"There you are!" Yori called out from behind me, grabbing onto my elbow, startling me. "Yuuki, you didn't answer my text this morning. I thought maybe you really did sleep in and weren't coming to class." she was slightly out of breath from running to catch up to me. "I was worried I would have to sit through lecture all alone!" she faked a pouty face, sticking her lower lip out slightly, giving me large, sad eyes. "We both know Zero would never sit with me."
"No." I defended, quickly trying to think up an excuse I knew she would believe. "I was in the shower and by the time I saw your message I was already heading out the door so I didn't really see a point in answering..."
She eyed me skeptically, raising an eyebrow, deciding to change the subject and move on to a more interesting topic. I've always been such a lame lair, not that I made a habit out of lying, and Yori saw straight through me regardless, knowing me better than anyone. I found lying to be a very pointless habit. "You look different today, Yuuki." she commented, looking me over.
"Is that a bad thing?" I asked, adjusting my schoolbag against my hip, bored with the topic of my appearance for the day. Zero had already given me enough crap about it earlier. I wasn't in the mood to explain myself to Yori now too. Of course, I knew that she would notice the changes I had carefully made. I mean, not just because Yori is my best friend, but also because she's a girl. Girl's notice each other. As odd as that might sound, it's true. Her opinion mattered to me, obviously. I didn't have a mother, so I could only count on my best friend to tell me whether or not I looked good. It was her job. I wasn't about to ask the Headmaster if I looked okay.
Yori looped her arm through mine as we continued our trek to the classroom, pushing the double doors to the Academy's main building open in sync with me. We had all of our classes together, one of the many perks of being the Headmaster's daughter was I got to choose where I was placed. I always made sure Yori and I were together. "No. I mean, I'm not saying that you look bad or anything. You've always been really pretty, Yuuki. You could wear a burlap sack and you'd still be gorgeous. But I can't help but wonder," she arched a brow at me. "are you trying to impress someone special?" I knew what she was hinting at, I could tell by the tone in her voice, better yet, at who she was referring too.
So I looked good, but too good?
"What? Of course not." I rolled my eyes at her. "I'm just expressing my inner womanhood." I stated confidently. "Can't I look nice without it being considered suspicious?"
Yori laughed loudly. "Well, though I think you look good, I'm sure Kuran-senpai will appreciate the extra effort."
I wrinkled my nose at her, though my heart did flutter at the small, simple mention of Kaname. "It's not extra effort." I argued, even though that was an obvious lie. I knew this was bound to come up eventually, it was sooner than I would have liked, but I knew I wouldn't be able to avoid it, especially not with Yori. She was always eager to talk about my love life. I needed to tell her and it made more sense to do it now since she was the one to have brought it up, even though it would be so much easier to change the subject. "And about that, Yori. With Kaname I-" but before I could say anything more; a small group of girls stepped in front of Yori and I, stopping our conversation all together, blocking our path to the classroom. We had just reached the top of the main staircase at the entrance of the school. The ringleader of the little group-Arisa Takura-stepped forward, crossing her arms across her chest. She had bothered me for years, harassing me about overly dramatic nonsense that I could care less about. She was sort of like my worst enemy-I guess she could be called that, my own personal rain cloud. She wasn't anything too significant, in my opinion. I usually ignored her rude jabs and harsh looks. She was average height, though still slightly taller than me, everyone was taller than me though. She had short light brown hair that she wore cut into a bob. She always wore blue eye shadow all the way up to her eyebrows, even though she had super dark brown eyes that were almost black and too big for her face. Her face was covered in tiny brownish red freckles and her nose was too small and pointed up at an odd angle. She would go out of her way to torment me because she had a crush Kaname and noticed that he paid me special attention. She was always standing outside of the gate to the Moon Dorm after hours, trying to talk to him, trying to get him to notice her, trying to get past me while Zero and I tried to get the students back to their dorm, whispering in my ear that I would never be good enough for him, that I needed to back off and give up. She hated that Kaname spoke only to me, she didn't understand that we were just friends, and nothing more than that. And I wasn't about to tell someone like her my whole life story. She saw through my facade as well as Zero did. She knew I liked Kaname more than I admitted and she was trying to make a competition out of his affections. It's been like that ever since we were in junior high.
"Well well Cross," she taunted, stepping forward, trying to assert her dominance, like she was better than me. "mixing it up a bit today, I see." again, another hit at my appearance. "You know, they say you can put makeup on a pig and it will always still be just an ugly little pig." the other two girls she was with snorted with laughter. And they had such high-pitched, nasally laughter. The kind that you can sort out of a crowded room.
"Who says that?" Yori asked, offended and disgusted by how rude and offensive Arisa was towards me. So was I, but I didn't let it get to me so easily, at least, I never let Arisa see me upset. It wasn't worth it, she wasn't worth it. "Jealous little girls?" Yori was bad at standing up for people-bad with comebacks-but she tried her best when it came to her best friend. I appreciated her efforts.
Arisa just scoffed and brushed Yori's comment off as if it were nothing more than dust on her shoulder. She went on insulting me, not missing a beat. "It doesn't matter how you dress or how much slop you smear across your dirty face. You will never be anything more than a stupid slut, Cross!" maybe she didn't know what a slut was. Of course, she didn't really know me well enough to judge regardless. "The Night Class boys will never look at you! So quit following Kuran-senpai around like a lost puppy and know your place."
