"Drop the act Hope! You need to go to school!" Mum gave me a stern look as I lay in bed, trying to fake sick.
"Mum, I actually feel terrible," I tried to lower my voice and make it scratchier. I could barely scrape off with a croak but she wasn't falling for it. I wasn't exactly lying because I had spent the whole night texting and talking to Love as she cried her eyes out.
"Get up right now and put on your uniform or I'm grounding you!" Mum exited our room while Amy ran around and grabbed equipment.
I sighed and swung my legs over the bed frame. This was going to be a long day that I wasn't prepared for. I was dead tired and every move ached but I got through putting on my uniform and drowning down a bowl of porridge before running out of the house. I was running late and had to sprint to school with my heavy backpack thumping against my back while conserving whatever energy I did have.
Sighing with relief, I staggered to the first bench I saw when I crossed the gates and set my bag down. There was an awful lot of noise, much more shouting and chatter than a usual morning.
"Get off me you little-"
"You son of a-"
"FAITH STOP!"
My head whipped up and I grabbed my bag. Faith lunged at Amethyst, Grace trying to hold her back but failing miserably. I completely ditched the bag and ran forward, grabbing Faith's free hand and pulling her back from the beet-red Amethyst.
"Hope let go of me for God's Sake!" she seethed and tried wring her hand away but my grip tightened.
"Faith just leave her!" Grace pleaded and pulled her back.
"Listen to your friend for once," Amethyst shook with anger, with only Shawn by her side.
"No!" Faith yanked her arms out of our grips and stood up straight against the slumped and disinterested Amethyst. "I am sick of you being a complete ass to everyone and treating everyone like dirt. When you stare into the mirrors that you broke, don't you feel broken too? Don't you feel guilty that an innocent girl who did nothing to you is now lying in a hospital bed, unconscious and completely knocked out and fighting for her life because of the damned words that came out of your damned mouth?!"
"Don't even try to bail her out of this one! I've had enough of her egoistical attitude and taking Love away from me. Then she turned Love into a complete cow and ganged all of her stupid friends against me."
"Why you little-" Faith lunged at Amethyst successfully and grabbed her by the collar. Shawn pushed Amethyst back before dragging her off to our form room.
Faith just stood there. One second her face was masked with hot red flames of fury and hell rose in her cold blue eyes and then it was like her brain had turned to dark clouds that forced tears out of her eyes. I looked at Grace to see that she too had glazed eyes and I grabbed both of their bags before I dragged them to the cleaning supplies cupboard and switched on the light.
"What are we doing here?" Faith sniffed and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her crimson blazer.
"We're here so you can calm the frick down and call Love," I said, plopping myself on the ground. My finger hovered over the call button for half a second before I dialled and waited for Love to answer.
"Hello?" Love's tired voice cut through the short moment of calmness and suddenly Faith was bawling her eyes out again and I felt my vision become blurry at the edges too.
"Love! Are you OK?" Grace was the one out of the three of us to speak and was certainly the most sane. I heard Love sigh, inhale and exhale deeply before replying.
"I'm alright. Just tell Mrs Bennett that we've caught the flu and need to stay home for a couple days,"
"I'm pretty sure Mrs Bennett already knows the real deal," Grace mused, wiping the corners of her eyes. "Faith was about to beat the crap outta that female dog,"
"Why don't you just say bi-"
"Ah-ah-ah! I'm on a swearing diet, my ears are sensitive to vulgar language,"
We heard Love chuckle and it brought a small twitch to my lips. At least she was still up for a tiny bit of humor.
"W-What's the situation? Has Prudence been diagnosed?" I asked, wiping my clammy hands on my skirt.
"The doctors did blood tests and found out that she has anaemia so the fact that she was starving herself and making herself throw up all the food she'd eaten wasn't helping. She'd probably going to have to stay in the hospital for a few weeks until she's in better condition."
"Wait what?" Faith sputtered, her eyes widening. "She's been making herself throw up?"
"Mhm. Did the good ole finger down the throat every night."
"I found her in the toilets, vomiting her guts out Wednesday night and she said she had eaten something bad,"
Faith sniffed once more and the painful zing of the bell reverberated through the school and we said our goodbyes to Love. Trudging to our form room, I handed them their bags and Faith stayed behind in the hallway. Mrs Bennett was giving her a stern look and I gave her a concerned glance before closing the door and settling down in my seat next to Grace.
"So Hope, care to tell us where the Bonneville twins are?" Amethyst smirked in my direction which completely shut up all the chatter in the room. I raised an eyebrow at her question and didn't utter a single word of explanation.
"She's talking to you," Kaydence stated behind me but I didn't turn around.
"Oh My God what a brat! She thinks she's the Queen of England," Amethyst giggled with a venomous sneer on her face. She leaned forward and tapped the side of my head. "Keep dreaming hon."
