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20. Leafcil - Bullies will be bullies

I actually dislike the whole "woah the bully actually has a crush on you" trope. And here I am now.
I wanna see if it can be made tolerable, good and healthy

"So are you gonna do it? Or are you a pussy?"
The new kid stood uncertainly in the halls, her folders clasped to her chest and hair strung up in a low ponytail. The two heads leered down at her. Their piece of shit minions who never did anything but hide behind them and laugh of others' misfortune lowered their heads like a pack of hyenas, asking and inviting into their two-faced lair. The new girl struggled, looking from one face to the next, finding little to no humanity. Not people she was looking to be friends with.
"Come on, we need somebody new. Like, lemme give you a dare."
The girl shook her head very wildly in adamant refusal, backing up against the wall like a cornered animal, the bullies who refused to take no for an answer circling.
"Gonna have to make a few changes here, and here with that gross-ass hair."
A thin bony claw lashed out at the girl's pigtails, but she leapt backwards in an agile twist of her body and slipped through a gap in the ranks, pelting away down the corridor. Gone. Oh well. There would be more, more that would say yes.
"Ugh. What a fucking loser." Match spat, her loose auburn bob nodding as if in agreement as she began to walk, following along after her best friend, who made a sound of distaste. She squinted at the fleeing form of the new girl, one of several who had entered the school temporarily after a local comprehensive burned to the ground, making a mental note to make her life hell. Pencil was bored of resistance. It wasn't tame or cowardly enough for her, as she liked her followers that way. Easily malleable to her wills, able to be moulded into an army, her own little personal army, one who would do her bidding. All those people would point and stare and gawk in fear, which was exactly what she desired. She had to feel powerful somewhere. School was the right place to climb the ranks.
Pencil strode alone but one. Match was the only person she trusted enough to have by her flank; two sides covered is better than only one. Danger could lurk around any corner, and by now she had enough eyes to perceive it, although many more wouldn't hurt. Danger was everywhere she walked.
The corridor opened out. People stopped and stared and pointed; gestured with fingers, eyes crooked with fear. This was her life.

Just a few feet around the corner, the foreign student rootled in her backpack, which she had slung up onto the glossy white paintwork of the windowsill. A thin hazy sunbeam washed over her skin, the pale textures highlighted with the colours of winter. Planner, planner... where had her planner gone? Dear lord, she hadn't lost it already, had she? Perhaps she should ask for help.
Despite being born somewhere deep in the snowdrifts of Scandinavia, she was fluent in English. Almost everybody in her country could speak it; common languages made travelling and working a lot simpler. Asking for help wouldn't be difficult, or at least it would be easier than trying to fruitlessly search for it. Oh, good! A group of girls was just coming around the corner.
"Excuse me-"
The girls whipped round, acknowledging her existence immediately. However, they seemed unable to notice she was asking for help, and flocked together into a huddle like a group of winter penguins. Chattering in hissing whispers, the knot of snakes twisted, unravelling eventually in a load of giggling, judging smiles.
"Like, yeah?"
"I can't find my planner..."
A snort arose from the back of the group as the girls snickered at her. A small seed of embarrassment germinated suddenly inside her, blackening her in tar and making her acutely aware of everything she'd ever done wrong. Memories pecked away at the corners of her brain, but she shut them away with a well- practiced shove. No more of that, thank you.
Still the girls bantered. Talking. Judgemental. Eventually, one of the tallest and more important stepped from the abyss, extending a hand, almost kindly.
"Girl, you don't need a planner. Just wing it. I lost mine months ago and I'm ok. Well, apart from like 6 detentions this term but oh well."
Leafy shyly accepted the hand. It was freezing cold against her constantly warm fingers, and was smooth as silk.
"What's your name?" the other girl inquired.
"Uh, I'm Leafy... pleased to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you too! I'm Pencil."
Leafy imagined that she might have heard a low level tittering amongst the girls as they began to walk altogether as a mildly awkward squad, but she decided it was just the rest of the students who meandered down the corridor in their respective groups. She continued, feeling a little more confident with every stride, feeling a little more like she belonged.
"So, what classes are you taking?"
"Uhh, Textiles - English... and Maths. So kind of a mixture. I wanna keep my options open."
A few whispers blew on the wind. Leafy could have sworn she'd seen one girl wrinkle up her face in disgust and amusement when she said she was taking Maths, but then that was the usual reaction. Her little sister had punched her in the arm when she'd told her. She smiled. She was missing her family already, but the people here seemed friendly and welcoming.
"You know which one you got first?" Pencil asked, sticking her hands deep in her pockets and flipping her short pink hair. Leafy watched her for a second, then shook herself back into the real world.
"No, but I guess I could go check all the classrooms until I find my class."
"Nice idea! Uhh..."
Lazily shuffling up to the wall, Pencil took a sharp acrylic nail and poked at a large laminated school map that was pinned there, her claws making a small indented scratch in the plastic coating.
"Textiles is over in the block on the far side, so I'd check that last. English is upstairs and Maths is just up there past the computer suite. Go wild, dude."
Leafy beamed at her in eternal gratitude, filled with a new sense of determination.
"Wow, I can't thank you enough! When do lessons start?"
Pencil lazily flipped her wrist over, squinting at the time.
"Like, 5 minutes ago."
"Oh jeez, I gotta go. I'll see you at lunch, I guess!"
Pulling the straps of her backpack tighter over her shoulders, she melted into the lockers, off to sift through rooms for her correct lesson. The group dissolved into judgemental laughter, low in volume but high in the falseness that youth can give to young girls.
"Wow... she's like, such a loser." Match chuckled, fiddling with an earring as she leant back on a wall, her permanently bored expression resuming to fill her to the brim.
"Dare's on, then?" smirked Pencil back at her, to which Match nodded and grinned, sliding a nail file out of her pocket.
"Oh, you bet. This one'll be, like, super easy stuff. She clearly already trusts you."
Feeling a miniscule dart of guilt, Pencil stretched out her open palm to grasp her best friend's similarly extended fingers, shaking it in a firm and professional manner.