Repaying Her Blood

Chapter twelve: Miss popular

Marissa

"I hope you're watching over me right now."

Nicola White.

Most known for the rumours she had spread around like infectious diseases. I wouldn't have been surprised if she bullied my sister along with her side chicks. Not one bit.
Entering the school building, I headed quickly towards my locker. I knew that Nicola would be close since hers was just on the opposite side to mine.

Once I was there, my eyes landed on a familiar blonde haired 'perfect' human being with sparkling light blue eyes. I almost cringed at how high her skirt was.
I did not know exactly what some girls gained with having short skirts, but I did know that a portion of boys treated us girls like objects because of it.

"Marissa," Nicola screeched, stumbling towards me in her slip on leather heels. Heels weren't permitted at our school, but girls who came from wealthy families always found a way to overstep the rules.

I winced at the high-pitched sound that rang in my ears and I was pretty sure most of the people around us did too.

"Nicola?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. Why was she suddenly talking to me? Did she know about my list? Gosh, I had hoped not. I was already starting to enjoy the little game I was playing.

"Please sign this petition!" She pleaded, her glossy lips shining under the school lights.

"What's it for?" I questioned, looking over at the clipboard and pen she had in her hands.

"They're going to replace the hair salons for more classrooms," she whinged. "That means they won't be doing hair and beauty anymore as an option. I have a younger sister in year seven and she so badly wants to be a hairdresser. I can't just tell her that her dreams will be limited because the school can't make-"

"Alright! Alright! That's enough," I stopped her before she could whine and complain more. I didn't want to hear that on a Thursday morning. No thank you. "I'll sign your stupid petition."

Handing over the hot pink pen with a huge white fluffy feather attached to it, she continued to grin widely as I scribbled my signature down in one of the boxes.

"Thank you so much!" She grinned, pulling me into an embrace.

I nearly choked and it wasn't because she was holding me so tightly either. She reeked of strong perfume and it constantly kept wafting up into my nostrils.

"Yeah, uh, sure," I managed to choke out, pulling myself away from her hastily.

Nicola waved before strutting to the other side of the corridor where she could harass more people into signing her petition. Nicola's sister had better be prepared to kiss her dreams away, since the school never listened to their pupils. All the rules they made suited the teachers, not the students.

Sighing tiredly, I opened my locker and pulled out my books for today. Most of my books are in my locker. The ones I kept and took home were the subjects that I had tests for.

"Little mouse, how are you today on this fine morning?" A familiar voice said from behind me.

"Jordan." I pursed my lips as I hesitantly turned around to meet his grey eyes. "Did you need something?

I had been very wary of Jordan lately, since his own name featured in my sister's diary. The diary she had wrote before her horrible demise. For all I knew, Jordan may have been the cause. And if so, I would have never forgiven him. Lorna meant everything to me, even if I had not shown it most of the time.

He narrowed his eyes at my defensive stance and folded his arms. "What makes you think I need anything?"

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words managed to escape my mouth.

He scoffed and spun away from me. "See you."

"Alright, I'm sorry!" I blurted out as he began to walk farther and farther away from.

He paused in his steps, waiting for me to explain- so I did.

"Do you know anything about me?" I started off suddenly, stepping towards him carefully.

Rotating around so that he could face me, a curious look began to form upon his face.

"Well, do you?" I asked again, nodding for him to respond.

When he didn't answer, I rolled my eyes, slammed my locker door shut and started to twist my body into the direction of my next class.

However, two words made me stop.
"I know..." He trailed off, huffing out a heavy breath. "I know that you have, well had, a sister."

I wasn't shocked at that, at least everyone knew about my sister's suicide. Nobody knew exactly why she did what she did, though.

"Continue." I kept my face blank and neutral, trying not to display my real emotions.

"Your sister, Lorna, was a good friend of mine actually," he awkwardly revealed, scratching the nape of his neck.

My head shot up at that statement. Could he have been- No. Guilt would have overwhelmed him at the sound of her name. Just like it was affecting me then.

"How did you become friends?" I enquired, wanting to know every detail about his relationship between him and my sister.

Unfortunately, the bell rang before I could extend my interrogation any further.

"Good bye!" Jordan quickly got out before hurrying to class.

He had never been so eager to go to class before. Maybe the question caught him off guard a little. I needed to know though. Lorna had never spoken about him. The entirety of finding out who was to blame had revealed more things to me than I had ever imagined and expected. The one thing it had revealed to me was that I didn't know who my sister was at all.

For all I knew, she could have been an underground fighter or a confident person by day and an insecure girl by night.
The latter could have been possible. Too possible.

†

Typing furiously on my keyboard, I glared at the paragraph of word-vomit. I couldn't seem to produce a normal paragraph that would get me the top grades. Everything I wrote was just drivel.

Sighing in frustration, I tugged at the loose strands of hair from my ponytail. As I was about to undo my hair and tie it back up again, I felt comforting hands appear on my tense shoulders.

"Take a break, sweetie," my dad's voice whispered soothingly, relaxing the tense muscles in my shoulders.

I nodded silently and took a sip from the mug of tea that my dad had placed next to my school notes.

"Any luck with the diary?" My dad asked interestedly, sliding into the seat behind me.
Spinning around to face him on my  swivel chair, I pinched my temple before answering.

"I have possible suspects." I shrugged, glancing down at my interlaced hands.

My dad shook his head and reached over towards my hands. "Your mother and I miss her as much as you do, Mar. Thinking about the pain she must have been dealing with hurts me."

"Me too," I whispered shakily, clutching onto my dad's hands tightly.

My eyes blurred over with tears once I took a glance at the photo frame propped up on the shelf opposite me.

We were so bright and lively within that captured moment. If someone had told me then that we were all going to lose Lorna a few weeks after, I would have laughed at them cheerfully and shook my head, dismissing the truthfulness of those words.

"Don't get too hung up over this, sweetie." my dad brushed a few strands of my wavy, blonde hair, squeezed my hands and stood up. "I don't want to lose another daughter."

I watched as he slowly faded out of view with a small orange figure moving behind him- Frederick.

"Frederick!" I called out to him. I needed to confide in someone and if my parents were too fragile and my friend was too busy, then the cat would have to do.

The purring of my cat got closer and closer towards me, causing me to grin smugly. He wasn't escaping from me that easily.

"Come on, kitty," I said, picking up the heavy cat that must have put on a few pounds since the last time I had seen him. "We have some thinking to do."