With her eyes firmly glued to the wall at the further end of the gym, Naomi heard the name being called out by Miss Reedy, that insecure little woman. "Emily Fitch". She did not dare turn her head or even move an eyeball, but the hand must have been raised, since Emily's name wasn't called again. She's actually here, somewhere, she thought. Such an obvious fact, but it was impossible for her to accept that this was real. The first day of college had to arrive, and this was it, and she would have to see Emily eventually, bump into her sometime, and she felt anything but ready. Time -the greatest, safest, distance- had now dissolved, and all she had left to counteract the dread and anticipation was her trusty armor.

"Naomi Campbell," muttered the tiny, tremulous voice. The giggling started immediately. For fuck's sake, will this ever end? Everywhere she went, whenever they called out her full name for the first time, this was what she got: sniggers and stares and whispers. For a moment, she considered not raising her hand for the stuttering lady, but then the stupid arsehole with the megaphone screeched out her name and she did, just to get through with it as soon as possible. Here we go. She rolled her eyes and took it, waiting for the chorus of laughter to subside.

"Fuckin' hell…" she murmured. Now that boy in the red shirt would never leave her alone. James? Yes, something like that. He seemed to be the kind of person who had to have his say in everything, whether you wanted to hear it or not. Of course, he had to comment something about her "anger management issues" and ask if she was going to throw a shoe at him. However, she also guessed that, if he hadn't actually liked her, his teasing would have been of another kind entirely. This had to be his version of being friendly, and calling him a "wanker" or giving him the finger could have very well been compliments. The two boys beside him were looking at him in a "leave her alone" kind of way, but hadn't said a word to stop him. Was it useless? Had they grown too accustomed to such displays?

Sighing, Naomi glanced to the side, and there, just several seats across from her, was Emily, looking at her. Months and years peeled away effortlessly, and she felt like the ground might open up and swallow her. Emily blinked and looked away almost immediately, but it hadn't been an accident, had it? She almost did not dare to remember the time when Emily had approached her… No, she had to keep that away, not even in the background, but further down, deep inside. However, the illusion of "eventually" seeing her or bumping into her "sometime" was over. It was going to be much more than that. Same form. Same fucking form.

She glanced back in Emily's direction. The little redhead was still sitting in the same position, with her chin resting on her hand, and her hand half tucked inside her sleeve. Jesus, she was looking at her again. Her twin sister Katie kept chattering in her ear but, for the following three or four seconds, Emily did not break their eye contact. This was going to be…

"Babe - babe - babe - babe…"

Nothing could shut up the guy, apparently, not his friends -who did apologize for him now- and not raising her hand and telling him off. "Cook", or whatever they were calling him, seemed to have a bag of tricks ready to be used and, judging by the incident that followed, they all revolved around his cock.

And this was just, what, fifteen minutes of the remaining two years? Fantastic.

Naomi walked towards her classroom in a dreamlike state. Inside her chest there was a fist, closed tightly: her self-control. She was in charge; she was the owner of a carefully constructed composure, and it was unbreakable. Why then, did it feel like floating instead of walking?

When she saw that there were three girls practically blocking the door, she wondered if some supreme being was trying her, whether it was God, Gaia or the fucking holy Christmas tree. Could it be karma? One of the girls she didn't know -a thin brunette with long hair-, but the other two were Emily and Katie Finch.

Come on, just get it over with. She clenched her inner fist as tightly as she could and displayed the coldest possible front, which did not even crack when she overheard Katie calling her a "lezzer bitch". That wasn't new. She was a bitch and had worked hard for it, and the extra ornaments that Katie could attach to it were of no importance; they only meant that she was doing this right. On the other hand, Katie was a fucking airhead who hadn't had an original thought in her whole life - all she had was a big mouth and a surprising lack of shame. She was now staring at her with wide, innocent eyes. Naomi hated when people did that because they were blatantly taking you for a fool in your fucking face, and there were not many things that could make Naomi feel worse than being someone's joke.

"Excuse me," she said, in her most insubstantial voice, wanting them to get the message that the three of them could mean nothing less to her.

The dark-haired girl didn't even budge, maybe because it really had nothing to do with her, but Katie stepped aside in a somewhat theatrical way and Emily… Emily just looked at her. They were much closer now, and the girl seemed to shrink before her, or maybe it had been Katie's fault - who knew what that bitch with verbal incontinence had been saying. Either way, it served Naomi's purpose. She was strong now.

However, as soon as she entered the classroom, she heard Katie's voice once again, loud and clear, and this time, it did stop her.

"Yeah, like… don't talk to her. She tried to snog my sister in middle school. Pervy… don't you think it?"

So the "lezzer" bit had not been just a random insult from Katie's catalog. "She tried to snog my sister"? It had definitely not been like that, but she did not wish to remember how it had really happened or discuss it with Katie. Instead, she turned and positioned herself behind the girl, who was only brave when she felt she had other people's support.

"Watch out, Katie. Might get confused and fuck you with my great big strap-on by mistake," she said, in the same I-don't-give-a-fuck-about-your-life voice.

With that, she glanced at the brunette, who was still only a spectator, and went into the classroom again. She felt unchallenged and proud of herself, of her voice, her comeback, her wry smile, and her ability to have made Katie jump.

During homeroom, Roundview's revolutionary technique for the students to get to know one another consisted on standing up and saying their names, adding a unique fact about themselves. What a load of bollocks.

"Um… I'm Emily… Never had a boyfriend."

"Shit happens," Kieran, their tutor, was unmoved, and Naomi felt like agreeing with him.

So, when the man pointed at her immediately after, she saw her chance. "I'm Naomi. Hate injustice. People tell lies about me."

It was over in a second and she had done it. She slumped back in her seat, crossed her arms and glared at Emily, now that she had found her strength. You know which lies I'm talking about. You know I didn't say that for Katie. And she did seem to know, because the little redhead shrunk even more than before and dropped her gaze.

Part of her was sorry, but she couldn't afford to lessen the grip of that fist. She needed her control. All the more in Emily's presence.