You walked into school on Monday morning and looked down the halls hopefully, unconsciously searching for Aaron in the sea of students. You were a little nervous as to what the boys would be like. You had talked with Nina and Adelynn all weekend, all three of you weary as to how the boys would act.
"Do you see them?" Adelynn asked, looking up at Nina who stood in front of you two. She pulled a face and narrowed her eyes as she scanned the halls carefully.
"No. I don't think so." She said and walked forward, fighting to get to her locker. You did the same and waited for it to be slammed closed by Aaron but it wasn't. You looked down the hall at Adelynn who was smiling faintly as she got her books for her morning classes.
You got your things and walked with Adelynn to TV Broadcasting feeling on edge. Something felt really off but you couldn't tell what. People seemed to be staring but when you looked around no one was, you were just imagining it.
"Hey, how's your head?" Adelynn asked suddenly as she typed her login for the schools computer. You turned and looked at her, your hand lifting to feel the bump under your hair.
"Not too bad. It had its own heartbeat for a little while but the swelling went down." You answered, trying to get a grip. You had unedited footage that needed to be fixed for the intro to the morning show and if it wasn't done by Friday, you were screwed.
"Well that's good. By the way, don't turn around but Jacob and Carter are here. They haven't looked over here." She said quietly, not turning away from her work. You rolled your eyes and began editing, your fingers flying over the keyboard as you deleted and moved footage.
Jacob and Carter kept to themselves the whole period, causing trouble with the teacher instead of you two. By the time it got to fourth period you were baffled to say the least. No word from any of the guys at all, nothing except daunting glances from across the room.
You took your seat next to Nina and Adelynn, staring ahead at the board which currently depicted the female menstruation cycle. How nice.
You knew Dillon, Jack, Jacob and Aaron had all taken their usual seats in the back of the class directly behind you but they were talking quietly amongst themselves. Nina waited patiently for an outburst, her nails clicking on the desk loudly as Adelynn filled out her paper again, the only one in the class actually doing her work.
"Do you think they're pretending that nothing happened?" Nina asked anxiously.
"For your sake, I hope so. Didn't you slap Jacob across the face?" You asked with a smile and Nina blushed and sighed heavily.
"I was a little tipsy, okay? And besides, he deserved it." She said simply. She glanced over at Adelynn who was chewing her bottom lip as she looked through her textbook, flipping pages quickly.
"Are you really doing the work?" Nina asked and you giggled as Adelynn nodded, not looking up from the brick red health book.
You could've sworn one of the guys mutter "nerd" under their breath but you couldn't be sure and to be completely honest, you didn't want to be the one to start anything over nothing.
A little later you stopped at your locker to get your lunch and switch out your books when you saw Aaron walking down the crowded hallway toward you. A burst of energy ran through you and you pretended not to see him, instead grabbing your History book which was heavy as hell.
All of a sudden it was hit out of your hands and slammed onto the ground with a solid and echoing thud. You looked up in surprise, your jaw hanging open and your eyes wide as a smirking Aaron proceeded to walk right by you. It felt like the whole hallway was looking at you.
"Hey, watch where you're going." You said, turning to look at Aaron. He stopped walking and turned sharply, his eyebrows furrowing.
"What?" He asked gruffly and you instantly regretted opening your mouth and saying anything. You felt not only his eyes burn into you but the eyes of the entire hallway.
"You-you shouldn't bump into people like that." You said, a little softer now. You felt anxiety building up in your throat and you stepped back a little as Aaron advanced.
"Who's gonna stop me? You?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"M-maybe."
"Maybe? All you've got is a maybe?"
You didn't say anything, you couldn't. You stared into his cold eyes and wondered where the sweet boy was who got you ice for your head and bruised his knuckles to protect you. You looked down at his hand and saw the bruises were now turning a brownish purple color.
"I thought so." He said, still not moving from his spot.
"Why are you being so rude?" You asked a little quieter, trying to keep the conversation from being heard by everyone. Aaron had other plans.
"Rude?" He asked, "Why would I be any different?"
"Because..you were..nice before."
Aaron let out a surprised laugh and looked around at the people standing by us, trying to quickly avert their gaze.
"It's called acting, sweetheart. I guess I'm pretty good at it, huh?"
You felt hot tears prick your eyes and you blinked them away fast, hoping that Aaron was joking.
"Are you crying? Oh my god, you really are pathetic. I thought you had exceeded your limit at the party but you've gone and topped yourself again. You really believed it, didn't you?" He asked, his eyes wide with amusement. "You did! Holy crap, you are ridiculous!"
You slammed your locker closed and tried to stomp your way past Aaron but he blocked your way.
"You are pathetic. Pathetic. Look at you, crying over a joke. I can't believe you actually thought we cared. You know why we wanted you all there so badly, right?" He asked dauntingly, leaning in close. You tried to back away but he grabbed your chin, holding you there.
"Because we like fucking with you dorks. It's fun." He whispered, grinning widely. You yanked your chin back and he let you, laughing. The entire hallway was watching the scene in front of them unfold and you ran by them, tears blurring your vision.
