Saving Mona

Chapter 12 🍝

As soon as I was done with my little pity party- which didn't take long, I went in the direction Rebecca followed. It was lunch break, and knowing Rebecca, she must have gone to where everyone was and got the attention she wanted.

It turns out I was right as I found platinum blonde hair right in the middle of the cafeteria. I stood by my friends as I watched in horror as Rebecca captured everyone's attention.

"What's going on?" Layla asked as soon as she spotted me. I ignored her question and watched as Rebecca's plans for me slowly unfolded before the whole school. Layla gave me an odd look, which I again ignored only this time, with steel for a face. They would not see me crumble.

Rebecca noticed me looking at her and smirked at me. Not caring if anyone was watching me, I tried to use my eyes to warn her. Things would only end up badly for her. In response to my gesture, Rebecca only huffed and looked away. I sighed deeply in defeat; at least I tried.

Unconsciously, my eyes wandered around the freshly painted peach cafeteria. Everyone was here. Rebecca did know how to pick her attention givers. In the course of my wandering eyes, I met with Dwayne's.

He was in his school uniform; white shirt untucked with few buttons flying free and blue-black tie hanging loosely around his neck. His hands were buried deep in his trousers' pocket, which bore a matching color to the tie. His stance dictated ease and confidence, and I almost burst into laughter when I had the thought of him modeling for a school magazine.

He was looking at me in a way that made me feel uneasy, nothing new. His gaze made me feel like he saw right through me, right through the stern look I had on. I hated it! Suddenly what mother had said about him came to mind, but I shook it off. I would not let my mother's manipulation get to me.

I raised an eyebrow in question, and when he didn't offer any response other than looking at me in that same disarming way, I looked away.

My little eye exploring had taken more time than I expected as, by the time I fixed my attention on Rebecca, she was already talking. With the realization of this, I broke out into a cold sweat.

I'm so stupid!

Instead of wasting time on Dwayne, I could have stopped her.

"Everyone here loves Monalisa, right?" she asked, looking around.

She stood at the top of the table and conveniently looked down at everyone- literally. The cafeteria servers could have scolded her for standing on their precious table, but I suspected they were as invested in what she was going to say as the rest of the school's student population.

Strings of confused and hesitant 'yes' flowed around the cafeteria as everyone shared a look with each other.

Rebecca seemed to be satisfied with the answer she got as she continued. "How well do you know your beloved Monalisa?" she asked again, her tone taking a mocking note as she pronounced my name. I narrowed my eyes at her smirking figure.

"What's she trying to do?" I heard Dwayne ask. No one replied as no one knew the answer except me. I watched in trepidation as Rebecca's smile seemed to grow larger and larger with every passing second.

I wasn't sure who was going to end up burnt this time. Would it be like Brian's case where people stood up for me? Or would it be a new scenario where people and my friends turned their backs against me and pointed fingers at me?

"What are you trying to say, Rebecca?" Mel snapped from beside me. She had the least patience among us all, for games like this. Her almost non-existent patience helped voice out the question that was running through everyone's mind.