"Get her!" Ai Mi screamed, falling behind as Qi qiān caught up.
Your lungs were hot and a pain in your hip was growing. You knew you should have started to try harder at gym, if you did this pain would not be here. You quickly turned into a corner, your stomach dropping immediately. You trapped yourself. You turned and were quickly met to a slap in the face and a shove. You fell to the ground, looking up in fear as Qi qiān stared down at you with a devilish smirk on her lips.
"Ai Mi, Xi Fėng, hurry up." She yelled, kicking your bag away from you. You looked to the ground, avoiding her site as you weakly pushed yourself back. Why were they doing this? Weren't they your friends?
"Just so you know" Qi qiān started, catching your attention. You flenched at her low tone, not wanting to hear her words. "Everyone at school thinks your a wait til. We actually took a survey.." she giggled, Ai Mi showing up behind her out of breath. She snatched the survey from her friend's bag, then shoved it in your face.
"Go on, look!" She yelled, your eyes gluing shut before you felt another hit to the face. You pulled your body into a fetal position, hearing the paper drop before a swift kick was taken to your side. You silently screamed, the battering of sneakers making your body go weak. You deserved this for how ignorant you were to think someone like you could make friends.
—
Snot dribbled from your nose, making you rub your face with the inside of the sleeve on your wrist. There was blood. You felt nauseous as you squatted down near the brick wall, leaning on it for support. Gray grime rubbed onto your pale cardigan, leaving a large smudge against your shoulder. You didn't care how gross your surroundings were, the way you were feeling was much more important to you right now. Idiotic. Icky. Stupid. Inferior. Second rate. Awful. That's what you felt. How could you have trusted those girls, those cruel cruel girls who used you as a cheap laugh? How could you have trusted anyone so quickly? You should've known that none of them actually liked you and were secretly making fun of you. You just wanted someone to like you, to want to text you. You ought to have just messaged people online randomly like you usually do. People online are much nicer...
You picked up your phone, groaning at the crack on the screen. Of course they broke all of your things, especially your most valuable possession. Your phone was the most expensive thing you owned (and that was saying something!). You had been poor for as long as you remembered, always having to take up tasks for your neighbors and finding animals for money. Your 16th birthday was soon and you were more excited about the fact that you would be able to have a job than presents like normal girls your age. You wanted to be able to enjoy cute items, T.V, makeup, and having fun. You couldn't afford it.
You rubbed your thumb over the crack before quickly stuffing it into your bag. Luckily it wasn't torn up, just the insides were thrown out and kicked around. You collected your books, papers, jacket and shoved it all into your half wet bag. Your lips thinned as you looked over the survey, noticing multiple names that were your supposed 'friends' only hours ago. You should have tore it up but instead you stuffed it in your bag with everything else. You'll keep it as a reminder of your inability to make right decisions. The side of the bag must have been in a puddle of water, you presumed. You dusted off your skirt and rose up, almost immediately curling in on yourself as you felt a pain in your side. They kicked you in your ribs over and over again. Luckily they never got to kick your head because you pulled yourself into a fetal position.
You dipped your head out of the alleyway, looking around before taking a step out. You felt an anxious feeling taking over your stomach, causing it to twist. You felt like throwing up. You were scared of those girls, how quick they were able to switch on and off around you. You knew they had felt that way the whole time but it just didn't feel real yet. You learned your lesson. Your phone read that the time was 6:30, meaning you should have been home 30 minuets ago. You would be mauled by your parents... Other girls your age complain about the strictness of their parents because they wouldn't let them stay out until 10 PM while yours went crazy if you weren't in your room studying by 6. They wanted you to be incredibly successful so they could be rich when you grew up.
You kept your head down as you walked, eyes sunken in as tears swelled at the edges. Why couldn't you have one thing? Just one! You were tired of moving schools, tired of trusting girls, tired of failing in life. You would prefer to end it but you never took the bait. Your mom would miss you and you would miss out on your future. You held a lot of hope even if it was constantly getting squashed by potential friends that turn into your bullies. You sighed through your nose, feeling a bit of blood run down to your chin. You couldn't care about a stupid nose bleed, so you let it run. It was for sure going to ruin your white button up, but it had been used for years anyways. You maintained the same weight just to fit into your clothes because you couldn't buy new ones. Your parents would never spend more money than they have to, especially on you. They blamed you for their poverty.
