Some stories created by the internet are amazing. Heroic. Definitely worth sharing. Like people getting popular on social media for doing an act of true kindness, or calling out a wrongdoing and getting it fixed. Now, my story is a bit different. Annabeth, a popular vlogger and my new best friend calls it fate. Leo, a once Vine star now hilarious textpost account, call it the dumbest of luck. But something in my mind says karma. Usually karma is bad happening to bad people who deserve it, but I feel like this was the opposite. This is why.
"I hear that girl Piper got a 39% on her Math Test!" A girl with newly ombre-d hair blabbed to her friend group, with their backs to me. Her friend, who was wearing an outfit I saw on a popular girl last week, gaped.
"How can you do that? You would have to try to be that stupid!" Her friend laughed.
"I hear that the only answers she got she copied from Reyna." The group grinned.
"Ugh she's so perfect, it's hard to not want to be like her. But still, that's so low, leaching off of how smart Reyna is to get above a fail." The girl speaking I vaguely remember from a Spanish class we had together. Her name was Jessie or something, and I remember she was super annoying. How many times "Oh-lah Piper...umm...-o. Coh-mo est-ahs" was repeated through the year, the world would pray to not know.
But ouch. Me. Their talking about me!
Before I could stop myself, I walked up to them.
"Nice try. I got a 74%. At least have the decency to get your facts right."
So that line might have been cool if I wasn't super flustered right now. Of course, I know people talk about me and stuff, but this was ridiculous. It was literally in front of me. And they thought I copied off of Reyna? no thank you. The day I ask for help from that girl is the day I become a blue footed booby.
See, everyone loves her, but something about me ticks her off. The jabs will be quiet and rude, unlike the more obnoxious Drew Tanaka, whose troublesome tendencies have given her a one shot ticket to nothing but community college and an angry life. But still those tendencies have been making my life more of a living hell. I promise I don't try to make it a Zero to Hero kind of thing, but honestly, that's the best way to describe it. Or well, the zero part is actually more accurate. With two girls, both popular in their own rights with most of the school following them, picking on me, very few people would accept me as a friend. Then subtract from those the amount that are high off their asses and the number is even less. And that tiny little number is the only shot I have at friends, but they only talk about things I don't understand, with different fandoms or bloggers or TV shows that I didn't know existed. It was rough. But in order to truly see how it happened, we have to go back to my flush faced snap.
The girls all turned red, and someone who was watching the exchange chuckled. Out of my peripheral vision I saw that it was Percy Jackson, the gorgeous trouble maker who always went out of his way to get out of Reyna's way. He tried to befriend me, but it was awkward since I usually don't have to make small talk so we kinda sat there chilling until Percy couldn't handle the silence and started blabbing. He was really funny and nice, but I didn't like him as anything more than a potential friend.
Sorry, ADHD here, back to the present! Someone from their group gasped. Gossip is like it's own subject here, because lunch is, for so many more people than it should, gossip central. Each person wanted to get a better status, so the gave more popular people the juicier gossip so they would talk with them again. It was a terrible system that I refuse to follow. There was so much back-stabbing, lying and sucking up that made the person feel really inferior to the girls who would decide whether or not to boost the popularity. It was, as I said before, ridiculous. SO although they had all gossiped like it was a sport, I bet that group of girls have never been stood up to. And honestly, it wasn't just them, but so many more people gossiped that the back of my mind said "Do they deserve this? Look at them! They look so ashamed!". The front was screaming though, yelling some profanities that I don't really feel the need to repeat.
One girl opened her mouth, looking like she was going to apologize. Nope! No I am not done quite yet, so I cut over her first stammering.
