Requested by stanleyr on Tumblr! I definitely need critique as I feel it's not nearly as good as it could have been.
Cut the Ties:
Bebe swished her hair, "Have it your way then, Wendy! I hope you realize I'm not about to sacrifice my happiness just because of you!" She turned on her heel, leaving the raven haired teen standing in the middle of the school hallway.
Wendy gave her best glare, wanting to do nothing more than hit the other girl. I'm better than that, she reminded herself. She followed Bebe's example, spinning in the opposite direction. Her hands shook as she carried her books, fingers grasping them too tightly. She paused at her class's door, anger pounding through her chest. She was just so…frustrated.
She took a deep breath, counting to ten. The bell rang. The class in front of her started, no one noticing her missing presence, not one looking out of the door to see her stiff figure. I can't do it. I can't even go to class. Dammit!
Slowly, she turned once more, to the backdoor of the school building. Her anger covered any second thoughts about ditching class, the same scenes playing through her mind over and over until she shook her head physically in an attempt to rid herself of it.
Wendy opened the door in front of her with only a slight hesitance, reminding herself of her current emotional state. She pushed it open, stepping outside into the cool air. Shivering, Wendy let the door close behind her with a resounding 'thud.' Taking a deep breath, she let it out quickly with a few coughs forcing their way through her chest and out her mouth. Smoke?
Head turned to glare at whomever she found outside. Craig? "What the Hell are you doing?" she asked, hands on hips.
"What does it look like I'm doing?" Craig replied in turn, taking another drag of his cigarette.
"Since when do you smoke?" she demanded.
"Since when was it any of your business?" he countered, eyes briefly meeting her own anger-filled ones. He sighed.
"It's bad for you!"
He flipped her off, to which Wendy returned the sentiment. "I know."
There was a pause, two middle fingers suspended in the air before both let themselves down. Wendy huffed, "Just fucking forget it." She walked past him, heading toward the front of the school to begin the dreaded walk home.
She heard a foot slide on the concrete of the sidewalk, she turned back to see him putting out the cigarette with a sneaker. "What has you so mad today?" he asked, tone indifferent.
"Nothing," she replied quickly. "I just don't like smoke."
"And you're leaving the school because…"
"Didn't think you cared," Wendy said, hands pushing into her coat's pockets.
"I don't." he assured with a small shrug.
That stung some, thoughts pushing it aside, "Then why are you asking me so many questions?"
"I asked two." he replied impassively.
"Two more than you had to."
"Maybe I'm just curious for once, I'm bored. Humor me."
She shook her head, eyeing the doors she had just exited. "Why are you out here if you're so bored?"
"Better than listening to that asshole Kenny talking to Clyde about sex." he said simply. "It's annoying."
She raised an eyebrow, wondering why he was letting her know this information in the first place. He was typically so…silent. Maybe he did care, really care, but didn't want to say it? It sounded stupid even to her. This was Craig, after all. Perhaps he was just bored. She opened her mouth then closed it, unsure what to say. She didn't want to sound like she was whining but then again…Who else was she going to go to? Teeth bit into her bottom lip in thought.
"I'm just mad."
He 'humm'd,' "I see."
He wasn't going to ask anymore, letting her decide what to say next. "It's just…Bebe. She's always with some random guy-mainly Kenny." she added, remembering the blonde talking to her about her strange friends-with-benefits relationship with the boy.
Craig looked up at that, "She's dating Clyde, isn't she?" His eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"Doesn't stop her," she replied, shifting in her stance.
"So you're angry she's cheating?"
"That and her typical bullshit." Like stealing Stan's virginity during their to-be final break-up whilst still dating Clyde…
He gave her a look that clearly said he knew there was more to the story, but he didn't say a thing. Instead, he pushed himself off the wall on which he leaned, pulling on his messenger bag's strap over his shoulder. "I'll drive you home." he said, Wendy not knowing how he knew she was wanting nothing more but to relax.
"Are you sure?" she asked, shifting again. "I can always walk."
Craig nodded, "I was about to go home anyway."
She nodded, generally confused by his behavior. Maybe he's not such a bad guy…
The next week passed by with glares passing from both girls, a few choice words exchanging when they passed by each other in the hallway. It drove Wendy insane. Bebe basically ran the girls population barring a few. But not even Wendy hung out with them. No one really talked to her anymore, ignored by both genders the school contained. She eventually gave up on eating lunch, not able to find a seat without someone sending her dirty looks or a random girl loudly talking to Bebe about her annoying tendencies she had whilst she ate. Growing frustrated as much as self-conscious, she dumped her full tray into the garbage, leaving the cafeteria immediately after. Don't let them see you cry. she thought, lyrics of the song pumping through her mind.
