Chapter 2

                The house was dead quiet when I woke up the next morning.

                I wasn’t surprised, though. My father was probably gone, and would return some time in the middle of the night, hopelessly drunk.

                I went downstairs to the kitchen, where the sink was overflowing with a scattered stack of dirty dishes. I opened the refrigerator door to find nothing in it but a jug of expired milk and a carton filled with two broken eggs. Groaning, I slammed the door shut, clenching my fists into a tight ball as I made my way out the door to go to school.

                Walking on the sidewalk, I noticed a cotton candy pink Bentley driving by me. In the Bentley was a group of giggling girls, with Clarice being one of them. The driver was Clarice’s best friend, Aubrey Small. Aubrey’s fire red hair tossed behind her effortlessly, as she drove by me.

                “Loser!” I heard one call after me as they drove away.

                I dropped my head low, as I made my way towards school, while they were probably already halfway there in Aubrey’s stupid, pink Bentley.

                When I got the school, I walked by the parking lot. I couldn’t help but notice Aubrey’s pink Bentley standing out from all the other cars. I had to claw my fingers into my palms to resist myself from keying her car.

                The hallways were empty when I got to school, signaling that I was probably late. Again.

                Pushing open the doors to my first period class, history, I grudgingly made my way towards my desk. Before I even got to sit down, Mr. Lieberman called me out.

                “Aerial Mason, care to explain why you’re late for the second time this week?” Mr. Lieberman asked, tapping his fingers impatiently on his desk.

                “I drove by Aerial while going to school today, and I saw her smoking weed!” Aubrey Small answered before I got to say a word. She batted her eyelashes innocently, pouting out her lower lip. Was she actually that delusional to think that she looked cute batting those spider legs that hung on the edge of her eyelids?

               “Is she telling the truth, Miss Mason?” Mr. Lieberman asked, raising a bushy eyebrow at me.

                “Of course I’m telling the truth! I have five girls as witnesses!” Aubrey exclaimed, pointing to her row of friends. One of them included Clarice.

                 Four out of the five girls immediately nodded. Clarice was hesitating, but after a while, she finally dropped her head low, nodding weakly.

                I took in a deep breath of air, feeling my cheeks flush with embarrassment. “Mr. Lieberman, I was not.” I quietly said, digging my nails into my flesh.

               Mr. Lieberman didn’t look convinced. “Are you really telling me that six girls are lying?” his voice low and dangerous, looking at me with disappointment.

               I hated this feeling; this feeling of weakness and powerless.

              “No.” I mumbled.

               Mr. Lieberman was already writing down a detention slip for me, shooting out his hand for me to collect. Clutching the end of the detention slip, I took it out of his hands as I shoved it into my back pocket.

                “Go to your seat before you get into further trouble.” He spat.

                 Sighing, I trudged my way towards my seat. Passing by Clarice, she looked up at me with a concerned frown. Rolling my eyes, I glared at her as I sulked down in my seat.

                The hallways were empty during lunch. I was by my locker, stuffing in my textbooks from morning classes, while taking out the rest of my books for my afternoon classes. Just as I was about to close my locker, a voice called out.

               “Aerial!” someone squealed.

               Turning around, I spotted Clarice, all by herself. She was smiling at me like we were still best friends, but I stared at her as if I didn’t recognize her.

               She used to be like me, a jeans and t-shirt kind of girl. But, standing in front of me now, she was wearing a short skirt that wrapped around her hips, a hot pink blazer, and six inch stilettos. Her face was covered with various colors, and I could easily tell that she had her hair bleached into a piss blonde color.

              “What?” I gritted through my teeth, too angry to stare at her in the eye.

               She gave me a sympathetic smile, shifting her green eyes down. “I wanted to say sorry, about this morning.”

                I snorted, shaking my head. I reached into my back pocket, waving my detention slip in her face. “It’s a little too late for that.”

               Her smile faded, as she knitted her perfectly plucked eyebrows together. “I know. I just feel really bad.”

               “You should.” I glared at her. “Because of you, Mr. Lieberman probably thinks I’m high every time I’m in class.”

              I never had the guts to say this to Clarice in front of her friends. I knew that they would gang up on me. But, seeing Clarice standing in front of me, completely alone, I felt like I was in charge. I felt as if I had to power to bring her down, the way she did to me for two years.

            “I did it to keep up my-“

             “Reputation.” I finished for her, the word rolling off the tip of my tongue as I stared at her with disgust. “I know.”

~*~*~

                After all classes were over that afternoon, I walked up a few flights of stairs to get to the fourth floor detention room, which was specialized for juniors.

                Entering the room, I watched as Mrs. Fletcher, one of the oldest staff members in this school, lay her head flat on top of the surface of her desk. I heard a short snort from her, as I scrunched my nose with disgust, finding myself a seat at the desk in the back row.

                The room was extremely quiet, making even the clock that hung up on the wall sound loud when each handle ticked.

                In the room with me was only one other person. I recognized the guy as Hayden Durant, who was in my biology and economics class. It wasn’t hard to remember who he was, anyway. He was my lab partner in biology, but he barely ever showed up to that class. I was always stuck doing the labs by myself, while he was probably cutting class with his delinquent friends.

                “What are you looking at, sweet pea?” he suddenly spoke up, as his eyes met mine from across the classroom.

                I gave him a glare, rolling my eyes. “Don’t call me that.”

                He shrugged, as he slouched down in his seat, kicking his legs up as they rested on the desk. “I’ll call you whatever I want, sweet pea.” He emphasized.

                I gagged, flipping him my finger. I knew this guy was a delinquent, but he had to be annoying, too?

                He must’ve noticed my royally pissed off expression, because the smirk on his face fell. It was replaced with a soft smile. Hayden placed his legs down from the desk, sitting up straighter. “Listen, let’s just start over, alright? I’m Hayden.”

                I narrowed my eyes at him, nodding. “I know.” I paused. “You’re the asshole that never shows up to lab, leaving me without a partner.”

                He chuckled, shaking the blonde hair away from his face. “It’s not like I’d be any help, anyway. So, you’re that Aria girl?”

                “Aerial.” I corrected, crossing my arms.

                He nodded. “Right. So, what are you in detention for? I’ve never seen you around here.”

                I sighed. “Aubrey Small snitched on me, lying to Mr. Lieberman that I was smoking weed before class.”

                Hayden smirked, shaking his head. “And that dick believed her?”

                “Her,” I nodded, “and her five other minions.”

                Hayden shrugged, giving me a lop-sided smile. “I kind-of feel bad for you.”

                I frowned. “Kind-of?”

                “Yeah. I would feel entirely bad for you, except, I really want some weed right now.” He grumbled.

                Glaring at him, I groaned. “You’re completely hopeless.”

                He smirked, lifting his head up as his eyes met with mine. “That’s what everyone tells me.”