Rain comes down and my hair and shoulders begin to take on that wet, grunge look, making me happy I didn’t waste time this morning washing my hair.
I’m only a few minutes away from the school when I hear a car approaching fast from behind me. I keep my head down, not wanting to draw attention to myself. It’s probably just some loser late for school and in a rush to make it before receiving a detention like the one I’ll most likely be getting.
The car slows just a bit and I glance up just in time to see the familiar black car of Spencer Jones, filled to the brim with all his jock, asshole friends, darting from the center of the road towards me. My eyes widen a fraction as his car hits a puddle on the side of the road, sending a wave of muddied water over me before speeding away with the sound of his friends’ laughter booming out the open windows.
“Fuck,” I yell as I wipe water from my face. I’m completely drenched. Top to fucking bottom.
I glance down at myself. My jacket is soaking wet and I curse myself for not doing it up as my white tank is now completely see-through, showing off my black bra and sticking to my body like a second skin.
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK! I should just turn around and go home now, but if I do… they win and I’m too fucking proud for that. They won’t see me break. I won’t allow it.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
I shake the water off my body, wring out my hair, and hold my head high before continuing to walk forward.
Chapter 2
I head for the back door instead of going through the front of the school where I’ll be stopped by the creeptastic security guard wanting to wave his metal detector over me to check I’m not carrying anything, just as he does every morning. I mean, it’s a fucking belly button piercing and he knows it, yet every morning, I get stopped as everyone else waltzes on past. No doubt, he’ll be fired soon anyway.
We go through security guards like the football team plows through condoms and cheerleaders. Haven Falls isn’t exactly a great school, it’s nothing like our neighboring town, Broken Hill, which has it all. The money, the fancy cars, the mansions. Here in Haven Falls, we’re considered ‘the other side of the track.’ We’re the working class people, the people who struggle to get by, the bad apples.
Haven Falls Private is our school and really, I’m not really sure it deserves the title ‘Private.’ It’s a dump. Most of us attended the public school, but two years ago, over the summer, a brutal fire tore through the school and burnt it to shreds. We had a choice to either enroll in the public school a million miles away or attend Haven Falls Private, the school for the doomed.
Dad couldn’t bring himself to put me in the public school far away. I was only young and couldn’t drive, not to mention, his work made it hard. So instead, he works his ass off so we can afford the school fees, though I don’t know where they go. The school is in serious need of an upgrade, or at least some touch ups.
It’s my senior year and so far, we’re only a few weeks in, but I can tell, this year is going to suck. All I want to do is see graduation and get the hell out of here.
I slip in through the back of the school and head straight for the girls’ locker room in desperate need to fix myself up before anyone sees me. The school looks deserted and it’s clear that everyone is already in homeroom.
I walk into the locker room and head straight for the mirror. There’s mascara running down my face making my usual lively, blue eyes seem dull and boring, while my golden hair is an absolute mess. I quickly fix myself up and throw my hair up into a bun, pleased that I have hair that just seems to ‘work.’ I can do just about anything with it and it still manages to look like I’ve spent hours perfecting my messy ‘beach hair’ vibe.
The clothes though…I don’t know what I’m going to do there.
I pull a hair pin from my bag and break into the closest locker before scrambling through the items. This is clearly a cheerleader’s locker, but it doesn’t matter to me. They’re all stuck up bitches anyway.
I find a plain black tank and thank my lucky stars that it’s clean. I briefly look around the locker room and confirm it’s empty before stripping off the wet jacket and ruined tank. I’ll have to deal with the wet jeans for the day. Besides, I doubt I’ll be able to find a pair of jeans in this locker room, and even if I did, I’m not wearing any panties. I don’t exactly want to share where my lady taco is concerned.