Chapter 4 - What to do?

I sank down to the floor of the girls bathrooms, quiet shaking sobs leaving me shuddering for breath. I didn't even know if Richard had done such a thing on purpose, but I wasn't in the mood to care at that particular moment. As far as I was concerned with it, he hated me, and I defiantly hated him after this.

I sighed, leaning my head against the wall and closing my eyes, a few stray tears lightly grazing my cheeks.

Although, a stray and random thought crossed my mind. What if he didn't do it on purpose? Did that mean I was the one at fault for loosing control and starting a food fight? I groaned and put my head in my hands. That would mean I owed him an apology - something which made me slightly hope he had done it on purpose!

What's wrong with me? Am I the one that's horrible? I suppose I did start all this by confronting him in class, but I couldnt let him get away with just tricking me like that. Maybe I should have just left it alone. Its supposed to be a new start for me and my sister, but I'm already miserable on the second day, I wonder how she is doing with her waitressing job.

I lifted my head and sniffed, wiping my tears away and frowning. I couldn't explain why I felt such strong emotions towards Richard, but it wasn't just my fault, it was both of us.

The thing I cant understand is why should I care if he doesn't like me...why... WHY DO I CARE! I just met him for X'hals sake and already he had gotten under my skin.

I suppose the reason why I couldn't stop thinking of him at that moment was because I felt slightly guilty. Perhaps I had approached this whole thing wrong, and it wasn't like I had set out to make enemies with him...my mouth had just run away with me in a way it never had before. I couldn't understand it. Growling in frustration I decided to get cleaned up.

At that moment Rachel, Jenny and Karen came into the bathrooms laughing hysterically. They wiped tears of mirth from their faces, with the exception of Rachel of course who only wore a slight smirk to show her amusement.

"What is it?" I asked in confusion.

"You started a food fight girl! High five for hitting Richard in the face!" said Karen between bursts of laughter. I got up from the ground and high fived Karen once she had shown me what to do. Although I gathered it meant success or something along those lines, I didn't feel so good about it. Just more guilt.

"Hey are you all right?" Rachel looked at me, and I wondered what she saw until I turned to look at my reflection. I had red rims around my eyes from crying, my hair was a mess, and my skin an unhealthy pale.

I nodded silently despite this, but Karen didn't buy it.

"You don't look it girl. You know, you can tell us about it if you wanna. We didn't see what happened to start the food fight, we just saw you fling that spaghetti at Richard. Do you want to tell us about it?"

Sighing, I hid my face for a moment, trying to find the words.

"I did that because Richard fell into me, and got spaghetti on my clothes first. I just feel bad because I don't think he meant to, but I was so confused about what this girl Kitten was saying, I guess I got carried away and it went too far."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and I looked up to see Karen smile slightly at me.

"Don't you feel bad about that if Kitten was involved, she brings out the worst in all of us. Just try to stay away from the likes of her, she's bad news."

"Not to mention, very overprotective of Richard. Almost obsessively so to the point of stalking." Said Rachel, her dry tone calming me somewhat.

I laughed, the sound was quite pleasant to hear again when I had felt so down. I found it very easy to believe that Kitten was Richards stalker, what with her clinging attachment to him.

"Hey I have spare clothes in my locker, do you wanna wear them?" Jenny asked, putting a hand on my shoulder, I smiled gratefully in return.

Later on, I felt much better. After getting cleaned up from the food fight, I was wearing a borrowed pink long sleeved top with a blue skirt. Each of them was borrowed from Jenny's supply of back up outfits. I learned that instead if keeping books in her locker like most students, she preferred to keep her clothes there, not that I was complaining.

"Thanks for this you guys" I said as we walked into the maths classroom.

"No problem, we're friends after all." Rachel said with a small smile.

"Yeah, we are nice people once you get to know us, but others just think of us as geeks from how we dress. They think of us as wanna be popular kids, when we've never even wanted that." said Jenny, scowling slightly.

I nodded and tried to understand why it was that teenagers seemed to judge others based on how they looked. If they ever met my Uncle Galfore for instance, would they judge him as a thug simply because of the scars on his face? He was the gentlest person I knew.

"We sit in the back in this lesson" said Rachel, startling me out of my thoughts. I was about to go to my seat, when a paper aeroplane hit the back of my head.

I picked it up from the ground, and scanned the area for the person who had thrown it. There was no one around but...Richard!

He was standing in the doorway, arms folded and cleaned up from the fight. He had a frown on his face, and I almost felt guilt... almost.

When the bell rang, he left the doorway without a backwards glance, and I unfolded the paper. I began to read the hastily scribbled words that were sprawled over the page, my nose wrinkling.

'Meet me after school at the bike shed.' I frowned in confusion as I took my seat at the table with my friends.

"Why...?"

"Why what?" Asked Karen as she leaned in to see the paper.

"Guys look at this" I said, passing the message along

"who sent you this?" Jenny smiled as she read, her eyes shining.

I swallowed and replied hesitantly. "Richard."

"Awww!" they said in unison, making love struck faces.

"Be quiet! Its probably just going to be a shouting festival that's all." Sighing I rubbed my temple's from the memory of earlier's English class. I hoped that I didn't loose control of my tongue again.

"Well, can we at least watch?" giggled Jenny, I smiled when I noticed Rachel nudge her elbow from the corner of my eye.

"Sure, but all you'll see is me getting fired up again like earlier, I cant believe I said 'bring it gel boy' like I'm some gangster." I couldn't help but roll my eyes at my own actions. As silly as they were, I couldn't exactly change what had happened, and now I had to live with whatever came next.

"Girl I loved that! You really do have a strong fire in your soul." Karen chuckled.

"Yeah and by the time you had finished with your insults, Richard was seeing stars. I've never seen him tongue tied before like that, right Raven?" Jenny giggled and Rachel nodded.

"Hey that can be your nickname!... Starfire!" Jenny looked at me, her fingers threading together as her hands clasped in joy.

"Yeah I think it suits you" said Karen, and I could only smile as a feeling of acceptance settled over me.

ooo

I know its a bit boring but the next capture wont be...hehe I'm so evil..i hope I'm not being too mean to Kori...o well she'll live! next capture = Mud, glorious mud!...Oh and as for the nick names, they are used when the characters refere to the other characters in speech but in Koris mind she thinks of them with their real names like: e.g I saw Karen speak to someone "Hey Bee!" I said.