Dead squirrels and dysfunctional families

3. Dead squirrel throwing competition

After a week, Hester was finally capable of going to school. Not like she really wanted to go, she definitely wasn't fully healed and quick movements were still painful for her. Anadil advised her to stay home, but Hester couldn't afford to spend more time missing out school, especially because she was new and needed to make a good impression.

It was also her first morning of being alone. As much as she hated to admit it, she missed having Anadil there, even though she was usually quiet and salty and kept organizing her things. She missed waking up to warm tea and breakfast, their late philosophical conversations and midnight smoking on the balcony. She even missed the stupid rats, with a terrible habit of destroying everything in their way, that Anadil brought with her.

"Nice job not getting attached, Hester," she scolded herself. But maybe this was her chance to leave her past behind and start completely anew, just as she intended. Perhaps, this time, she'll do everything right and nobody will get hurt...

She almost laughed at herself. Of course she'll hurt people. That's what she did all the time, wasn't it? She almost killed a stranger, nearly overdosed and then simply said goodbye and moved to another country without leaving a trace, all in a single week.

Upon her arrival to the school, she noticed all the stares she's been getting. As she walked by, people looked away, but when they got behind her, they started chatting again, loudly enough so she could hear her name, but she didn't hear enough to figure out what they were talking about.

The crowd split so a group of four boys could walk towards her. Finally, after a long lecture from Ani, she was able to recognize who is who. Aric, the boy who she slapped the first day, wore purple coloured contacts to look more edgy and was pretty much just a sadistic jerk, Japeth was his boyfriend and willing to destroy the whole world for him, also a sadistic jerk, Rhian wasn't that bad, he just enjoyed the attention he was getting and Kei was there just because of Rhian.

"How brave of you to show up here again," grinned Aric.

"We thought you'd just give up and return to whatever hell are you from, but apparently, it's not that easy to get rid of vermin like you."

Hester felt her blood boil at the sight of them. "Oh, was that supposed to be scary? You're gonna have to try little harder than that."

She expected anything from them, yet they just laughed and walked away, leaving her with a bad feeling of what is going to happen next.

Carefully, she started walking towards her locker. Suddenly, she felt someone bump into her, making her not fully healed ribs explode with pain. She tried to yell at the idiot who did that, only to find out she couldn't breathe.

She basically ran towards the bathroom, trying her best not to panic, which was hard, considering the fact she couldn't catch her breath and she felt like she was going to collapse any second and all of her body was shaking.

It took her long time, but she managed to get some air in her lungs, slowly, her breath became steadier. She was thankful that nobody has seen her like this.

She wanted to leave, but suddenly, the door was pushed open by a tall, muscular boy. He walked inside, smirking.

"This is a women's bathroom."

"Oh, I know that. I just wanted to talk to you. My name is Jason. I figured out you might need someone to protect you."

Hester couldn't help herself and laughed. "I can take care of myself."

"Many girls are like this at first. Thinking they are so strong and independent, but in the end, they always realise they need someone. Someone like me. I am a very good friend of the Arbed boys and I could tell them to stop bothering you. They always listen to me, you know. I can make sure nothing will ever happen to you."