Amelia Forbes
A hushed silence fell over the cafeteria the moment I crashed to the floor on my hands and knees. Only then did it dawn on me what had just happened. I wasn't having any pudding. I wasn't going to have lunch at all. Not with my food scattered everywhere, the apple not too far from me and the glob of unidentifiable food lying a little to the right of the apple.
Just as I was starting to wonder where the pudding went, a shriek pierced the air, hurting my eardrums, seeing as it came from beside me.
At once, I whipped my head to my left to meet the shock of my life. The right half of Kimberly's face and neck was covered in chocolate pudding.
Oh, no. No, no, no, no.
At once, I scrambled to my feet, ignoring the snickers that came from Jason's table, the loudest from him.
"I'm so sorry," I began, holding my hands out, making sure to keep my distance too. "I-I didn't mean—"
I'd barely gotten out the last word, 'to', when in a flash, Kimberly shot up from her seat, grabbed the nearest plate of pudding and hauled it at me. I saw it a second too late to duck.
A foreign pain exploded on my lower lip and jaw where the plate of pudding had impacted, as I toppled backward, lost my footing and fell onto the floor.
I clasped a hand to my hurting jaw, tears pricking my eyes at the outburst of laughter that broke the silence from Jason's table. My jaw, neck and red flannel top were covered in chocolate pudding.
"Sorry won't fix my hair, bitch!" Kimberly spat.
The first tear pooled in my right eye.
Don't fall. Don't fall.
When it could gather no more, it rolled down my cheek.
Crap.
"Look what you did to my face!" Kimberly yelled. "I should throw another at you for this."
My eyes cast to the floor, hand still on my throbbing jaw, I hurried to my feet.
"It was obviously a mistake, Kim," someone from Jason's table said, as I turned away from the pairs of staring eyes, all hungry for more drama.
"Oh, shut up, Adrian," Kimberly retorted. "Of course, you'd take her side."
"No, you shut up." Adrian shot back. "I mean, you act like you have no fucking sense of reasoning. You could've hurt her badly . . ."
Speeding out the cafeteria, my head still down, the tears now falling in torrents, his words faded.
On getting to the bathroom, I pushed the door open and walked in, shutting it behind me. I turned on the tap, put my hands under the cold water, scooped up some and splashed it on the pudding on my face. I repeated the action severally until all the pudding on my face and neck was gone.
After that, I took a tissue and wiped down my top before removing some of the stain with water. Only after I was done did I then look up at my reflection.
The tears had stopped as soon as I started cleaning off, but the sniffles hadn't. My grey eyes were red rimmed, nose pink and the lower side of my jaw bearing a similar pink hue, a bruise on the right side of my lower lip. The edge of my shoulder length blonde was damp and matted to my collarbone. I flinged it out.
Normally, I wouldn't cry, but hauling a freaking plate at me? And the others laughing right after? That was more embarrassment than I could bear. And it'd never been physical, Kimberly's aggression towards me, so why then did she, all of a sudden, throw a freaking plate at me?
Blinking away the tears that'd pooled in my eyes once again, I blew out a breath through my lips.
"You're fine," I said to myself, my daily mantra whenever I got bullied. "Only two hundred days left, Mel. You're doing great."
Nodding at my words, I exhaled once more and left the cafeteria at the moment the warning bell.for lunch period to be over went off.
Outside, on a bench not too far from the bathroom, I saw a denim jacket I hadn't noticed earlier, lying there with a note on top of it.
At first, I wanted to leave it, just walk on, like I'd never seen it, but the note drew me in.
Walking over to the jacket, I picked up the note.
Sorry about your lunch, it read. I'm leaving my jacket. Maybe you could use it to cover up the pudding stain?
Adrian.
Folding the note, I picked up the jacket.
It was a wonder how two close friends could be so different, with contrasting personalities.
Jason and Adrian had been friends since middle school, their friendship extending into high-school. They weren't just opposite in character, Adrian being the nicer, sweeter one and Jason the rude, arrogant 'bad boy', but also in their looks. Adrian, a lot hotter than Jason, for me though, was towering to about six feet, had the body of an athlete and jet black hair.
His keen, observant, blue eyes and million dollar smile pretty much pulled every girl in school, not that he was a player though.
Jason, on the other hand, had the same height and body as Adrian, only that he had light brown eyes and sandy hair.
Sometimes, I wondered how Adrian still managed to remain friends with Jason, despite being so different. Despite Jason being such a douchebag.
Slipping on the jacket and buttoning it up, I said a silent 'thank you' to Adrian in my head.
Jason DavenportLeaning back against one of the upholding pillars behind the school, I stuck a hand into my jacket pocket, the fingers of my other hand holding, loosely, onto the burning stick of cigarette between them.Where the hell was she? I wondered, casting a brief gaze to the watch around my wrist. It was three o'clock already. She knew she was to meet up with me immediately after classes, but here she was wasting my time, like waiting on her was all I had to do the entire day.She'll get it when she eventually shows up, that's for sure, I thought, with a frown, raising the cigarette to my lips.Taking a short drag, I dropped my hand and blew the smoke out in two, oddly shaped rings.
