Trophy Eyes

Chapter 4

My beat up car pulled up at the front of Faye's house. The front door was open, and the music was so loud I could hear it from the end of her street. I walked in through the door and looked around. Avery appeared from nowhere, and flung her arms around me. "I'm so glad you could make it!" She squealed.

I smiled at her, then freed myself from her tight embrace. "Um, yeah, uh, where should I put my jacket?"

She gestured vaguely up the stairs. "In Faye's room."

Once I came down the stairs and manoeuvred around a couple making out, in a way that made me want to burn my eyes. Is that stuff they were doing even legal? I plucked a beer can from the hand of some random guy. He protested, but I quickly moved on. Pushing my way through the crowds of people into the lounge, I scanned the room for someone I knew. I saw Chiara, and waved to her, she walked (or rather, staggered. She was totally wasted.) Over to me. Her glasses were on sideways. "ADIIIIRAAAA! I kneeew you would coooome!" She grinned manically. "Yoouu having a gooood tiiime?" I was about to answer when she fell to her knees and puked all over the carpet. I shrieked in surprise and jumped back. Matt appeared next to me, and sighed. "Shit. Her mom's going to kill me." He shook his head "She's been drinking since seven."

I laughed, taking a swig of my drink. "Didn't think she was so badass."

"Looks can be deceiving." He rolled his eyes.

Chiara groaned and rolled over.

Pulling a face, He picked her up and held her at arms length. "Ugh, come on then, let's get you home. See you, Adira." He walked back out of the room.

"Oh my God, It can't be. Adira? Hey, Adira!" someone called.

I turned around, and saw......

Oh, shit.

Making their way towards me was Isabella surrounded by her clones. She had a smile of pure evil on her face as she flicked her shiny black hair over her shoulder. Fuck,fuck,fuck,fuck.

I had to get out of here. How the hell did she recognize me? I had my back to her. I had dyed my hair. I quickly wove in and out of people until I was in the kitchen. There was Faye, perched on the counter with a bottle of Budweiser in her hand, laughing flirtatiously at some guy's joke. When she saw me, her face lit up. "Adira! There you are. See, I told you she would turn up."

"Um, Faye, I-"

A manicured hand grabbed my shoulder.

"Hey, where you off to? I was talking to you!"

Faye stared at me. "You know Isabella James?" She whispered with an awed look on her face.

Isabella, who had come to stand next to me, grinned.

"Yeah, we go waaaayy back, don't we, Addie?" I tried not to gasp in pain as her talons pierced into the bare skin of my shoulder, drawing blood. I nodded.

Another evil smile. "Well, it's been nice chatting with you, Faye. Addie and I are gonna go........ Catch up."

Still gripping my shoulder, she steered me out of the back door and into the garden, where there was hardly anyone. Once we were outside, she stopped smiling, her face twisting into a mask of hatred. She let go of my arm, shoving me hard. The rest of them surrounded me. When I turned back round to face her, she slapped me, hard across the face. Another girl pushed me from behind, and I fell, my face smacking into the concrete we were standing on. My head throbbed and I could taste blood in my mouth. I blinked back tears. She crouched over me, her long hair tickling my face. "Did you really, honestly think that I was that stupid, Adira? That I wouldn't find out it was you? You stupid whore!" She laughed evilly. God, I hate her so much.

"Bitch." I mumbled.

She cackled again. "Seriously?! Is that really the best that you can do? You're so fucking pathetic. No wonder Sean-"

"You shut the fuck up about Sean!" I yelled.

She spat in my face, and then rose back to her feet. "Well, this oughtta teach you a lesson."

One by one they came at me, kicking, punching and slapping me, screaming abuse in my face until my ears rang. Every time I tried to get up, they would push me back down, so I just gave up and lay there, trying my best to look totally unbothered and not cry out in pain.

After a while, they stopped. Isabella once again kneeled beside me; I closed my eyes, thinking that maybe if I pretended to be unconscious then she'd get up and go the fuck away. "Adiiirraaaa." she said in a sing-song voice. When I didn't reply, she pinched my arm, hard. I winced. There would definitely be a bruise there tomorrow.

"Get up, then." She said

I smiled weakly "Aw, but it's so comfy down here." I patted the concrete

"You're not even going to fight back? The Adira I used to know --"

"You don't know me!" I spat.

She slapped me, then carried on like nothing had happened. "She would've fought. And lost, obviously. But then she would go crying to her little Sean, and they w --"

She was cut off because I sat up quickly and slammed my fist into her nose with a satisfying crunch. She screamed and toppled over. I nearly laughed at the sight of her shocked face. Her little group clustered around her, cooing and comforting her. I got up and when I looked at the house, I saw a crowd at the window, all watching the fight, yet no-one had come to my aid. Gee, thanks, guys. Not.

I limped to the back door and as I was about to head inside, Isabella screeched "YOU FUCKING BITCH! Oh, I can promise you I will NOT forget this. I think we'll be seeing each other again very soon."

"Yeah, whatever." I called over my shoulder before slamming the door shut behind me.

"Are you okay?" Avery and Faye both said at the same time.

"Do I look fucking okay? I just got beaten up!" I snapped. I seriously wasn't in the mood for this bullshit.

I pushed my way through everyone, who was crowded around me, begging for my recount of the tale.

"So, what you wanna do now?" Avery looked at me anxiously, eager to please.

I sighed. "Nothing really. I think I just wanna go home now."

"I'll drive you." A girl named Katie offered. Katie had a few classes with me, and we had become quite good friends. She sat at our table at lunch, but didn't say much. I smiled gratefully at her.

"That would actually be really great, thanks. Just let me go get my coat."

I walked up the stairs, and noticed that it was really quiet compared to downstairs. I guess there was no-one up here.

Letting myself quietly into the room, I quickly found my coat, picked it up and was about to leave when I saw Zayden, sitting on the window seat, his back to me, looking out into the street below. I looked at his profile, his messy ink black hair, his shining eyes, the straight line of his nose, and his beautiful full lips. I stood awkwardly, not really knowing what to do. This is your chance, my mind said to me, say something to him!

At that precise moment, he looked up at me. He stared at me for a moment.

"Um, I --" I said.

He cut me off. "You're that new girl, aren't you?"

I nodded. ".....Yeah....."

He looked me up and down. "Nothing. Just wondering." He turned back to the window, his body language clearly stating that this conversation was over.

Ok, well, that wasn't weird at all. I thought as I walked back down the stairs. Katie was waiting patiently at the foot of the stairs, and when she saw me, she smiled.

"Finally! I was starting to think you'd gotten lost!" She grinned.

"Sorry." I smiled sheepishly as we walked out the door. As I opened the door to her little green car, I looked up at the window to Faye's room, but Zayden was gone.