Chapter 14
Desirah's POV
June seemed very far away. Compared to what I had to live through every school day, it was like summer would never come. It was that bad.
Isabelle was relentless. She was constantly after me, but you could never tell. She was always so innocent. It made me want to scream out of frustration, but I couldn't. Not when Isabelle was around. I couldn't talk to her directly. I didn't know why.
Since today was Tuesday, I had both World History and Honors Algebra II. I was fine with that, because Isabelle wasn't in those classes. She was too stupid. But I still had gym on Tuesday, and unfortunately, I did share that class with her.
Changing in the locker rooms wasn't fun. Even though cell phones were prohibited, the other girls would still bring them and blast dirty songs at full volume. They also had no shame while changing in front of one another. It was just scary.
I huddled in a corner of the locker room as I changed. I turned my back to the others as I slipped my t-shirt off. I quickly put my gym uniform shirt on, followed by my shorts. I stuffed my usual clothes in my locker, slammed the door shut, and locked it.
The other girls took much longer changing. "Talk Dirty" by Jason Derulo was blaring out of somebody's broken phone, and girls were twerking everywhere. It was a very disturbing sight.
Isabelle was right in the thick of things. She had no real clothes on, just her undergarments, and even she was twerking. When she spun towards me, I got a good view of her bare buttocks. It was disgusting. So apparently that's what you did to be popular. In my opinion, it wasn't worth it.
I decided now would be a good time to leave. I pushed myself against the lockers and edged away from the group. I reached the locker room door and speed-walked out of there. Thank goodness.
I pressed my back against the gym wall and slid my right foot upwards. I stared straight ahead absently as other girls came out and fooled around with each other.
I couldn't stop thinking about Niall or the concert tickets. I was excited more than anything else, but I was also nervous. What if something happened? That would be just my luck: Showing up to the concert only to find out that it was cancelled. But the rational part of me knew that probably wouldn't happen. The boys would most likely be ready to perform.
But I also had a VIP pass. That meant I was going to the meet the boys after the concert. What if I did something embarrassing? What if they didn't like me? Would Niall change his mind about me?
I shook my head. I didn't think I would do something completely humiliating. I had manners and was very tolerable of almost everything. Niall was my guy best friend, so I shouldn't have to worry about him ditching me.
But I had every right to be uneasy about the boys disliking me. Every single girl in this school resented me, so why wouldn't they? Niall was my lifesaver. He was the one who truly liked me. But what if he was the only one?
I saw Isabelle leave the gym locker room, fully clothed and surrounded by her "buddies". I tried not to scowl. Sometimes when the bullying was particularly bad, I wanted to shout that Niall Horan was my best friend. But that wouldn't do anything for me. Isabelle would only get jealous and hate me more. She probably wouldn't even believe me. So why did I think Niall Horan being my best friend would help me?
"Alright, cupcakes, gather around!" Coach Tori yelled.
She blew her whistle, and the girls crowded around her. I left my place by the wall and stood by Coach Tori. Isabelle was on the opposite side of the circle. She sneered at me, but I avoided her gaze.
"Today we're going to play box lacrosse," Coach Tori announced. "Does anyone know what that is?"
We shook our heads.
"Alright," she sighed. "It's pretty simple. You and your teammates are given lacrosse sticks, only the nets are hard plastic. There is one ball between the two teams. Your goal is to score into the other team's net. Each goal is worth one point. You're not allowed to step inside the goalie's circle and score from there. You can't raise your lacrosse stick like a golf club or hit other people with it. Each result is a penalty shot. That means the other team has the opportunity to take a shot without blocking. Easy enough, right?"
I was still kind of confused, but the other girls nodded. Basically it was just inside lacrosse. I had never played lacrosse before, but I had heard that the girl version was extremely boring. I could believe it, because we weren't allowed to hit each other.
"Can we pick the teams?" Isabelle asked in her high-pitched voice. Her friends smiled and closed in on her.
"No," Coach Tori barked. "I've already picked your teams."
