Chapter 16

Ruby

I make sure to wake up half an hour before Alice comes in so that I can have time to get ready on my own today. Besides, I figure that doing so will give Alice fewer things to complain about -- although I’m certain she’ll still find something.

It’s still dark outside as I pop out of bed and scurry to the bathroom. Atwood’s side of the bed is still neatly made, which makes me wonder if he has been sleeping in another bedroom. Maybe he just doesn’t sleep at all. I jump into the shower, giving myself ten minutes to enjoy the hot water.

Tamara and I didn’t have water this hot in our old home. I could only afford to pay the bills sporadically, so sometimes we would be lucky to have lukewarm water but most of the time we would have cold water. I got used to it after awhile, but having a hot, strong stream of water feels nice.

When I step out of the shower, the bathroom is all steamy. I wipe the steam away from the mirror as I wrap myself in my towel and begin drying my hair, then I use the delicate comb on the sink to brush out the tangles. I brush my teeth next, taking care to scrub my tongue. Everything I do today has to be perfect, because I don’t want to upset Atwood again.

I also don’t want to be bullied again, although my chances of not being bullied are slim at this point. I’m basically the laughingstock of the school after yesterday, and today is only my second day. At the very least, even if everyone else moves on and forgets, I know Donna will never let me live it down.

I only have ten more minutes before Alice is supposed to come in and wake me up, so I quickly rifle through the closet to find a suitable school uniform. There has to be something here, right?

Tucked away in the back corner of the large walk-in closet, I spot it. A black and burgundy school uniform, pressed neatly and hung up. I smile and grab it. It fits almost perfectly, albeit a smidge too small, but it works. Having this on by the time Alice comes in means that I’ll be protected from whatever inappropriate uniform she tries to dress me in today, which is a win for me.

Just as I’m slipping on the pair of black loafers that were also tucked away beneath the uniform, Alice comes in like clockwork. I make eye contact with her as I stand in the mirror. She stands with her hand still on the doorknob, frozen in place with a frantic look in her eyes.

“What are you doing?!” she cries, slamming the door and rushing me. I put up my hands in self defense as she raises her hand to hit me, but then she must think better of it, and calms herself.

“It was just hanging in the-” I begin, but she cuts me off instantly.

“That was Luna’s uniform,” she snarls. “And it’s too small for your fat body. If you had just waited, you would know that I’ve brought you your own uniform.” She shoves another folded uniform in my hands. It’s not white like the one from yesterday; surprisingly, it’s the proper school uniform that all of the other students wear.

“Who even is Luna?” I ask with a snarl. Alice waves me away with her hand as she crosses the room to open the curtains.

“That is none of your concern,” she answers. “Change out of that uniform and into the proper one immediately.”

Her face looks almost demonic in the dim light of the morning, and it frightens me, so I do as she says and take off “Luna’s” uniform.

The new one does fit perfectly. I’ll admit that it looks nice on me, much unlike the white one from yesterday.

I’m about to thank Alice when she unceremoniously shoves my book bag into my hands and pushes me out the door.

An hour later, after eating a meager breakfast of black coffee and a single slice of unbuttered toast prepared by Alice, I’m at school. Today, fewer students give me nasty glares now that I blend in a bit more, although some still sneer and snicker at me as I walk up the steps and into the main entryway.

Before I can even make it fully through the door, Nancy appears out of nowhere and wraps me in a huge, tight hug. Her giant breasts press against me so tightly that it feels as though I’ll die of suffocation.

“Happy new day, new girl!” she says in a singsong voice, releasing me from her death grip and smiling up at me with her round green eyes. Her red hair is pulled back into two French braids and her bangs look freshly trimmed.

“Good morning,” I say with a smile. After everything that happened yesterday, being greeted today with a smile from a friend is enough to make me feel better.

Nancy loops her arm through mine and marches down the hallway with me toward our lockers, swinging her briefcase merrily in her other hand as she prattles on.

“I’ve been rehearsing my cheerleading for the homecoming parade,” she says. “You have to come see it. I’ll be sitting on the parade float, where everyone can see me!”

