“Let’s go to class and get it over with,” Trina said, extending a hand to me.
I nodded and let her pull me toward the door.
The bell hadn’t rung yet, so the hall outside was still teeming with students. I tried to keep my head down as we went back to our lockers to grab our books, but I could see all the upturned noses and hostile glares out of the corner of my eye. I could hear the hushed voices and snickers as I passed, too.
On our way down a different hall, toward our homeroom, a group of girls stepped out in front of us. They had to be freshmen, because only one of them was over five feet tall and they were all skinny as rakes.
“Oh, look, it’s the queen of the trailer park!” one of them said in a snide tone. Her gaggle of friends squealed with laughter.
“Wow, that’s fucking hilarious. So original, too,” I said in a sarcastic tone, acting as if the degrading insult had just rolled right off me. “Did you just learn about trailer parks in your kindergarten class yesterday?”
“What’s actually hilarious is your hair,” the girl spat out, nose wrinkling as she looked me up and down. “Do you cut it yourself because you’re so poor?”
“Really? Hair? Is that seriously the best you can do?” I said, rolling my eyes upward.
“You shouldn’t be talking back to me like that, trash whore.”
Trina stepped forward, towering over her. “If you don’t get the fuck away from my friend right now, I’ll flush that hideous little head of yours in the nearest toilet,” she said, eyes narrowing. “Got it, bitch?”
The girl turned bright red and darted away. Her friends scattered.
“That wasn’t so bad,” Trina said, nudging my shoulder.
“They were just kids,” I said. “It’s the others I’m worried about.”
She gave me a valiant smile. “It’ll be okay.”
It wasn’t okay.
The bullying ramped up fast. More abusive messages poured in during homeroom, to the point where I couldn’t even look at my phone anymore. I couldn’t block any of the people, either, because the texts disappeared so fast.
Whispers followed me everywhere after first period, along with outright insults from the louder students, and I could feel everyone side-eyeing me as Trina and I headed back to our lockers for our English notes.
“Wow, the group chat was right. You really are a dirty, feral-looking slut,” some random guy said to me as he passed by, face twisted into a smirk.
“And yet I’d still never touch you. What does that tell you?” I shot back. He looked shocked and disappeared around a corner, cheeks reddening.
“Nice one,” Trina whispered.
When I reached my locker, a foul smell hit my nostrils. “What the hell is that?” I muttered, covering my nose.
I opened it up to find a raw steak inside, along with multiple photos from slaughterhouses. There was also a pile of trash on the second shelf with a few pieces of shrimp scattered on top. I almost retched at the sight.
Someone had obviously figured out that I was a vegetarian, and they knew this would piss me off. They must’ve been standing behind me in line at the cafeteria yesterday when I specifically asked one of the staff members if they had veggie burgers instead of regular meat ones.
Trina snatched the photos out, along with the steak. Then she shoved them in the nearest trash can. “This is so messed up,” she said in a low voice. “Are you all right?”
I nodded miserably, even though the smell was making me feel nauseated.
“I’ll get some tissues from the bathroom to mop that up,” she said, nodding toward the red juices still coating the inside of my locker. “Will you be okay on your own for a minute, or do you want to come with me?”
“I think I’ll be okay here,” I replied. I honestly felt too sick to move.
“I’ll be as fast as I can.”
I kept my head down while she was gone, hoping no one would notice me.
I had no such luck. A girl around my age appeared beside me a few seconds later. Her hip was popped, jutting out to one side as she leaned against a nearby locker, and her pouty, over-glossed lips were twisted into a mocking sneer. “Hey, trash,” she said.