"I don't care. Cut the act. But just a tip. Think before you speak, or it sounds like you don't think at all. And if that were the case, then I think it would be easier for people to comprehend that you could get, say...39% on a math test? Have a nice day." Okay wow my bitch mode took over. I'm starting to sound all terrible, like Reyna, but with the confrontational piece like Drew. I rush over to my next class, not caring that there's still a bit of lunch left. I brought mine, freshly made by my father's personal chef. Another thing is I don't use other people to get my popularity, like I said before, but because my dad is who he his, it wouldn't be hard.
I pass movie poster after movie poster of him, falling in love with various women, which is okay because my mom left us when she found a place in France to live with her other daughter, who was...not arranged. She had an affair, and couldn't admit to it for a long time. So she left us. I'm alright about it, since I only remember the flashes of memories where she would be holding me on her hip. There were more photos taken of me when she was here than have been taken of me for the next decade to the present. Dad started acting more, and better, because he knew heartbreak, and that was an element in so many movies you can't believe it. So my dad is extremely famous, but I try not to show it. The attention would be fast and annoying, then people would go back to gossip, so it just doesn't come out.
And attention in general isn't my thing. Take my clothes. I have these old beaten up converse that I fell in love with, a few big sweatshirts that make me feel like I'm in bed with blankets, and some nice jeans, yoga pants and leggings. It's not fashion, but it's comfy. I tear off little fuzz-balls that are on my sleeve as I wait for people to flood the English room. Mrs. Deluardo, the teacher, gave me a weird look.
The teachers are confused by me, because they know that I could make my status change easily, since they have had parent teacher conferences, but I don't change it, so they just sit there puzzling out how someone with the potential to be popular doesn't take it. It's so unusual to them.
Mrs. Deluardo was a larger woman that reminded me of the teapot from Beauty and the Beast, except she gave essays and finals. She wasn't my favorite, but she was nice enough. My subconscious notes that the bell has rang. The one thing in this class that sucked was Reyna. And speak of the devil, I saw glossy curls and heard a cute little giggle that could only be the girl that made my life hell. She was with her friends Gwen, who was a sporty girl who was a bit blunt, but nice, a sweet little girl named Hazel with the prettiest eyes, and a boy named Steven. As I looked up, I saw someone else that I didn't recognize.
So just a little observation about him. Even though I've been to movie premieres, walked the red carpet, and been to dozens of movie sets, the boy if front of me rivals most teen actors I've ever seen when it comes to looks. He was like Percy. Perfect. He had defined features, a strong jawline, golden blonde hair styled just right, pretty electric blue eyes, and a gorgeous body. Wow.
But my fantasy ended quickly. Reyna's eyes caught me. There were four empty seats around me. She confidently strode up to me. "Hey could you do us a huge favor?" I was taken aback. What was she doing? I followed her eyes to pretty boy and knew. Good first impression. I see. I was going to stutter out a response, but she gave me a little shove when no one was looking. She pretended to gasp, and help me up, kneeling down with me, and smirked. "Don't worry, you'll find something to write on. How about your chest? It's flat enough." I looked down. I actually have around the same size as her, with a smaller waist, but I wore sweatshirts, so she wouldn't know. She gave a victorious chuckle that she disguised fluidly as a cough when I didn't answer. I took my backpack and fled to the corner, where Dakoda was examining his nose with his eyes crossed, high af. I blanked out. Our teacher started talking, going over the agenda.
Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, new student. I looked up. Mrs. Deluardo didn't miss that. "I'm glad to know that you will pay attention to something I'm saying today, Ms. Piper." She said, since I usually tune her out like I was doing before. I blush for another time today.
"Why don't you tell us about yourself!" The new boy gets up. He's tall, around 6'0. Sigh.
"Hi, I'm Jason. I'm new to California, and I used to live in Pennsylvania. I play football and lacrosse, and I" He paused his confident speech when our eyes met. He gave a tiny intake of breath. Was he laughing at me? Did I face something on my face? I checked, and it was negligible. So what was that?
He continued quickly. "like the color red."