The rest of the class groaned, but I was secretly happy. I hated when we were allowed picked teams. As you know, I was always picked last. Naturally, Isabelle and I were on different teams. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Our team had the blue lacrosse sticks, and the other team had the red ones. We set up a defense, offense, and goalie. The other team did the same. Coach Tori waited until we were ready, occasionally yelling at us to hurry up. Then she blew the whistle, and the game started.
The teams seemed pretty even to me. It was anybody's game at this point. I was part of the defense with the other reject girls, Pepsi and Luna. I wasn't sure why they were bullied, other than their unfortunate names. Luna was intelligent and really good with computers. Pepsi was a sporty girl who normally showed no mercy. I was happy to have her on my team.
The other team approached us rapidly. One of the semi-popular girls had the ball in her lacrosse stick. She was running straight towards Luna. She jumped and whacked her stick against the girl's leg. Pepsi face-palmed as Coach Tori blew her harsh whistle again.
"Penalty towards blue!" she shouted. "Luna, you don't hit people with your lacrosse stick!"
She looked down as both teams either booed and/or made fun of her. I kind of felt bad for her. I wasn't really into sports, either.
Coach Tori ignored the jeering and set up the shot. Alyssa was appointed to take the shot. She stood ready and scooped up the ball in the hard net of her lacrosse stick. She threw the ball. It bumped off of the goal's post. The blue team--my team--cheered while the red team groaned.
We went on with the game for some time. I grew bored with it. There was nothing for me to do. Pepsi would dart around saving shots, leaving Luna and I rendered useless. Luna didn't seem to care; she had taken a journal out from her back pocket and was writing in it. I didn't really care, either. I just wished this class would be over already.
Coach Tori blew her whistle for the billionth time. She gestured for the blue team to gather around, and we did.
"You need more rotation," she told us. "Desirah and Luna are hardly getting any playing time out there!"
"But Coach Tori!" a girl named Marie protested loudly. "They're just... not good. If we put them on offense, we'll never score."
"Too bad," Coach Tori retorted. "You're winning anyway, so it shouldn't matter so much. Besides, this game isn't worth winning if you get a bad grade. Marie and Corrine, you're defense now. Luna and Desirah, you're offense."
As we stood in our new positions, I wasn't sure how I felt about that. Sure, I wanted a good grade, but I didn't feel like playing. How did I know if I was any good? I didn't want to take the risk, especially with Isabelle on offense again. Luna looked disgruntled, so I knew how she felt.
Coach Tori blew her whistle AGAIN. I wanted to rip it out of her mouth and stomp on it until it was a million little pieces. That sounded violent.
"Play!" she shouted.
Most sticks lunged forward to steal the ball. It rolled away quickly, towards me. I felt my heart pick up the pace as I chased after it. As much as I didn't want to play this game, my grades mattered more.
I scooped up the ball and ran towards the goal. I was cornered by three reds, so I threw the ball over my head. That was legal, so I didn't get yelled at. They raced after it, abandoning me. Good.
I watched as groups of girls either hung back or clambered after the ball. Luna was one of the girls backed up against the wall, observing everything. She wasn't going to get a good grade doing that. So I forced myself back into the game so I didn't become a Luna.
Isabelle had the ball now. Just my luck. I ran after her, and, to my surprise, the ball fell out of her net. I immediately picked it up and spun around. But Isabelle darted in front of me, blocking my path. She hefted her lacrosse stick and smirked at me.
"I'll just go around you, then," I mumbled to the floor and tried to swerve around her. She moved ahead of me again.
"I can't let you do that, Dopey," she said sweetly. "Give me the ball, and I'll let you pass."
"No thanks," I said, still looking at everything but her. "I need to get a good grade in this class."
"So do I. Now, hand it over."
"You've already scored a hundred times before. Let me take the shot, and we'll call it even."
"No, I don't feel like doing that," Isabelle mused. She grinned at me, but it wasn't a friendly grin. It was an evil grin. "If you're not going to give me the ball, I'll just have to take it from you."
She pounced at me. I let out a small, squeaking noise and braced myself. She raised her lacrosse stick and used it to start hitting mine. I deflected her and pushed her away.
