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Don't Forget About Me
Chapter Two: Saturday
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Groaning, I looked up to see Summer Bay High School looming, like a prison, in the distance. Taking a sip from my coffee that I had forced Mum to pull over and get me, I went over again in my mind, that of all the cruel punishments in the world, this has to be the worst.
"Mum" I whined, "Mum this is so unfair. I didn't even do anything that wrong, but I have to give up a whole Saturday for punishment. Isn't there something you could do? There's got to be something!" I pleaded, pulling my best puppy dog eyes and pout as she looked into the rear view mirror at me.
She sighed before pulling into the school's parking lot, just in time for me to see school's resident social misfit Cassie Turner walking across the oval, and absolute bad boy Eric Dalby walking into the school. Early, it would appear. I really didn't fit in here, let alone belong here. They would tear me to shreds.
Mum looked between Henry and I before sighing again, saying, "Look, there is nothing I can do about this. Your principle was very adamant that those who had been given Saturday detention deserved it. I'm sorry Matilda honey, but your just going to have to do this." She looked old and defeated, and I really hated the fact that we'd done this to her. But I was still angry.
"I don't belong here, with future criminals and psycho ward patients. I'm not a delinquent." I said firmly, looking Mum in the eyes.
"And what, I am?" Henry asked from the front seat, staring at me hard, as if I had the nerve to add him into that category.
"No, what I'm just saying is that you did something worse than cut to go shopping Henry." I said sweetly and calmly. "I couldn't miss the sale Mum. There were half price shoes. So much more significant than the decline of Egyptian culture in the ancient world." I finished, hoping, praying that Mum would have a change of heart and let me stay home.
"I'll be here at five. Behave yourselves." Mum said sounding truly defeated.
Henry gave Mum a kiss on the cheek before opening his door and stepping outside.
I wasn't going to be as nice.
"Dad would have never let this happen." I said, glaring icily at her before stepping out of the car and slamming the door behind me, then taking a swig of my coffee, to dull both the anger and nerves I felt.
I was finished. I couldn't get out of this. I was going to have to spend a whole Saturday at school.
Life was so cruel sometimes.
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Matilda joined me on the pavement after her harsh exchange with Mum. I looked at her, wanting her to say something but she simply shrugged at me, pretending that she didn't know what she'd done that was so wrong.
It all boiled down to one simple fact. She was a brat. A spoiled brat. And most of that had been Dad's doing. He gave everything to his baby princess, and now he was gone, Matilda had begun to see life for what it really was. A reality had sunk in. One in which she didn't get her was so much any more. One that she wasn't quite enjoying as much as the fake one Dad had created for her.
However, despite all this, she missed Dad more than anything in this world, sometimes, I thought more than anyone else did too. Despite her snotty exterior, she was still really torn up about his death. Not that she would ever admit to this, but deep down we both knew why she acted the way she did. This way, she could pretend like he was still around.
"Henry" she said quietly from beside me "You won't leave me, will you?"
"Oh but what I did was worse, remember? I belong here with future felons and basket-cases" I deadpanned, hoping to get a rise out of her.
And there it was.
I turned to face her and found a shocked expression on her face, which was quickly replaced by her normal, composed face as she calmed herself once more.
"Oh don't be so silly Henry. I didn't mean it. You will look after me, won't you?" She said, showing an inch of her vulnerability.
"Yeah, yeah, of course I will sis." I replied, half hugging her before we stepped into the building, walking down the hallway towards the library.
"Good, because you never know what I might catch being in a room with such people." Matilda said airily, as if she was the queen and everyone else were peasants.
Then again, in this highschool, Matilda was queen. She was the pretty princess of the school, and no one or nothing could tear her down from the throne.
That's what I believed at two past nine that morning any way.
Sometimes, some things just happen though.
And things began to just happen as soon as we reached the library door and entered, finding ourselves face to face with four of the most (well in some cases) unlikely suspects to be sharing detention with.
But then again, Matilda and I didn't exactly belong in detention either.
Beside me, Matilda groaned after her eyes scanned the room, as she delicately placed herself in a seat in the front row. Sitting down next to her, we waited only a few moments before Hyde announced his presence as he usually, does, by storming in angrily.
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Just fucking great. If my day wasn't going to be just super peachy keen listening to bad boy Dalby fight with Hyde, teen queen Matilda Hunter and her super stud, super athlete, super jerk brother Henry just entered my line of vision.
Now I was going to have to listen to her moaning and bitching a l l d a y l o n g.
And believe me. Her being in the same room as you for an hour was enough to drive a girl mad. Try eight hours one day, you see wait and see how much fun you have.