I'm wearing a red sweatshirt, so he was probably just nervous. People clapped or did whatever, and I tuned the class back out. Half of me wondered if I could get away with listening to music or sleeping, but decided against it. Before long, I heard the bell give that annoying double ding and started to go to my other class. For some reason Reyna was dawdling. Her friends left her after she waved to them to go. 'Dismissed' like royalty to servants.
"Pepper. Here's the deal. You don't waste the energy to even look at Jason. He's not mine yet, but he sure as hell will never be yours. So move along, but just a warning. Tread carefully." She started to walk away, but turned one last time.
"Because you remember last time." She gave a smirk and walked away. Subconsciously, I reached over to my choppy cut hair, given to me at camp by someone employed by Reyna. She was evil. I struggled to get my heavy backpack and walked out. Biology was next, and was probably the worst. Drew was more forward than Reyna, but was less intelligent, so her comments were negligible, but it was her actions I had to watch out for.
We were working on enzymes, and today we had a lab. It was pretty simple, but smelled had to put liver into hydrogen peroxide, watch it foam,and record the temperatures. As a vegetarian and animal rights activist, it completely grossed me out.
My lab partner was the person with the closest name to mine, so I had Drew's ex, Owen, who was the captain of the basketball team, goofing around and flirting with the girls of my class. He was a complete sexist oaf, so there was no way in hell I would collaborate with him easily. But he solved that problem by not working at all.
I was trying to plug the thermometer into the special computer thing when I dropped the little silver tool I never bothered to learn the name of. It would have been nothing, but I heard something that made my stomach drop and my cheeks flare.
"I'd like a piece of that. I'd tear it apart." Owen cracked up. I stood up so quickly that I almost hit my head.
"Excuse me? What did you just say to me?" Like before, the words flew out of my mouth. He gave a stupid little face.
"You've got a nice ass. I'm complimenting you. Say thanks." He gave a little grin. I then heard another voice I had almost completely forgotten about.
"Did you actually just say that? Dude. What the hell." It was Percy, who towered over the horrible Owen by 5 inches, being a tall swimmer. Oh no. Percy got into fights easily, and he won them easily too, but getting out of trouble...that definitely wasn't as easy for him. Owen's words were a bit more hesitant, but now he was taunting Percy, whose fists were clenched and his jaw was doing that thing. My mind was racing. How to stop?
"You her boyfriend Jackson? No wonder. I told her she had a nice ass. When you're done with her, I'll take her off your hands." Now we were both standing there shocked. The whole class's eyes were on us and a few people gasped. Someone whispered "no" from behind me. I was fuming. But Percy, he wasn't going to let that stand. He, without warning, punched him so hard across the nose that it immediately started to bleed. The teacher raced up from his desk, where he had been lounging. Owen got up and tried to punch Percy, but failed to do so and was dragged away by a friend and the teacher.
Percy spat out a harsh "Wrong answer." walking out and slamming the door.
I sat down, and a girl ran up to me.
"Are you okay? Oh my god that was awful. Do you know me? I'm Juniper. I'm one of Reyna's friends and I know I shouldn't like talk to you or whatever but I wanted to make sure you are okay. Are you?" Her mouth. It just didn't stop. I nodded, my blush fading, before finding my voice again.
'Wait. You "shouldn't talk" to me? Did Reyna tell you not to talk to me?" As she settled a wide eyed grimace on her face and nodded slowly, I felt my mind, once again, get angry.
She had no right whatsoever to treat me like this. What did I do? Exist? Ugh that villainous...witch. Reminder to stop swearing. But still. What even?
"Oh. Okay." I felt myself mumble, ending the conversation with the tiny brunette. She raised her eyebrows apologetically as she walked back to her partner. That was...something. And it was not good.
