little miss perfect

cold hearts & cupids

Jaycee's POV

*

"What a trainwreck of a family..."

"I wonder how they'll weave their way out of this scandal..."

"I would expect nothing less from the descendants of Salazar Slytherin."

"Why are you surprised? They're rich. Rich people suck."

"I always felt bad they had no mother, but she's better off dead."

"I'm glad their privileged asses have been exposed. They don't deserve anything they have."

"Did you hear that Draco Malfoy was the one that ratted them out? I thought him and Jaycee Hilliker were an item."

"I always knew they had some skeletons in the closet."

"Yeah, it's fucked up, but she's hot as, so I'll let it slide."

Those were just a few of the vast array of comments that were made about my family and I over the period of the next month. The early year weather was cold, but the atmosphere that clouded Hogwarts was even colder. People were relentless with their attitude towards my brother and I. The first few days after what had been deemed as 'The Hilliker's Latest Scandal' had been brought to light had been emotionally draining for both of us and the constant insults, gossip, rumours and name calling had been too much to handle.

It had been so bad that I'd struggled to get out of bed those first few mornings. I'd never experienced such a heavy feeling of melancholy and I'd had no idea how to cope with it. I'd dreaded leaving the safety of my dormitory, and would stare at the ceiling each morning, anxiously anticipating the mistreatment I would endure that day. To be honest, class was alright due to the fact the teachers were present, and they had to respect students to an extent, and were able to control the behaviour of the students. The real killers were the mealtimes, the corridors between classes and study sessions in the library. That's where everybody's real harshness surfaced.

But day by day, insult by insult and rumour by rumour, I'd found myself becoming accustomed to the idea of people hating me. The inner turmoil and anxiousness that came with being picked at 24/7 slowly but surely began to numb. Spending all my time wallowing and living in a puddle of self-doubt became far too boring and eventually, I managed to pull myself out of the depressing pit I'd fallen into. After a few weeks, everybody else's seemed to become bored of the situation too. The Hillikers' were still a popular topic among students, but slowly, people's obsessiveness of the latest news began fading away. This was coupled with the fact that they weren't able to gain satisfaction out of bullying Dylan and I anymore, because, quite frankly we'd both resorted to an 'I don't give a shit' attitude.

I revelled in the fact that I'd proven Draco Malfoy wrong. I hadn't let this destroy me.

I hadn't spoken a single word to him for an entire month. Hell, I hadn't even sent a glance. I'd put in thorough effort to avoid him at all costs. I'd forced Blaise to sit with me on the other sides of the dungeons, during Potions, where I wouldn't have to look at him. This wasn't hard considering Blaise and Draco seemed to be having their own feud that I'd not pried in on. I stayed away from the Common Room and other areas that I knew he inhabited often. If I even saw a glimpse of his platinum blond hair out of the corner of my eye, I would immediately escape the vicinity. Although I'd been able to forget the empty comments that were made by the rest of the students, the hurtful words he'd uttered to me during our argument were constantly etched in my mind. I wasn't avoiding him because I was scared of him specifically, but rather the memories of not only our argument, but even the times before our argument that his presence would bring. But, just as I had become accustomed to the idea that everybody else hated me, I'd become accustomed to the idea that Draco Malfoy did too...