XXIII. The Queen Loses her Crown When Everything goes Down
"What's up, beautiful?" Queenie greets me as we walk in the same general direction. I've had my music class in between Miss Kwan's class and Ms. Hatzilakos' class, but it goes by so quickly that I hardly consider it a class. Now Queenie and I are both headed to physics together although we have different teachers. I watch as her black, curly hair bounces as she walks like it sometimes does.
"A lot. There's something I need to tell you about Ri-" I stop and glance around. "About him."
"Immediately my friend moves closer towards me. "Yeah? Did you guys finally take the next step?" Her light brown eyes are sparkling.
"Um, actually..." I tell Queenie about what happened yesterday between Rick and I, the entire "kiss gone amiss" story.
"I had to kick him out, well actually, he took it upon himself to leave. I felt extremely uncomfortable after what he did." I shake my head. "He seemed to feel really guilty about it, but then I thought about Terri and Ivory and how he probably acted the same way after he hurt them."
"You had every right to kick him out if you felt uncomfortable." Queenie tells me. "So you're starting to doubt that he's different after all?"
"It pains me to admit that I'm starting to see Rick the way most of my classmates do. "I know he wants to be different and is making a huge effort," I explain, "but he's not paying attention to the basic rules of respect in a relationship. It's like he's trying too hard and too fast to change."
"You mean the he was so determined to clean up his reputation that he forgot the basic rules of consent?"
"He made me feel like a victim in my own house." I explain. "On top of that, there was one thing he said that rubbed me the wrong way."
"What?" Queenie frowns. A student walking past us fake coughs a "slut" as he moves in between us, and she shoves him away.
Briefly I watch the exchange before I answer. "He said that he has to keep me. 'Keep me': like I'm a possession of his."
"Hmm." Queenie says.
"That and the way he had me pinned down. I thought for sure that he would be another Jay." I fold my arms acoss my chest.
"Have you talked to him about it yet?" Queenie asks.
"We will after this last class." I reply. "He passed me a note in Miss Kwan's class asking me to talk with him."
"Awww, see? He can't be that bad." Queenie smiles and pats my back. "At least you can say he feels guilty about it. He can't be so terrible, Vivian, especially considering that he saved your life."
"Don't remind me." I say. "You make it seem like I owe him something all because he prevented me from drowning." I pray that Rick wouldn't think in that way, or he would be no different from Jay. And to have two Jays at this school? The thought alone is horrifying.
"That's not what I'm saying at all, and I doubt that Rick would use that reasoning once you talk to him." Queenie says. "If he does, drop his ass fast. Break off any ties with him immediately because that means he still sees girls as objects; something to posess, as you mentioned before."
We approach the science hallway and make our way over to the overhang which holds both my and Queenie's classrooms.
"And this," Queenie says, "is where we part. Now gimme a hug. I have a feeling we won't see each other after class."
"We really need to hug anyway." I embrace an open-armed Queenie, which turns into a tight squeeze without fail. Every time. I really have missed her.
Almost immediately after we pull a part, Alex approaches us. She moves at a quick pace.
"Er...hey." I greet her, but she doesn't look in my direction.
"Hey, Queenie," she says, "let me talk to you for a second."
Three.
Two.
One.
It happens in slow motion. Alex punches Queenie square in the face. The sound of the impact reverberates across the entire corridor. I shriek as my best friend hits the floor.
But her hair goes flying in the air.
I watch with my jaw dropped as Queenie's...apparent wig is airborne and lands right beside her. The rate of my heart beat accelerates sky high. Several students have gathered to see about the commotion and have all fallen silent as they look down at Queenie.
I do too. Her head is completely shaved. Bald. Not a hair in friend has a clean head, but She's still flawless. Flawless and bald. Her head has a perfectly round, even shape. The students circling us are pointing and squealing as they too watched Queenie's wig fly off of her head.
