Chapter 8
A frown sat upon Mickey's face as she stared at the paper between her hands, rereading the carefully written words for the thousandth time that night since she found it beneath her dinner tray. She didn't recognize the handwriting and had no clue as to who the note belonged to at first but one glance across the Mess Hall to see Eagle's intense gaze connected the dots for her. She hastily slipped it out of sight from the rest of the tent, the last thing she wanted after having to serve them was for Squid to find it and hurl more razor sharp words at her. So she waited until she was safe back in the tent to read his apology.
It was almost funny how boys were afraid with using their words unless it was aimed at tearing someone down. As much as Squid claimed to dislike Eagle they were the same in how they worked; choosing to write out apologies rather than say them. Mickey had a box at home filled with notes from Squid, all apologies for one reason or another. (She had a separate one for his more sentimental note, they were few and far between but special nonetheless.)
She hummed as her eyes scanned over the note again, taking in the length of Eagle's apology for B-Tent. It was a bit unnecessary. Then again, everything Eagle's been doing for her was a bit unnecessary but she wasn't going to complain. He's helped make her transition a lot less of a nightmare than she expected it to be. Of course he couldn't help her screaming muscles or the peeling sunburn or the blisters or the cramps but with everything else he was there for advice and guidance. Now if only he could help with dealing with her tentmates.
It was almost like they were bipolar. At one minute they would be nice and talk to her and treat her like a normal person but then she'd blink and then they'd be laughing at her, talking about her, and teasing her. Well, teasing was a soft version of what she could call it. 'Hazing', really. Not to the extent of a fraternity, mind you, but putting a scorpion in her bed and spraying water on her while she was sleeping and putting honey on her pillow could hardly be classified as pranks.
She was going to get them back, one way or another. Especially Squid. As far as she was concerned there was no more Alan inside him, as much as she believed there was before. If he was going to fight it she may as well fight it too. It'd make both their lives easier.
Mickey folded up the letter and shoved it in the open pages of her book, marking her spot before closing it with a snap. She put it back into her crate, stuffing it beneath her bag and notebook, and left the tent. The boys were still in the Wreck Room and Squid, hopefully, was still washing dishes from dinner that night. She dashed the short distance from D-Tent to B-Tent and then hesitated. This was crazy. Here she was hovering outside the one tent that had just attacked her during the day. It still hurt to breathe and it had been a bit difficult to chew as well and yet here she was, seemingly waiting to get attacked all over again.
You didn't get enough the first time, huh?...
The weekend came to an end all too soon for Mickey. She barely slept a wink as the events of the party replayed in her mind: the drinking, the loud music, the thick smoke, getting into a fight with Alexis, looking for Alan and finding Brett and his friends instead. She'd love to forget it all if it weren't for it rolling through her mind in a constant loop like a broken record.
She tried to call Alexis but she was sent straight to her voicemail every time. She finally gave up on the seventh try. Her efforts then switched over to Alan, but she had to call his house. He didn't have a cell phone, something that she still couldn't wrap her head around in this day and age but if his mom didn't want him to have one he couldn't get one. The phone rang time and time again until she gave up on him too.
Brushing her hair out of her face and ignoring the angry purple bruise around her wrist, she kicked her legs over the side of her bed. Her feet touched the floor but her knees couldn't stand up to the pain in her thighs and she fell over. She landed on the floor with a hard thud and lay there as pain throbbed in her body and made her breathing hitch.
Between her breaths she could hear rapid footsteps moving up the stairs and it was only a second later she heard rapid knocks on her door. "Sweetie? Are you okay? What happened?" her mother called through the door.
"Fine," Mickey replied, her teeth gritted. "My leg was asleep so I fell."
"Do you need anything?"
Mickey rolled her eyes. Honestly, she just fell over. She didn't break her leg or bust her head open. "No, Mom, I'm fine. Really. I'll be down in a minute, okay?"
"Okay," her mother finally replied with a sigh. "I have your favorite breakfast waiting for you."
