Chapter 17-
Let's see. Twenty-six minus twenty-one is… five. I wrote the number down and sighed. In five days, one of those child care agents will come and take me away. I've told them everything so when they show up, they'll be a huge surprise to Caroline. She'll be furious at me and do something to confirm my information. Then they'll have to take me away. I got ready for school, my hair still curly from three weeks of unconsciousness. Damn. Whatever they did to my hair really works. I wore a white flowery halter top, a pair of skinny jeans, and white flats that were stain with mud from wandering in the forest one day. I pulled my hair up in a bun, but stands of hair came forward and framed my face. After seven tries to pull them back, I gave up and grabbed my bag. With my teeth brushed and my bag packed, I walked off to school. When I entered the hall way, everyone stopped talking and looked at me. Whispers were going from ear to ear and giggles came out of some mouths. Joy came out from the shadows and came towards me. She pulled something out of her bag and dropped it.
Joy: You were out for three weeks so I had enough time to do some… in-depth reading. You know, you have a tendency of having strange dreams that make juicy gossip.
In front of me was my diary, my song book.
Joy: I made my alterations to it. Thought you could use some pointers and hints.
I slowly picked up the book and read the cover, which was scribbled on by blue pen. It read Loner Girl's Diary and was covered in insults like "I've seen raccoons with better hair than you." and "Stick to being invisible, Loner Girl. It'll do everyone else a favor." I looked at Joy with hurt radiating from my eyes.
Nina: What did I ever do to you?
Her eyes flashed with an emotion I had never seen come from her before. Regret. As quickly as I saw the emotion, it dissolved in to her evil brown eyes. She smirked cruelly and turned on her heels.
Joy: Don't take it personally, Nina. As a popular, I have to ruin the lives of pathetic bitches like you. It's the only way to keep the balance between our kind and yours. You'll understand someday.
With that, the bell rang and she strutted off to class, a crowd of people following her. I trudged to class and looked through the window in the door. Everyone was in their seats other than Fabian. I couldn't bring myself to open the door, knowing that I would just be facing another set of insults. And without him, I don't know how I can hold up a second time. I stepped away from the door and slumped down against the wall. The late bell rang, but I didn't move. I just stayed there. The urge to bang my head against the wall was strong, but my urge to read my new and 'improved' diary was stronger. I turned to the first entry, which said:
Dear Diary,
I have no idea why I'm doing this. I guess it's because when Mom left me with Dad, she gave me this weird old book with a bunch of blank pages in it. I told her that I didn't know what to do, so she told me to just fill it with my adventures. I still don't understand what she meant by adventures, but I did what she said. Well, I'm trying to. Of course, this is my first entry, so I might not be able to keep it up. I've met my new step sisters and I have to say, they seem pretty nice. Joy is always saying hi to me and waving whenever I passed by her in the hallway. Mara doesn't seem to really care that we're sisters, not that I mind. It's like I'm invisible. It's a good feeling. Dad seems happy, but he always has this look in his eyes when he looks at me. He looks hurt. He says I have mommy in my eyes and then he always walks away. I don't understand what's wrong, but when I asked him, he started yelling at me to go away. Anyways, I have to go. Supper's ready.
Love, Nina
I smiled at the page, remembering when I had written this diary entry. It was three weeks after my mother had left me. Surprisingly, there was no writing on the page that did not belong to young Nina, confusing me dearly. I turned to the back of the diary and saw a note in bright pink pen and neat cursive. It read:
Dear Nina,
Just to let you know, I haven't read any other parts of your diary except for the page I stole and the little sticker in the back that says "made in China". I apologize for ruining the cover of your notebook. I promise I'll make it up to you. Can we talk? Meet me in the girl's locker room at 2:00. Please come. I have a lot to talk to you about.
Love, Joy
I gasped and dropped the book as I felt a hand land on my shoulder. I looked up to see Fabian sitting next to me. I could tell he was happy to see me, but just as startled as I was.
Fabian: Hey, are you alright?
Nina: What? Oh, ya. I'm fine.
Fabian: Why aren't you in class?
Nina: For the same reason you aren't.
He looked at me and I turned my eyes away, feeling the water weld up.
Fabian: The teasing?
I nodded softly and felt my bubble collapse. Tears leaked out of my eyes as silent sobs poured out of my mouth. I felt Fabian put an arm around my shoulder and he pulled my head on to his shoulder. We sat out in the hall, my head on his shoulder and his arm holding me. When I stopped crying, I felt him tilt his head down to look at me.
Fabian: Why don't we ditch for the day?
I looked up at him with a serious look in my eyes.
Nina: Ditch? We can get expelled for that.
He shrugged and looked away.
Fabian: I'm no bad boy, but neither of us want to deal with any of this drama today. So, are you in?
I understood why he wanted to ditch. Is it really a good idea? I thought it through for a minute before picking up my song book and stuffing it in my bag.
Nina: Ok. I'm in.
I couldn't stop laughing.
Nina: Are you trying to tell me that your dog broke your first guitar?
Fabian: That's exactly what I'm saying. She grabbed the neck of the guitar and dragged it outside and started to bury it. By the time I made it to where she was burying it, it was a good foot underground.
Nina: How old were you?
Fabian: I had just turned 8.
I smile as I looked down at my ice cream. We left campus about five hours ago and we went movie jumping. The last movie ended about ten minutes ago, so we decided to hit the ice cream parlor down the road.
Nina: Fabian, what time is it?
He fumbled to grab his phone, which was a flip phone from the late 90's.
Fabian: Um….fifteen minutes to 2.
Meet me in the girl's locker room at 2:00. Oh my gosh. Joy! I stood abruptly and looked at Fabian.
Nina: How long is it from here to the school?
Fabian: Um… I think it's a twenty minute walk. Why?
Nina: I have to meet someone at 2. And it's really important. Sorry.
I kissed him on the forehead and ran out of the parlor at full speed. I reached the front steps of the school at 1:58 and I calmly walked to the girl's locker room. I sat down on one of the benches and waited for the bell to ring. Counting the seconds down to the bell, I felt a finger tap my shoulder. I turned around and saw Joy.
Nina: Joy. Hey. Um…you wanted to talk?
Joy: Um….ya.
She sat next to me on the bench.
Joy: Can you loosen your hair?
I nodded and did as I was asked, letting my now wavy hair fall on my shoulders.
Joy: …you should leave your hair down more. It accents your eyes.
Nina: ….you wanted to talk to me. Why?
Joy: …Nina, I owe you an apology. For everything I've done to you all these years.
I gave her a bewildered look. Joy was apologizing to me. Oh, that disgusting bitch. Trying to soften me up to strike a blow? Not gonna happen.
Nina: …is this some kind of sick joke? What game are you playing?
Her eyes widened and I could tell she was panicking as I got up from the bench and grabbed my bag. I was about to walk out the locker room door when a thin hand wrapped around my left wrist. I looked at her with venom in my eyes and hissed at her.
Nina: Let me go. I don't want any part of whatever you're planning.
I looked away from her and continued to fight for the freedom of my wrist.
Joy: Nina, please listen to me! I'm sorry I'm such a bitch to you and I'm so cruel to you and I make your life miserable, but I had no choice!
Nina: You always have a choice! Don't even try to lie! You just don't want to be associated to your lame pathetic step-sister! You hate me!
Joy: That's not true! If it was, I would have let mother sell the stable and the forest years ago!