder.

Just as she exited the bathroom the bell rang, and she squeezed her eyes shut in frustration knowing she'd have to walk into the class late.

Typically most kids wouldn't care, but if you're late and going to class rather than just skipping, all eyes are going to be on you as you walk to your seat. The thought of actually skipping class crossed her mind, but she was already in enough trouble with the authoritative figures of this school to get into more arguments about her not doing what's "best for her future". Rebecca knew that with every choice you made, there was a consequence that followed, and this was hers.

She decided to go to class rather than skip and she quietly made her way through the halls, avoiding any teachers that would try to reprimand her.

As she made it to her classroom door, she noticed it was closed and her teacher had already started the lesson. She opened the door and tried to make it to the back of the class to reach her desk without being called out. To her surprise when the teacher noticed her come in late and she just rolled her eyes and pointed to Rebecca's seat. Rebecca let out a sigh of relief and sat down as quickly as possible.

After Rebecca's morning classes were over and she was dismissed, she made her way back over to her locker and began switching out her morning and afternoon books.

While she was doing this, a group of male voices started filling the hallways and others started becoming more silent. The voices were easily recognizable and Rebecca's grip on her textbook tightened as she was anticipating the worst. She knew no matter what happened she couldn't make too much of a scene, she couldn't give the teachers the satisfaction of messing up again and getting expelled.

"Hey, princess." His voice made her jaw clench, and she wanted nothing more than to turn around and do something she knew she'd regret later.

Instead, she just ignored him and continued with what she was doing, waiting for the other three girls to get out of class and come meet up with her. She slipped the last book into her bag and moved her hand onto her locker door, getting ready to close it. Suddenly the sound of feet shuffling towards her filled the silent halls.

He came closer behind her, grabbed a handful of hair from her low ponytail, and leaned closer to her ear, gripping her waist with his free hand. "Don't ignore me," He snarled, "I'm talking to you."

"Let go." She grit her teeth and spat her words out like venom, clenching her fist, as she focused on the inside of her locker, trying to maintain her composure.

From the corner of her eye, she noticed Mr. Polinsky witnessing the entire exchange without saying a word. He just stood there silently at the end of the hall, not making a move to stop the display. She rolled her eyes in disgust, looking around she tried to find someone who would intervene. The only people around were his group of friends and some people staring and whispering, wondering what would happen next.

She felt her hair get pulled tighter and his grip on her waist wasn't faltering, "Let go, Brock."

He let out a laugh and leaned his head closer to her ear. Before he could say anything, Rebecca let out an extremely frustrated sigh, turned towards him, and pushed him away.

She wanted to do something worse but there were too many eyes present, not to mention certain people lurking and waiting for her to make a big mistake. The push wasn't enough to burden her with any trouble from the teachers or loud mouth students, but it got Brock off of her and gave her enough time to get away from him.

The laughter from his group of friends echoed throughout the halls as they made fun of him. There was angry mumbling coming from Brock and Rebecca was sure there were some choice words said about her.

She quickly picked up her bag and walked away, hoping to escape any other sort of confrontation for the rest of the morning.