Our Hill Of Stars

five

WREN THOMAS

As I got to school the next morning, I realised I was being stared at more than usual.

I looked down at my clothes, is there a stain I can't see?

I opened the school doors and Lacey came rushing over to me, fear evident in her eyes, "Hey, how'd you get to school this morning? I got to your door and your Mom said you got a ride?" I said, cutting her off before she could speak, "Cute boy from last night. Do you want coffee? We should go get coffee." She stuttered nervously, "But, class starts in five minutes?" I said, looking down at the time on my phone.

"Come on, it's coffee!" She pleaded, spinning me around the other way.

"You can live without it for one day!" Trying to look behind me.

"No, please. Wren."

"Why are you acting weird?" I asked, pushing past her clingy body as I walked down the halls.

My whole body stilled as I got to my locker and I felt my heart drop into my stomach.

"Wren..." Lacey said sympathetically.

All I could focus on was the picture of me from Freshman year.

I felt my blood boil as I remembered that the only person who has this photo is Sebastian! He told me he'd deleted it!

I felt tears well up in my eyes as I noticed it was taped to every second locker, creating a pattern.

"I've run down every hall. All the lockers have the photo." Lacey said to me quietly.

My breath hitched and I pulled the photo down, scrunching it into a ball as I stood quietly at my locker.

The other people in the hall were now whispering, laughing.

It was a chubby Wren, the night I got dared to sneak into the school pool after it closed. What I didn't know is that Sebastian and his friends were waiting for me so they could steal my clothes, trap me in the locker room and take photos of me.

The only evidence they had was of the hallway cameras, which were somehow wiped. So no one got caught. 

"Why is he doing this?" I whispered to Lacey, who had the pictures in her hand. She threw them into a nearby trashcan and gripped my wrist, "I don't know."

"You may not admit to snitching on me, Wren. But I know it was you. And I'm going to make your life miserable, since you have no idea what it was like for me in juvie." Sebastian said, a smirk on his face as he held the picture of me in his hand.

Tears dripped down my face as Sebastian pushed past me, breaking the content between Lacey and I as I heard a classroom door slam shut.

+ + + 

I had calmed down only slightly after Lacey dragged me to the school bathroom. 

"Are you sure you're okay? I don't mind staying. I hate English anyway!" She said.

I nodded, "I'm okay, seriously, you can go."

She nodded, giving me hand one last squeeze before exiting the bathroom.

I leaned my head against the cool tile, my eyes hurt from crying and I could feel a headache coming in. Suddenly, the door squeaked open and I heard a cluster of voices.

"...I feel bad for her I mean, she was fat!"

"Yeah but she's skinny now. The person who did that had no right too!"

"But it's kind of funny. I mean, she was huge and now she's suddenly skinny?"

"Yeah, one of her Dad's is a doctor, he probably gave her plastic surgery!"

The voices all giggled collectively as I tried my hardest to slowly my racing heartbeat.

I wanted so badly to get back at him. But in the end I know he'd always win!

I sighed, pushing open the stall as the voices all hushed.

Slipping past them quickly and back into the hall, I leaned my head against the lockers, squeezing my eyes shut as I breathed.

"Hey, are you okay?" I heard a voice say.

I opened my eyes and smiled at Garett who was walking towards me.

I wiped under my eye and noticed a black line and sighed, "Yeah, I will be. Thanks." I nodded.

"Sebastian had no right to do that to you. It was messed up." 

"Wait, you know it was Sebastian?" I said, confused.

He nodded, a guilty frown on his face, "I was there... that night," I looked down, "And Sebastian sent it to all of our phones."

"Oh! Great, so now everyone has a naked photo of fat Wren!" 

"I deleted it, and so did my friends, it wasn't right. What we did and for that I'm sorry." He said.

I nodded, accepting his apology, "It's fine, it's in the past." I sighed.

He hooked an arm over my shoulder, "Now, we're twenty minutes late to American Lit, do you wanna go, or do you wanna skip?"

I shrugged, "I want to skip, so badly. But I unfortunately have too."

He nodded, "Okay then, American Lit it is."

We walked down the hallway and I must admit, Garett made me feel better. I even laughed. 

Even though my wet eyelashes were sticking to my face and I could guarantee that my mascara was smudged under my eyes, I ignored it.

"Miss Thomas and Mr Anderson, care to explain why you are twenty-three minutes late to my lesson?" 

I bit my lip, "I had to take her to the nurse, she fell and hit her head." Garett covered. I silently thanked him as we took our seats.

"They probably slept together." Sebastians stupid voice echoed through my head. I balled my hand into a fist, "An easy lay but a sleazy one apparently." 

"Oh and you would know? The last time you fucked someone was when you dropped the soap in Juvie." I hissed back, seeing his wide eyes turn into thin slits.

The class erupted into a fit of laughter and Mrs Fitz growled.

"That's enough! Detention, both of you. Walk to the principals office right now! I will be phoning him!"

I stood up and slammed the door folding my arms against my chest as I pressed the button for the elevator.

I saw Sebastians frame walking toward me and I rolled my eyes.

"You've gotten better at your comebacks. What's that, jokes for dummies?" He joked, "And your comebacks have gotten worse. What, ate too much prison food and now you've gone all stupid? Honestly Sebastian, grow up!"

Just as I was done being mad at him, the elevator jolted and suddenly the lights went out.

You have got to be kidding me!

+ + + 

were u expecting it? 

probably ;)