She let out a shaky breath, hand unconsciously opening the backdoor to the building. She looked up, seeing the one person who had shown only indifference toward her. He was smoking again, she noticed. He wasn't standing this time, instead sitting with his back to the building. "Hi," she said, voice trembling even now.
He let out a stream of smoke, "Hi."
"I don't suppose I could still take you up on that offer, right?"
"What offer?"
She shifted, "For me to talk to you."
"If you want to then do, I won't stop you."
She sighed as a tiny bit of relief sank into her chest. She cleared her throat to rid it of the tickling the air around them created. Wendy shifted, moving to sit beside the other. She sat, adjusting her legs and skirt both to cover her upper thighs. "I just…The other girls don't like me anymore. And the guys already didn't like me since I apparently act too 'dyke-like.'" she admitted, feeling embarrassed. She shifted again. "I guess I'm just so tired of this. The only way to get back in with the others is to suck up my pride and kiss Bebe's ass."
"Then do it." Craig replied, taking a drag.
Her head turned to the other, eyes hard, "I can't do that though! She's in the wrong and I know it-they should all know it!"
He released the smoke in the opposite direction of her, flicking the ashes onto the ground. She wanted desperately to tell him he was ruining mother earth, but kept her mouth shut. She would not lose the one person she had to talk to because of a few ashes-no matter how disgusting they were. He spoke, "Doesn't matter."
"But it does!" she responded quickly, "She's an awful person and everyone just listens to her like she's the fucking queen of the world!"
Craig gave an elongated sigh at that, "Do you honestly think anyone in this fucked-up town gives a damn about right or wrong?"
She paused, taken aback. There was a moment of silent contemplation, mind racing. He was right, she knew, but she hated it-loathed the truth. "It's just sick."
"Doesn't mean it's any less true."
She blinked slowly, fingers playing with the hem of her skirt. "I know." she sighed out. "But the only way to change it-"
"It's not going to change."
"You don't know that!"
"I do. It's a small town, people here are idiots. Look at all of the crap I've been pulled into, no matter how much I try to avoid it. You can't change anything."
"Perhaps not, but I can at least try."
"What's the point in trying, it's just going to stay the same. Just give up. Don't care."
Wendy stared at him for a moment, "I can't." she said simply. Suddenly, she stood, walking toward the school's door again. She almost made it before she turned back and took the cigarette from the other's hands, taking a long drag from the end. She sputtered, coughs wracking her body from the sudden substance filling her lungs. He actually looked surprised. Handing back the cigarette to the dumbfounded boy, she opened the door. "Need all the strength I can get," she said by way of explanation.
She let the door close behind her, letting her fury at her situation build in her chest. She headed to the cafeteria, knowing she only had minutes before the bell rang for its end. She walked inside, knowing by the sudden lowering of voices that she radiated anger at this point. She didn't care.
Walking to the table she once sat at everyday with her supposed 'friends,' she stopped behind Bebe. The other stopped talking, looking behind her to Wendy.
Bebe gave a bored look, "What do you want?" she asked.
"For you to stop screwing everyone behind Clyde's back!"
There was an intake of breath by a few surrounding people. "Wh-what did you say to me?"
"You heard me." Her voice resounded throughout the room as it grew in intensity. "You're screwing everyone, and you know it."
Arms crossed, Bebe stood, eyes narrowing at Wendy. "I haven't done anything, I would never cheat on Clyde!"
"Try to hide all you want but everyone knows what a fucking slut you are."
"You're jealous that I have a boyfriend who stays with me and actually cares about me!" Bebe proclaimed, "You're such a cunt, Wendy!"
Her hand moved faster than her mind at that point, knuckles hitting flesh. Bebe fell to the floor, wind knocked out of her. "You just fucking opened my eyes to what a spineless joke of a man Stan was. I don't need him. I don't need a boyfriend. And I don't need cock on the side either. I'm not you Bebe. And I hope to God I never will be." She marched from the room at that, feeling much better than she had in a long time-since from before the fight.
"Wendy, wait up!"
She turned, seeing Craig catching up to her from the direction of the cafeteria. Did he follow me there?
"Wow," he said, "If I could hit someone in the face I'd be sooo happy…"
Wendy smiled at the familiar words, the shakes pulsing throughout her body slowed at that as if they were reminded of their own acceptance. "Thank you."