I open my mouth, but Alex beats me. "Did you have a good time with him, Queenie? Did you think you were slick, Queenie? Tell me what you liked most about riding my boyfriend, Queenie. Did you honestly think you'd get away with it?" She raises her voice for all of the hallway to hear. She's fuming so much she's oblivious to the crowd growing around us. I recognize Jay and Sean as they appear behind her.
Meanwhile, poor Queenie has her hand against her eye, lying in agony on the floor.
"Look at that!" Alex shouts. "The Queen of sluts is not only knocked off her throne, but hairless too! Is there anything else you would like to let us know, Queenie?"
"Alex, just chill, alright?"Jay says from behind looking just as flabbergasted as I feel.
"You shut the hell up!" Alex turns and faces her boyfriend...maybe now her ex?
For the millisecond she's occupied with Jay, I kneal down to help out Queenie. It's all I know how to do after everything happening and everyone staring at us.
"Don't bother. I'm fine." She moves my hands away with the two of hers, and I see her newly blackened eye against her caramel skin. I stare in horror. She looks like a completely different person now. Everything about her bubbly demeanor has been knocked away by Alex's punch.
"That's right, Vivian: she's fine." I jump at Alex's voice. "Is there anything her highness would like to add?"
"Yes. There IS." My heart hammers in my chest as I watch Queenie climb to her feet. "I didn't ride Jay last night."
Everyone around us gasps and starts chatting amongst themselves.
"He rode ME. And i enjoyed every second of it."
In these seconds to follow, I black out; I can't tell who threw the first blow, but as staff members force themselves into the crowd and pry students apart from each other, I find myself on top of Alex and underneath Jay as we both hold her back. Snake is restraining Queenie, and everyone else are being yelled at to go to class. Ms. Hatzilakos is one of the teachers to help break the three of us apart. As soon as I stand and ruffle my ponytail, I feel a fresh wave of pain from the side of my head, which was received from being tackled to the floor by Jay.
As Alex stands up, she holds the back of her head, and Principal Raditch escorts her out of sight, possibly to his office. She glares menacingly at Jay and I as she passes. Sorry, Alex. I couldn't let you hurt my best friend anymore.
I look over at Jay who got his cap knocked off in the turmoil. His hair is brown underneath; I would have guessed that he was more of a brunette, but whatever. I guess I wasn't really paying attention to him last night when he was with Queenie.
"Take a picture: it'll last longer." Miraculously, in spite of possibly losing his girlfriend and finding out that his former secret lover is bald, he's still as dry as ever.
"A tragedy that would be." I leave Jay alone in the hallway and stand by the doorway to wait for the nurse pass that Ms. Hatzilakos is filling out for me. Thanks to Mr. Smartass Hogart, I'm feeling the effects of my concussion again. I'll have to call Rick from the nurse's office and tell him that he'll have to wait a while before we can talk.
Speaking of, I recall the advice that Queenie told me about him...before I discovered she was bald. I don't even know where to begin with that entire situation. Well, before all of that, she thinks that what Rick did was an honest mistake. Shoot, I was there; it was an honest mistake.
I have a lot to go over before I talk to Rick.
Rick's P.O.V.
As Toby and I walk to Ms. Hatzilakos' class, we observe that the hallway is unusually bare. There's no one in sight except for the occasional student at his or her locker. Other than that there's plenty of room to stretch my legs. No Spinner. No Jimmy. No Jay. For once I can breathe.
"Dude, bet twenty dollars that there's a fight happening around the corner." Toby declares.
"We've already played this game before, Toby." I reply. "Besides, I find it rather obvious that something has distracted our fellow classmates. Now an actual bet would be naming who's in the fight." I'm going to make this interesting if there's going to be cash involved.
"Is this another of your challenges?" My friend mocks me as he always does.
But he's sadly mistaken this time. "Do you hesitate, dear Toby, to accept?"
"Oh, no: it's on." Toby holds out his hand, and I shake it firmly. This time I won't lose.
