Fall break was over now and we were forced to grab our backpacks and drag our feet to school. The weather was dwindling down to the fifties and forties and the rain was almost as present as ever as it is for the middle of October. I wore my slicker over my school uniform and my helmet on my head because Coraline insisted on safety. I slung my backpack on, hollered goodbye to Grandma from the garage and mounted my bike.
I avoided the puddles from Sunday's rainfall, but still followed the normal path to Coraline's house. She was standing on the porch and tugging at her stubby blue braids when I was pulling up. When she heard the growl of the engine she popped her head up and ran towards me. She opened the back box on my bike and took out her helmet.
"Took you long enough Lovat, what were you doing? Finishing the pre-calculus homework?" She said with a smirk, fastening her helmet.
"Oh shit, we had homework for break?" I groaned and crashed my head on my motor bike handles. "I didn't even open my bag at all the whole week." She laughed at my forgetfulness and swung onto my bike, wrapping her skinny, yellow-slicker-enclosed arms around my middle. I revved the engine and drove off in the direction of Ashland's own stuffy private high school. It was a decently short drive, only 12 minutes to get there and since no one except the kids going to school were up at 6:45 in the morning, we enjoyed our quiet journey.
Once we arrived to school, Coraline hopped from my bike to the ground and yanked off her helmet. She tucked her stray hairs into her braids, smoothed her skirt, and waited for me to finish. We walked towards the building in a comfortable silence until I asked,
"So, do you have any thoughts on Halloween costumes?" She gave a shrug that included raising her hands up to make it more dramatic.
"Nope, not a clue. Why? Do you got any good ones?" I shook my head in response. We continued our same pace inside the school, I went to drop my raincoat off at my locker which was on the same floor as the entrance and Coraline waved goodbye to travel upstairs to her locker.
Unfortunately, I didn't have any classes with the blue-haired beauty until later, but having three out of seven classes with her was pretty lucky if I do say so myself, not to mention, we also have lunch together.
My first class was one of my least favorite, english. Of course Cora would be in heaven right now, she loves literature, she would love to discuss her thoughts on Hamlet. Not me, finding the true meaning behind the words and actions of characters is not my favorite thing. If I wrote a book, all the characters would tell you exactly how they feel, no extra fluff, no metaphors, they'd tell it like it is.
"Wybourn, you've been awful quiet during this discussion. Would you like to add how you would have reacted to your mother remarrying while your father was on his deathbed?" Mrs. Peterson asked with a fake smile. I knew she didn't really care that much, I was one of her least favorite students because I never participated in class.
"I mean, I'd be pretty upset, probably go to a witch and pay her to release the plague on the whole royal family." I sighed while continuing to slump back in my chair. Mrs. Peterson gave me a sharp glare that included the squinting of her eyes before she moved on to the next kid with their hand raised. The class dragged on for another half-hour until she have us our homework. I went to my next class of chemistry and worked on my Pre-calculus homework that I should have done over break while Mr. Warner droned on explaining the next page in our notes. I managed to finish a good chunk of it before the bell rang, signaling me to go to physical education. I entered the boys locker room and was immediately greeted with the smell of Axe body spray and sweaty socks, a horrible combination if you ask me. I quickly changed out of our school uniform and into the gym uniform of a pair of black basketball shorts and a light grey tee shirt.
Lucky for us, it was only drizzling outside, so we got to take our soccer games into the grass.
Because this was a private school, co-ed games weren't really a thing so the girls played the girls, and the boys played the boys.
Teams were picked and because I actually tried a little in gym, I was picked pretty quickly. We scored a few goals and I was on my way to make one myself when I was tripped by Lyle Pembrooke who proceeded to take the ball away from his goal. Thankfully, I caught myself before anything more than my knees got caked in mud. I quickly got up and brushed myself off, my sights were now set on Lyle. I rushed at him, kicking near his shins to steal the ball and when I did, I slammed a shoulder jab at him, making him stumble a little. I passed the ball to Arthur who scored the last goal before coach Westwood called us in with a whistle blow.
