Uglier

Chapter 15 The Classroom

Chapter 15 The Classroom

The Next-Day Inside Ella and Quincy's classroom

Ella locked the classroom door behind Quincy, Alana-Hope, Zeda, and herself. Back-alley plastic surgeons crept outside the door and peered inside the window.

"Go away, you stupid zombies." Alana-Hope glared at them. She wore the same outfit as the night before.

The fake surgeons slithered away like vipers, waiting.

Quincy opened his lunch box. "The proposal is happening Wednesday. Alana-Hope, can you make sure your class attends as well? The more students that witness the proposal, the better."

"I'll invite two classes and provide extra donuts. We can combine it with the end of the school year party." Alana-Hope sat on top of the desk with her salad, and she popped two cherry tomatoes into her mouth.

Zeda slid the usually empty chair around the circular teacher's desk and sat down.

Ella's right foot thumped. "Not to change the subject, but did Zeda inform either of you about my childhood during finishing school?"

Alana-Hope shook her head. 'No.'

"She didn't," Quincy replied.

Ella stared at their shared desk and pushed her food away. "My parents are my father and stepmother. My birth mother is a Beauty Drug addict who sold me to the Mark House when I was eight. I was an awkward girl with a hidden birth defect. The Mark Houses are sweatshops. There are eight-year-old girls illegally sold to Mark houses, even today."

"Ella, I thought you were one of the lucky ones who couldn't receive the Mark." Quincy's face turned red, and his fingers tightened into balls.

Alana-Hope tossed her limp salad in the trash. "Any woman can receive the Mark. The board stole my golden passport because my ex wants me back. I wanted the job as a school romance reporter because it gives me some protection. I feel less disgusting than if I was an Official Mark Board Beauty reporter."

Ella nodded. "Or be killed, and I'm not sure if Zeda and I will survive this. Not that Chaz cares if I died."

"He'd care," Zeda said.

"Most of the girls were sold by their family members." Ella rubbed a tear from her eyes.

"My parents and I tracked her down, and we snuck her out." Zeda glanced at Quincy and then at her hands.

"Dad bribed the right officials, and he sent me to expensive doctors, nutritionists, and beauticians. I have nightmares. He had to sell his truck and his house, but I paid him back." Ella trembled.

Her friends said nothing but hugged her as she wept.

*

Six Hours Later:

Alana-Hope walked to the empty campus cafeteria and closed her eyes, but she heard noises. She bolted up and noticed her ex sitting at her table. His purple suit stunk from sweat and Beauty Drugs.

"Hi, beautiful." He glanced in a handheld mirror and shoved a pill into his mouth, his voice raspier than usual.

Alana-Hope rushed out of the room into a hallway with busy students. She pressed a security button on the underside of a Beauty Emergency box. "My ex is in the cafeteria, and he is on Beauty Drugs."

"Sending someone, now," a voice said from a hidden speaker.

"I know you are there. You can't escape." Her ex followed her into the hallway, pushing students out of the way, shoving one into a wall.

"Leave me alone! You cheated on me, and now you're threatening me. Honey, you lied and opened my eyes to evil." She looked around for the Mark Authority Squad, but they weren't around.

"But I can't have you because you are too popular, and people love your sweet little article of love and hope. Neither exists. I'm running, and you should as well. Have you ever seen a body? I had to help bury her for the chance to have you back."

"Who did you kill?" Alana-Hope stepped back.

"I didn't kill her, but I don't even remember her name. No, she was important, someone famous. Don't worry, I squared everything with the Mark Board. They no longer believe you are working with the Ugly Rebels, but I'd run, anyway."

A guard wrapped his thick arms around her ex and dragged him across the room. "You are high and need to leave."

"I'm leaving." He staggered down the hall and collapsed. His eyes dilated.

"Call an ambulance!"

No one in the hall moved.

"Beauty Drug overdoses happen every minute and one less Mark Board member the better," a student said.

Alana-Hope called for an ambulance. She broke one of the wall-mounted boxes labeled Beauty Emergency, removed a vial, and she poured the liquid meds down his throat.

A hall room guard rushed with another vial. "I will give him additional meds, to keep him from dying, but you need to run before the Authority Squad arrives. They'll pound you for the fun of it. Did he tell you any Marked Board secrets?"

"No," she replied.

"Great, I'll tell them that," he said.

Alana-Hope fled down the stairways and hid behind the trash bins. She yanked her phone from her purse and texted.

Alana-Hope: Do you have an apartment for me to stay in? I'm not safe here.

Ella: Yes, but it's a dump, and no one wants it. We haven't replaced the rugs.

Alana-Hope: I'll take it. My ex overdosed on Beauty Drugs, again.