Mickey didn't move until she could hear her mother's footsteps walk away from her door, even then it took a few minutes for that to happen. Her mother had a bad habit of standing on the other side of the door and waiting. For what, after all these years, Mickey couldn't quite figure out. Her body curled in on itself as she let out a long sigh and finally pushed herself back to her feet.
She shuffled her way out of her room and into her bathroom to shower. She turned the temperature dial as far over as it could go and jumped in. The water stung but she did her best to ignore it as she scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed at her skin. Between the heavy hand of her wash cloth and the scalding water, it didn't take long for her skin to turn bright red but she still rubbed. Only when she felt she was suffocating on the steam did she step out of the shower but she still didn't feel clean.
Once dressed, she dragged her backpack down the stairs and went into the kitchen where her mother was humming over the hot stove and her father was sipping coffee and reading the newspaper. A picture perfect family scene straight out of the movies.
Mickey grumbled her greeting to her father and forced herself to dig into the chocolate chip pancakes waiting for her despite the aching clench in her stomach making it hard to want to eat. It'd only upset her mom and that was the last thing she wanted to do right now. She made a face at the sweet taste on her tongue. What once brought her comfort now made her sick to her stomach.
"Are you okay, sweetie?" her father asked, looking at her from overtop his paper.
"'M fine, Dad."
"Are you sure? You look a little flushed."
If looks could kill the one she was shooting her father would make him drop dead in an instant. In a matter of seconds her mother had cleared the floor between the kitchen table and the stove and placed her palm on Mickey's forehead.
"Mom, I'm fine," Mickey stressed, jerking her head this way and that to try and get out from beneath her mom's grip.
"You are a little warm," her mother commented, keeping a steady grip on her. "And you are a bit flushed," she added, grasping Mickey's cheeks to get a proper look at her face. "Do you feel sick? Maybe you shouldn't go to school today."
"I might as well. Don't want to get behind on homework and stuff." Right as the words came out of her mouth she wished she could take them back. Maybe it would be a good idea to stay home. Then she wouldn't have to face Alexis and Alan and all the other kids that were around to bear witness to the disaster. But then she sighed and thought better of it. Not showing up at school would only make things worse. She may as well get it over with.
"Well, okay. If you feel any worse I want you to call home right away. I'll come and get you. Don't forget to check in with the nurse. And I'll have a snack waiting for you just in case."
"Fine, whatever! Just get off me!" Mickey slapped her mother's hands away before pushing away her plate and grabbed her backpack. "I'm gonna go." Before her mother could even protest she rushed to the front door, put on her shoes, and left.
Standing on the porch made a jolt of realization shoot through her. Where Alan used to stand was the empty sidewalk. Her shoulder sagged and she let out a breath. Of course. Figures he wouldn't be there waiting for her. After the party she'd be gobsmacked if he even laid eyes on her again. She briefly twisted her mouth to the side and then started the short trek to school.
The school loomed over her once she arrived, so much so that it made her take pause on the front steps. Her fingers twitched against the straps of her backpack and her eyes darted from side to side as students filed in past her. Some were laughing, some were looking at something on a cell phone, some were hastily finishing up their homework. So far so good.
But standing outside of the school was different than walking in through the doors. As soon as she stepped inside it felt as if every eye had turned on her. All conversations ceased and the halls filled with eerie silence. Mickey checked her face and ran her fingers though her hair only to find nothing. You're overreacting just get to your locker and everything will be okay.
Ducking her head, Mickey stared at her feet and walked as fast as she could to get to her locker. She managed to dodge a few people that got in her way but rounding the corner only put her in the path of more people. It didn't take long for her to walk right into someone, stumbling backwards. She managed to stay on her feet but her cheeks burned a bright red.
"I-I'm sorry. I wasn't watching where I was going," she stuttered, brushing her hair out of her face. She then looked up and felt her blood run cold. Her breath caught in her throat and she began to tremble beneath Brett's gaze.
