The humid air in the locker room irritated Hollypaw's nostrils. She tried not to think too much about what was happening around, just change and leave. This place had tormented her too much.
"Hello there." A male voice behind her resonated.
She turned around to face the black-haired boy who tormented Mousepaw from yesterday. Breezepaw. She learned his name later, in an English class they had together.
She wanted to tell him to go away, but fear tied her throat.
Hollypaw nervously looked around the room. All the girls have already left. Why didn't she notice it before? Only Heatherpaw remained, and was casually looking at her nails, as if nothing happened.
"You broke the code, and you'll pay for it." Breezepaw said, licking his lips afterwards.
"I didn't know you were into fat bitches, Breezepaw." Heatherpaw said, as Breezepaw closed in.
"Stop." Hollypaw said, but she could barely hear her own voice. Breezepaw was closing in, and Hollypaw desperately looked for a place to run. Fight him? Try to make it to the door? She was taller than him, but he was so much stronger. She took a moment, hoping that opportunity for her to escape would arise, but to no avail.
Breezepaw was just a few steps away from her, there was no more time. She ran. A strong force grabbed her hand, pulled backwards, pushed against the wall. Her back crashed against the hard, tile-covered walls of the changing room. Her wrists were being held up against the wall. She tried to move her arms, but it was too much for her.
In front of her was Breezepaw, with his demonic, self-congratulatory smirk.
"Don't worry, you are going to enjoy this." He said, scanning her. His touch felt slimy. She didn't want him to talk to her. She didn't want him to touch her. She didn't want him to look at her.
"Help!" Hollypaw screamed, her voice echoing in the small room.
Sweat ran down her face. She tried kicking, shoving him away, but he overpowered her completely.
And then the alarm rang. Hollypaw opened her eyes in a heartbeat, still feeling sweat running down her spine.
She sat down on her bed, panting.
It was just a dream. Just a bad dream.
In a swift motion she turned off the alarm on her phone. She stared blankly at it, her mind being in a completely different place. It may have been a dream, but after what they did to Mousepaw, she knew it could become a reality.
Lionpaw had some things to do before the school, but he had to pretend to go into the crumbling, old building before Squirrelflight drove away. As soon as he could see the car disappearing, he jumped off the stairs and headed toward the alley.
He felt good seeing the place again, as abandoned and dirty as it was before. Even the shards of glass from Mousepaw's glasses remained in the place they were before.
Heatherpaw was already waiting for him, confidently standing in the center of the alley, wearing her trademark black leather. He walked up to her, and leaned in for a kiss.
Heatherpaw side-stepped him and with all her force, she elbowed him into the side. Bending in pain, Lionpaw moaned.
"I'm not your girlfriend, don't you forget that." She said unapologetically.
"So-sorry." He said, still shaken by the blow.
"Go get some vapid girl if you want innocent kisses, staring at the moon, dinners by candlelight or other mushy crap."
"I'd..." He felt his stomach twisting. "I'd rather be with you."
"Don't worry. I'm going to play with you whether you are single or not." She said smiling. Lionpaw didn't like the way she talked about any of this. Like he was her toy and she didn't care about his opinion. But the memory of the night at Breezepaw's just couldn't die, and Lionpaw was willing to do anything for it to happen again.
"But when you are with me, you do as I say. Understand?" She said, grabbing his chin, forcing him to look into her eyes. She emanated with commanding presence, and her eyes displayed dominance that he couldn't refuse. And yet, despite the harshness, he just couldn't see anything besides the beauty of her bright, heather-blue eyes.
"Yes. I'll do as you say." He said. He felt uneasy being ordered by a girl, but that's the price he was willing to pay to be with her.
"Now, you got money?"
Lionpaw nodded, and pushed a bunch of bills into her hand.
She passed him a small paper bag.
Lionpaw's fingers itched with anticipation. He remembered it feeling so good, and now he could smoke weed whenever he wanted to. Expensive, sure, but worth it. His hands shaking, he opened the bag- or tried to, as Heatherpaw's hand stopped him.
"Don't do it right away. Only junkies do that." She said, looking at him with disgust.
Lionpaw placed the bag into his backpack, embarrassed to learn that. He didn't want to appear desperate.
The school bell rang, and even from this distance it could be heard, although faintly.
"Later!" Lionpaw said, running back to school.
It didn't surprise Jaypaw that Poppypaw didn't show up at school, but it still worried him. The memory of the limp, cold body under his hands was hard to forget, but he knew - with certainty, or perhaps just foolish hope - that she was okay. But Jaypaw didn't know if she had family or friends in school, and asking everyone if they knew what happened to her seemed excessive - and telling random people about the accident didn't feel right.
Jaypaw was brought back to the reality by the commotion. The teacher must have arrived, and obiediently Jaypaw dragged himself into the class.
Littlecloud, their biology teacher was pretty cool, but that made him have some trouble keeping discipline in classroom. Jaypaw found it hard to concentrate with everyone talking around, and Littlecloud's voice drowned in the ocean of meaningless conversations. All that was pretty normal, but the day felt unusual. Even with all the noise around it felt tranquil to what a usual day felt like.
Then it hit him.
Jaypaw turned around.
"Hey, Cinderpaw, why are you so quiet?"
"Huh?" She replied surprised.
"You stalk me in every class, always sit near me and bother me all day. But not today. Why?"
"I don't stalk you. I just wanted to be in biology." She said flatly. No cheeky comments?
"Something happened?" He asked, rocking back in his chair.