You continued your steps, feet shoving against the concrete below you. Your home was a cheap two bedroom one bathroom apartment that you upkempt yourself, making sure that at least your home was somewhere you liked to be. You were glad you never invited those girls to your home (you were too embarrassed to in the first place), you were sure they would have caused a mess and made you clean it to make fun of you. You were pulled out of your thoughts as your shoulder made contact with someone's bicep.
"Ah-" a low voice breathed out, you immediately bowing with your fist on your knees. You breathed out a quick apology, taking another step to walk away. You didn't mind seeming rude at the moment, you just wanted to go home. Your arm was grabbed quickly, pulling you back roughly.
"You hit me and expect bygones be bygones, do you girl? You owe me." He hummed, your eyes lifting to piercing golden eyes that wore judgement. He dropped your arm, wearing a disgusted face.
"I-I didn't mean to, I was just trying to go home.." you breathed out, but instead got an intense look from his golden eyes.
"I don't think you know who you just talked back to.. I could really hurt you if I wanted to, you know." He hummed, towering over you as he took a step closer. Your heart was beating 3x harder than before and you started to become light headed. These threats weren't something you were taking lightly. His face spoke that he wanted to kill you.
"I'm- Im sorry, I really didn't mean to-" He interrupted you with a swift thwack to the side of your head, causing you to yelp as you turned your face away. He suddenly grabbed the collar of your shirt, pulling you toward him as your head got thrown back from the quick motion. Buttons ripped from your shirt and fell to the ground, your lips thinning tightly as he looked over you. Pink scratch marks, red splotches where you were slapped, a bloody nose that was slowly drying out on your mouth. A small cry escaped from your lips, a splash of blood splashed onto his chin and cheek. He lifted his hand and rubbed some of the blood onto his fingers, tching at this discovery.
"And now you decide to spit on me. Is that what you think? That I'm someone worth spitting on, huh?" He growled, your head shaking quickly.
"It was an accident! I'm sorry- I'm so sorry!" You cried, tears spilling down your cheeks to your neck. He wore a repulsed look, eyes slanting lower before he dropped you from your collar. You felt relieved for a moment before he tightly grabbed your forearm, dragging you into a thin alley way. He ripped his hand from your arm and dug it into his pocket.
"Gross. Look at you.." he pulled out his phone, catching you in a compromising place. Your eyes widened as you reached for his phone, his hand grabbing your wrist tightly and twisted it. You let out a silent whine, knees falling in on themselves. He chuckled lowly, looking over your frame as he took another photo. "You're funny.. the way you think you can get away with trying to steal someone's phone." He hummed.
"I wasn't-"
"You cant say you weren't? You just tried to take my phone out of my hands, idiot." He spat, throwing your arm as you fell to your knees. He took another photo, smirking as tears spilled from your eyes. "See, look" He hummed. He squatted down to your height, tilting his head down as he held his phone in front of your hair covered face. He lifted a finger to your forehead, gently brushing strands away. He was using these soft actions against you, making you feel useless. You reached for his phone once more, his hand swatting your fingers away easily.
"Are you not listening or are you just stupid?" He scoffed, an angered look on his face as he suddenly grabbed your jaw. Your lips thinned as things grew more uncomfortable for you, redness crawling up your neck to your cheeks. Why was this guy grabbing you like that!
"Yuck.. you're so dirty. Who fucked you up? I wouldn't be surprised if you did this to yourself somehow. What, did you fall?" He hummed, lips pouting to make fun of your pain. He tilted his head the other way to look more over your face.
"Im not dirty..." you fought weakly, the teen rolling his eyes. "Yes you are. You have dirt on your face.. wait, is that.. Dog shit?" He asked, your eyes widening. He laughed, shaking his head.
"It's not, but you are gross.. You owe me now, you know. Or.." he pulled up his phone and scanned threw the photos he held. "I guess everyone would get to see these. Your cleavage is out you know.." he hummed, your hands reaching up immediately to find it was out. You hadn't noticed when the buttons were ripped by his tight hold at your collar earlier.
"They'll think you did something naughty, girl... I won't spell it out for you, I'll just hope you're smarter than that." Fear rose in your body. You just happened to bump into the worse guy that you ever could have possibly bumped into, right after being disowned and abused by your fake friends.
"Puh- Please don't! Please.." you reached and wrapped your small hands against his arm. "Please don't.. I don't have much already, I.. I can't have those shared.." you cried, tears making your eyes turn red and clear mucus slowly spilled from your nose. He wore a grossed out look, but let you grab him.