Amelia ForbesEveryday, my hatred for Jason Davenport burned brighter. I had so many thoughts in my mind toward him. Thoughts, ideas, that were sure to inflict pain if gotten a chance to be carried out—slam his head into a wall severally, kick him in the nuts as often as I could, but to mention a few. After all, it was only deserving.I mean, as if the humiliation I'd passed through this morning in the cafeteria, because of him, was not enough, he went on to treat me like an absolute piece of worthless junk when we met up behind the school after classes, grabbing me by the collar of Adrian's jacket, as if I was some sort of guy he had issues with, and thumping my forehead because he got a B in his history homework, very much forgetting that I was human too and could make mistakes once in a while.&n
Amelia Forbes The next day, I arrived at school a lot earlier than I normally did, my new tactic at avoiding Jason, who was a chronic late comer. As soon as I got to school, I geared right into the homeroom, making sure to keep my head down, so Kimberly didn't spot me, signed my name and took my seat at the far end beside the window. I was the only one present in the room-pretty much everyone had lives more exciting than I did-giving me the comfort to do whatever I wanted. Like eating the sandwich Nana had made me this morning just before I left for school. Leaning back into my seat, I took a bite of the sandwich, my attention on the content of the phone in my hand. A text message from Benson popped up at the top as I scrolled through it. At once, I tapped the message.I'm on my way to school, and I'm not picking Katie up today, for once, phew. Want me to pick you up? It read.Tapping the keys on my keyboard, I replied, I'm already at school :).What
Jason DavenportPractice time. The only period I ever looked forward to at school, other than picking on Amelia, that is.Classes were over now and the team was in the field doing basic warm ups before the main practice began. Amelia, as I'd told her to, was seated on the bleachers, watching blankly, my stuff beside her. Just to make sure she was actually watching and not doing something else, like pressing her darned phone, I kept one eye on the field and the other on her. It wasn't as hard as it sounded. Shortly after the warm up, the main practice kicked off at the sound of Coach Hens's whistle. Okay, yes, I looked forward to practice, pretty much everyday at school, but on some days, some occasions, like today, when it was devilishly hot, I might as well pass it up.We played for over thirty minutes before Coach Hens decided to give us a break, which I was very much thankful for. At the sound of the whistle, I doubled over, hands on my knees, pan
Amelia ForbesEvery day that I had to see Jason got me more and more upset than I could take. Pushed me further toward the wall. I didn't know if I could wait for the remainder of the hundred and ninety days before I saw him no more. I wasn't sure if I could contain myself any longer. Eventually, sooner or later, I was going to snap and probably do something, most likely, not beneficial to me. But after the incident in his car last week, I think I wouldn't mind.Yes, I feared Jason, but there was a limit to everything. Even to my fear. After what he'd done on Thursday last week, after he'd spoken and acted with so much hate and scorn, I couldn't help but wonder if there was something more to his bullying. If maybe, all along, it wasn't really bullying out of boredom or habit, but bullying borne out of pure hatred. And I couldn't help but fear for my life. My safety. So, I decided to steer clear of him, by all means. And even if I had to interact with him, it'd be one
Amelia Forbes I was soon to attend my first ever high school party, only for the sole reason of Jason inviting me himself. Handing me a flyer yesterday. And for him apologizing too, I guess. It was Friday night, the time set for the party, and I was starting to regret taking Jason's flyer. Agreeing to attend his party. I was getting cold feet, and I had my reasons. For one, although I'd accepted Jason's apology and had forgiven him, even when I didn't want to, even when I knew an apology couldn't just erase everything he'd done to me, I still had this gut feeling that it wasn't genuine, his repentance. For some reason, I still felt it was all an act. Now, I wasn't one to act on my gut feelings, trust them, because, sometimes, they'd let me down, so, as much as I didn't want to, I ignored them.Secondly, I was getting cold feet because I wasn't used to parties, and I had absolutely no idea what to wear. I had a lot of dresses. So many. Short, long, extra short,
Amelia Forbes It was official. Parties just weren't my thing. Jason's party was fun, actually, for people who liked parties, that is, but personally, I couldn't see the fun in loud noises, people screaming on top of their voices in the name of talking, dirty dancing, drinking too much alcohol and puking thereafter. It just wasn't my idea of fun.So, I was already preparing to leave without telling Jason. All I had as my biggest hurdle was sneaking out, which wasn't so much of a hurdle-seeing the huge crowd present at his party, it was easy to blend in or get lost. Finding my way home wasn't going to be much of a problem either-I was good with directions, sorta, and when I was in Jason's car, I'd done well to note the way around. I was currently engaged in an uninteresting conversation with a flame haired guy whom I wasn't sure of his name but was certain he was a senior too. He was hitting on me, and failing miserably at it, judging by his poor choice of
Amelia Forbes I woke up, with a start, to the light filtering into my room through the half open curtain, a throbbing head and a parched throat. Squinting against the mild glare of the sun, I propped myself up on the bed and pushed my hair out of my face, my sore eyes taking in the contents of the room."What happened?" I murmured to myself, little bits of the party from last night coming back to me. "How did I get back?"I tried to recall how I returned home but nothing came to mind. The last I remembered was drinking to the dare they'd given me, which I declined doing.Figuring I must've gotten really drunk and Jason brought me back to my house, I sighed and swung my legs down from the bed. I needed an aspirin. Two aspirin. Fast. But first, some water, and then checking in on grandma. Knowing her, she would be up by now.Speaking of the time, what was the time actually? I twisted my body to look at the alarm clock sitting on the nightstand at the other side