"Please remember to prepare for the exam on Friday." Littlecloud interrupted him, but Jaypaw wasn't paying attention. He could hear Cinderpaw writing it down, though.
"My sister's in hospital. I'm worried about her." She sad sadly.
"I'm sorry. I hope she gets better." He said. It was typical sort of an empty encouragement that Jaypaw hated to hear, but he didn't have anything better to offer.
"Thanks Jaypaw." She said. "You know, I chose biology, because I want to be a vet. Do you think animals have souls?" She asked randomly.
Jaypaw scratched his head. The question felt meaningless.
"Don't know, don't care." He said, shrugging.
"If ever looked into dog's eyes, you wouldn't have any doubts." She said.
"Sorry, that was insensitive." She quickly followed, much to Jaypaw's annoyance.
"I hate dogs." Jaypaw said.
"But I was thinking... Maybe instead of trying to help animals, I should get into med, and help people instead. I just hate how powerless I am to help my sister."
Jaypaw could understand her there. Thinking about Poppypaw yesterday... He wanted to help more. And maybe, just maybe, Cinderpaw's idea wasn't the worst one in the world.
Hollypaw walked around the cafeteria, but couldn't find Cinderpaw anywhere. She hasn't come yet. Hollypaw decided that there was no point in walking around anymore, and just sat down to the first free table she could find. She checked her seat before, avoiding any wierd-colored stains or spilled, unknown liquids she hoped were just soda, and starting to eat the salad she picked for lunch. It was typical school food, so bland she could have as well chewed wet paper instead. It was probably the only low calorie thing on the menu.
Fallen Leaves walked up to her table, but kept watching her without saying anything.
"Hey there." She said, after she swallowed some more tasteless vegetable slop.
"Hi." He said. "Mind if I sit down?"
Hollypaw smiled internally. Up to this point, she always initiated contact, and she was getting worried she was annoying him.
"Sure, you can join me."
He sat down and rubbed his eyes.
"You eat like a rabbit." He said, raising his eye-brow.
She raised her hand indignantly
"I like healthy food."
He shook his head. "School food can't be healthy by definition."
"Well, it tastes as bad as healthy food."
"Fair point." He said, chuckling. "Anyway... Something's bothering you, isn't it?" He said, fixing his eyes at her.
Hollypaw took a small bite of salad, to give herself more time to evaluate the situation. She wanted to have some second opinion on her situation and some help, but she wasn't sure how much she could trust him, or if he would understand it. Somehow, she didn't think appearing weak would earn Hollypaw any sympathy. But she had a feeling that she could trust him.
"Okay." She said, massaging her temples.
"There's this girl. Heatherpaw." Hollypaw decided to start with her. Breezepaw would be a tougher nut to crack.
Fallen Leaves was watching carefully and didn't budge at the mention of her name. She hoped it meant he didn't know Heatherpaw.
"She's pretty mean. And let's just say that's an understatement." She added a meaningful look to the second sentence.
"I can handle whatever she dishes out at me, but I don't think she should be able to terrorize everyone." She said. It wasn't exactly true, but she didn't want to appear weak.
Fallen Leaves acknowledged her words with nodding.
"Heatherpaw, you say." He said, staring off into the distance. He knows her?
"Have you seen the movie Heathers? It's about a guy and girl in High School who murder some bullies and make it look like a suicide. The main antagonist name is Heather."
Hollypaw shrugged. "I'm more of a book type." She said with a smile. "You are some sort of movie geek?"
"I guess." He replied.
"So, that's your idea? Killing Heatherpaw?" She said, laughing. Well, that was one way of distancing from one's problems.
"Hey, it would work. Or you can watch the movie. It'd be pretty cathartic."
Fallen Leaves pushed his hands against the table and stood up.
"I have it on DVD if you'd like to watch it sometime." He thrown out before moving away.
Lionpaw was standing in the middle of the hallway with Breezepaw and Heatherpaw. By now, the rest of the students have already figured out that they shouldn't interrupt them, and everyone was careful not to bump into them.
"Mousepaw's hiding again. I can't even get satisfaction from his sulking." Lionpaw said frustrated. He prepared some cool insults, but it won't be the same when he couldn't say them straight into his face.
"Don't worry, pink princess has learned a lesson for life. She won't ever forget that." Breezepaw said.
"It was pretty sad that the girls had to defend him. A real guy should stand up for himself." Heatherpaw said with contempt.
Lionpaw nodded. Mousepaw's insult was one thing, but the real reason Lionpaw hated him is how weak Mousepaw was. He just cried and begged, like a little girl. His behaviour was so disgusting.
"Speaking of that." Breezepaw said. "You should control your girls better, Heatherpaw. That one crazy bitch tried to punch me yesterday. I thought you ruled them with an iron fist."
Heatherpaw rolled her eyes.
"She's pretty pathetic. She only tried that, because, look at yourself. You just look weak." Heatherpaw said, giving him a pitying look.
Breezepaw growled.
"Then at least let me get back at her." He said, his eyes reeking of fury.
Breezepaw didn't seem bothered before, so Lionpaw guessed that Breezepaw's anger was more of a result of Heatherpaw's mockery than of what happened yesterday. She knew how to press people's buttons.
"Denied." She said nonchalantly. "I already broke her. You'd just mess it up." She said, turning away, leaving Lionpaw and Breezepaw alone.
Breezepaw's eyes were still focused on Heatherpaw.
"She thinks she can order me around. But I'll get my revenge on that girl, whether Heatherpaw agrees to it or not."
Lionpaw stretched himself.
"Need help with that?" He offered.
"No." Breezepaw grinned. "I can deal with her alone."