Chapter Seven
After lunch wrapped up for the day, Paulina started walking to her Economics class alongside Star, whose class was adjacent to hers. Surprisingly, she had no friends in that class, unless she counted Danny, who usually avoided her out of respect for Sam.
"You know, I kind of feel bad about what happened with the Goth back in the locker room." She curled her fingers around the strap of her backpack and stopped in front of her classroom door. "I never thought I'd say this, but she didn't deserve all of that."
Star stopped walking as well and leaned sideways against the wall beside her. "Don't tell me you're getting soft on us, Paulina. You shouldn't feel bad for her. She humiliated you in front of the whole class and had rumors being spread around about you. If she doesn't feel bad about doing that, then you shouldn't feel bad about one minor thing that was done to her in return."
Paulina hummed and pulled her brows together thoughtfully. "I suppose you're right."
"I know I am." Star swept her hair behind her shoulders and leaned up from the wall. "Manson had no right calling you a bully when she makes fun of you, too. She's a hypocrite. Remember when she gave that whole speech during sophomore year about how important individuality is, but she was the same person who changed the lunch menu in freshman year to fit her meal preference?"
Paulina rolled her eyes. "Ugh. I'll never forget that day." The whole school was pissed, but Sam was adamant that they all switched to her ultra-recyclo-vegetarian diet. "I guess I see your point."
"Yeah. Well, I have to get inside before someone tries to take my seat again." Star walked forward and waved goodbye to Paulina, who waved back at her and started towards her own classroom.
When she stepped inside, she saw that her teacher was writing something on the board. Assuming that it was just the assignment for the day, she wandered over to her seat. The second bell hadn't rang yet, so a few students in the class were socializing with each other. Danny sat at his desk with his face buried in his folded arms, most likely falling asleep.
She should've left him alone the way she usually did, but something told her to go talk to him. She walked over to the empty desk beside him and took a seat before reaching over and tapping him on the shoulder. "Danny?"
He hastily jerked up his head and sat upright, startling her and making her jump a bit. "I wasn't sleeping." He glanced around the room for a few seconds before resting his gaze on Paulina. Her lips curled into a sheepish smile and her hand raised as she waved. "Oh, it's just you. Why are you—"
"You don't think I'm a bully, do you?" The question just slipped out, but she didn't regret asking it, not even when Danny's lackluster eyes widened with an emotion she couldn't detect. "It's okay, you can be honest with me. Do you consider me a bully?"
He was silent for several seconds before slamming his eyelids shut and exhaling sharply. "I mean, you're not really the nicest person, especially to Sam." Paulina tilted her head to the left and rolled her eyes to the right. "I guess that's expected, seeing as how you both were never fond of each other to begin with."
"Touching." Her brows then dipped together into a scowl. "But that doesn't answer my question."
"Well..." She watched him shuffle his hand through his hair and tentatively raise his shoulders. "Why are you asking me? My opinion doesn't matter. What you think of yourself matters the most."
"I don't want to be a bully," she answered. The bell rang at that moment, so Danny didn't respond to her, but she disregarded the bell and continued speaking to him. "Your Goth friend seems to think I'm one, though, which is why I'm asking you if you agree with her."
His brows slanted and his mouth twisted to the side, creating a crease in his cheek. "Her name is Sam and she's my girlfriend. You never really seem to acknowledge our relationship or even just her as a person. You're not a complete bully, but you can be a little disrespectful sometimes."
"Oh, really? How?"
"Well, you've insulted me, Sam, and Tucker countless times up until you found out I was Danny Phantom. You also pretty much used us to get 'Phantom' to come to your birthday party. Before Valerie transferred, you and the rest of the A-listers shunned her from your group because of her rough living conditions. I'm glad you've accepted me as Danny Phantom, but you would've never accepted me as Danny Fenton if I didn't reveal my secret."
Paulina leaned back and blinked a few times as the feeling of offense struck her. "That's not true." She downcast her eyes to the surface of her desk and slightly parted her lips. "Is it?"
"It is. Regardless of all that, I was still able to forgive you because I know nobody's perfect. The way you act towards Sam is exactly how Dash acted towards me. The only difference between me and him versus you and Sam is that he stopped picking on me."
"Yeah, because he can't take on Danny Phantom."
"And you can't take on Sam, so why do you keep picking on her?"
That shut her up completely. Danny's eyes lingered on her for about three seconds before he turned away from her. She tightly pressed her lips together and shifted her focus onto the front board, where her teacher was jotting down something from a textbook he was holding onto.
