Raindrops pattered against the window. Pupils clicked the tops of their pens. Fingernails drummed across wooden tables. And Mr. Newbury was slowly lulling his class to sleep with talk of limestone. After what seemed like an eternity, the bell rang, and before the teacher could finish his sentence, students were filing out of the door. Less than a minute later, the classroom had been abandoned by everybody except one girl. Her name was Tori Vega.
The girl that spent her lunchtimes helping her teachers... Well, in all honesty she was really helping herself. She'd learnt on many occasions that the other kids no longer liked her, and she would avoid them at any cost. Wiping boards, sweeping floors, and scraping gum from under desks was that cost. But hey, at least she was garnering some extra credit for her troubles.
Tori dropped her backpack in the corner of the room, and then made her way to the supply-closet. She took the key that was hanging around her neck and twisted it in the lock. The door opened, and the motion-activated light switched on. She sighed as looked around the small space, and then began gathering the usual things.
To keep her spirits up, Tori chose an upbeat playlist on her PearPhone, and hummed along whilst she cleaned. She even danced a little when her favourite tunes came on. Before she knew it, she'd done everything she needed to do, and despite her best efforts, she couldn't find any dirt. When she looked at the time, she frowned. There were still 15 long minutes to spare. Most teenagers would be happy about that. Not Tori. 15 minutes to her, meant countless opportunities to be targeted.
Since Newbury had made it clear that she shouldn't stick around for longer than needed, Tori locked up like a good-girl, and scampered off to the 9th grade bathrooms. Tori wasn't a freshman; she was a junior. But because the freshman bathrooms were full of younger, not-yet-fully-fledged bitches, she felt a little safer in there.
Thankfully she made it into a stall without incident, and she plonked herself down on the toilet. Absentmindedly, Tori scanned over the back of the door, but her attention was caught when she spotted her name. A lump formed in her throat as she read the hurtful graffiti, and she had to fight back tears. Even though nobody was around, she knew that if she cried, they won. Tori leant back against the tank and put in her earphones. Closing her eyes, she concentrated all of her energy on getting lost in the music.
When she opened her eyes, she felt revitalised, but immediately noticed the music had stopped playing. Upon checking the time, it became evident to her that she'd fallen asleep, and her heart started racing. Tori rushed out of the bathroom, and through the empty corridors. Standing outside the science lab, she noticed how unsteady she was. She pressed her shaking hands against her thighs, and took deep breaths until she'd calmed down.
Pulling the door open, she said, "I'm so sorry I'm late, Miss."
"She's not here, you little kiss-ass," Amy said. "Why're you late, huh?"
Tori sat down on her stool and didn't look back. She knew there was trouble coming; Amy and her crew were never up to anything good.
"Probably because she's slow," Charlotte said.
"I heard that she got held back a year because she's so slow," Pipa added.
"Her mom probably dropped her on her head when she was a baby, because she's a drunk."
Tori clenched her fists, and tears began clouding her vision. She'd told Amy about her mom's drinking problem in confidence. Besides that, it didn't actually start until after her dad passed away a few years prior, and Amy knew that. But it didn't stop her from spreading rumours and making horrible comments. Tori knew better than to fight it though. Fighting always made it worse.
"That would explain a lot," Pipa muttered.
Tori couldn't stop the tears from falling, and a single sob escaped her. She tried to block out the laughing and nasty remarks by shutting her eyes, but it didn't work. And when her lab partner touched her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her, it only made her break-down further.
A moment later, Ms. Bishop returned to the lab with a stack of photocopies, and she noticed the crying girl that she knew had only turned up in the last 5 minutes or so. "What's going on, Victoria?"
"The poor thing's broken up about her father, that's why she was late to class, Miss," Amy answered in a faux-caring tone. A chorus of mhmm's and yeah's followed.
Tori shook her head, but she couldn't get any words out due to her erratic hiccups. Ms. Bishop interpreted Tori's worsening state as confirmation, and rather than warning her for being late, or asking again, she said, "You're dismissed."
The Latina nodded and stood up, and as she left, Amy put her in her place with a glare that made her blood run cold. Tori was so intent on getting out of there, that it wasn't until she was in the foyer that she realised she'd forgotten her bag.
She began traipsing back to the lab, and when she was halfway up the stairs, the bell rang. She picked up her pace and began jogging, and then she heard the familiar bustle of footsteps and a hundred voices at once. Tori fought against the crowd all the way to the end of the corridor, and when she finally reached the room, everyone was gone.
Tori desperately searched for her backpack, but when she couldn't find it, she knew that Amy must've taken it. Her heart skipped a beat, and she began going over what was in the bag. Unfortunately she was so exhausted, she couldn't recall much. It was inevitable though; the gank would find something to use against her.
She cussed under her breath as panic set in, and it was times like these that Tori seriously wished a blackhole would consume her, and drop her into an alternate-reality. Her life sucked.
If you're still with me:
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~ TLS