"Mm.. It's called blackmail, you know. I keep these and I make you do whatever I want.. And when I say whatever, I mean whatever." he sighed, brushing you off his arm as he stood. Blackmail? Whatever? What does he mean by that, what would he make you do? Questions stormed your mind as a horrified look took over your eyes. He took your phone from the ground, typing in your number quickly into his phone before putting it back down.
"You're lucky you're sort of pretty you know, even when you're covered in shit." He sighed, your eyes fluttering from this backhanded kindness. He thought you were pretty? You've never had something like that before, some boy calling you pretty. He was handsome, which made you feel disappointed in yourself for that being a thought about someone who was holding pictures against you. You wanted to hit yourself for thinking anything remotely nice about him.
"I usually don't care about girls in that way, but I think you could be a fun time..."
"I'll be in contact, yucky girl." He looked over you once more before letting out a 'pfft'.
You just lost your only friends and a guy is black mailing you into.. You weren't even sure what favors would this guy would want from you, what does 'whatever' mean? You tried to push those thoughts away as you rose from the ground and grabbed your phone, dusting pebbles from your knees. You held your tears as you walked, lips shaking in stress. Why was God against you, bullying you, picking on you?
As soon as you got home you were yelled at and punished for getting home late. Your father whipped your back with his belt 3 times, your mother not holding him back as she agreed with this punishment. After this you ran to your room and cried your heart out, screaming into your pillow. You weeped and weeped, throwing your grimy clothes off into the washer before getting into the shower. You scrubbed your body raw, trying to clean off the day. You wished it would work this way, that a bath could make your day not happen. You thought you left this behind you. You even made yourself a new personality. You were kinder, smarter, and worked harder to make friends. You just had to go and tell them the reason why you moved schools anyway, which was 'teasing'. It was actually constant bullying, bullying close to what just happened to you. Things could never work out for you. Why would they? It wasn't like you deserved it in the first place.
—
"Hey, boss." One of She Li's minions spoke, his head nodding to the teen before he took his place against a chair. He loved living this way, being feared. He should be feared, especially by those he keeps close. Fear tactics is what he lived by, it's what everyone lived by whether they knew it or not. Parents Teachers kept students in place with fear, bosses kept employees in fear, the government kept everyone in fear. Fear mongrels everywhere. The only thing was was that She Li wasn't afraid of anyone.
His eyes scanned over the boys in front of them, 'boys' because that's what they all were. She Li saw himself as a man because he was one. He acted like one and controlled a mass of people. Plus he was built like one, which he was thankful for. He was domineering and caused people to cower below him, especially stupid girls who bleed all over themselves. He almost smirked thinking back on the girl, her face stuck in his mind. She was cute, no doubt. He usually wouldn't mess with girls in general because he felt like showing attention towards girls was a waste of time. It wasn't like he would ever marry anyone in the first place so why waste his time. Besides, girls are useless weaknesses that cause guys to be pussies who care more about their image than his gang. She Li doesn't respect that.
The girl was fun to him though. She bumped into him on accident, for sure, but it was the fact she didn't even care to look up to him that caught him off guard. Usually girls run away or try to flirt, but she was just.. Empty. At least that was until he caught a few photos. They honestly weren't even that bad, it just showed that she could be humiliated easily. He scrolled through the photos, zooming in on your face and then your cleavage. This was at least enough to bring shame until she graduated. He was sure he could get more photos of her at a later date.
"Hey, is that your girlfriend boss?" One of his newer lackey's laughed, She Li turning off his phone before standing up. A few more of the boy's laughed before he whipped his hand roughly forward and bitch slapped the lackey so hard he crashed into the wall. Silence took over the space.
"Why do you think someone like you could look at my photos while I'm on my phone, huh?" He growled, the boy's eyes widening in fear before leaning his head down. He mumbled something inaudible. She Li grabbed the root of the boy's hair, yanking it back.
"What did you say? I cant hear you?" She Li gripped the boy's hair tighter, this position making it hard for the boy to talk.
"M- S'ry-" he chocked, strands falling into his face.
"Hm.." She Li looked back to one of his closer friends, reaching out. "Shaver." He ordered, the boy under his hand's eyes growing wide with panic. He begged and begged, yet She Li couldn't care less. The boy gave She Li the shaver.
"I think you need a haircut.." She Li then turned on the device and took a quick swipe at his head, causing a long line down the middle. She Li's lips twitched up for a moment at this, seeing the boy cower below him. Everything about what was happening was more than fun to She Li, especially when he gets to see someone's weak spot.