Proud

Monday 2.0

It was still Monday, still depressing, and I was still at school, but I now had a spring in my step and a song in my head as I meandered down the winding corridors towards the busy lunch hall.
Nat was waiting, tray in hand, by the door to make sure I didn't miss her. We stood in line and waited to receive something we really didn't want (the slop they call food here) and then headed over to a table at the back of the room. She was so relaxed and engaging: we just talked for a good half hour until we both realised our lunches were stone cold, and just decided to leave them, they were horrible anyway. In fact, we ended up so deep in conversation that I didn't pay attention to my surroundings as I got up to throw away my food and promptly stood on the foot of Larissa Johnson. She squealed in pain and frustration, then turned to face me and just said harshly 'Watch where you're stepping, fag.'
I was used to it, apologised and was slowly making my way to the bins when I heard a huge slam on the table I had just left. Nat had loudly, and intentionally, slammed her tray of slop onto the table - and hell did it make a noise. I felt a shudder run through me as she spoke,
'Excuse me, WHAT did you just call Pip?'
The outrage in her voice surprised me - the term was thrown around so much here I barely noticed anymore but it had clearly hit a nerve in Nat.
'I called her a fag. Cause she is.'
'I refrained from calling you a bitch, even though you are. Might do you some good to have some manners in the future and not just say everything that comes into your head.'
'Freedom of speech, new fag. I can call whoever I want, whatever I want.'
At this point, almost everyone in our corner of the room was listening intently, as though they thought a fight was about to break out. Deciding they may be right, I walked back to stand beside Nat. Probably not the best idea to get her excluded for a fight first day.
'Okay, bitch. If you have freedom of speech, so do I. You're just a pill-popping rich girl who's never worked a day in her life cause daddy buys her everything she wants - a new car, a shitty attitude, friends, a boyfriend - oh wait, money can't buy one of those. It tried, and he left you for someone with a better attitude and a nicer personality which to be honest is not hard to find.'
Larissa got really pissed at this - her boyfriend had been caught cheating the week prior and rather than talking about it he dumped her and started dating the girl he had been getting with behind her back. I guess the wound was still sore: it was enough to send her over the edge.

She slapped me hard across the face, which left my cheek smarting but somehow it was worth it, knowing I had caused her to get so riled up. Nat was just standing there smiling, knowing we had won this fight, and we both took out trays and moved away to another table as a Professor escorted Larissa out of the dining hall. She may have freedom of speech, bus she overstepped her line by hitting me, and school was very tight on physical violence; we won't be seeing her for at least a week.

The one puzzling thing though, was why just hearing the word fag had affected Nat so much. It seemed like a bit of a sore subject, so I decided not to ask during that lunch time, but we had grown closer knowing we shared common enemies, another good outcome of this seemingly awful Monday.