On the way in, both Jackson and Arthur gave me a crisp high five with booming words of 'good play today'. I was still a little sweaty putting on my school uniform which was always a gross feeling I had to take with me to math, my first class of the day with Coraline.
I came in and took my seat next to her in the far left corner. She was re-braiding her hair and told me,
"I finished the homework if you need it." She nodded towards her red folder on her desk that had the word 'Pre-calculous' written on it in her curly handwriting. I shook my head and boasted,
"Actually, I finished most of it during science, but thanks anyways." After my comment, Mrs. Vaughn started her lesson and finished it within the first 20 minutes, giving us our homework for today and taking our's from the break. Cora and I goofed off most of the rest of the hour, doing a few problems every once in awhile. The bell rang and we only had six problems done, but that was an issue for later us, now it was time for French. We walked together upstairs to the language hall and once again took our seats next to each other. I spent most of the class complaining how hungry and bored I was, and Madame Diamandis told me I had to complain in french if I wanted my points for the day. So I cleared my throat and started my rant over again this time in french, which made Coraline laugh. I responded to her laughter by telling her she had to laugh in french in french class which in turn made everyone giggle.
After what seemed like hours trapped in that class, the bell rang, letting us run to lunch. I bought my lunch from the school, but Coraline insisted the school was trying to poison us through the food to make us mindless, non-creative students so she brought her own lunch. I got splatter of spaghetti, an apple, an orange juice, and what appeared to be some sort of pudding. As soon as I set my tray down Coraline grimaced,
"Is that melted poop with flies?" Pointing her triangle half sandwich at my pudding.
"Actually, I think it's pudding with...raisins?" I flipped around the goop with my plastic spoon.
"That's disgusting, why ruin something perfectly delicious with raisins? That should be against the law, like how people try to put fruit it cookies, that's a federal offense to me." She took a small bite out of her sandwich, and continued to look at me. I nodded in agreement and went on eating. I finished my food faster than her and started to try to convince her to give me her fruit snacks. The bell rang before I could get Coraline give me a gummy. We walked to history together and I kept pestering her for some. I sat in her seat which I knew would be the last straw for her. With a huff she gave in and gave me half the bag, shoing me out of her spot. I triumphantly stood up and took my seat behind her. I enjoyed each little gooey fruit-flavoured treat while half listening to Mr. Bradberry's lecture on the fall of the Chinese empire. I watched Coraline take diligent notes that I knew I'd have to beg for on test week, I prayed that they'd be easy to understand. Unfortunately, this was one class we absolutely could not talk in because Mr. Bradberry heard everything and would punish talkers be making them recite JFK's inaugural speech, and if we couldn't say it from memory we'd immediately be given a Saturday detention. It felt like this class lasted eternity, I had to hold back from groaning in agony every second. I watched the clock like a hawk, following the second hand like my life depended on seeing it go around. Unlike Coraline, I did not enjoy learning about the past, the only thing that mattered from the past was their music, everything else was boring and old.
I was never more appreciative for the ding, ding, ding, noise in my life. I tugged at Coraline's sleeve to get her to pack up faster. She brushed me off and slowly walked out the door, I was following close behind her. I sighed as we parted ways, I headed off to my last class, engineering, a class that I was good at. I turned my head to see Coraline to slow her pace as she went in the direction of the gym, a subject she never liked.
I passed the loud saws that occupied the woodworking room and went to the last classroom in the hall. I was met with the smell of grease and metal. I quickly tied an apron on, the school did not tolerate oil or any other substance of the uniform. I went to grab my mock build of my project and got to work on the real thing. I made sure to watch the clock so I could pack up in time to race across the school to get Coraline from P.E.. Getting a look at her after gym was a sight in it's own. Her baby hairs that had escaped her braids or ponytails, depending on which way she tied it up, would twist into tiny, wispy curls around her face. Her cheeks would flush, making her freckles pop out, and her eyes would be wide from her increased heart rate. Yep, it was definitely worth running through the school for.
