Chapter 3: Coping with the enemy
Lunch time rolls around and I go to my usual table in the corner (away from the cheerleaders table). Sometimes I go and sit with the artsy kids if I don't feel like being alone. There is a girl named Chelsea who is really nice to me but she doesn't know, so I try not to get too close to her. I know that as soon as we become friends she'll find out and I'll have to go through the pain of losing a friend all over again.
I walk up to the lunch line to buy my lunch and start to walk back to me table. Now usually I don't like school lunches but today it's my favorite, chicken noodle soup. I hear footsteps behind me and I make the mistake of turning around to see who it is. Once I turn around I feel the warm sensation of my once lunch trickle down the from of my shirt and down my legs. I feel the tears start to build again which makes my already burning nose hurt even more.
I look to see who the person is and I see none other than my former best friend smirking in delight as she looks between me and her newfound friends. She sees my broken nose and my destroyed clothes and for a brief second I could of sworn I saw a hint of remorse in her cold dead eyes. I ran away as fast as i could to the bathroom to try and clean up my sweatshirt.
Once I got in there I broke down and started crying over the sink. I heard footsteps and quickly ran into the handicapped stall and lock ed the door. I sunk down on to the floor and continued my crying until it turned into just that awful not being able to breath feeling.
"Hello" i heard a girl say from outside the stall. I froze I knew as soon as I spoke that if it was a cheerleader, I would be in serious trouble so i continued to stay quite in hopes that she would just walk away. "I'm new to this school and I don't know who you are, but if you want to talk I'm a pretty good listener" the husky voice says. I muster up all the courage I have and open the stall door.
I am met with the most beautiful pair of deep brown eyes that I have ever seen. The seem to be filled with this concern that I have never seen before. She has shoulder length dark brown curly hair and is wearing a very short, very tight black jean skirt. She is wearing a very tight white shirt with a deep V that shows off her cleavage. I check her out a few times my eyes traveling up and down her long tan legs that seem to go on forever.
I finally look back up at her eyes and I see a smirk on her face when she realizes I was checking her out. I feel myself blush and then I look back up at her eyes and I realize she isn't smiling anymore because she's seen my nose. She reaches out to touch it but stops when she realizes that we have only just met. She looks over my clothes and I realize that I am still covered in my former lunch. I step past her and walk over to the sink wetting a paper towel to try and clean myself up a bit.
"What's your name?" she asks "Spencer..Spencer Carlin" I respond
"Thats pretty" she says "My name is Ashley" I smile at what a pretty name she has and I turn around. I take my sweatshirt off in defeat realizing that the chicken stain was not going to come out. I throw it over my arm and lean up against the sink facing Ashley.
"So where'd you move from"I ask "Well my stepsister, mom and I moved out here from New York to be with husband number five" she says looking kind of sad.
"C..C..Can I ask you something" she manages to stutter out. "Uh yeah sure" I respond not knowing what else to say. "What happened to you, like um why are you covered in soup and why is your nose all red and swollen" she says looking anywhere but me.
I feel the tears start to built up again in my eyes and I try my hardest to hold them in. She looks like she is about to start backtracking when the door swings open and in walks Madison and three of her little minions. Anything I was about to say gets caught in my throat and I don't dare speak.
"Oh there you are Ashley, I was wondering where you went" I hear Madison say
Was Ashley sent in here by Madison, did she know what had happened all along? Was she just being nice to me to try and find out information about me to report back to Madison? I feel myself starting to sweat and my breathing was becoming labored.
"Girls this is the new co-captain of our squad" once she says that I lose all sense of calmness and look up at Ashley. She looks back at me and gives me a sheepish smile. Madison follows Ashley's eyes over to me.
"Oh look girls if it isn't our little lesbian friend" I see Ashley's eyebrows shoot up on her head once Madison says that. "Awww look she's crying, awww we made the little dyke crying" I feel the tears well up in my eyes.
All of a sudden I am thrust back and i feel my head connect with the mirror behind me. I groan in realization that she is holding me back by my now very broken nose. Ashley is standing there in shock not knowing what to say or do. I shriek in pain as Madison begins to twist my nose ever so slightly.
At this point I am crying and pleading with her to stop so she lets go and I drop to the floor. I feel a warm liquid drip down my face.
"See you at after school at practice Ashley" and with that it is once again me and Ashley alone the bathroom. She starts to walk over to me but i quickly get up grab a paper towel and run out of the bathroom to the one and only person I have to confide in.