SCARLETT
I held my breath as I walked down the hallway. I was conscious of the eyes on me, on the pointed fingers, taunting whispers, and sneering peals of laughter.
That was my everyday life here in school. Walking in the hallway was always a dreadful experience for me. I could feel my heart beating fast, could feel perspiration on my entire body, could feel my palms growing sweaty.
I hated walking alone. Nobody likes me in Empire High. The boys already gave everyone a green pass to bully me and they were always so eager to do that as if it’d score them some point with the triplets.
I knew the number of steps I needed to take before reaching my class and I was almost done counting when I tripped on something and I landed on the floor with a thud.
The hallway erupted in laughter.
I felt a sharp pain in my knees and I looked at them to see that the right one was already bleeding.
“Oh, my bad,” the voice that I recognized to be Jasmine’s mocked, “maybe you should get glasses because apparently, you’re blind.”
More laughter. More deriding snide remarks. I wished the ground would just open up and swallow me to save me from the embarrassment but I know no such thing would happen.
So I pushed myself up and came face to face with Jasmine and her two minions. They were blocking my path.
“Can you… can you please let me pass?”
“Well, if you’re not blind, you’d see that the path is blocked, so why don’t you find another one?”
Another one? The other one was a longer path and I couldn’t… That would mean putting myself through the tortuous task of passing a longer hallway filled with students who derive pleasure in seeing me bleed.
“Jasmine please, that’s just my class behind you. I can’t go all the way back because…”
“Well, you have to,” she snarled at me, “because I can’t move away just because something like you wants to pass.”
Oh, please!
“You’re going to move so she’d pass and you’re also going to apologize.”
“And who the fuck is that?” Jasmine spat out angrily and she whirled around to see who it was. But I already know who. It was Anita.
Jasmine stopped when she saw that it was her and her look changed from the bitchy one to a more polite one.
“Excuse me?”
“You’re going to apologize to Ashley and you’re also going to make way for her. The last time I checked, you’re not static.”
Jasmine’s lips set in a thin and angry line. I expected her to lash out at Anita because no matter how much she was obsessed with Anita, she wasn’t the type to take what she dish out.
“And if I don’t?”
“Well, you will,” Anita answered, hands crossed over her chest and the two of them did a glaring contest for a while while I and Jasmine’s minions were looking confused and wondering what the hell was going on.
And then, the last thing that I expected happened, Jasmine really moved away.
Paint me shocked.
“Sorry,” she muttered and it sounded more like a threat than an apology.
I walked off quickly.
“What was that?” I asked Anita.
“Don’t mind that girl, she’s just all bark and no bite.”
I know Jasmine wasn’t just all bark and no bite but for now, I was just grateful that Anita had saved me from what would have been another round of bullying.
*******
The day passed away in a blur and nothing significant happened. I hardly ate in the cafeteria because I didn’t want to put myself where the triplets would see me and think of doing something to me.
And even in the classes we offered together, I made sure to make myself as small as possible so as not to warrant unnecessary attention to myself.
The last class of the day was Physics and one of the things I dreaded the most happened. We were asked to pair ourselves into groups of twos for an assignment.
I knew no one was going to pick me except for the last person standing and whoever it was would grumble and tell me how much they loathe working with me.
That had happened too many times to count already.
So imagine my absolute shock when the class was still in a frenzy of who to pair with when one of the school footballer players started walking up to me with a smile on his face.
I froze before I concluded that he was going for someone behind me. But there was no one behind me and he stopped right in front of me.
“Hi Ashley,” he greeted me and I nearly collapsed to the floor in a puddle.
He knows my name! Derrick, the football team captain and one of the most popular guys in school knows my name.
“Hi,” I greeted back, my voice sounding anything but my voice.
“If you don’t mind, can we be partners for the assignment?”
What! What? My mouth dropped open and I could figuratively see my jaws on the floor. Did Derrick just ask me to be his partner?
Was this a dream? Or a prank?
It must be a prank, another joke to mock and bully me but when I looked around, no one was looking at us.
“Why?”
“Why?” He echoed my dumb question, looking confused at it.
“I mean… I don’t…” I was suddenly breathless. I’ve never had a guy stare at me this intensely before. And my God! He was staring intensely at me.
“I’m just saying that why me? There are lots of other people in the class.”
“Why not you? I mean I’ve always wanted to walk up to you and just strike up a conversation but you and Anita never talk to anyone so it’s kind of hard to even see you and now, this is an opportunity to actually talk to you and become friends, if you don’t mind.”
He was confident in what he just said but there was also a slight quiver in his words, as if he was nervous and scared of how I’d reply.
And? I was just speechless. Was this really happening? He has always wanted to talk to me? He wanted us to be friends?
Was I suddenly in Alice in Wonderland?