"If I was the queen, I wouldn't have to listen to the stupid crap coming out of your mouth," I turned around and glared at her in those brown eyes of hers. The eyes that would fool anyone that she was a harmless sweetheart and just an innocent schoolgirl who spent her time having fun with her friends, getting good grades and obsessing over their crushes. That calls for the devil.
"Savageeeeee!" some mumbled across the silence fallen upon us. I could see people stifling their smirks out of the corner of my eye. Hi, Fred, I can see you grinning that stupid smirk of yours and secretly flashing the middle finger. Stop. Just stop.
The door opened and Faith entered the room, her eyes as determined and strong as steel, her demeanor as cold as ice and her posture straight. She walked to a seat and sat down before crossing her legs and arms and leaning back in her seat.
"Silent reading everyone," Mrs Bennett said. "Amethyst can I have a chat with you?"
Amethyst looked shaken for a blink of an eyelash before she abruptly stood up and gave Faith a choleric glare and followed Mrs Bennett out of the room.
***
"Excellent roast, as always," Fred slid into the seat next to me in Geography.
"My pleasure," I mocked a bow before fiddling with the end of my Dutch braid.
"Why the heck does your hair look like a unicorn's tail?" It was such an out of the blue question that I nearly snorted at Fred's genuine curiosity.
"Umm because unicorns are perfect and they decided to make me perfect as well," I grinned.
"Keep dreaming hon," he tapped the side of my head, mocking Amethyst at her pathetic attempt at sass. This time I did laugh and he beamed along with me. Somehow, the skin on his fingers seemed exceptionally soft and gentle.
Mr Lawrence rambled on about the Carribean and South America and made us take notes before the bell signalled the end of the day. I gathered my things and waited for Faith and Grace before we left for the hospital. Love had told us that Prudence had woken up and their parents had allowed us to visit her for an hour.
"What happened this morning?" Grace looked towards Faith.
"Miss just told me off for nearly knocking the daylights out of that b-"
"I'm on a swearing diet. Calm your ass." I snorted at that.
"Ironic," Faith rolled her eyes and slung her bag over both shoulders. "I told her about how horrible Amethyst and Kaydence had been to all of us and I assume she told them off too."
"Seems fitting," I muttered. "She was literally swearing and raging about you in English and calling a snitch of a-"
"For once she's putting effort into poetry but today's not the day," Grace covered her ears with her palms and I let out a small chuckle.
We got there pretty quickly and Love was outside, waiting for us. As we neared, the impact on Prudence's condition was pretty evident on her face. Her dirty blonde hair was coated with grease and thrown in a messy bun, her face was bare and pale and she wasn't wearing her signature red lip tint. Her chestnut eyes were bloodshot and the skin under her eyes made out a pair of black bags.
"I was so scared," she mumbled in my shoulder when I had hugged her. "She almost looks inhuman that at times I can't bear it."
"Does she know we're visiting?" Faith questioned after she had also given Love a small hug.
"No, it's a surprise."
She led us to the hospital room where a broken girl lay on the bed, half-awake and half-asleep. Prudence was dressed in a sanitary hospital robe that put a heavy pronunciation to the large amount of weight she'd lost. She was almost skeletal-a bag of skin, bones and a heart that bled from the pain it had endured. My own heart ached when I saw her in such a vulnerable situation and I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her that it's OK and tell her about all the reading parties we would have when she gets out of the hospital.
Her eyelids peeled open and she stared at the ceiling- the same way I stared at the ceiling when I had woken up after the car accident. Her eyes were filled with confusion and numbness from the oblivion that came from the painkillers but then they landed on us.
"What are you doing here?" her voice was rough and scratchy, anything but like her soft, intellectual and demure tone.
"We've come here to visit!" Grace remarked brightly before moving to sit in the seat next to the hospital bed. "How have you been?"
"Very well. I would like to sleep now," Prudence closed her eyes and nestled back into the sheets of her bed.
"You're supposed to have your teatime in five minutes. I suggest trying to stay awake," Love said.
"I don't want to eat," she declared stubbornly and threw the duvet over her head.
"I'm sorry Miss Bonneville but doctor's orders must be followed," a nurse entered the room with a tray of vegetable soup, bread and tea.
"The doctor can go and f-"
"Don't!" Grace cut her off. "You guys are terrible influences on my poor, innocent Disney Princess brain."
"Innocent," Faith wiggled her eyebrows and Grace raised an eyebrow. She slumped back into her seat, obviously disappointed that her attempt at humor hadn't cheered up Prudence.
"Alright girls, can I trust you to have this bowl emptied without throwing the food away in the toilet?" the nurse turned to Love who gave her a curt nod. The nurse went off and Love picked up the bowl and spoon.
"Come on P, you need to eat."
Silence. Love sighed and set down the bowl and spoon. "Do you guys want anything from the cafeteria?"
"I'll have a Coke,"
"I want food."