For the rest of the period, she mentally reflected on her conversation with Danny. The more she did that, the more she felt guilty. She knew she should've jumped in to stop Tiffany and her friend from doing Sam like that, but for some reason, she couldn't. She merely sat back and watched, and while she didn't know much about being a bully, she knew that she was no better by standing back and doing nothing to stop it.
So, after school, she caught up with Sam in the cafeteria as she waited for the other members of the club to get there. She was sitting at the table with her usual deadpan expression clouding her face, surveying her surroundings. As soon as Paulina approached her, however, her deadpan expression shifted to a glare.
"Wait, before you yell at me or anything, I actually came here to... you know." She almost choked on her words because she hated apologizing. It made her feel vulnerable and wrong, and she felt like she was usually always right. "A-Apologize. You know, for what happened in the locker room."
Sam's right eyebrow rose and she steepled her fingers over her stomach as she slowly leaned back, now intrigued. "Okay?"
Paulina hesitated for a minute, somehow trying to come up with a way to spit out a decent apology. She then sighed and tipped her head back a little. "I should have said or done something back there. I don't know why I didn't and I can't explain why either, but I'm... you know, sorry."
Sam briefly looked down at her hands before a smirk broadened across her face. "Sorry for what, exactly?"
"Are you being serious right now?" Paulina asked, but the way Sam cocked her head to the side and lifted her brows told her that she was. She then exhaled sharply through her nose and raised her palm to her forehead. "I'm sorry for not stopping Tiffany from throwing your clothes in the shower and I'm sorry for letting Amber pour her water on you like that."
Sam puffed out her lower lip and nodded her head. "Okay."
"Okay?" Paulina crossed her arms and scoffed. "What, that's it?"
"Yeah, that's it." Sam rose to her feet and looked straight into Paulina's eyes, sending shivers down her spine. "I appreciate the apology." And with that, she was gone, departing through the side entrance of the cafeteria. Paulina stood there for several seconds, trying to piece together what just happened.
"Our topic of the day is kindness." Ms. Castillo's dark eyes swept over her classroom as she spoke. "Kindness is the quality of being warmhearted, considerate, and humane. What are some examples of kindness?"
Paulina watched as a few people raised their hands, some looking more enthusiastic than others to answer the woman's question. She ended up calling on the same young girl from one of the previous sessions. "How about holding the door open for someone?"
Ms. Castillo smiled at the girl and nodded her head. "Nice job, Hannah. Anyone else?" Another student raised his hand, so she nodded towards him.
"Feeding the homeless."
"Yes, that's another one. There are many acts of kindness out there, such as giving someone a compliment, handing out flowers, donating to charity, or even recycling. It's important to be kind to others because it makes them feel good, and that inspires them to want to do something kind for you or for others."
"Plus, it makes you feel good about yourself," Hannah pitched. Ms. Castillo's smile increased and she nodded once more.
"Correct, and kindness is free! I know you all like free things." The group shared a brief chuckle as their teacher calmly paced to her right. "Every single moment of your life, you'll have the choice to act with kindness. Everyone is fighting their own battles, so it's important to practice that quality because you don't know what the person beside you is going through right now."
Paulina couldn't help but chance a glance to her left, despite knowing that Sam was occupying the desk there. She looked more bored than anything, but she still seemed to be paying attention. She averted her gaze back onto Ms. Castillo, who was now standing in the center of the classroom.
"If you would all please take a look at the teal box sitting on top of my desk." She motioned towards it and smiled gently at the group before her. "This is our new appreciation box."
"What's it for?" one student asked.
"I want everyone to anonymously write an appreciation message for someone else during each session and stick it inside the box. Five minutes before we leave, I'll read a few out loud. Not today, though, because we have to move onto the next few activities."
"Oh, okay."
"Your assignment right now is to turn to your neighbor and tell them one good thing that happened to you today." Paulina stiffened as Ms. Castillo's eyes slid towards her, and for a second, it felt like she only picked that specific assignment because she happened to be sitting beside Sam that day. "I'll give everyone two minutes."
She thinned her lips and reluctantly twisted sideways to face Sam, who looked just about as uncomfortable as she did. "Uh, my favorite meal was served at lunch today." It was awkward addressing her with anything other than insults, but strangely, it made her feel good inside.
Sam glanced at her for a split second and then immediately looked away. "Oh, cool. Um, I passed my pop quiz in Physics."
"Nice." And then they quickly stopped acknowledging each other and allowed a heavy, uncomfortable silence to settle between them. The tension was almost palpable, with both girls refusing to glance at each other for the duration of the session. However, while Paulina looked uneasy on the outside, she could almost feel her cold heart warming up a bit.