“Are you not… you’re not saying anything.”
“Ohh, I’m sorry… I’m just… yes!” I breathed in, “I don’t mind us being partners.”
“Ohhh,” his smile was bright enough to light up the darkest room, “this just made me happy. Can we exchange digits so we can talk on the phone?”
He wanted us to exchange numbers.
We exchanged numbers while I was still dizzy from this experience that I didn’t understand.
“Listen, I have to run right now because we have a football practice but I’ll be sure to chat you up tonight so we’ll talk about our assignment.”
He flashed me another warm smile before he turned and sprinted out of the lab.
I stood there, confused and yet exhilarated about what just happened.
SCARLETTDerrick asked me to be his assignment partner.I still couldn't believe it and even though I walked home under a scorching sun, I couldn't wipe the shit-eating grin off my face. I was ecstatic. But it took getting home and entering the house for my mood to sour completely. “Why are you just getting home?” Axel fired at me immediately I entered, the venom in his eyes terrifying my soul. “I... I... I had to walk and...”“Save your useless stuttering,” Brody cut me off by throwing a pillow at me. It hit me square in the face and the force behind me nearly split my head into two. “Make us dinner,” Axel commanded and I instinctively looked at the wall clock. It was just 5 pm and we didn't eat dinner until 7:30. But I knew better not to argue. “Okay, let me just change from my school uniforms,” I started to make my way to the stairs, momentarily forgetting that I'd been locked out of my room when another pillow hit me square in the face and this time, the pain was enough to m
ASHLEYMy heart dropped to the pit of my stomach when my mom and my stepfather, the Alpha King of Crescent Valley announced that they were going on yet another vacation when they just returned from one less than a week ago.“Don’t worry, Ashley, I'm going to get you lots of gifts, you can just text me if there is any new thing that you need,” she told me as she entered the car with Alpha Hendrix. I wanted to tell her that I did not need anything, that the multitudes of gifts she got me from their last vacation were still untouched. That the only thing I needed from her was for her to stay at home and protect me from my stepbrothers, and my bullies. They were the best brothers when our parents were at home and they were the worst bullies whenever they weren't at home. The latter was the most constant because our parents were hardly ever home. They were always on one vacation or attending a public event in the other town or a fundraiser in the other country. And my stepbrothers, Axe
ASHLEY“What the fuck?” Axel yelled and I felt my heart drop to the pit of my stomach.“Are you trying to kill us?” It was Brody who spoke next and his voice was just as angry as Axel’s. I just finished preparing dinner and I was serving it to them. I was tired and drained from working nonstop for over five hours. I just wanted to rest. “It’s not… I don’t understand what… ouch,” my words trailed off into a yelp when Axel angrily threw his bowl of soup at me.It landed on my chest and it was hot and scalding. It was so painful that I felt tears pool in my eyes and I could feel my skin peeling. I bit my lower lip to keep myself from screaming out loud because if I did, they’d know how much pain it was causing me and they’d throw more at me.“God! You’re such a dunce,” Axel continued angrily, “you can’t even prepare proper food! Your whore of a mother didn’t teach you how to, right?” His voice was laced with so much venom and he looked really murderous that it seemed like it was takin
ASHLEYI woke up the next morning on my bed. Which was strange because the last thing I remembered was collapsing on the bathroom floor. And not only was I on the bed, I wasn’t in those drenched clothes, I was now in a very comfortable piece of pajamas and the duvet was covering my body. It almost seemed like someone had ticked me in.But I knew better than to think or believe that someone had really tucked me in. The three people in this house with me would rather give me off to the lion to devour than to lift a finger to help me. I must have done that myself but I had no recollection of it whatsoever. Was I starting to space out and forget things now?My eyes fell on my bedside clock and a short scream left my mouth. It was 6:45 am. I should have woken up a long time ago to prepare breakfast for the triplets. Heck! My heart dropped drastically when I realized that I didn’t remember to iron their school uniforms before I slept off. They were going to kill me. I was sure of that.
ASHLEY Jasmine, the disciplinary prefect was standing by the gate, and from the wicked grin she flashed me, I knew there was no escaping this for me. “You know at this point, I think you should just drop out with how much of a serial latecomer you’ve become.” She knew the reason why I was always coming back but because she’s Jasmine, she never failed to worsen an already worse situation. Once upon a time, Jasmine and I were best of friends. We were literally soul sisters. Then my mom married the Alpha King, Jasmine started coming over and immediately she caught the eyes of Axel, she changed and joined them in bullying me. I thought that when she started dating Axel, she’d talk to him so they’d leave me alone but instead, my best friend abandoned me and she joined them in making my life a living hell. My status as the stepdaughter of the alpha king gave her a rise on the social ladder because she was my best friend but she made sure to drop me to the lowest level when she became A