You ran into a bathroom and locked yourself in one of the stalls, wiping at your eyes furiously. Why the fuck was Aaron being so mean to you? To all of you? What did you do?
You shakily dialed Nina's number and hit call, waiting for her to pick up. She was with Adelynn in the cafeteria, probably wondering where you were right now.
"Where the hell are you? You know I can't be on my phone in school!" Nina whispered into the speaker and you took a deep breath.
"I'm in uh..the A Hall bathroom upstairs."
"Why? Are you crying? What happened?" She asked seriously and you explained what happened.
"That asshole! That fucking asshole!" She replied after you finished, your breaths coming in shaky and infrequent intervals.
"We'll be right there." Adelynn chimed in and then the phone hung up. You slid it into your pocket and opened the stall door, looking in the mirror. You had mascara streaming down your face and you wiped at them with your fingers.
It took a few minutes but then Nina and Adelynn showed up, cursing up a storm and talking loudly about how they were going to destroy Aaron.
"He said it all was an act an-and that I-I'm pa-pathetic." You managed and Nina practically growled in response.
"He's dead. All of them are dead." She said as Adelynn who was busy wetting the brown scratchy paper towels and handing them to you so you could fix your makeup.
After she threatened a few more things involving the removal of one of a boy's most prized body part the bell rang and you were all cleaned up, going to your next class. You tried to act neutral but you knew everyone had seen what had happened and if they didn't, they had definitely heard about it by now.
When it hit English class you were a nervous wreck. You felt nauseous and your hands were extremely sweaty as you took your seat. Aaron's seat was empty, at least for now.
When he walked in he grinned at you, his eyes glinting almost evilly in the florescent lighting. He took his seat next to you and you couldn't do it, you really couldn't.
"Missed a smudge." He said, wiping at his eye.
"Fuck off." You tried to stay strong but your voice broke halfway through and you crossed your arms angrily, clenching your jaw.
"Bet you would've liked to Friday night." He answered and you felt yourself tense at his rude words. You needed to get out of there.
You stood quickly and grabbed your books, walking to the front of the class. Your teacher looked up at you, puzzled.
"What's wrong, (Y/N)?" She asked, noticing your smeared makeup and distressed face.
"I need to go down to the nurse, I don't feel very good." You said weakly and your teacher nodded, writing you out a pass quickly. You always got in good with the teachers because not only did you study but always did your homework and raised your hand in class when no one else would.
"Feel better, (Y/N)." She called as you walked toward the door. You caught Aaron's eye and he gave you a confused look, most likely feigning concern. You breezed past him and left, knowing you weren't going to go to the nurse. You ran to your locker and got your things, planning on waiting out by Nina's car until the final bell rang.
You ended up wandering around for the rest of the day. No one stopped you, they just smiled and nodded. They didn't know where you were going or why, they couldn't do anything. They didn't know anything.
Eventually the last bell rang and you walked out to Nina's car calmly, knowing that today was finally over. Nina looked pissed off as she stormed up to the car, her mouth set into a permanent grimace.
"What happened?" You asked and Adelynn answered.
"She talked to Jacob."
"What'd he say?"
"Basically the same thing as Aaron except Nina slapped him. Again. And he laughed. Again." Adelynn said, getting into the passengers seat.
"You see Jack?" You asked as you got into the back seat. Adelynn shrugged.
"Don't really want to talk about it." She said simply and you nodded. You knew what that meant.
The ride home consisted of Nina cursing their names and Adelynn staying quiet, messing with the hem of her shirt. You chimed in every now and again and when the car pulled up in front of your house, you got an idea.
"Can we all just not go to school tomorrow and have day in instead? I really don't want to go."
"That sounds like a good idea. We can all just not go?" Adelynn asked and you nodded.
"I like that idea. I'm in." Nina said and you smiled faintly.
You walked up to your house and felt a little better. Ditching school was the best plan you could muster right now, especially since the whole school would know of what happened at the party by tomorrow. You three would be the laughing stocks of your town, no doubt.
All thanks to Aaron and his asshole friends.
You couldn't fall asleep that night, Aaron's face appeared everytime you closed your eyes, laughing at you. A knot the size of Jupiter was in your stomach from worry and you couldn't get rid of it, not even in your sleep. You ended up doing extra homework until past midnight, trying to take your mind off of what happened.
In the end you went to bed around 2, falling into a light and uncomfortable sleep that only lasted a few short hours before you woke up again, this time from a nightmare.
The events from school showed up in your dream, but this time the onlookers were all pointing and laughing at you, blocking your way as Aaron launched insult after insult. You clawed at their barred arms, hoping desperately for an opening in the crowd. There wasn't one.
You woke up huddled into a ball, the same position you were in in your nightmare after you gave up finding a way out and instead curled into a ball, your back facing Aaron. If you couldn't see him, he couldn't see you, right?
The only thing that kept you going was that tomorrow was going to be better; it had to be. So when you woke up for the fourth time that day, the clock showing that it was a little past 8 in the morning, you gave up on sleep and got up.
At least today wasn't yesterday. God only knows you couldn't bear to relive that again.