I fell on my knees, my palms spreading out on the floor before me to stop me from falling completely over and smashing my face on the linoleum. My cheek stung and felt hot. I reached up to touch were it stung the most, my long hair falling around my face like a curtain, blocking out my surroundings. Arisa had slapped me across the cheek, hard enough to knock me over. It took me a moment too process it, what had actually happened, that she had gone so far as to hit me. Then another moment. And then another. It was like one of those slow motion scenes you would see in a movie, that's how it was processing through my head-my eyes. I couldn't actually believe it. All I could hear was a loud ringing in my ears. Then my heartbeat as it began to rise-pumping loudly-and the blood flooded through after, replacing the harsh ringing, rushing hard and loud. The feeling of Yori's arms around my shoulders followed, feeling hotter than they should have through my clothes-my body was cold, even through my cardigan. Then I heard Arisa's words over and over in my mind, again and again, over and over, like a bad chorus to a stupid song that no one wanted to hear but it kept playing. I could hear her retreating footsteps echoing in the background, heels clicking against the linoleum. My cheek began to sting even more where she had slapped me, red hot and throbbing. Then I saw red.
She should have walked faster. Actually, she should have ran.
"Did that really just happen?" I said out loud, more to myself than too Yori, trying to make sense of what I already knew, of what had just happened. Yori said something back to me, but I didn't hear it. She was probably telling me not to worry about it, or that we should just hurry and get to class before we were late, forget it and move on. But no, not this time. I was done 'not worrying' and 'getting to class on time' whatever that last one means. It doesn't matter. I rose quickly, probably knocking Yori back, but I didn't notice that. I was focused on one thing, one person, one goal. Revenge. I wasn't going to sit back and let her torment me. Not anymore. I promised myself this morning. Today would be different.
I grabbed Arisa by the elbow first, yanking her back roughly to face me, away from her minions. Not that I thought they would try to stop me. I just wanted her to see what she had coming to her. I wasn't about to hit her from behind, a cheap shot. She still had that stupid, mocking smile on her face. Like she didn't believe I had the strength nor the will to ever defend myself, she was wrong. I shoved she against the nearest wall, her head crashing against the brick. She gasped and I punched her, right in her bitch face. She fell straight to the floor and hard, her limps splaying out around her dramatically. Just one hit and she was already down. But I wasn't done with her yet. Years of torment wouldn't let it end there, with just one hit. She had this look on her face like she didn't understand what was happening, like she was a victim. Well if she was going to think that way then I was going to make sure she knew exactly what being a victim actually felt like. I grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, lifting her up from the floor and hit her again. She fell back against the wall, stumbling. She was dumb and actually tried to push me away from her, thinking she could knock me down, landing her a blow to the stomach. She tried to crawl away then, when she hit the floor. I could hear Yori yelling something at me, but the blood was rushing so loudly through my head-in my ears-I could barley hear her. Then I couldn't her here at all. My heart was pumping hard. I could feel it pulsing against my chest, my temples throbbing. Arisa was coughing and chocking-like she couldn't get enough air in her lungs, trying to crawl away from me, still on her hands and knees. I kicked her in the side and she rolled on to her back, her eyes pinched shut tightly.
Her nose was bleeding bad, she wasn't even trying that hard to get away from me anymore. I realized then how just pathetic she actually was, worming her way across the floor. She had always acted so tough, so superior than me, always trying to bring me down as low as she possibly could. It didn't matter if I avoided her, ignored her, pretended like she didn't exist; she never disappeared. Now she was squirming across the floor like a frightened animal. And then I realized just how pathetic I actually was. How many years did this pathetic little wretch torment me, torture me, haunt me with her hateful words and obscene gestures, doing whatever she could just to humiliate me? I looked at her now as she crawled along the floor like an insect. And it made me sick. She wasn't better than anyone. Why did it take me so long to figure it out? I wanted her to know how she made me feel after all those long years. I kicked her in the lower back when she rolled onto her knees and tried to crawl away again, knocking her flush against the floor, then again in the abdomen twice before someone pulled me away from her. I struggled against them, trying to break free from their iron hold. I wasn't finished with her yet, not yet. She needed to know what I felt like. She needed to know what it was like to feel like nothing. "Let go of me." I yelled, still in a rage.
"Yuuki!" Zero shook me roughly, jarring me. My teeth hit against each other. "Knock it off!"
I froze, staring right into Zero's lavender eyes. He was gripping me tightly by my upper arms, lifting me off the ground. His voice piercing straight through me, like an off switch. The red melted away from my sight and my blood slowed, adrenalin dissipating from my veins. I relaxed in his arms and lowered my head, staring at our shoes as he set me back on my feet-mine so much smaller than his-willing myself to disappear. That was the problem with Zero, he always got to me, always made me see the flaws in my actions.
Zero dragged me off-most likely to the Headmaster's office, shoving past the small crowed of students that had gathered to watch the show, yelling at them all to get back to class as we passed. I noticed so had their cell phones out and had probably been recording it.
Great.