"Hey, you there in the back…" I heard a voice coming from the front say.
Looking up, I saw that Hyde was, in fact, addressing me… well, kind of.
"I have a name." I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Well I don't recall hearing it. Why don't you tell me again?" Hyde snapped.
That man doesn't miss a beat does he, I thought to myself dryly.
"Touchy, touchy. Belle Taylor sir. My name is Belle Taylor." I said slowly, sounding out my name, mocking him.
"Well Belle" Hyde said, mimicking my own action "you're to pay attention as I address the group."
"Whatever" I said under my breath. But my eyes stayed locked on his. I wasn't afraid of the ass.
"The rules are simple. No talking, no moving, no sleeping. Sit still and quiet all day. Mull over with your puny brains what you did wrong to end up here, and whether you'll be making that same mistake again. If I hear any noise coming from in here, each and every one of you will be in here for another Saturday detention next week. Is that understood?" Hyde finished, almost yelling by this stage.
Dalby saluted him as if her were an Army sergeant giving orders to his men.
I almost cracked up laughing.
Everyone else nodded mutely.
I rolled my eyes as Hyde stalked out the door, slamming the door behind him. Fat lot of good his rules were, he couldn't even hear us with that door shut. How would he catch us if we moved or spoke? Fool.
I began to settle myself, lying my head down onto my bag and closing my eyes before I heard a slightly strangled noise coming from near the queen. Opening one eye to see if the fuss was coming because she broke a nail, I opened both immediately and sat bolt upright when I saw Dalby cornering her.
Now, this should be fairly interesting.
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"Aww" I said, forcing myself between the queenie and her jerk brother. "Princess is stuck in detention with a bunch of social misfits.
What's she going to do all day without her best friends?
Without anyone to do hair and make-up with, to paint one another's nails.
No one to gossip with, and talk about petty matters that only seem to matter to her and not anyone else.
She might just fade away into nothing, because no one is watching her, no one is caring about every single damn move she makes." I said, putting my hand closer to her face, reaching out to stroke her face.
"Watch it dick head" growled her brother from behind me, as the Queen slapped my hand away before cowering in fear after I shot her an angry look.
"Or what?" I said, standing up to face him.
"Or you'll be beaten to a pulp before you can move a meter." He said in his best terminator voice.
Her voice came from the corner of the tables. Up the back. She was the one Hyde had addressed.
"Like you'd actually have the guts to do it. Jerk."
She was sitting cross-legged in her seat, her chin resting on her hands, which were resting on her bag, which had been punked out with badges.
"She speaks." I said, cocking my head to one side and wondering whether she would speak some more.
Unfortunately, instead, the brainless wonder began to speak.
"I would do it in a second Belle. I'd just rather save Dalby here the humiliation, and you ladies the horror."
Rolling her eyes, she muttered a 'yeah, right' under her breath before turning away to face the wall on the opposite side.
Maybe I should go to class more often, I thought momentarily before remembering what I had been doing.
Taking my chance, I sat down in Henry's vacant seat and turned to face the darling Princess.
"Don't even bother." She said as I opened my mouth. "After today I'll never have to look at you again. You're nothing to me, and nothing in my world. You're insignificant in the general scheme of things, unlike me. That's why I don't care. Because I matter, and you don't." she finished, looking away before there was a snort of laughter from behind us.
Matilda showed a shocked impression fleetingly before turning to glare at the emo geek of this weeks detention and the all round brain of the school, Lucas Holden. Grade A dork, and all round suck-up to the many teachers in our school.
I'd have been surprised if he'd had the guts to breathe while in the queens' presence, let alone snort at one of the many, many stupid comments that managed to fly continuously out of her mouth.
It appeared that more than just two of us were fed up with the perfect, immaculate Hunter twins who believed that they ran this school.
And my day just got a little damn better.
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Sooo… not exactly the best way to get on her side, I thought as she continued to glare at me. I'm not doing very well for myself these days.
But I couldn't help it. Some things just needed to be said.
"You're just so full of yourself." I blurted out as my thoughts collected themselves.
Her expression went from shocked to icy, and if looks could kill I would've hit the floor the moment she turned.
Woops.
Fortunately, Dalby, who thought this was too hilarious for words, was laughing so hard next to her, that he was taking up everyone else's attention, taking it away from me.
Except hers. Our eyes remained locked. Her's becoming small slits as the glare became harder, mine waiting, willing her to rebut, to refute my statement. To pick a fight.
