Their delighted laughter grates on my ears and tears spring to my eyes, but I slam my locker closed, refusing to give in.
All through P.E. I stay away from them, slowly feeling their bubble getting bigger and pressing me further away. They’re them, and I’m me. Over here, separated, alone, and excluded. I’m outside the bubble.
Again.
How did I get here? What do I do?
After class, I shower and dress quickly, heading to my locker before lunch when I really just want to leave.
It’s easier, isn’t it? Rather than facing people I don’t like and being where I no longer feel I belong?
I’ve been here before. The uncertainty, the self-hate, the powerlessness…it’s all so familiar. But the last time, I took those feelings and turned them outward, making others feel what I felt. What I didn’t see is that those feelings came from people doing the same thing to me. I feel and fear exactly what they want me to feel and fear.
I won’t respond the same this time. I’m better than this.
I’m going to be better.
Moving down the lunch line, I take an orange juice out of the cooler and walk for the cashier, but arms suddenly lock me in on both sides, keeping me from moving. My heart jumps, thinking it’s Misha, but then I turn around, seeing Trey behind me.
“You know, if you wanted dirty, I could’ve done dirty,” he taunts, staring down at me. “Maybe it was good Laurent broke you in, though. Doesn’t take long for you little bitches to turn slut once you get a taste for it.”
I breathe hard. What the hell did he just say?
He laughs. “You should’ve seen the train we pulled on this girl last week. She had guys lined up. It was so fucking good.”
I push through his arm and pay for my juice, carrying my drink and books to an empty table as far away from his as I can find. I feel eyes on me everywhere, like people are laughing. I haven’t sat at a table alone in a long time.
Opening my juice carton and notebook, I dive into the Math homework due tomorrow, using it as a shield to not look so pathetic.
“No one wants you in here,” a female voice says, and I look up to see Lyla. “I can’t even eat, looking at you.”
And she picks up my carton of juice and pours it into my lap. I gasp, the ice cold drink making me shoot out of my chair as it cascades down my bare legs. I glare at her and dart out with both hands, shoving her away.
She stumbles back, dropping the carton but comes back in, pushing me back.
“Oh!” someone shouts. “Fight!”
The cafeteria erupts in noise, chairs scraping against the linoleum and people shifting around for a better view.
Lyla reaches for my hair, but I rear back and slap her arms away. My shirt and shorts stick to my skin, and anger rages in every muscle. She comes back for me, and I get ready to lunge, to push her back again, but then, all of a sudden, there’s a wall standing in front of me.
A wall in a white T-shirt with tattoos.
Misha.
Trey comes around Lyla and inches into my and Misha’s space, a challenge in his eyes. “Move out of the way,” he demands.
“Make me.”
Trey scoffs, knowing Misha’s not kidding but clearly not ready to take him on here in front of everyone. Especially when he got his ass kicked last time.
“If you want her, you’re going to have to go through me,” Misha states, and I step around to his side, refusing to hide.
The O.J. sticks to my legs and seeps into my shoes, and I struggle to ignore the murmurs around me. Misha’s standing up for me in front of everyone, and against my will, my heart warms.
“After school,” Trey says. “The drive-in.”
“Nah, I’ll be busy tonight,” Misha replies.
Trey laughs, looking round to his friends, all of them probably assuming Misha’s too scared to show up.
“So how about we just do it now?” Misha tosses out calmly and then throws a punch across Trey’s face, surprising us all.
Exclamations sound off around the crowd, and Trey stumbles back, cursing. “Fuck!”
Misha dives in, but then J.D. grabs him from behind, holding him back as Principal Burrowes steps between the boys.
“Stop it!” she shouts to both of them. “Stop it right now!”
Misha fights against J.D.’s restraint, J.D. turning red just from the struggle to keep him back. “Okay, calm down, man. Calm down.”
“Get this asshole away from me!” Trey gestures to Misha, screaming around his stepmom.
“You fuck with her again,” Misha growls, “and I’ll make what just happened seem like a dream.” He pauses and then speaks to Lyla. “And you. Don’t talk to her again. You just want her to feel as ugly as you are.”
She arches an eyebrow, folding her arms over her chest. She knows it’s true just like it was true for me, but she won’t credit it with a response.
“I won’t fuck with her,” Trey taunts. “Looks like you already been there and done that.”
A few giggles go off around me, and Misha breaks away from J.D., glaring at Trey and looking like he’s dying to make sure he never talks shit again. But instead, he twists around and takes my hand, leading us out of the cafeteria.
“Mr. Laurent!” the principal calls.
But Misha ignores her and pulls me into the men’s bathroom, wetting some paper towels and ringing them out.
He pushes me back against the sink and kneels down, lifting my foot and setting it on his thigh, slowly wiping the drying orange juice off my leg.
Pain springs to the back of my eyes, and I watch him, carefully and quietly taking care of me.