Bullies come in different varieties. She found a rare kind.
"Listen here, Cadence," Ronen began. He had her pinned by her blazer to the alley wall where the school garbage was piled up. It reeked of every rotten thing imaginable. Fat and ugly rodents scurried across the murky ground and flies of all sizes swivelled around in the toxic heavy air.
The tension was building up between them and the distance between their faces was questionable. It was obvious that he was deliberately making eye contact to ensure that she marked his words.
"Drop it off now," he said. "Whatever it is you are doing, you better stop."
Cadence spoke in a trembling voice. " I-I d-don't know what you're t-talking ab-bout." Her body was sweaty and her heart was racing fearfully.
"You darn well do, Cadence Sasaki. You're invading my space. Stop stealing my limelight, got it?" Ronen Nystrom dropped her and angrily walked away towards the school grounds leaving her in a river of tears.
She fell on her knees and hid her face behind her arms, making all attempts to stop crying. I didn't sign up for this. What in the world is going on right now?
She was at all not bothered by the stench was digging into her lungs, neither was she bothered by the slimy dark green liquid that was rolling past her knees. A dirty grey rat crawled past and stopped in its tracks in front of her; It sniffed in her direction as if it could sense Cadence's sorrow.
Even after five minutes of being unnoticed, the rat still stared at her in awe. "Eek!" she screamed as soon as her eyes caught sight of it and jumped back in fright. It immediately dived for cover under a mouldy brown carton as she made a run for it out of the stinky alley.
The horizon was closing in on the sun. Another walk home in the crunch of fiery leaves.
+ + + + + + +
A week earlier...
"Cadence, you need to try something new," Kayla told her. "Can you just step out of your comfort zone for once?"
Kayla was her big sister who she lived with. Her parents had been divorced for about half a decade now and it had been unbearable for Cadence to live with either one of them without their former significant other. Moving in with her sister was the better option.
Kayla had taken Cadence for a neighbourhood trip to the cosmetics shop to get supplies for her little sister's extreme makeover. Cadence had received an admission email from Ryburn High School of Music the previous week and Kayla had thought that a new look would make a very good first impression.
"Music is my comfort zone," replied Cadence nonchalantly.
Kayla swatted her sister with the hair extensions that were in her hands. "Snap out of it! Not everything in life is about music, you know."
"But everything in music is life."
I'm so gonna kill her when we get home, Kayla thought angrily to herself.
Kayla kept her cool despite her sister's remarks. "If you're not going to do make-up, at least do something with your hair. It's always messy."
"So is your room."
After killing her, I'll resurrect her, then kill her again. "You do know that we share the same room, right?"
"I was talking about your side of the bedroom."
UGHHH!! Why is she so arrogant!?
Kayla sighed. "Between you and me, Caden," she said through her gritted teeth, "there is a number called ten."
Uh-oh, thought Cadence.
Whenever Kayla called her 'Caden', it was a mere warning; a warning for her to psychologically prepare for whatever Kayla would pull before the end of the day. It was kind of a little torture she did to Cadence as 'payback' for getting on her nerves, and unfortunately for Cadence, that happened quite a lot.
Convincing Cadence to adapt to change was like swimming up a rapid river; impossible. She grew up believing that things would always stay the same. Their parents' divorce broke her. Kayla, on the other hand, had respected her parents' decision to divorce. It did not affect her much since she was already in college, but for Cadence, it was another story...
Since they could not agree on anything for the makeover, they saw it better to leave. A bulky security guard in khaki brown uniform blocked their way before they could even inhale the outside air.
"What is the meaning of this!?" Kayla snapped. Her attempts to manoeuvre past the brown hulk were like web surfing without wifi.
The cashier called from the counter which was a few feet away from the exit. She wore bright flashy colours and was doing her nails over the counter.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk. I see that you do not take heed to read signs." She pointed to a flashy red banner that hung from the ceiling which read, SHOPLIFTING AND WINDOW SHOPPING PROHIBITED
"C'mon, you can't be serious. You should have placed it at eye level," Cadence said to justify herself. "Not everyone randomly looks at ceilings."
"Well, let me make it easier for you. You've got two choices," the cashier said with a little grin. She wore light make-up, her coffee-coloured hair tied into a messy bun, and she looked like she was leaning closer to her forties. "You can either stay here until you rot to death and you only leave for your funeral..."
"Is she serious right now?" Cadence said enraged.
"...or simply buy one of our products and leave in peace."
Kayla was pissed. "Now you're forcing us to buy your junk!?"
"Is that even legal?" Cadence asked.
The cashier shrugged her shoulders indifferently. "Just one product," she said silently, "is all we ask."
Both Kayla and Cadence sighed and gave each other a knowing look. Eventually, Cadence was the one who spoke. "What's your best offer?"
YOU ARE READING
Purple
Fantasy[ON HOLD] After dyeing her hair, Cadence, being the introvert that she is, has her life turned upside down. Ronen, who can't help but hate her very presence, has the same hue sticking out from his crown. Is it a coincidence that they are just anoth...
