Claire held her hand to her face. She had just been slapped for the hundredth time in her life by Chloe. It was impossible to avoid her sister's tantrums, let alone difficult. But did it have to be this day? She decided it was best to not reply back if she wanted to get early to school. Claire held her head down, staring at the white tiled floor of her house. "Wait here, you little brat." Chloe hissed as she headed straight towards the kitchen.
A little while later, she came back with the bowl full of broccoli soup. "I made this. Why didn't you eat it." A foul stench flooded Claire's nostrils that reminded her of rotten eggs.
"I don't like it." Claire tried to say this as softly as possible.
"You don't have a choice." With that said, Chloe splashed the contents of the bowl on Claire's face drenching her wet in slimy green fluid with pieces of broccoli stuck on her shirt. Claire let out a cry of shock. Why was Chloe so angry? She never really went this far. Her already shaggy uniform had just been splattered green. She felt the cold liquid tingle her skin as it mixed up with the fabric of her uniform.
Chloe dragged the shocked Claire by her hand onto the car's back seat and shoved her inside. Claire had no choice, she couldn't fight her back. Her 'sister' was too strong for her. Although they were a year apart in age and Chloe was very skinny and pale, her grip however, was metallic. She was still holding her hand to her cheek that burned painfully, when the car's engine roared to life. Bright red drops escaped her eyes, flowing down all along her throat and staining her collar.
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"You are not supposed to cry in public. You look even more ugly." Chloe shouted, staring at her from the front mirror. They had reached the school and the car was parked near the large black steel gate. It was a bright sunny day with a humming breeze blowing outside. A group of hooting boys entered the school as one of them splashed water on the securtiy guard and sprinted off, leading to cackling sounds.
Claire's face was soaked in red tears. Having bright red tears had its disadvantages. She couldn't hide them until she washed them off her face. No one knew about her strange tear colors. Her sister and mother had strictly forbidden her to cry in public, lest that anyone see those drops fall and call the BBC news for it.
She took out her emergency wipes and started cleaning the red dried up liquid from her cheeks. Chloe stared at her impatiently, as the security guard shouted his frustration on another guard who was dozing off in his chair. Claire wiped the green stains on her uniform, trying her best to wipe out the green pigment, leaving light green patches all over her collar. Her platinum hair seemed to have turned silvery green at some spots.
"Tell them you puked over yourself when you stared at the mirror today." Her sister let out a cackle of laughter that sounded more like the grunting of a pig. Claire winced at the sound. It always creeped her out.
She pushed open the door and hurried off towards the school gate, as more bursts of laughter followed her.
"Claire, Wait up!" Olivia shouted from behind. Her best friend was walking briskly in her direction, with a pile of notebooks in her hand. Her olive green eyes shone in the bright sun. It was relieving to see someone who didn't laugh at her for who she was. Olivia was wearing a knee length blue skirt with the a light blue sleeveless shirt. Her blonde hair were cut into a pageboy style that gleamed bright in the sunlight.
"What happened to your dress?" She sounded concerned. Before Claire could speak, Olivia spoke angrily, "Did that bitch Raven do this? We really need to show her who's the boss. Such a coward. A big failure. I hope she gets stuck with professer Boris this year."
"No, she didn't do this. I spilled it myself by mistake and I was uhh... getting late to clean it."
"Oh..But I still hope that Raven gets stuck with that professor. She'll have to deal with his flying spit all year. What can be a better revenge than this?" Both the girls giggled as they walked up towards the school building together.
The High school was a set of three seperate brick red coloured buildings that rose up to two storeys. It was a small school with enough facilities for the teenagers of Brook-West, consisting of tenth, eleventh and twelfth graders. In the middle of the school was a historic fountain; water gushing from the wings of a red coloured swan statue that seemed to be getting ready for flight. The pavement was covered with gravel all over. A blue ford entered the school and headed towards the staff parking. Several girls were sitting beside the fountain as they took selfies together. Instinctively, Claire's hand passed over her backpack pocket for her old phone. Not that it was something to brag about. An old 90s Nokia model.
"I think I should drop geography. It's useless don't you think?" Olivia spoke.
"Well, it also depends on your previous grade. If you were good at it, then you might as well be encouraged to move on with it." Claire smiled at her best friend, glad to have her mind averted to something normal.
"Pfft. Screw the school. Lets drop it and take arts and design instead."
Claire didn't mind taking geography in school. The more courses she took, the longer she stayed at school in the library...away from her abusive sister and restricting mother who talked incessantly about the blessings of the temple goddess they worshipped.
"Goddess Zenaida would never let this happen, Claire. You should abstain from going out with your friend. Your purity is important than that filthy friend of yours. Goddess Zenaida loves you, my dear. Goddess Zenaida will never allow you to do this or that.." Her mother mumbled all day long to Claire alone, while Chloe went out with her friends early in the morning and came back late at night.
"Sure Olivia, I think that's a great idea. I will take arts and design as well."
"You mean you are not dropping geography?" Olivia seemed aghast.
Claire smiled at her guiltily as they reached to the hallway on the first floor. "You should stop being a nerd. I've heard, Professor Raymond is teaching this year."
Before Claire spoke up again, Claudia joined them near the line of lockers. Their lockers were consecutive in one line. Claudia was Olivia's cousin and one of the few girls in Calculus class last year with Claire. She didnot give an indication of the presence of Claire, which was a pretty common thing now.
"Damn! I was going to take geography. I was so excited about the Western Tornado they will teach this year." Claudia beamed, her dark eyes sparkling. She had light brown hair that were tied up into a ponytail and wore a blue cardigan over her light blue uniform similar to Olivia's. Not even in the least did she appear to be Olivia's cousin. Tall and skinny compared to Olivia who was average height and slim. "Mr. Raymond is so effin mean." Olivia thrust her notebooks into her overfilled locker. Her locker was filled with dozens of costumes including a black cloak, scary and disgusting face masks and a large fake axe. She had a thing for scary stuff and made sure she was prepared this Haloween. Not only was it going to be Haloween next month, but that was the exact day, Claire turned eighteen.
Claire opened her locker. There were usual hate notes on the locker door. She removed them without reading and threw them deep inside her backpack that was already full of older ones. She took out a notebook and a pen, while throwing her blue bag into the locker angrily. "Someone's getting red in the face." A tall boy with blonde hair shouted as his other friends laughed from behind. She ignored them.
"Hey, Evans. Why don't you go fuck yourself." Olivia stormed towards him. He was her ex-boyfriend. She dumped him after he insulted Claire last year by pouring a large bucket of red paint over her. Evans muttered something indecent to his friends and headed to class quickly as the bell rang. Claire wondered why he was so scared of Olivia. After all he was The Bully.
"Attention, students. Everyone should line up near the principal's office for their plan of courses this year." The speakers blared from all four corners. Congratulations to all of those who have passed with flying colours to the next level. We will be holding a farewell party at the end of the semester for our seniors. Any misbehaviour and bullying is not encouraged. Students shall be penalised for doing so." Booing sounds echoed in the hallway as the students headed towards the principal's office upstairs. Claire thought of all the people teasing her all her life, why didn't they ever get into trouble? She wondered how mean could Mister Raymond be. Even meaner than Evans and Raven?
Chloe was already ahead of Claire, heading towards the office. She wore her bag over her shoulder and gloomily headed upstairs. All of her previous joy for the future drained out just like air would from a balloon. If her small school of Brook-West jugded her from her looks despite the knowledge of her miserable skin disease, then there was no reason as to why the rest of the world wouldn't.