The sound of loud music made me jump up in my bed and I scowled at my roomate Gabriella as she grinned at me from where she stood by her speaker.
'Can you turn it down?' I cried.
She frowned and turned it down a touch, crossing her arms and glaring at me.
'It's only 6pm, it's not my fault you have the mental age of a 90-year-old,' she scoffed, stripping out of her uniform. I looked away as her leopard print underwear came on show and I focused on looking out of my window.
'You know I always take a nap after classes because I have to stay up late to study,' I murmured.
'Yeah, I know, how do you think I feel when I'm trying to sleep at stupid o' clock and your nightlight is burning away all night?' she asked, rudely.
'Fair,' I sighed, getting out of my bed.
'You know, I'm getting really sick of how messy your side of the room is,' Gabriella stated, still frowning at me. 'It's bad enough that I'm stuck with you but the fact that you're a pig too is just too much.'
'It's not even a mess!' I cried, staring around at my side. There were a few books scattered on the floor by my bed, my desk was a little unorganised and my bedside table was cluttered with stationery but I wouldn't exactly say it was messy. 'What about on the weekends when your side, and my side, has your clothes and shoes and makeup thrown about everywhere?'
'God, do you know how much money I would happily pay to change roommates?' she spat. 'I've been stuck with you for more than five damn years and I have no idea how I haven't killed you!'
'Maybe you should pay it then,' I mumbled, heading to my closet to grab my wash bag.
'I've tried, believe me!' she yelled.
'Well, I'm sorry that your life is so bad being stuck with me,' I sighed, grabbing my towel.
'The thing you look forward to the most when getting your roomie is making a new friend who you'll live with for the next seven years and out of every single student in our grade, I ended up with the peasant!'
Peasant was what the kids in our school who paid for their place called the few that won the free place and in our grade, I was the peasant.
'Your life is so hard,' I said, sarcastically, as I walked to the door.
'It is!' she cried. 'And aswell as being the peasant, you're a total nerd and a loser too and nobody likes you.'
'I'm going for a shower,' I sighed, leaving the room.
I headed down the corridor in my oversized red shirt that actually belonged to my dad, my towel, wash bag and pyjamas in my hand and I planned to take a very long shower to spend less time with Gabriella before she wandered off to her friend's room.
As I passed by one of the girl's dorm rooms, the door opened and none other than Conrad Coleman stepped out and closed the door, looking up at me with wide eyes.
I rolled my own eyes slowly and shook my head. 'Don't worry, I'm not going to snitch on you.'
I continued past him, not wanting to give him another moment to begin mocking me.
'Of course you're not,' he said, from behind me. 'Because you know I'd make you pay.'
'Sure,' I mimed, to myself. I always played it cool and kept on a strong face as best as I could but deep down, the words always hurt. I'd been picked on ever since grade 7 and it had never gotten easier. All I'd wanted was to fit in and make a few nice friends and enjoy my studies. I'd thought there might have been at least one person who I could connect with but no, they were all the same. Spoilt, bitchy, rich kids who saw me as none other than the peasant.
I headed into the shower and was thankful that it was empty. Quickly stepping in and getting under the stream of hot water, I let out a deep sigh and tried to not think about all of the idiots in my school. I'd gotten through it for years now and I didn't have long left. I just kept telling myself that as soon as I left this school, college would be different. The people there would be more my kind of people and Kingston Hall could be a distant memory.
I stayed in the shower for around 45-minutes and eventually climbed out, peeking out of the curtain to check if any girls were around. I hated being in the showers when the other girls were. They taunted me wherever I was, so being in the showers would only turn out to be the worst possible situation.
As I stepped out, I reached up and pulled my towel from the hook, pulling it around my body. I dried myself off and hung it back on the hook, turning to grab my clean underwear and pyjamas from the bench beside the cubicle. They were gone.
'No!' I gasped, glancing around again. There was definitely nobody here. The girls had clearly been in and taken my things away. The idea that they even had my underwear held hostage was mortifying.
'Oh god,' I croaked, gripping my towel and wrapping it around me again. At least they hadn't taken that or I would have been running back to my room naked.
I stepped away from the shower blocks and hurried for the door, praying I wasn't about to open it to a group of mean girls laughing at me.
'Looking for these?' I turned to see Conrad sitting on the bench by the bath tubs, my thong swinging on his finger as he held it up. My pyjamas were also on the bench beside him.
'You jerk!' I snapped, storming over to him. 'Give me my stuff!'
'Who would have thought geeky little Julie would actually own such a sexy little number,' he teased, grinning cruelly at me.
'It's Juliet,' I muttered. 'Give me my things.'
'Sure,' he said, dropping my thong to the floor in front of me. I bent down and quickly grabbed it before hurrying past him to the bench to grab my pyjamas.
'You can get out now,' I told him, as I spun around again.
'I promise not to look,' he said, still grinning at me.
'Stop it with your games!' I exclaimed. 'I've had enough of your games! I've had enough of all of your fucking games!'
I was breathing heavily and my eyes filled with tears, causing Conrad to raise an eyebrow at me and begin walking closer.
'Don't come near me,' I mumbled, my voice a weak croak.
He stopped right in front of me and reached up, wiping the tear from my cheek with one finger.
'Does it hurt you when I say mean things to you?' he asked me, and I frowned softly. 'Do my words actually affect you?'
'Everybody's words hurt,' I answered, sharply, immediately regretting my response. He would love that. I stepped back to get away from him and his hand dropped back to his side.
'I don't mean everybody else,' he said. 'I asked if my words hurt you.'
'What is this?' I asked. 'Are you some kind of sick freak that gets off on bullying people? Yes, of course it hurts! I've dealt with it for five years!'
His mouth moved to the side as he bit the inside of his cheek and he nodded slowly. 'Wow...'
'Wow what?' I asked. 'Go on, what do you have to say to me next? What will you say to try and make me feel like shit next?'
'I won't say anything to you anymore,' he said, shrugging softly, then he turned and headed for the door.
'What?' I asked, feeling utterly confused.
He turned as he grabbed the door handle and looked at me again. 'I'll leave you alone.'
'Are you serious?' I asked, my voice showing how much I didn't buy it.
'Yeah, I won't say anything else,' he replied. 'But don't give me a reason to.'
'What the hell does that mean?' I asked, but he ignored my question and left the bathrooms, leaving me completely dumbfounded, but I quickly shook my head and sighed. It was just another way to play games with me and mess with my head. I knew it wouldn't be long before Conrad went out of his way again to be cruel to me and it filled me with dread just thinking about how much worse it was probably going to be the next time.
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