Tori Padilla had been a ghost for fourteen days, seven hours, and thirty-six minutes now, not that she was officially counting.
She did, said, and looked the way she was suppose to, when it was supposed to be done. Tori would studied how her palm could be seen through, when the light hit it. But she knew what was really on the minds of the students at Seaview High.
They wanted her to crack underneath all their had just been broken up with her boyfriend Kenneth, or Ken, Morrison. They'd dated for almost an entire year, but then it was all over. It took an hour to make herself look like she'd just rolled out of bed, like she'd been losing no sleep at all over what had happened.
When in honesty, she was slowly deteriorating. These days, her entire life was about making people believe she was someone she wasn't anymore.
She turned into a doorway and dug her nails into the palms of her hands, not yet ready to withstand the next hour and ten minutes. The class was Physiology, the only class she had with Ken, and it was an extra class she chosen. This was just a crappy way of the universe saying: You asked for this.
He was already there, she could feel the electricity that radiated off his body, and just by that Tori knew. His was donning his favorite,faded, flannel shirt clung to his body, his black hair was a mess, and he was sporting the scruff that she had come to love.
It was the same smell on the T-shirt she'd hidden underneath her bed one she'd cuddle up with, and sniff, hoping that she would never forget the smell. He'd been doing that when he broke up with her.
Tori inhaled deeply, keeping her head low before passing his seat. By the look that was etched into his features, and how his eyes focused on what was ahead of him, she could tell he was trying to avoid eye felt unnatural to walk past, and for him not to grab onto her waist, pulling her into his lap with a loving look in his eyes.
It wasn't there the last time they spoke together.
She thanked God that the teacher had assigned her to the very front seat, right by the door. It meant a quicker escape. As well as being to not feel the stares of everyone's judging eyes on her.
When she felt a hand on her shoulder. A calloused, broad hand. Maybe it was Ken. Maybe he wanted to redo everything. But when she turned around, Tori found herself staring at Alfie Deyes, Ken's best friend.
"Are you alright?"
"Why wouldn't I be?" Tori asked back.
"I just want you to know we all think he's an idiot."
We. Tori wondered what he meant by "we." Did that mean everyone knew by now, or that they had false sympathy. That part of it was almost as hard as the not having Ken. Trying to see who out of their shared friends went to her, and who came back to him
Tori was so busy trying to distract herself from what he had said, that she never noticed when he left or when the teacher entered the room.
'Why do we dream?' was what had been written on the board.
"Because Megan Fox doesn't teach our class."
The teacher laughed. "Well, that's one reason. Dreaming is the part of our subconscious. It's the part of our minds that want to escape from reality, but sometimes bring us down from those expectation ."
"Ms. Padilla?" the teacher repeated.
Tori blushed. She had no idea what he had asked. She could feel everyone's eyes on her.
Toby called out from somewhere behind her. "I'm playing Call of Duty and then my controller freezes, and then everything starts crawling out of the screen."
"I believe I asked Ms. Padilla's opinion, but that's nice to know Toby."
Tori placed the tip of her nail in her mouth, gnawing a bit of it off. "I don't remember any dreams."
"You're a teenager, that's what you spend your time doing. You haven't blocked out the most critical time of your life?"
Their eyes, most importantly Ken's, burned through the back of her. She closed her eyes, hoping to enveloped in darkness, but she wasn't. There was a tightening in her gut. Tori grabbed her things, and ran out of the class.
In the bathroom, she vomited, but nothing was inside her stomach to actually come up. Pressing her head against her knees, she sat and thought about everything that had happened.
Maybe it was the fact that she had been knocked down a couple of tiers, or the fact no one looked at her the same anymore. But it killed her on the inside to know that she had loved him so much, but it had never been returned.
She pulled out her compact mirror to fix any smudged makeup that came. Instead, she found herself judging herself. Her lips were too big, and her skin was too pale and blotchy.
What she liked the most though, was how her big brown eyes were framed against strong, eyebrows. They reminded her of a wolves, always looking for something, which described her situation perfectly.
Tori didn't want to look at herself anymore. It was angering her. She threw it across floor, it shattering.
One shard managed to stay near the edge of her worn Chuck Taylor's. Before she knew it, it was running across the paleness of her arm, crimson rising from the wound and trickling down her arm. She clasped her hand over it, cursing herself for doing it.
It wasn't for normal people. But she use to be a normal she was a ghost of her former self. Tori always thought harming yourself would hurt so much more, but the pain that she was holding on the inside, suddenly faded when she concentrated on pain of the cut.
Replacing emotional pain, with physical pain.
Was it that simple?
...