"Well, well, if it isn't Mason," Brett said with a smarmy smile that made her skin crawl more than it already was. "Did you come over here looking for another good time? Was the party not good enough for you?" He reached out and brushed his finger against the cheek all the while asking, "You didn't get enough the first time, huh?"
Gritting her teeth, Mickey reached out and slapped his hand away. "Don't touch me!" she hissed.
"What a damn shame you weren't this feisty this weekend," Brett cooed in a mocking manner. "Would've made everything much more interesting."
"Shut up!"
Brett laughed. "Hey, if you ever want to have some fun again you'll know where to find me." He pressed his index and middle fingers to his mouth and blew her a kiss before walking off.
Mickey swallowed the sour-tasting bile that collected in the back of her mouth and forced herself to keep going to her locker. Whispers shot around her like gunfire barely missing her exposed nerves. Hunching her shoulders, she did her best to block out the intruding whispers and hisses and made a beeline for her locker. A few people stood around it, pointing at something. Her eyebrows furrowed. What could possibly be so interesting about her locker?
"Look, there she is," one of the girls muttered. Nudging another, the crowd around her locker parted and Mickey finally saw what it was that they were looking at. Written on her locker door in big, thick, black letters was one word: WHORE.
Mickey brushed her finger against the lettering to see if the marker would smudge. Her finger dragged against the cold metal which emitted a high pitched squeaking sound. The marker was left intact. She felt a prickling sensation at the back of her eyes and it wasn't long before tears lined her bottom lid. She sucked in a breath and held it only to release it in a gasp later when she felt something hit the side of her face before clattering against the ground. She glanced down and saw the marker rolling away from her foot. Shifting her attention up from the floor her eyes then rested on Alan who stood a few lockers down, smirking along with his other loser friends.
The warmth that used to be housed within his brown eyes had disappeared and his eyes were now cold as he looked at her. She turned her head away as a fresh tear fell down her face and she rushed off to the nurse's office.
Maybe coming to school wasn't the best idea.
You didn't get enough the first time, huh?...
"Mickey?" She felt a hand on her shoulder at the same moment someone spoke her name, causing her body to jerk. She dropped her shoulder from beneath the hand and moved away as rapidly as possible. "Sorry," Eagle apologized, holding up his hands. "I forgot: gotta keep my hands to myself. What are you doing over here? Any of the others find you and they'd jump you again for sure."
"I was looking for you," Mickey replied.
"Yeah?" Eagle shoved his hands into his pockets. "What for? Everything okay?"
She started to reply yes but, really, nothing was okay. Being stuck in the same tent, in the same place, breathing the same air as Squid sent her back to those torturous days in school that she had wanted to escape before but not like this. It only goes to show that people had a point when they said to be careful what you wish for. But she was stuck there and she always wished she could get back at her tormentors. And Squid just so happened to fall into her lap, why not take the chance?
"No. It could be, though," she finally replied. "I'm going to need your help."
"Anything that involves breaking the law, you're on your own," he joked with a half smile, though it fell only a second later when she didn't smile in return. "Does it involve breaking the law?"
She rolled her eyes. "We can't do any worse than what we've done to get stuck here," she pointed out. "But no. I just want to get Squid back somehow. He…humiliated me once. I want to do the same to him. I know we can't do much here—"
"No, it only means we have to be more creative," Eagle interrupted her, making a show of cracking his fingers. "You know a lot about him; there has to be some embarrassing stuff stored up in there somewhere. We can use that. And if that doesn't help, well, I'm finally appreciating having two older brothers that lived to torment me."
Mickey blinked. "You didn't even think twice about this."
Eagle shrugged. "We're friends. Nothing to think twice about."
As much as she tried to fight it she couldn't stop the smile that came to her face. If she was going to trust one person there, despite what Squid says, it couldn't be that bad for it to be him.
a/n: I was going to put this up yesterday but with the subject matter of the chapter I didn't think it would be right to post it on Thanksgiving. I hope the flashback sequence made sense to you! Thanks for reading, please review!