"So, my friend, which of the two genders do you believe is brawling it out? By the looks of the hallway and going by fights I've witnessed in the past, I'll have to wager the ladies." I say. "You see, male fights are more intense, but female fights in school are much more...entertaining."
"Yeah, but a dude fight would attract the largest group." Toby argues. "Although no one's around...would all of those people get that close to two guys tumbling like that?"
"Ah, it's girls obviously, but maybe the amount of people means that the girl can punch very well." I add on. "I say 'girl' because the odds of two girls using fists, well in a high school anyway, are really low."
"How do we know that it's either two guys or two girls? What if there's a guy and a girl?" Questions Toby.
"One: guys are usually stronger than girls, so it wouldn't be an entertaining fight. Two: those types of guys receive a bad reputation and the people around you won't let you forget about the incident until you leave." I scowl as I think of the time I had at Degrassi so far. No one would make my mistake. They've seen me suffering too much.
"Touche." Toby replies. "So we both agree that it's a chick fight?"
"Affirmative." I reply. "Now do we know of any girls who like to punch?"
Toby and I seem to agree that Alex has to be one of the two, but her opponent is where we're split. Fortunately I overheard Vivian's conversation in Miss Kwan' s class and know who has the greatest chance of being at the end of her fist.
"Emma and Alex took a tumble last year. What if they're at it again?" Emma is Toby's favorite girl, and I can't blame him. Somehow I feel that if I had never met Vivian, my friend and I would be competing a lot more to win over Emma's affection. I watch as he beams. "Dude, we're missing out!"
I watch as Toby picks up the pace and follow him towards the crescendo of voices. Without a doubt there are cries of glee coming from just around the corner.
"Rick, you didn't declare who you think the other girl is." Toby says.
"I'm going to take a stretch and say that...um, I don't know, Queenie is up against Alex?"
"What? No way you can be serious about that." Toby's eyes widen. Sadly, he always questions my logic. He has so much to learn.
"Ah, but I am. And so the bet commences!" I have never been so certain in a bet.
"Hey: even if it isn't Emma, I'd be much more approximate than by guessing Queenie."
We've been through this procedure before: only one of us can be right in order to win. If both of us are wrong, then the bet cancels out. On the contrary, should our minds think alike (as they usually do) and we're both correct, we treat ourselves to a little drink. A cooler on the rare circumstance that we guess correctly won't destroy our liver.
This time around, however, I will be doing the victory march. The chatter gets louder the closer we approach our peers. The instant we turn the corner, we spot a crowd of them all circled around a commotion. I feel myself trembling in excitement.
"Be ready to hand me that twenty, man." Toby says to me.
I scoff. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."
Out of the sea of savage-like animals emerges none other than Miss Nelson. Just a single glance over, and one is able to tell by her smooth, blonde hair that she didn't engage in any rough-housing.
I suppress the grin that's threatening to take over my lips as Emma comes near us. Automatically Toby's wager is eliminated. Sorry, pal. I don't owe you anything. "Afternoon, Emma. What seems to be the predicament?" I nod towards the crowd.
"Rick. Toby." This is nice for Emma, and I'll take it. "It's Alex and Queenie. See for yourself. Ms. Hatzilakos is allowing students to enter class late since it's happening right outside the classroom." Emma walks past us, her long hair flowing behind her as she walks.
I let the grin surface and hold my hand out towards Toby. "Relinquish the cash, Toby."
"Fine: I'll pay you first thing tomorrow morning." Toby shakes his head as he makes his way towards class.
Toby may possess the charm to reel in girls, but I'm highly skilled at calculating the most possible outcome of a situation. I chuckle to myself.
"I missed the joke, psycho."
I glance up to see Jay before me; a.k.a., one of my three daily tormentors. I flinch upon his appearance: without his signature backwards cap to mark his bad-boy image, he looks like an entirely different person. No matter: whatever he wishes to do to me, I'll take it like a man.
