Lauren’s Pov:
I wipe my eyes, and stand up. I look in the mirror and sigh.
“What did I do to deserve this?”
I turn on the taps and quickly wash down my face with warm water, and then pick out the pieces of food in my hair. I dry my face down with some paper towels and then throw them in the bin. As I go to grab for the door handle, the door swings towards me but I dodge it; four girls burst in laughing at one another, not even noticing me until they walk straight into me.
“Sorry” they quickly apologise
“Are you alright?” one of the asks me, noticing my red eyes
“Yeah I’m alright, thanks” I add, hurrying out of the toilets and down the hall.
I head for my form room being as its almost time of afternoon registration. When I open the door, I find everyone looking in my direction, the whole room is silent; I look over at my friends in the front row, they all have a ghostly expression on their faces.
I step forward and close the door behind me. I slowly head over to my seat and sit down in the front row.
“Are you okay?” Birgitta wonders, breaking the silence. I nod.
“You sure?” Bonita says, picking a piece of mush out of my hair
“Yeah” I sigh; it’s only now I realise a painful looking purple-black bruise around her left eye “What happened?” I gasp
“Dean was hurling insults at Christine, so I went to talk to him. And he thought it would be funny to slam his locker door into my face” she pointed to her eye
“Oh my gosh” I say, observing the wound
“I’m fine seriously” she giggles. Then the bell for next lesson rings.
Skipping to the end of last lesson, P.E.
We walk back into our changing room after playing football and quickly get changed but I stay in my kit.
“Aren’t you getting changed?” Martha wonders
“No, after cleaning the cafeteria, Imma go and do a few laps on the track to clear my head” I explain; me and my friends walking out of the room and to the door which leads into the cafeteria
“See you tomorrow” they say to me
“Bye” I hug each of them before we go our separate ways.
I push open the door to the cafeteria and see Principal Walker and this Trey guy sitting at one of the tables.
“Lauren, there you are” Sir says, him and Trey standing up from their seats as I walk over to them “You two will stay here till 6pm, the cleaning equipment is in the cupboard over there” he points it “Please don’t mess around, its messy enough as it is from this lunchtime, food fights, who enjoys them?” Sir shakes his head as he leaves us to it.
I sigh as I remember a few hours back, I hate school, and I hate life. I walk over to the cupboard and pick out a bucket and a mop and then fill the bucket with soapy water; Trey does the same. The two of us begin to mop the floors in silence.
“How long have you been to this school?” Trey asks me
“About a year, why?” I reply
“No reason” he says
“What school did you move from?” I wonder
“Atlanta High” Trey explains “This is my fifth high school”
