A/N: I'm sorry if it sucks, I tried.
I dragged my lunch tray along the metal bars just as Josh came up from behind me. “Hey,” he smiled leaning down for a kiss.
I kissed him back softly before taking money out of my back pocket to pay for my lunch but Josh got there before I did. He thrust the bill in his hand out and into the cashiers face before I got mine out my pocket. “You didn’t have to,” I smiled sincerely.
“It was nothing,” he grinned back. “So, how’s your day been so far?” he asked, taking a chip from my plate and stuffing it into his mouth.
“Good,” I smiled. “No one shoved any books in my face or said anything mean so far,” I whispered in amazement. It was the first day in the last three years that I’d felt like I was just a normal student. Someone had even wolf whistled after me!
He rolled his eyes, chuckling lightly. “Told you!”
“JAYCEE! JOSH!” Shelly yelled waving her hands in the air like a lunatic trying to get our attention. Josh looked at her raising an eyebrow and looking back at me, his expression indistinct. I couldn’t quite understand what he was trying to tell me. “Come and sit here!” she beamed, pointing down to two empty seats, at her table. I froze in place, looking behind me, surely my eyes and ears were deceiving me.
I gulped. Josh took my hand into his and pulled me in the direction of his friends, all of his cool, popular friends, the ones that hated me with a burning passion. I tried to make a run for it, slip away from him but he just gripped my arm tighter. “If they say anything, we’ll leave,” he whispered, his lips brushing my ears.
I shook my head. “You wanted to officially announce us as a couple and I didn’t deny you that but you should listen to me now. You go sit with your friends I don’t want to feel unwelcomed.”
He grumbled, “Jaycee you know Tyler and Kyle, they’re there too,” he tried to bargain but it was no use as we got closer I started to feel like I couldn’t breathe.
“Hey Jace,” Kyle greeted flashing me his pearly whites.
I smiled back, “Hey.”
Tyler looked up nodding at me before returning to the conversation he was having with a brunette who was tracing her fingers down his arm.
“Well, sit down then,” Shelly laughed. What the hell was going on? This morning she’d clearly told me to back away from Josh and now she was inviting both of us to sit at the popular table, her popular table?
I sat down uncomfortably beside Kyle and Josh slid into the seat on my other side. Kyle’s fists clenched as Josh’s arm went around my back. I frowned. “Anyway!” Shelly started drawing attention back to her flicking back her sleek blonde hair.
“Get ready for this,” Josh whispered.
“As I was saying!” she said making huge over the top hand gestures with every word she spoke. “So Alfie right, I thought he would be good but he’s so bad in bed!” she exclaimed leaning back in her chair theatrically. I was pretty sure there were tears in her eyes and it was proving difficult for me to keep my face neutral and not giggling. She was crying because some guy wasn’t up to her expectations in bed? “He was so confident, I thought he’d be good!”
Josh rubbed his temple in irritation and I actually felt sorry for him, listening to the queen bee talk about her nightly sex experiences.
“Does she do this every lunchtime?” I whispered to Kyle who was looking at her through half closed eyes, it even sounded like there were little snores coming from him.
He groaned softly nodding his head. “She never fucking shuts up, man, I swear she must have broken the world record for speaking for the longest time.’
I laughed lightly smiling at him.
“I mean, like his dick wasn’t even that big!” she cried holding her hands out in front of her in exasperation. She was acting like it was the most normal thing in the world to be talking about in the middle of the lunchroom. Josh coughed, chocking on his lunch and Kyle spluttered, his drink spitting out his mouth. I laughed at their reaction and patted both their backs, giggling.
“My god Shelly,” Josh ground out. “Was that necessary?” he mumbled taking a sip of his water after his little coughing fit was over.
“I wasn’t talking about you babe!” she chirped. “You have nothing to be ashamed of, isn’t that right Jaycee?” she asked turning to face me.
Heat rose to my cheeks. Was she asking me to comment on Josh’s ‘down there’ bits?
“You know what, I need to do some work,” Josh quickly replied standing up and grabbing my hand pulling me to my feet. “See you guys later,” he smiled and waved as he started to lead me away from that insanity.
