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even after begging her mom to let her stay home one more day, valerie's mom forced her to go. valerie was scared a new rumor had spread, or even worse, she'd see him.
getting ready for school, she must've looked in the mirror at least twenty times. before, she was okay with how she looked and her body and everything else. but now, it was like she didn't know what to wear, what people would think about it and what she looked like.
so she decided on sweatpants and a hoodie, it wasn't what she'd usually wear but it was comfortable, and covered her.
as she got out of the car with maddy she took a deep breathe, keeping her head low so she could avoid the stares she always got. maddy wrapped her arm around her little sister, "you okay, val?"
valerie looked up at her, "yeah, just tired."
maddy hesitated, but shrugged. "okay."
and they parted ways, valerie making her way to her locker like usual. she opened it and sighed, leaning forward as she already felt like leaving.
"val!" she heard, making her jump until she turned and saw her best friend.
"oh, hey, vic." valerie smiled.
"are you okay? i know you said you didn't feel good, but you never wear sweatpants to school." victoria raise an eyebrow.
"yeah, just tired." valerie lied again.
victoria slowly nodded, as val quickly changed the topic. "where's dani?"
"don't know, haven't seen him yet." vic shrugged.
valerie nodded, troy and roy catching her eye. she knew xander was a sophomore, the chances of seeing him are low, but there's still a chance. she walked faster to her class, saying goodbye to victoria.
since class hadnt started yet, she pulled out her notebook she always kept around her. she always wrote her feelings and thoughts in there because she hated talking about those things in person to people, and she drew in it too.
———
walking out of her fifth period, she saw a group of people gathered in the halls. she furrowed her eyebrows in confused, every one was being loud and she couldn't see what was happening.
she pushed her way through the group of people, to see a fight. it didn't catch her eye that it was ashtray in the fight, until he turned to the side and she saw that diamond tattoo of his. her eyes widened, and looked closer at the other person. her heart dropped when she realized it was xander. she felt sick, just by the sight of him.
she watched as the principal broke up the fight and forced both of him to his office. her and ashtray made eye contact, before she slowly took a step back and walked away.