Grace and Love went to the small cafeteria while Faith excused herself to the toilet. That left us. I stood up from the sofa by the window and sat in the chair next to her bed, taking the duvet off her head. Prudence flinched at the direct sunlight and turned to glare at me.
"Hope just leave me alone."
"No. Get up, you're going to eat."
She threw the duvet back over her head like a stubborn child so I opted for Plan B. I flung the duvet from the bed and onto the sofa. "I'll eat later."
"Yeah and I'm dumb. Which I am, but I'm not stupid enough to fall for the "I'm going to eat later" type of crap. Come on, get up."
She reluctantly straightened her back and I propped her up on a few pillows.
"Can I at least have my duvet back?" I slung the duvet over her legs and picked up the bowl and spoon. "Don't tell me that you're going to spoon feed me,"
"Unless you're going to pick up the bowl and spoon and eat on your own without complaint, then yeah I am spoon feeding you. Now open that smart mouth of yours 'cause the aeroplane is coming."
Prudence parted her lips and I gave her a few small spoonfuls of the vegetable soup. Grimacing after a few spoonfuls, she motioned to push away the bowl and I gave her a one minute breather before she reluctantly accepted more of the soup.
"I feel like that Mrs Potato Head person from Melanie Martinez's album right now," she stated, trying to distract me from feeding her with my music obsession. It caught me off track but I was still determined for her to get some food into her system.
"Have you seen Melanie's music videos?" I asked and she gave a slight nod.
"I've seen Dollhouse and it creeped the shiznits out of me. Mrs Potato Head is still my favourite,"
"I can put the song on if you want," I offered and a small twinkle settled in her eyes.
"Really?"
"When you finish the soup."
She pouted but ate the last spoonfuls when the girls came. Grace was completely up for the idea of a Melanie Martinez sing-along and immediately switched on her phone and started playing some of the songs.
Kids forever, kids forever
Baby soft skin turns into leather
Don't be dramatic it's only some plastic
No one will love you if you're unattractive.
We were already singing along with our terrible voices by the second verse of "Mrs Potato Head". Grace and Love jammed out and made a pathetic attempt to waltz along to the music.
"I don't think waltzing fits the genre of the song, dear confused humans," Faith commented.
Prudence sipped her tea, a new brightness alight in her eyes but she was back to the broken, sad girl when the music ended and we needed to leave. Her eyes hardened and her face returned to the passive aggressive, stoic expression. Grace mournfully glanced at her expression before grabbing Love's phone and searching up the whole album on YouTube. Grabbing our bags and saying goodbye, we left the room and Love walked us to the main doors of the hospital.
"I really hope people won't be horrible to her when we return back to school," Love sighed placed her hands in the pockets of her tracksuit.
"I really hope people won't be horrible to either of you."
"I really hope people won't be horrible to either of us because I'm sick of everything always being negative."
I slung my bag over my shoulder. "Let's just keep out of their way and ignore them. We'll have to be positive no matter what crap comes out of Amethyst and Kaydence's mouths but that will be difficult."
"I'm not going to let them hurt us or anyone else," Faith stated. "I don't care if I get detention, isolation or suspension."
"Let's just promise ourselves that it won't come to that level of violence," Love commented when her eyes landed on Grace's balled fists.
Leaving the hospital and having checked up on Prudence set a strange feeling of relief course through my veins. She was still in terrible condition but I knew that she could get better, even if I would have to spoon feed her every single day. She would come back to school happy and healthy and we'd finish Year 9 on a positive note. But first, we'd have to learn how to rise above all this drama and to only focus on the important things. We would rise above from the restricting frames of the broken school society. We would be each other's glue and pick up the broken pieces from each of our mirrors. We would make our broken fragments shine. We would rise.
A/N Another chapter is up guys! We're getting very close to the end- only two more chapters left- and now I'm wondering whether I should write an epliogue or not. I will most probably write it for my enjoyment but I don't know if I'll post it. Song for this chapter is, of course, Mrs Potato Head by Melanie Martinez. I think the Melanie Martinez karaoke was my favourite part of this chapter XD. Questions for this chapter:
How did you guys feel about Prudence in this chapter? I've personally struggled with anaemia (thalassemia) before and it's something I inherited from my mother's side of the family. If you don't know, it's the loss of iron in your blood which reduces the number of red blood cells. She's a bit OOC but that's because eating disorders and anaemia are a difficult thing to battle (or at least that's what I thought while going through it) but even though I know what's going to happen, my writerly heart still swells for her.
What did you think of this chapter? Was it good, bad or a completely overwritten prose?
Should I write an epilogue?
What do you think is going to happen in the next chapter? I've got a big shock coming and I've already written Chapter 22 so maybe I will post it by the end of the weekend? We'll see how the editing comes along. I will be announcing very exciting news next week on my Instagram (antoana0502) so make sure you follow me (because I'm thirsty af XD). Have a nice weekend and a productive week ahead of you, and I will see you in the next chapter.
Antoana