We make it to our lockers and open them. As I prepare my notebook and supplies for my first class of the day, the phone that Atwood gave me catches my eye. It seems to catch Nancy’s eye, too, because she grabs it and shoves it at me.

“Now that you have such a nice phone, will you please take some pictures of me during the parade? Please, they’ll be so memorable! I want to post them to social media.”

I hesitate, turning the box over in my hands and biting my lip. Nancy sticks her lower lip out and gives me puppy dog eyes. “Pretty please?” she says, batting her blonde eyelashes. I’ll admit, she is cute and I can’t resist her round little face looking up at me.

“All right,” I answer.

Nancy practically squeals with joy, which causes me to smile in response.

Just then, Donna shows up as if out of nowhere. She saunters up to my locker, shutting it as she leans haughtily against it with her arms folded across her chest in such a way that she presses her breasts together to give herself more cleavage.

“Morning, new girl,” she says to me, then looks at Nancy with a smirk. “Morning, Cow.”

Nancy frowns, placing her hand on her hip. “What do you want, Donna?” she says.

Donna clenches her jaw angrily. “I heard you think you have what it takes to be homecoming queen. I’ll tell you what, though: there’s no way in hell that you’re gonna get it. Everyone knows that I’m going to be homecoming queen this year, just like last year and the year before.”

“I might not win,” Nancy replies bravely, although I can hear a tremor in her voice, “but at least I’m running fair and square and not making my creepy football quarterback boyfriend threaten people for votes.”

Donna throws her head back and laughs abrasively before narrowing her eyes and bending down to Nancy’s short height. “It’s not like you’re going to get any votes anyway,” she growls. Nancy is practically quaking with a combination of fear and anger. “How do you think you’re gonna take this away from me, huh? With your sagging cow breasts? Or maybe you’re gonna try and fail to sleep with the whole football team like last year?”

Nancy blushes and looks down at her feet. I can see tears welling up in her eyes, and it makes me angry.

Donna straightens back up, pleased with herself, and starts to walk away. I look back to my friend, who is now opening her locker defeatedly so that she can hide her tears. I clench my fists at my side, hating to see my friend like this.

“Hey, bitch!” I yell, storming after Donna. She whirls around to look at me, folding her arms in that same way again, and smirks.

“Can I help you, new girl?”

“You call Nancy a cow? And what are you? Everyone can tell that you wear pushup bras, and the way that you fold your twig arms to push your breasts together isn’t fooling anyone either. But I guess if you didn’t do that, guys wouldn’t be able to tell your front from your back, right? You’re clearly just jealous of Nancy’s body.”

Donna chuckles and saunters up to me, pinching her nose as she approaches. “Ew,” she says. “You stink. Where did you get that uniform? The dumpster?”

I smile, not fazed by Donna’s insults, and lean close to whisper to her.

“At least I got to spend the whole afternoon with Lycan Atwood yesterday. He was so kind, he even gave me a brand new pair of sneakers.”

Donna’s face turns beet red. She drops her arms and clenches her fists at her side, clearly trying and failing to come up with a retort.

Satisfied, I turn around to go back to Nancy.

When I turn around, however, I am met with a football directly to the side of my head. It knocks me over, causing my head to spin. But the football doesn’t bother me, because when it hits my head, I suddenly find myself in the midst of a vision.

Ethan lays in a hospital bed, barely awake. His leg is elevated in a cast. He wears a neck brace, has two black eyes, and missing teeth.

When I come to, Ethan and Donna are standing over me with evil grins on their faces. “Oops,” Ethan says sarcastically. “Looks like someone hit their head.”

I groan and try to sit up, but feel too dizzy. Nancy comes to my aid and helps me as Ethan and Donna laugh.

“You’re gonna end up in the hospital,” I say to Ethan, who frowns in response.

“Is that a threat, little girl?” he says angrily.

“Don’t worry about her, babe,” Donna says, pressing her waifish body up against him. “She’s a big, fat nobody who reeks of being poor.” She pulls two tickets out of her pocket and waves them in my face. “She’ll be pressing her little pig nose up against the window at the student council party, because she won’t be invited.”

Just then, a male voice speaks up from down the hallway.

“Who says she won’t be invited?”