But I was held back, Shelly’s fingers were around my wrist halting me from moving any further. “Jaycee and me have Maths next. I’ll get her introduced to some of the others, you go and ‘study’,” she said seemingly helpfully but I could hear the smirk in her voice, it appeared as though I was the only one who did. My heart beat escalated in fear, my throat closing up.
Josh nodded, “I’ll see you at the end of the day babe.” He pecked me on the lips quickly and walked out of the lunchroom with one of his friends.
“I just need to re-do my make up, give me five minutes,” Shelly smiled at her friends and before I knew it, I was being led out of the lunchroom and into the toilets. The door shut behind us and the smirk on her face grew just as three girls emerged out of the cubicles with identical looks on their face.
I gulped slowly, trying to back out but this had happened too many times already. I knew I wouldn’t win.
“Going somewhere?” Shelly snickered and right on cue, her minions laughed filing in to stand in a line just behind her, following her movements like loyal dogs.
“What do you want?” I asked looking straight into Shelly’s eyes. I couldn’t understand how no one else could see through her fake smile and good girl façade.
“Oh, you KNOW what I want,” she replied, looking at her reflection as she painted a thick layer of red lipstick across her lips. She smacked her lips together and a small evil smile formed on her lips as she turned back to me.
“Stop playing games with me,” I said through gritted teeth. “Tell me what you want me to do and then we can all get done with this,” I lashed back at her.
I didn’t expect it. I only felt the impact of the back of her hand flying straight across my right cheek. “Don’t you dare speak to me like that you ugly little bitch,” she hissed.
Angry tears pooled in my eyes as I stumbled and fell to the floor, my back sliding against the wall. I brought my knees up and hugged them close to my chest. “I’ve never done anything to you, what do you want from me?” I screamed.
“You think you’re so perfect don’t you Jaycee?” Shelly belted out. “Your perfect house, your rich family, the perfect boyfriend,” she snarled, her fingers wrapping tightly around my neck, cutting off my breathing, letting me know that if she wanted, she could kill me, right here, right now.
“Let me tell you something Jaycee,” she began, anger swirling in her eyes. “You are not perfect! Everyone at this school hates you and Josh is only dating you as a joke, we dared him to,” she chuckled bitterly her head swinging backwards in her mirth.
I flinched. I felt like she’d slapped me again. I shook my head; I wouldn’t just take her word for it. Josh and I wouldn’t have gotten this far if it was just a joke. No, no no!
“Don’t lie to me,” I whispered but tears were blurring my vision.
She chuckled. “Don’t you think it’s a little weird that he didn’t know you at all and then, suddenly he became friendly?” she asked. I felt my heart beating and I could feel it in my head, I couldn’t breathe. “It’s all an act,” she carried on and I felt like I was dying inside, every part of me shaking, cracking and breaking. “The day when the Bentley’s moved here, we dared Josh to come and sit with you, to make you feel like your life meant something. We, me and him, we never broke up, we’ve been seeing each other all this time,” she smirked evilly.
I felt like everything inside of me was dying. My mind was frozen, Shelly’s words looping over and over in my mind.
I had tears cascading down my face, I couldn’t feel anything and it was as if I’d forgotten how to breathe. I felt the impact of her words, hard and straight to my heart and I felt every piece of me slowly shatter.
“You’re a good for nothing, ugly little bitch,” she snarled before she threw her head back and laughed. “Wait-” she stopped, “You really thought Josh would go for a girl like you, didn’t you?” She turned to look back at her friends before they all burst into a fit of hysterics. One of the girls yanked me up by my hair and dragged me to the full sized mirror. “Look at yourself,” Shelly laughed. “You really think Josh would want a girl like you?” she asked with her eyebrow raised.
I’d forgotten to breathe as I stared at the reflection in the mirror. The girl had a swollen cheek, her brown hair was messy, her eyes full of pain and her lips stretched into a straight line. She was so ugly, so fat, so worthless looking and she was none other than me. Jaycee Collins.
“You’re nothing but a joke to Josh!” her short crony replied, the corners of her lips curling into a haughty smile.
“Have you looked in the mirror lately?” another one piped in, her voice cold as she shoved me towards the mirror. I stumbled forward but didn’t say anything. I couldn’t say anything, my throat was blocked.
My heart had finally completely stopped, “What did I ever do to you?” I cried with difficulty, finding it so hard to speak past the lump in my throat.