"You can't do that!" I said sharply. "Coach Tori!"
But she wasn't paying attention. She was trying to settle a dispute between two girls. Of course she was. Isabelle tutting brought my attention back to her.
"Nobody likes a tattletale, Dopey," she said. "Give me the ball!"
She resorted to hitting me--not my stick, but my physical body--to get what she wanted. I stumbled backwards, but she only walked forward calmly. The hard stick was extremely painful to my skin. I was going to have a bunch of little bruises in the morning.
"Stop it!" I cried. "You can't do that!"
"I have a right!" Isabelle snapped back. "Nobody likes you! You're so stupid and worthless and ugly! You don't deserve to live!"
Her words were like a blow to my stomach. I tripped over my own shoelaces and fell on the floor. The ball rolled out of my net, but Isabelle ignored it. She stood over me, as though ready to deliver the final blow. I winced. She stabbed her lacrosse stick downwards at my face. It slammed into my nose, and I heard something crack. I cried out, rubbing it tenderly.
"Isabelle!" Coach Tori snapped, and she appeared over the popular girl's shoulder. "What in cheese's name are you doing?"
"Just getting the ball back, ma'am," Isabelle replied coolly. "Desirah was hogging it for, like, five minutes."
"That doesn't give you the right to beat the crap out of her! To the headmaster's office, now! Pepsi, would you take Desirah to the health room, please?"
She nodded and extended her hand towards me. Her dark blue eyes could've been carved from stone; she felt nothing for me. But I took her hand anyway, and she helped me up. We were silent as we walked to the health room. When we arrived, she turned around and left, barely even acknowledging my presence.
I entered the health room and looked around for the nurse. It was a small, square room with a bathroom in the very back. A hard bed was pushed up against the right wall with the nurse's desk just ahead of it. White cabinets with stickers on them ringed the walls. The walls and tiles were white, giving it a hospital feel.
The nurse came out of the bathroom and gasped when she saw me. She bustled over to me. She was a short, slightly plump woman. She had brown hair always tied into a bun behind her head and had kind brown eyes. Her name was Jamie.
"Sit over here, darling," she told me, pointing to the bed.
I did, and she began to examine my face. She handed me a tissue and told me to clean my nose. I realized it was bleeding. Perfect. Hopefully it wasn't broken. Jamie lightly pinched my nose and wiggled it around. I let out a small gasp of pain.
"Well, it isn't broken," she finally said. "Just badly bruised. What happened? Did someone do this to you?"
I had two options: Tell the truth or lie. I usually told the truth, but I lied when I needed to. This was one of those times. If I said that Isabelle did this to me, she would be uber ticked and come after me. If I lied and said that I ran into a wall, she would only come after me. At least she wouldn't be uber ticked.
"I-I ran into a wall," I muttered. Jamie raised an eyebrow doubtfully. "Really," I insisted. "It was dark in my room, so I couldn't see where I was going. That's what happened, I promise."
I hated promises. They were always so empty and fake. But if you put them at the end of a sentence, that person believed you, held you to it, or was wrapped around your finger. As proof, Jamie nodded and released me.
I didn't go back to the gym though. I sat on the steps leading upstairs and toyed with my nose. Shoots of pain travelled into my face, and I couldn't even wrinkle my nose because that would cause more discomfort.
I would be fully healed by the time the One Direction concert rolled around. But until then, I was going to pray for June to come faster each day. I really needed to be near a person who actually liked me and cared about how I felt.
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Author's Note:
I'm SO sorry, guys, for not updating in over two months! It's just that the end of school was really getting to me and stressing me out, so I had to take a little break from Wattpad. Then I had to do a summer assignment! UGH!! And THEN I decided to finish this book before posting again. :P
But I'm back now, and I POSTED!! How do you like the chapter? HOW DO YOU LIKE MY NEW COVER?? I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! Yayyyy!!
I'm conflicted. I always thought I disliked 5SOS. And yet, I listened to their entire album yesterday and liked it! Now I'm torn. Do I like them or not? 0.0
Stay Beautiful,
-Sammi <3