Five minutes before the final bell of the day, I shoved my project on the shelf, put away my extra materials, and ripped off my apron, waiting by the door. I bounced back and forth on my heels, feeling my bag jump on my back slightly. The second I heard the first ding, I yanked the door open and took off, flying through the halls, hearing a few teachers call "Lovat, stop running right now!" I ignored them and kept going. I skidded to a halt in front of the doors that lead out of the gym, I leaned against the white wall while I waited for Coraline to walk out. Kids came out of the doors in streams, laughing and smiling with each other, I searched each face for freckles and blue hair. Soon, everyone had come out, none of them Coraline. I waited a few more minutes, but no one else emerged from the wooden double doors. I furrowed my brows and opened the door, slipping inside. I looked around the room, seeing no other person, just bleachers. I noticed that the girl's locker room was still open and headed in that direction. I listened at the door for voices. I strained my ears, creeped closer inside the space and then I heard it, a small hiccup and a sniffle. Without a second thought I ran inside, looking down each aisle for the source of the sound. I saw a flash of blue and backtracked a row and saw her crouched down on the floor. Her knees were pulled up to her chest and her face was hidden. I went to her and sat right in front of her, brushing her hair away. She jumped, looking at me with surprised and scared eyes.
"Jonesy?" she pulled her knees in tighter, darting her eyes to the floor, refusing face me. "Cora? What's wrong? What happened?" I reached out to touch her and she jerked away, taking her arm from it's place to push me away. When she did that, I saw it, the beginning of a bruise forming on her upper arm. I immediately grew angry from the thought that someone would hurt her. I scanned the rest of her visible limbs and noticed a many scrapes on her ankles and bleeding kneecaps. I gently grabbed her face with both of my hands, forcing her to look me in the eyes. Her normally warm brown eyes were clouded and spilling over with tears, her lips were busted and very chapped, and her hair was more of a mess then my own. "Cora? What," I paused so I swallow my fear and loathing that was taking over, I had to calm down so I wouldn't scare her anymore then she already was. "What happened to you Coraline? Who did this Coraline?" Shame filled her eyes as she tried to pull away, but I held her face still. "Coraline," I let one of my hands fall to her shoulder and gave her a light squeeze of encouragement. More tears fell on her cheeks as she sniffled,
"I-I," a hiccup interrupted her confession. " T-they got mad at m-m-me for not being fast enough, because i-if we were f-first we wouldn't h-h-have to run all, all week," more hiccups took over. "S-so they tripped m-me while everyone else went i-inside. T-they grabbed me and, and," she stopped to rub the mark on her arm. " A-and they kept k-kicking me, o-over, a-and over again while I was down. E-everytime I tried to get up t-they'd grab m-me by m-my hair and p-p-push me down again." She started to shake violently as she lifted her heavy head to look at me. Her face looked liked it did when she thought about the Others. Purely petrified. Her legs dropped from their scrunched up position and I rushed to pull her into a tight embrace while kneeling in front of her. She was limp in my arms for a while before slowly curling her arms around my back, I felt her tremble as well as the wetness on my shirt from her eyes. She gripped my shirt with her thin fingers and cried, and wailed, and sobbed. When the noise reduced to mere sniffles I asked,
"Who? Who were they Coraline?" I tried to be gentle but I knew my voice seemed hard. I felt her shake her head in my shirt as she whispered,
"I-I don't," I cut her off,
"You do know." I wrapped my arms around her tighter and rested my chin on top of her head. "I just want to know who, I won't do anything rash." That was a lie but she didn't need to know that right now. She gave a sigh of defeat as she admitted,
"V-valerie Farce, Summer Newburg, and Kate D-dailey." I kissed the crown of her head and started to pull her up to stand.
"Everything is going to be okay, you're safe now Cora. I'll protect you alright?" She lifted her head to look at me and slowly nod. "Let's go home okay?" I gave her a smile a took her hand to lead her out.
...
I'm so sorry this took so long, I've been working on this for a while and I finally got to the part that mattered. I have a general idea of where I want to take this but I'm still unsure, I'm very open to suggestions. Once again, I'm so sorry for making you all wait, you deserve better for being so supporting and lovely.
All my love,
Violet