Suddenly the unthinkable happens: he walks away from me. No menacing glare, no shove, not even a bump in the shoulder. I've grown so used to his torments that somehow Jay's neglect is more insulting. It doesn't feel natural, as if I hadn't shown up to school at all today. This had been the only time I had seen Jay today, and he did nothing to make my life miserable. Maybe he cowars away if teachers are near by. I look ahead and see staff members yelling at students to go to class, and slowly the crowd disperses.
I spot Mr. Raditch escorting Alex Nunez from sight. I'm sure she left a number on Queenie's face. She's seething with anger as she walks with the principal. According to what I heard from Vivian, Queenie and Jay had...I'm too weak to finish that train of thought. She could have done so much better. I'm not good friends with Queenie the way Vivian is, but even I would have never imagined the two of them together.
Speaking of which, I see Vivian standing outside of the classroom, and my heart skips three beats. Quickly I approach her. I notice that she's holding what looks like a wig. "Hey!" I say as I come towards her.
She flinches at me. "Hey." She looks out of it, as if she's a million miles away.
"You okay?" I ask softly. I get a closer look and notice that the corner of her left eye is swollen. My heart pounds. She was involved in that mess?!
"Fine-uh...I don't know." Vivian responds. "Did you see what happened?"
"I just missed it." I reply. "What happened? Your eye..." I reach out to touch it with my thumb, and she winces.
"Please don't do that." She says. "That hurts. But yeah: it was Queenie and Alex. I had to tackle Alex so she wouldn't take another swing on my best friend. Do you see this?" She holds up the wig in her hand. "This fell off of her head."
I look at the wig, and it looks like the hair I've seen on Queenie: black and curly. Wow: it's hard to imagine her without it. "So does that mean she's..."
"Bald? Yes." Vivian answers. "Guess she was embarrassed about coming to school with a shaven look."
I frown as I look away to imagine Queenie being bald, but an image doesn't come to mind, or maybe I'm in denial that her hair was never real. How long had she'd been wearing that wig?
"You look just about as confused as I feel." Vivian says.
"I don't blame you." I nod towards the classroom. "Come in with me?"
She shakes her head. "Unfortunately my new injury sort of bothered the concussion I already have. I'm waiting for Ms. Hatzilakos to write me a pass to see the nurse."
This is not a good day. The second time I offer Vivian to walk with me, and she's already got something else planned. I know this time it's urgent, but still...I miss her. I want you back, sweet, little Vivian.
"Hey, why do you look so hurt?" Vivian inquires. "We're still going to talk later, remember?"
"Usually we would have talked to each other several times by now." I reply rather bitterly.
Vivian raises her eyebrows. "I know that, Rick, but today was rather busy, and besides...small talk is something I can't do with you right now considering what happened with us last night."
I look down at my shoes as I always do-when I'll talking to Emma or some other girl that brushes me off like a dust mite. Finally I nod my head.
"Just this final class, okay? Then we'll talk, but I think you should go inside now." Vivian gestures towards the classroom. "Ms. H. doesn't approve of lateness especially if she gives you additional time to get to class."
She gets me to smile at this. "You're right. Until after school, then?" Ms. Hatzilakos walks out of the classroom and hands Vivian her note.
"You can count on it." She winks at me before walking down the hallway.
I stare after her as she marches down the hall. Her cute little walk brings a warmth to my heart. I haven't paid any attention to it until now. Time couldn't go by any slower.
"Mr. Murray, are you going to stand there for the rest of the day?"
Abruptly I face Ms. Hatzilakos and begin to blush. "My apologies." I head into the room. The yearning keeps getting stronger the closer the time draws near. As I move to my lab station I can only think of what will transpire after class.
Nothing has ever meant more to me. Vivian has to understand that what I did didn't start a series of abuse. I learned the hard way with Terri. Although I wasn't punished as severely as I had expected, the idea alone was enough to scare me straight. I can't go through Degrassi without her, at least until I have proven to everyone how wrong they are about me, and maybe, just maybe, I'll have more friends than just Vivian and Toby.
