Phantom [h.s]

Twenty two

My least favorite class period of the day is seventh period, when I have gym class. I've never been an athletically built person, and I just don't enjoy sports in general. However, I'm required to have a P.E. credit.

So here I am.

The period has just ended, and afte: fifty minutes of running around the track, I am sweaty and tired. The last thing I want to do is have to sit through biology.

I follow the crowd into the locker room, making my way to my gym locker. I haven't made any friends in this class, and the only people I mildly know are Ava and Estella. They don't talk to me, though, and even if they did, I wouldn't want them to.

I quickly change from my gym uniform back into my t-shirt and jeans, pulling my hair out of its ponytail. I tie the laces on my Keds, wishing I could just go home.

I reach into my gym locker for my necklace, the one with the skull pendant.

My fingers close around the cool silver and I clasp it back around my neck, letting it fall past my collar bones as it always does.

I begin to gather my things, locking my gym locker and putting my phone in my pocket. Someone walks by and steps on my shoe and the lace comes untied. Sighing in frustration, I sit back down on the bench in the locker room to tie it.

"Her. She's the one."

I look up to see Ava standing in front of me, arms crossed over her chest. Her eyes are dark with contempt and her mouth is set in a tight line, makeup freshly applied. She has changed back to her school clothes already, and she looks absolutely furious.

Next to her stands Ms. Hansen, the assistant principal.

"Don't you see?" Ava points to my neck.

Heat rushes to my cheeks and my hand instinctively flies to the necklace.

"Is there a problem?" I ask, my heart rate increasing with each moment.

"Miss Marx, if you could accompany Miss Wright and I back to my office," Ms. Hansen says, her voice neither friendly nor angry.

I make eye contact with Ava. She stares down at me, disdain consuming her features.

I nod to Ms. Hansen, collecting my things quickly and trying to ignore the stares and gossiping girls around the locker room.

I follow the two of them out of the locker room and the gym, down the hallway to the main offices. What could possibly be going on? What is Ava doing?

When we finally arrive at Ms. Hansen's office, she tells Ava and me to sit down. Ava remains standing, however, as if she is too superior to me to sit beside me. I add the look on her face to my mental list of things I hate about Ava.

Ms. Hansen sits behind her desk, folding her hands in front of her. She is a fairly young woman, no older than thirty. She has red hair that she wears in a tight bun and green eyes. She wears a grey skirt and blazer.