MARELLA REDEK SAT down at her typical lunch table in the middle of the cafeteria. Dropping her backpack down on the ground next to her, she swung her legs over the wooden bench, her short white skirt lifting up, exposing just a little too much leg.
"Watch out for the food," Stina, the wildly wavy-haired girl known for being one of the girls that ate her way to the food chain said. Her perfect round nose crinkled up as she poked the meat. "This meat is a piece of shit. You would think that a private school would at least serve decent food."
Maruca, a dark-skinned beauty with strange, large blue eyes, shrugged. "It's not that bad," she said, spooning a forkful of mashed potatoes into her mouth.
Stina scoffed at Maruca, and Marella winced inwardly, feeling a little bit of pity for the girl. "Well, that's only because your family's so poor that you haven't had a proper meal in a long time."
Maruca didn't bite the bait, but Marella noticed her knuckles around the steel fork tighten a little.
"Marella?"
Marella quickly turned toward Stina. "Mhmm?"
"How's the food?"
It felt like a test.
Marella pursed her perfectly glossed lips together and stared down at what she thought was perfectly good food. "It's terrible. I mean, what was the school thinking?"
Stina nodded in approval. She gestured to Marella's tray with her sharp nails. "Hand it over."
"My food?" Marella asked, staring down at the freshly cooked meat and warm potatoes on the tray. "What are you going to do with it?"
Stina raised an eyebrow at the defensive tone in Marella's voice, and Marella winced. She had done something wrong.
"Throw it," she shrugged. "It's trash anyways, and I'm sure the lunch ladies would look better with the potatoes all over their faces. It would be a favor to those poor women."
She was going to throw Marella's perfectly good food into the faces of perfectly innocent lunch ladies? Marella licked her lips and looked at the wall clock to maybe think of an idea to stall for time, preferably until lunch ended, or at least distract Stina for a while so she could sneak a few bites in.
While she was thinking, Stina swooped over her, her low cut top dangling loosely off her body in front of Marella in a way that she never wanted to see again and snatched her lunch tray right from in front of her, the way a hawk might snatch mice.
"Come," she said to like Marella was an obedient dog, and without even bothering to turn back to see whether she was following her or not, Stina walked towards the lunch line, her high heels clicking on the marbled flooring. Marella quickly pushed herself off the bench, and pulled down her too-short skirt, about to follow-
"You aren't really gonna go with her, are you?"
Marella paused and turned around to see Maruca with her shocking blue eyes, long dreadlocks, and perfect skin. Natural Beauty. The world was much kinder to her than it had been to Marella.
Maruca rolled her eyes and stabbed violently at another piece of meat. "She annoys me so much. She really is just a bitch. She has fun insulting and mocking people she thinks are less than her when in reality, she's the one who's lower than dirt." She didn't even bother to lower her voice and another girl who sat at their table shot her a look.
Maruca hadn't been "recruited" by Stina as Marella had been. Instead, she'd joined the table through another insanely, beautiful, and wealthy girl named Biana. Marella had never bothered to talk to her. The Vackers were even more known that the Heks (Stina's family) and their reputation preceded them. She was sure that this Biana girl would be the same, just like all the other girls here.
Stina had "befriended" Marella that way that you may befriend a stray puppy. Never as an equal, just picking it up because it seemed fun. Marella had transferred to Foxfire in the middle of the year, after just being kicked out of her second school for fighting in the hallways. Marella swore to herself that she would never let that happen again.
She straightened up and without answering, stood up to follow Stina towards the lunch line, walking as slow as she could. She didn't get there in time to see Stina throw their trays of food in the faces of an unsuspecting lunch lady.
The whole cafeteria was silent, and Stina turned around and glared at all of them. The look alone was enough to make everybody start laughing at the lunch ladies or at least pretending to laugh.
Suddenly, everyone's eyes were drawn toward the double doors leading into the cafeteria. The doors looked like they had swung open on their own, and Marella wouldn't have been surprised if they did when she saw who was behind them.
If this was a Netflix movie, there would be a glowing light behind them as they walked in. Marella rolled her eyes. She could almost hear the heavenly music.
A girl with a Gucci headband and a crisp white shirt tucked into a short, stylish black skirt over clean white tights paired with black ankle booties strolled in. She had a black Chanel purse slung over her left arm and her right hand was holding the unreleased newest phone model, almost casually by her side. Marella was almost 100% sure that she had about a hundred more of that phone in her purse.
Part of her brown hair was neatly braided in a crown braid, and the other parts hung loosely down past her shoulders. But the most striking part of her was her vibrant teal eyes, that seemed to shine in a god-like way.
Fitz, her brother, whom Marella had just the smallest crush on, stood beside her. With his swooped back chestnut hair, and identical teal eyes to his sister, you could see why everyone had a crush on him.
Immediately, everyone turned away from Stina and fixed their eyes on the Vacker siblings, especially the girls. It was Fitz's last year at Foxfire High, and he still didn't have a girlfriend yet. All the girls, including Stina, (and embarrassingly, even herself), were determined to win the title.
As soon as Biana saw the lunch lady with mashed potatoes over her uniform, and Stina standing beside them with two empty trays, her perfect face contorted into fury and she stormed over, snatching some napkins from a table where a cute strawberry blond-haired boy sat and gave them to the lunch lady, who started to rub off her apron.
"What the fuck was that?!" Biana asked, hurrying over to the table we sat at, pushing her purse into an unsuspecting Fitz's arms. Stina was there already, sitting nonchalantly, not even glancing up when Biana arrived.
Biana walked right past me and sat down next to Maruca. Fitz sat down next to her and a blond-haired boy with an equally popular status named Keefe across from him.
"No seriously, what the fuck was that?!" Biana pushed on, swinging her legs over the bench to face Stina. Maruca sat in between them with a 'why am I here' face. She quickly leaned over as far as she could over her food and began to attack her potatoes.
Stina shrugged. "I have no idea what you mean," she responded, scrolling on her new phone.
"Oh, you know what I mean you-" Biana's eyes narrowed and her mouth tightened. She flipped her hair over the shoulder.
'Oh no', Marella thought mockingly. 'The hair flip. I'm terrified.'
Stina looked up. "Listen Vacker. I do what I want, and you stay on your side of the table, and we'll be good. Don't try to mess with me."
Biana stood up quickly, her hands in fists. "Excuse me? Don't mess with YOU? What happens if you're messing with me? I swear- I'm going to slap you with-"
"With what?" Stina asked, a mocking expression on her face. She gestured with her eyes to Biana's purse. "Your Chanel purse?"
"YES!" Biana exclaimed and snatched the purse away from a very alarmed looking Fitz.
"Biana!" Fitz reached out a hand to stop her. He turned towards Keefe. "Keefe! Help me stop this!"
Keefe shrugged and raised his hand in the air, mouth still full of food. "Ermph Er- an- an!"
Fitz looked at him. "Seriously bro?"
Luckily, Biana was stopped, (and shockingly, not due to Keefe's amazing attempt to stop her) because just at that moment, the loudspeakers turned on and uttered a message.
"Marella Redek, please report to the guidance counselor's office!"
Everyone turned to look at Marella and she groaned inwardly. On the outside, she portrayed confidence, chin up, back straight, shoulders pushed back. She smoothed down her skirt and ignored everyone watching her as she strode toward the doors.
On the inside, however, she was thinking one thought.
'Shit.'