She rushed over to the bathroom and pushed the door open. There was no one there. She was in need of some peace and quiet, even for a few seconds. She glanced at herself in the stained mirror that hung on the wall, then before she could even go in one of the stalls, she heard the door burst open and two girls entered.
They were the spitting image of each other. They wore their hair up in sleek ponytails, not a single hair out of place. Their make up was the same. Their outfits were the same because both of them were wearing the school uniform but both had added a little something to make it different from everyone else’s. In this case, it was a small shawl, which hung loosely around their necks. Even their facial expressions were the same.
It was so weird, like one of them was a real person and the other, just a reflection. The only difference between the two of them, which allowed those around them to tell them apart, was the fact that one of them had sky blue eyes and the other’s were forest green, hiding beneath those batting eyelashes.
One of them boldly approached Mina and the other placed her foot strategically behind the door, which made it impossible for anyone to push it open. Mina eyed them both suspiciously. She knew very well who they were. Just like with Raphael. Some faces were too well known in this school to ever be unfamiliar.
Madison and Morgan Avery belonged to this group more than anyone else there. Reeba had tried to warn her about them several times but Mina was sure she needed no advice when it came to bullies. She’d fought enough trash in her life to know how to handle herself.
However, Mina also knew that she needed to be careful. The time to meet up with Dante was just around the corner. She knew he hadn’t returned yet, because she had managed to sneak into the main building a few times during off hours and there was no sign of him having returned. Unless he’d returned, and didn’t want anyone to know about it - now, that would be something to worry about. Right now, however, she had to focus on these two and getting out of the bathroom without causing a commotion.
“So, you’re the new kid,” the blue-eyed one approached Mina and stopped right in front of her.
She looked at her with a disgusted look on her face. Mina felt like this was supposed to be intimidating but all she saw was a silly peacock trying to scare someone who wasn’t even slightly afraid. So, Mina decided to let them have their show, mark their territory or whatever they wanted to do and then just let her go on her way.
“And, you’re the bullies,” Mina snorted at them.
“Did you hear that, Morgan?” the blue-eyed one, who Mina now knew was Madison, commented to her sister. “We’ve got a smart ass on our hands.”
“Awesome, I love smart asses,” Morgan added, with an evil gleam in her eyes and her nostrils widened as she smiled. “They squeal the best.”
“Is that true, smart ass?” Madison took one step closer to Mina and, now, she was almost breathing right in her face, menacingly.
Mina hated this breach of her own personal space but it was all just a game to these girls. They were out to frighten her, to break her. That was how they were running this place, with fear. Well, unfortunately for them, Mina knew how to defend herself better than most other students here.
“Listen, I really don’t want any trouble,” Mina tried the easy way out.
She could just pretend to be a timid little thing and they might leave her alone. In theory, it sounded plausible. Some bullies don’t consider that a challenge, trying to break someone who was already broken.
“Oh, boo-hoo,” Madison cackled. “Are we supposed to feel bad for you now and just leave you alone?”
“Yes, that’s actually what I was hoping you would do,” Mina replied, as nicely as she could. However, she realized that even though she was speaking calmly, she did come across as questioning their authority, which was never a good thing to do when talking to a bully.
She should have just nodded shyly but that was so out of character that she had no time to do it intentionally. She felt like that would cost her, the only question was how much.
“Yeah, unfortunately for you, smart ass, we can’t. We’ve got a bone to pick with you and since it’s what we do, you kinda have to go along with it.”
The girls laughed together.
“What did I do?” Mina wondered, honestly not knowing.
She actually thought that she was being all nice and invisible, not making any waves. Apparently not.
“You talked to my sister’s boyfriend,” Madison informed her importantly.
“Your boyfriend?” Mina looked over at Morgan, who just nodded quickly. “Who’s your boyfriend?”
“Raphael!” Morgan shouted. “Like, duh!”
They both laughed again, as if Mina not knowing this was the stupidest mistake anyone could have made. Mina sighed heavily. Not only was she not interested in that jerk but now she’d gotten into unnecessary trouble because of him. Right now, she disliked him even more and she didn’t even think that was possible.
“Listen, I didn’t talk to him, he approached me…” Mina started but Morgan interrupted her.
“What?” she screamed. “Ew! Like either of us would ever believe that Raphael approached you and actually wanted to talk
to you! Liar!”
“I’m serious,” Mina nodded, frowning. “He approached me but, trust me, I want nothing to do with him. You shouldn’t worry about me.”