“You think you’re so smart Jaycee,” she started, snarling at me. Her eyes were cold and emotionless. “You think you know everything but sweetie, brains aren’t everything,” she kept ranting, her nails piercing the skin on my wrists. “Look at yourself, you’re seventeen, you have no friends, you’ve never had a boyfriend, your social life is non-existent and no one cares about you,” Her words were like a knife, stabbing into my chest until I was certain she’d broken everything inside of me.
“This is your last warning,” the last girl snarled, digging her finger roughly into my chest. “Stay the fuck away from Josh or I swear you won’t make it through another day here,” she threatened, her blue eyes swirling with anger.
Before I knew it, the three girls had approached me, cornering me in the last cubicle. My back collided, hard, against the walls and I knew this was it, there’d be no escape.
The next few minutes were a haze. I was pushed to the floor, my hair pulled, slapped, kicked. I tried to defend myself but I couldn’t fend them off, I curled up and gave up as my body started to numb with pain. The three of them finally pulled away and I reached out a shaky finger to trace it over the swollen features on my face. My vision blurred but I couldn’t cry, there was nothing left within me. I was drained emotionally, mentally and physically.
“Thanks Girls!” Shelly chirped. “I’ll see you in registration, tell the teacher I’ll be there in five, I just want to have a little word with Jaycee.” The normal Jaycee, the one who was here five minutes ago, would have run but this Jaycee, slumped up on the cold tiled floor was tired. She was tired of running and fighting; she’d given up because she knew she was worthless and that she couldn’t win, no matter what.
The three girls left together, flicking back their long sleek hair as they strutted out of the toilet as if nothing happened. “Get up you little bitch,” Shelly snarled. I pushed myself up, my body quivering as I stood upright, my back pressed against the wall.
“Leave,” she whispered. “Nobody wants you here, nobody cares about you Jaycee.” Her words were soaking into me and I knew they’d stay with me. “Go home and run away, kill yourself, take pills, hang yourself, go and jump off a bridge for all I care. Just don’t come back to school tomorrow and stay the fuck away from my boyfriend,” she spat. “You’re a worthless human being and you’d be better off dead, believe me; you’d be doing everyone a favour.’
I felt my head pound there was a, thump, thump, thump in my head. I wanted to scream, to let it all out but she was right and that’s what hurt. Everything she’d said about me was completely true. I was nobody and everyone would be better off without me in their lives.
She pushed me back lightly but it was enough for me to collapse onto the floor. Suddenly, the bathroom door flew open and Shelly was sent flying through the room, her back colliding with the wall. A boy stormed in, his hands wrapped around her neck. There was nothing but anger swirling in those beautiful blue eyes of his; the warmth, the kindness, the love, everything that was usually there, gone.
I watched as her feet were raised slowly of the floor, his grip around her neck tightening and just then the room started to move, everything began spinning and black dots appeared every time I blinked.
You really thought Josh would go for a girl like you?!
You’re nothing but a joke to Josh.
Go home and kill yourself.
You’re a worthless human being, you’d be better of dead.
I gasped for breathe, my ears ringing with Shelly’s words. I heard Shelly gasp, he still hadn’t let her go.
“I swear to God Shelly Griffin,” his voice was coarse, laced with nothing but raging anger. “If you ever touch Jaycee again, I won’t spare you,” he finished through clenched teeth, letting her fall. She clutched her throat and ran out of the toilet.
He walked over to me just as I was beginning to wonder if this was what death felt like. “Tyler?” I croaked. He chuckled lightly, running his hand through his blonde hair before he picked me up carefully, bridal style. I winced, it hurt everywhere, there wasn’t apart of me that they spared.
“Nearly two months and you still don’t know,” he rolled his eyes as I huddled closer to him, letting my head rest on his shoulders. “I’m Kyle, you moron.”
I opened my mouth to speak but a wave of pain ripped through my head and suddenly everything went black.
Yep, it’s a cliffhanger. Don’t shoot me!
I have exams coming up, well on Monday and they last until Thursday the 20th so if I’m MIA you know why!
Question.
Do you believe Josh and Shelly have been seeing each other or that Shelly made it up?
Love you guys!
If you’ve liked it, drop a vote and comment?
xx