Despite All Obstacles Part V

Karma

WARNING: TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE

BARBARA'S STORY

This afternoon.

After lunch, we walk to my locker. I need somebody on my side right now.

"Gracie?" I hear Shortcake. I stand up to face her. She looks sad.

"What's wrong, Shortcake?" I ask her, really concerned.

"Why, Gracie?" Shortcake starts crying. I don't mean to make her cry.

"I don't know, Shortcake. It just happened." That sounds like an excuse. She shakes her head in disbelief at me. Now, I'm afraid I'm losing her too.

"I thought you weren't like Brittani. But I was wrong. You're just like her, only to Patt." I stare at her, shocked. I can't believe she just said that to me. She just called me a slut. She starts sobbing silently, like I broke her heart. I broke her trust in me.

I turn to Chastity. She harshly judges me. She walks towards Shortcake. "China, it's okay. Don't cry, baby girl," she comforts her, "See you tomorrow, chica." She leaves with Shortcake.

I don't mean to make her cry. Now, I badly wanna cry. I slam my locker shut and rush to the girls' room. The cheerleaders are in here. All the same five.

Goldilocks's filing her nails, sneering at me. I roll my eyes at them all, walk inside a stall and lock myself in. I don't feel comfortable crying when they're in here, but I needa be alone.

One of them pushes the other stalls by force. They fail to push mine, and they laugh about it as loud as they can. I bury my face.

"Natalie, lock the door. Mo'Niqua ain't goin' nowhere!" Is Goldilocks really gonna stereotype me while I'm losing my friends? Shortcake has the right to call them demons. Now, I'm afraid to leave. I feel something bad's about to happen. Are they worried about being late for class?

They're unusually quiet, now. I can hear them whispering and giggling. I wait for them to leave. Unfortunately, I have advisory part two right now. I think they all have Lunch C. Oh, great!

"Gosh, I'm so hungry. But I'm lactose intolerant," Natasha complains, putting on powder.

I see Robyn putting on mascara, Natalie putting on lip gloss, Kimberleigh putting on lip stick and Goldilocks fixing her hair, with a curling iron. Mean Girls calls them "The Plastics" for a reason.

"So, best friend. Did you talk to band geek in chemistry?" Goldilocks asks her.

"Yeah, girl. I made Anime nerd switch seats with me, to see what's going on with band geek and why he attacked Matt. He was very quiet, but I didn't mind. I told him to take his time."

"You made me work with that weirdo, Bobbi. I would have sat with Isaac. He kept staring at me. I was very uncomfortable," Kimberleigh complains.

"Sorry, girl. It was an emergency. You know I have love for band geek." Yep. She likes him, a lot.

"What do you even see in him? He only talks to the same people. That weird Chinese girl and that perverted Anime dork. My annoying little brother watches Anime on Netflix. Shows a whole bunch of boobs," Natalie whines.

"Ewwwwww!!!" They all say. They sound like shallow adults. Why would I be jealous of this?

"What did he say, best friend? Why is he hurting?" Goldilocks begs her to spill.

"You don't wanna know. It's about Precious having her first one-night stand with your man," Robyn shocks everybody once she says this to Goldilocks. "He told me a friend of his got lost in the woods while they were camping, and his brother was looking for the friend, because she thought she saw a bear, then they came back all sweaty and lied to his face about why. He didn't say names, but I knew who he was preferring to. This was after class."