Kalel Cullen could tell you how to go to hell. She knew it like the back of her own hand. She could draw you all the geographic features on a napkin, recite all the passageways while sipping on mai tais.
It was something she'd been so well at doing. Kalel was a student in her third year, who taught Dante classes, for financial reasons.
Today's "lesson" was to show how many possibilities you could get out of the word "evil."
"There's vile and live, but what's the opposite of evil?"Kalel announced to the class.
"Good?" someone called. She smiled, before her sunk after she saw the head of a fellow student slumped onto their desk.
"Right, with good, you only have one command. That's 'go do.'" she explained.
"So, does that mean evil can actually be better?" someone asked.
"That, my friend, is a very strong thought. Keep it for discussion tomorrow, class dismissed."
While everyone filed out, she turned to put everything in her bag.
"Veil," a voice spoke. Kalel jumped looking at the owner to it.
Tom Cassell.
"What about it?"
"It's another form of evil. Something to hide the truth," he explained to her. In an instant, she remembered how those hands roamed her body,plucking it like a delicate instrument. Kalel felt like an entirely different person when she was with him.
"You fell asleep during my lesson," she said bringing herself from her thoughts.
"I had an exotic night," he told her. She folded her arms.
"That sounds like a personal problem," Kalel answered. Tom caressed the bit of stomach she had showing, while kissing her neck, and trailing it up to her ear.
"Whose fault is that?"
...
The moment Tori came out of the bathroom, was when she became a still. Jenna Mourey, her blonde hair and gorgeous blue eyes, back was pressed against the lockers. Ken's tongue down her hands slipped over the curve of her butt. You could see the smile form on his face as it deepened.
Was Ken planning on telling Jenna everything he had once trusted her with, and was Jenna even listening to what he had to say?
Tori felt someone grab her arm and start dragging out of the school, letting them take complete control. Before she knew it, a cigarette was popped into her mouth, already lit
"Inhale," Zoe demanded.
Zoe Sugg had been friends with Tori, since she first moved from the UK. She had the clearest blue eyes with long, dark brown had a younger brother name Joe, but he didn't really hand around the house ofter.
"French class," Tori said through the smoke. She meant that they had it next, and they should be heading there.
"Not like we'll need that,"
Tori walked beside Zoe anyway heir hands stuffed into the pockets, as they watched the boys football team practice. Tori automatically started breathing through her mouth, so Zoe took the cigarette, and popped it into her own.
"I heard what happened in your class today," Zoe mentioned.
"Great, now the whole school thinks I've gone bat shit crazy,"
Tori took the cigarette from Zoe's mouth, smoking the remains. "What do you care what the whole school thinks?" Zoe asked. Tori shrugged.
They had reached the end of the schools path, and if they kept walking, they'd soon be crossing into town. It was winter time, the kind of weather that when you breathed, you could see it.
"You want the good news or the bad news?"
"Rip off the bandaid," Tori said.
"The bad news is that everyone has actually given up on if you'll crack or not, they've kinda moved on."
"The good news?"
"Alfie Deyes and I have been getting pretty intimate."
Stab. Ken's best friend, worst thing ever. Her best friend all over Alfie, and closer contact to Ken.
"Great. My best friend and Ken's best friend are doing the dirty, while I'm here trying not to rip of Jenna's head. Absolutely fucking GREAT!"
"You can't keep crying over Ken. Guys don't want to be in a relationship, they want hookups, like Ken with Jenna." Zoe sighed.
"What? Huge boobs? Blonde hair? The willingness to NOT stay committed"
Hanging from the edge of Zoe's bag were six cherry paper clips, that jingled as she brought out a bag of M&M's.
It was all the rage; hooking up and keeping track as it was a score.
"I can't do that." Tori told her. She held the candy that was poured into her hand.
"It's what guys prefer and like,"Zoe told her simply.
"What about what we prefer and what we like?"
"I can't do a sport to save my life, I have dark circles underneath my eyes, but I'm the queen of it." A look came from Tori
" You get all the fun without any of the baggage, so it's what can be best in high school."
Tori opened her hand, and saw the that the coloring had melted, somewhat painting a picture. The colors mixed, all running through the crevices of her palm.
"Why do you think the commercials say they won't melt in your hands, when they always do?"she asked.
"Because everyone lies, for personal gain, or to see someone hurt. It's human nature. Sometimes, we even lie to protect ourselves," Zoe said as she stared out into the cold afternoon.
And that's when Tori began to wonder.
Had Ken been lying to her, the entire time?
...
GAH! First story I've done, that isn't WWE related. I've based this off of the Tenth Cirle, so yes, you will see similarities. Don't bark at me as if I didn't already know.
Read and review please!
AmyElizabeth