Ruby Fridays

Chapter 42: Archer's League

━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━

N O W P L A Y I N G

» [ The Archer - Taylor Swift ] «

0:01 ─〇──────── 1:05

⇄ ◃◃ ⅠⅠ ▹▹ ↻

━━━━━━･❪ ❁ ❫ ･━━━━━━

───── ❝ R U B Y F R I D A Y ' S P O V ❞ ────

║ Gregorian Calendar ║ 01 - 22 - 2027 ║

║ Friday║ Olympia's Cup 1st Training Day║

The moment the blonde girl walks away, laughing cruelly after dropping the card she so threateningly made me read in the mud, I stared down at it hopelessly, hesitating to even pick it up. Great. Now it was ruined, just like my day, my week, and maybe my entire year at this school. My eyes begin to sting with the familiar prick of angry tears as embarrassment wash over me once again. 

Her cruel words echo inside my head, repeating over and over, mocking me. I want to scream, to throw something, to make her feel even an ounce of the humiliation and hurt she so easily inflicts on me. But I stay frozen, unable to move, unable to react.

I can feel the eyes of the other students staring and hear their snickers, yet I cannot bring myself to move. I wish I could just disappear, fade into the background and become invisible to their cruel remarks and shitty pranks. I had tried to be nice, to ignore their taunts. But that only seems to fuel their amusement, spurring them on to greater acts of humiliation.

As if no matter what I do, I remain a target for their dangerous threats, like they had a new toy to play with — which is unfortunately, me.

This has become a daily routine now, waking up dreading the day of a never-ending cycle of ridicule and shitty made-up shame. Every morning as I walk the hallways, I brace myself for the insults and jokes at my expense, trying to make myself as invisible as possible to avoid attention and haste or fights. 

But I guess, it never works. My efforts seem to be too futile, as they always seem to find some reason to single me out, drowning me into the pool, staining my seats with bloody paint, calling me names and pushing me into lockers I so wished I can break or ruin too. 

Hell knows how I wanted to lash out. Every single day, as the bell rings for class, my mind remains elsewhere. I think of ways to make them suffer as they have made me suffer. Dark thoughts of revenge and retribution swirl in my mind, giving me the only comfort in this hell called high school. 

Dark thoughts start to creep in, thoughts of getting even, of making them regret ever crossing me. I know those thoughts should alarm me, but they bring a strange sense of comfort, a promise of justice for all I've endured. For a moment, I entertain the idea of taking action, of watching their cruel smiles turn to fear, of finally having the power.

I constantly imagine that one day their laughter will turn to screams. One day they will know the pain they have inflicted. One day I will make them pay.