As I was washing my hands, more than ready to go home and cry/sleep/read/watch movies, the next thing that brought me to my fame happened. Splat. There was something cold in my hair. Cold and wet and sticking in it. I slowly reached up to pick a bit of a cube of liver out of my copper locks. Liver. My stomach lurched. Liver. It smelled. LIVER. I ran over to the trash and promptly puked. First time I've ever thrown up at school? When I found out that a sandwich made for me had bunny in it in third grade. But this was a first. It was intentionally done to make me upset. The teacher was running all over the place, trying to see who threw it. He found that our piece was missing, and since Owen wasn't there, he couldn't do anything but accusingly glare at random people in our class.
A smug smile from Drew let me know that it had not been a mistake. I was seething, and somewhere in my mind I found myself thinking that the liver could have cooked with the amount of steam I needed to lose. She looked at me, mouthed something, then gave an exaggerated wink and a dazzling smile. She was beautiful, but that was like the pretty colors on a deadly spider. The kind that would eat it's parents. That spider. Ugh I hate that girl.
One of her friends, a girl named Leslie, brushed past me, mumbling "You should avoid Drew's crushes. It will be better if you do." I looked back at her, but she was already past.
Then I thought for a minute. Who had I not avoided? Owen? No, he was her ex. Percy? Oh god. Percy. That's why she did that, to get back at me for 'stealing' Percy from her. I walked out of the room after trying to get the liver out over the sink, and ran to the limo that my dad paid to pick me up every day, hoping to make up for not being around at all. I coerced the driver, my personal butler named Eddie, to park it half a mile from school, so no one would know it's me. Stupid? Yes. An idea I got from Princess Diaries? yes. But effective? Very. So that was the plan.
I raced there and only noticed the hot tears on my face when I felt them reach my lips. I'm so done. The thought repeats itself in my mind as I cry in the backseat, and when I rip my backpack off, throw it into our living room, and run to my shower. It was too silent for me to sob like I wanted, since no one was home but me and Eddie. He was probably outside, flirting with the gardener. So it was just me in a 4 story mansion. I'm done with this. Done.
Now, I've contemplated suicide before, like so many others. But I have so much more to live for, you know? I can't rob myself or my father the chance to walk down the aisle. I can't take experiences away from myself or memories away from others. So that's out. I have a terrible pain tolerance, for stubbing my toe almost makes me cry as I swear passionately. So what do I do? I really need a friend right now.
I contemplate calling my childhood friend Frank, who I went to camp with, but he always gets so sad that I'm upset that I just feel guilty. Plus, last I talked to him, his grandmother was taking away his phone, and he wanted to alert me. But an idea formed in my head. What if it's not a person at all? Just pretend to talk to someone. I ran to the stairway that went up to the attic. It was filled with expensive toys that I wanted to donate, but my dad wanted to keep, since he didn't take many photos at the time after my mom left. It was a bit haunting, nostalgic, and like most attics, kinda creepy. I grabbed an oversized teddy bear and ran back down to my room. I looked at it for a second before starting.
"Dear bear. I've had a rough day." I start, but don't finish. It was smiling at me! How dare he? Then I gained control of my mind. The smile was sewed on. In an empty house with no one listening to me but my bear, I felt a little nuts, too nuts to continue. But another idea came to mind.
How about I talk to people, but they don't have to listen? I'm not crazy if I do this! I open my laptop and type out .com really quickly. And there. I make a new account, because it's a new idea, you know? And I record myself. I start talking and don't stop. I cry, I laugh, I tell funny stories, I tell jokes that I laugh alone about, I dance around my room to the ringtone that means my father's calling. I spill everything. How cute I think the new kid is? Hella. How much I want to match Percy with someone perfect for him since that's the only thing he doesn't have and the only thing I'm good at, tell about my reaction to… well… everything. It is the kind of stuff I would tell a best friend. All these secrets. Some of the words tumble out without my notice. Things I haven't admitted to even myself. It lasted about an hour. It was freedom I felt as I posted it to an account with my real name on it. It was the real me, so why hide it. And it's not like anyone would see me.