Until then I need Vivian, and I'm determined to keep her my life at all costs.
Vivian's P.O.V.
"Would you like to take some pain killers with you?" The nurse, a young blonde woman, asks me.
I smile. "I'm good. Have some at home, but thank you."
She smiles back. "Alright then. Do you have a Gym class this semester? You need to be mindful of the amount of physical activity you do. Although jumping into the middle of a fight to help your friend was really courageous especially for someone your size," she indicates my frame with a wave of her pen, "it wasn't the smartest decision to make concerning your recent concussion."
"Yeah I know." I reply. "And yes I do have a P.E. class, but I have a medical excuse from my doctor saying that I need to sit out for about three weeks before I can participate, and even then, she informed me to be cautious of any activity for the risk of further head injury."
"Good." The nurse says, and she heads back behind her desk to fill out paperwork. "Hope you enjoyed your first visit to the nurse's office, and I don't wish to see you on a regular basis." She chuckles at this. "I tell all the kids this: it'll mean you're sickly or constantly hurting yourself."
I chuckle as well. "Understood, Nurse Maci." I glance back to a closed off section of the room. "Is Queenie back there?"
"Queenie? There was a Queenie Parker in here for a very brief time, but she left soon after. She was one of the girls in the fight you were talking about, so she had to go to the principal's office." Maci looks up from her papers. "Was that your friend? She seems like a sweet girl just like you, and she has a shaved head..."
I nod. "That's my friend. She lost her wig in the fight." I unzip my backpack and pull out Queenie's curly hair. "Did she seem alright when she came in?"
"Oh, sweetie, she just needed ice for her black eye, and she was fine." Maci assures. "YOU, on the other hand, need to lie down on that cot back there for a little while, and I don't care if it's the end of the day. No worries about Hatzilakos, okay? I'll call her and tell her you're staying."
I nod. "Sounds good to me. Thanks!" Besides I need to rest up in order to have the energy to face Rick.
Almost eagerly, I make my way towards the curtain hiding the cot, take off my shoes and lie down sideways. As soon as I close my eyes I begin to think.
My actions today were driven by fear and adrenaline. It's hard to register what happened today between my best friend and a classmate that I work with on a regular basis. Things will never go back to being normal, especially considering that I tackled Alex and succeeded in possibly giving her a headache.
But with Queenie...what...I didn't know she shaved her head. It's not the fact that she's bald: I'm not a shallow person, but it's the fact that she hid it. It doesn't get under my skin as much as the Jay thing did, but it's worsening the headache I already have just thinking about why she would hide it from me. So why would someone shave her head and cover it up? I wouldn't put it pass Queenie to try out an edgy, severe look, and shaving one's head would definitely fit the bill. So then what? She chickened out? It's possible, but that doesn't fit Queenie's personality. There has to be some reason though!
Suddenly a dark thought intrudes my mind, turning the blood cold in my veins, goosebumps crawling over my body. Could, Could Queenie be sick? Is her baldness due to chemotherapy? I sit up and wrap my arms around my legs. That can't be right. She would have told me about something that serious. I hug myself to keep from trembling. Seems like I'll have to have another talk with my friend, that is, if she wants to. Until then, I need to straighten things out with Rick. I'm just scaring myself thinking about Queenie's situation.
I hate that I put this off until the end of the day, and I know that Rick thinks that I'm neglecting him. A huge pain pierces my heart. I didn't imagine that I would be the one to hurt his feelings. But that doesn't change the damage that's been done, the damage that he has done. Rick needs to understand that there are boundaries when it comes to relationships, that both people need to be willing to participate in order for there to be a relationship. If he's aware of that, then he shouldn't be so shocked that I'm upset with him because it was he who crossed the line and grabbed my chest. So what am I implying? If he is upset about me not talking to him then he doesn't understand that concept? Am I saying that Rick's crazy?
I lie back down on the cot. I just need a nap right now.