"I'm not full of myself, kid. I'm honest. There is no one in this school like Henry and me. We're it. You can't help what just is." She said, looking down, then back up into my blue eyes.
Groaning, I thought for a second. The confrontation was inevitable. But for now I could delay it for a while.
"There is. You just told take the time to bother noticing them." I said, breaking the gaze and staring out the window on my left. I heard Matilda huffing and puffing angrily to the side of me, but I continued to ignore it, much to Dalby's disappointment.
Matilda was Princess of the school. That was true. But she wasn't defined by her popularity. People could very easily live without her. She just had her head too far up her ass to care about what other people really thought. It was like she existed in her own little world where only she mattered. As if she was still at boarding school with the snobs.
I was considered a no one by Henry and Matilda Hunter. Probably considered a no one by the others in this room too. Because of how I dressed. Because of the music I listened to. Or simply because I cared about school and grades.
But I also considered them nothing to me. I would not be intimidated by the Queen or the Jerk brother, or the Bad Boy Dalby, Psycho Belle or Punk… what was her name?
They were considered no ones by me. That was how highschool worked. We all lived in ignorance about ourselves, and others. I was so sure of myself thought. I'd have backed my views with anything I owned, knowing that eventually, everyone else could see the truth too.
Even if it was just these five strangers, sitting in detention with me
Especially her, I thought, considering Matilda once more. She was so sure of herself too. Maybe Dalby will bring her down a notch or two. Then I'd be able to bring her down even more.
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I'm sitting amongst planet dero, planet bone-head, planet bad boy, planet dork and planet 'the world revolves around me', I thought to myself, turning further away from whatever conversation was occurring and turning my music up louder.
How does one handle being in love with themselves that much? I wondered silently as Nirvana's 'Smells like teen spirit' filled my ears. Snorting softly at the irony of the situation and the song that had just come on, I sang along softly with the lyrics, escaping momentarily from this hell hole.
My own personal teenage hell.
I didn't belong no matter where I was. Whether it was here, with the snotty princess ruling, or at home, with my perfect little over achiever sister whom my parents worshipped. I was a misfit. A social outcast. Plain and simple.
I didn't belong, nor did I try to belong.
They all had their own cliques that they belonged to. They were all brainwashed by their own beliefs of vanity.
And I was the rejected. The leftover.
Maybe it was the vivid purple streaks in my hair. Maybe it was the dark make-up covering my eyes. Maybe it was my wristbands, my black stockings, my red Doc Martins.
Maybe it was a combination of these things, or none at all. Maybe it was simply because they were scared of the unfamiliar. They were scared of me, and what I represented. Of chaos and anarchy in their perfect little planned worlds.
The truth was, I was also a little scared to.
I was terrified of the queens' perky world…
…of the jerks athletic world…
…of the dorks brainy world…
…of the bad boys criminal world…
…and of Miss Silent Type's world, as she mocked and rolled her eyes in all appropriate moments.
I was afraid she would share something similar to me, something similar to my own world. That someone in this godforsaken school might actually understand me. Actually get me.
And that thought terrified me. Because if there was someone who accepted me, then I might actually begin to fit in. And become one of the mindless drones.
That was really what scared me the most.
And what is that poking feeling in my shoulder? I thought as I broke the stream of thoughts that flowed, turning around.
I really wasn't surprised in the least to find the culprit to be none other than Dalby, as he continued to poke me sharply with his right index finger.
"Go annoy someone else dick head. I'm in no mood for you, games or otherwise." I snapped sharply at him.
"Lucky for you, I'm not into games either." He smirked "I was just wondering what your doing over here on your lonesome, not wanting to join in the fun conversations we've got going on over there."
That comment earned Dalby a glare from Matilda, a fist from Henry, an eye roll from Belle and a snort from Lucas.
Leaning closer, he whispered loudly, "Well, I'm having fun."
"No you're not." I stated "you're bored out of your brains, and looking for another victim to taunt. And I'm not going to be it. So bugger off." I said, shooing him away with my hands.
"Spunk. I like it." he said, before yelling something out loud, something incoherent. Even if he didn't now, eventually, Dalby would manage to get Hyde back into the room, and then lay into the poor bugger once again. Honestly, Hyde didn't stand a chance.
Looking towards the clock ahead of me, I noted that it only read nine twenty-two. Pushing my headphones back into my ear, I turned to music up even louder. God, this was going to be a hell of a long day.
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AN: Well… there it is. Chapter two. I re-wrote it. I like it now. And I've got a new plan. Should be a fun story to write. I like twisting with their characteristics to make them my own. Did you like it? Hate it? It won't change unless you share. Read and review please.
