Behind every mean girl...there's a tragedy

Don't mess with me

I rip the headphones out of my ears and sit up, ready to pounce on the idiot. "What the hell do you want?"

My body freezes mid-strike once my eyes fall on a shirtless Brandon looking down on me.

The corners of his mouth turn into a distasteful smirk, "I remember you being nicer."

The beating of my heart accelerates, I swallow pass the big lump in my dry throat.

"And I remember you being a less pain in the ass. Wait no, you were always one. It just got worse as you grew up." I hush out, praying that my voice doesn't give away my panic.

"What's wrong with your mouth? It doesn't seem like you can say anything nice, anymore."

"What's wrong with your face? It doesn't seem like you can be good looking, anymore."

His eyes lock on mine for the briefest second before they fall on my arms. An unidentifiable emotion appears on his face as he looks at my arms in fascination.

What could possibly be so fascinating about my arms?

His eyes feel like they can see inside. They can see the scars. The long sleeves of my bathing suit cling to my arms.

I have a collection of long sleeves outfits in my closet including swimwear. I've made a fashion trend out of them, convincing everyone that they're the new cool stuff just so they don't question me. Questions lead to more lies and with more lies I will eventually be uncovered. I've been doing it for years now but I know it's slowly catching up to me.

Brandon shakes his head then walk away without another word. Something digs inside of me as if hundreds knife are gutting me at once. My heart jerks painfully in my chest as he wraps his arms around her. If only that girl could hear the murderous thoughts I'm directing at her right now, she would run for the hills without ever looking back.

"Yo, Rachel!" Someone shouts behind me.

I don't even bother to turn around – there's only one person that loud and obnoxious in the entire universal. I call on all my might to not throw up all over the floor when the rough hairs on his mud colored arms collide with my skin.

"What's up babe? I've been calling you all week. Why aren't you answering?"

"I've been busy," I say while prying his arms off of me.

"Too busy for me? Babe, come on." He brings his arms around me once more. The guy really can't take a hint. "You know what I'm gonna do?" He props my chin up for me to meet his eyes with his index.

My gag reflex instantly kick in. I slap his hand away from me, "Leave me alone. It was just an one-time thing. We're not in a relationship so stop calling me babe."

I jump in the pool to avoid any further discussion with him but like I said, the boy cannot take a hint. A few seconds after my body submerges under the water, he appears next to me.

"Come one, babe. How you gonna do me like that?"

"I'm doing you like what, Tommy?" My chest is puffing with the amount of anger struggling to get out.

"I thought we had something special going on." It sounds like he's actually hurt. His eyes turn a little bit glassy as he smiles faintly at me.

I could end his suffering and go out with him for a few weeks. It wouldn't be the first time I go out with someone out of pity. They never end well, though. The pity just worsen until I can't handle it anymore and dump the little sissy without any sensible emotions left for the guy. He's better off without my version of charity.

"Tommy, get the hell away from me or I'll file a sexual harassment suit against you. My dad's a cop."

"Seriously? I thought he was the vice-president of a real estate agency. How did you guys afford such a big house with a cop's salary?"

And that's where I draw the line on "trying" to be nice. The dummy called Steven Reel my father. "You have five seconds to get the hell away from me before I cry bloody murder."

"What? Why? What did...?"

My screams pierce through every noise being emitted around the property. I place Tommy's hands on my head and drop myself under the water. I rise again with a scream louder than before.

"Tommy, stop." I drop again and rise almost out of breath, "Somebody, help me."

Some guys come running and haul him back out of the water. He struggles all the way out. "I didn't do anything wrong. She's faking. That bitch's lying."

He punches one of the guys, "Let me go." Five more grab him away. I can't believe he's making his case worse than it already is.

I fake a terrified expression when somebody lifts my body and lay me on a beach chair. Tears are already rolling down my face. I wrap my sweater around me.

Cassie rushes to me, she embraces me gently as I sob in her arms, "Rachel, Oh my God, what happened? Did he hurt you?" I bite my lip at the sight of her concern face. I'm not sure about this anymore.

"She's lying. I can't believe you guys actually believe her," Tommy shouts as a couple of guys hold him down, waiting on the police to arrive.

He's going to learn not to mess with me. I sink deeper into Cassie's embrace. "I can't believe he did that."

"What happened? I thought he liked you?"

"I thought so, too. We even went out on a date last week but today..." I pretend to choke on a sob.

"Shh, it's okay now. He can't hurt you now," she soothes me.

Some other people walks up to me to support me but most of them just stand on the sideline. I hear whispers about Tommy being a creep, a murderer, and even a pedophile. People! It doesn't take that much for all of them to turn on the poor boy. Not that I care, he asked for it.

I feel someone's unmoving stare on my face. I know it's Brandon so I try to pretend I can't feel it but after a few seconds my curiosity got the better of me. I look up and found him with his usual disappointed stare. He knows I'm bullshitting everything, he can always see right through me. For a flitting second there, a ping of guilt passes through me but it stops as quickly as it came.

"Rachel! Rachel!" My father appears out of the patio.

I hold the sweater tighter to my wet body before I run to him and bury my face in his police uniform. I don't want him to see my scars. I don't want him to look at my face. It'll see it all.

"Baby girl, what happened?"

My mouth doesn't want to open. I know anything that will come out will be a complete lie. I don't want to lie to my dad but can I really back down now? I could but that would require a bunch of unnecessary risk toward my reputation and most importantly, I don't want to.

"He tried to kill me, daddy. He tried to drown me because I say I couldn't go out with him."

He takes a sharp intake of breath then pull me closer to him. "Don't worry, baby girl. I'll make sure he gets what he deserved. I won't let anybody hurt you, ever."

Hearing those words causes my heart to squeezes tightly in my chest. My body's temperature drops at least 10 degrees. Despite the hot sun, chill air kisses my skin.

I wish his words were true. I wish he wouldn't let anyone hurt me but they already have. He doesn't know it but he's too late. He will always be too late.