“I’m sorry—”
“I’m sorry too,” I spit out. “I’m sorry that no one will stand up to the Mutineers. I’m sorry that I caught their eye, but honestly, that’s on you. You really thought that serving fresh meat to Brett would be a good idea? You fucked me over by having him of all people show me around. Er, wait. He barely did that. He’s been fucking with me from day one, and did you hear about the stunt in the cafeteria? When he forced a kiss—”
“I heard that you enjoyed that kiss,” Jess says stiffly. All of a sudden, she won’t look at me.
I narrow my eyes. “You were all buddy buddy with me, and now you can’t look at me? Did you really know about the kiss, or are you just spouting bullshit to try to get me to shut up?”
Jess says nothing.
“He flashed me in front of the entire cafeteria! Do you think I wanted that?” I cry.
She’s a fucking coward, worthless, good for nothing. Just like the rest of them.
I slap my hand against the countertop. "I don't know what's worse. You or them. They're abusing me, mostly verbally but some physical shit too. You think that's all fine and dandy, though, huh? What if they go too far? What if they kill me? Is that what it'll take for you all to realize that you created monsters? Or will you find some way to blame the victim? Maybe my skirt was too short so I was asking for it, is that right?"
I spin around and march out of there. My last class is geography, which should be starting soon, but I just walk out of there and don’t stop walking until I reach the auto shop.
Max doesn’t say anything about my arriving early, and I barely say two words to him even though we normally bicker and banter back and forth. By the time the shift is over, I’m ready to collapse. I buy myself a sandwich from the place he recommends and eat almost half of it before I’m too stuffed for another bite.
That night, my sleep is dreamless, and I wake up as furious as I had been the previous day. I skip homeroom and head straight for calculus, waiting for Mrs. Ice.
When she sees me, she gives me a small smile. “Erika, I wanted to ask you after class yesterday if you need extra help.”
I shake my head and shove my test at her. "What I need is for you to give my test a second look-over."
She accepts the test, but her gaze remains fixed on me.
“Someone erased some of my answers,” I fume.
“I can tell that you need more time, yes,” she says.
“Let me take the test again,” I beg.
“I don’t see how that will change anything,” she says.
“But you can check my work—”
“I did. I didn’t just go by your answers and the erased ones. Your work is wrong on more than half of them.”
I yank my test back from her and realize that Brett had butchered my test. Not only had he erased half of my answers, but he had changed sevens into ones and vice versa as well as some threes into eights to screw with me all the way around.
“Please,” I say through gritted teeth. “Give me another test.”
“Fine. After school today, I will administer it.”
“Can I take the rest now during class?”
“We have to start the next lesson,” she says apologetically.
I grit my teeth but nod. I’ll have to call Max to tell him I’ll be late.
* * *
“What do you mean you’ll be late?” Max grumbles.
I wince and hold the phone away from my ear. “I have to retake a test.”
"You're an idiot. Is that what you're telling me?"