Not only was this day going to drain me of all the energy I had assembled whilst in a deep slumber where only the illusions of nightmares could ridicule me. I am accustomed to the recurring nightmares now, as they have been constantly taunting me since the tender age of eleven. There is one noise, one sound that will always never fail to haul me into the frantic world of anxiety – her scream. The ear shattering scream will haunt me until the very moment I die.
"Wanna smoke?" A muffled, deep voice accesses my subconscious daydream. The snapping of two fingers averts my attention though. I shake my head, my dark tresses quavering along with the hasty motion. "Am I boring you, Nightingale?"
I blink a few times so I can stir myself before swivelling around in my chair to face John Bender who is inclining his back across the small surface area of the table in order to make his mystifying yet stern chocolate eyes stare at me. Immediately, I propel myself into the cynical mode I have attached to my personality over the years.
"No, but you're annoying me. Same thing, I guess" I pin the two corners of my lips upwards, making them plummet down into their natural state just as quickly. Bender chuckles, a low chuckle that matches the tone of his voice. He tilts my chin, enclosing onto my face until our noses converge.
"I'll have to entertain you then. Won't I, Nightingale?" he whispers, a smirk stitched on his mouth. The noisiest raspberry known to man explodes out of his mouth, droplets of his saliva ejecting onto mine.
Instantly, I express my disgust in a groan and commence wiping his spit from my mouth as Bender cackles hysterically at his so-called achievement in the background.
"Entertained yet?" he asks through pants, gathering his breath back from his fit of laughter. I scowl at him, as he has already acknowledged my answer. However, in true a Bender approach, he smirks to exhibit that he knows but won't relinquish this fact until I confirm it.
"Can I have that smoke now?" It wasn't a question, it was an imperative. Bender dramatically flaunts the packet of cigarettes, drawing out his arm so it is in my reach before snagging it back, clutching it to his chest possessively, pout on his lips intact like a preschooler not getting his own way. "You ain't funny, Bender"
Bender gasps in mock horror, his jaw declining at a rapid speed. I just roll my eyes. I'm getting weary of his immature antics now, and we haven't even shared the same air for an hour yet!
"My, oh, my, Nightingale! How impolite of you!" Bender barks, shaking his head to making his bottom lips wobble – a fine impersonation of our plump Math teacher, Mrs Cordial. Speedily, he returns back to his normal easy going self, slumping down into his seat. "Do I look like I give a shit about what you think?"
"You did a few seconds ago when you were mimicking Mrs Cordial" I state, sardonically imitating Bender by resting my feet on his table and stooping my posture. I wink to hint the ironic joke, and of course, just to aggravate him. It doesn't work, but I thought I'd give it a shot.
"Ever heard of sarcasm, Nightingale?" he inquires, glaring at my feet.
"Got taught to speak it fluently in first grade, Bender, and looked it up in the dictionary several times" I do my signature smile that etches irony again.
"Kindergarten, Nightingale, kindergarten" he proudly declares, using his two thumbs to gesture he is the one who mastered sarcasm before me. His view slowly transfers onto my white stilettos, frowning at them as if they displease him. "And get your feet off my table, they stink" He begins to waft away the invisible stench, dramatising the whole movement.
"Not as bad as yours!" I holler to Bender who's going behind the statue situated oddly in the middle of our cage to light up a cigarette, or so I assume he's going to do that.
He saunters confidentially back over to the tables, whistling the song from earlier, but he doesn't sit down. I raise a groomed eyebrow at him. Bender's plotting something. I can just tell by his whole demeanour that he's up to no good.
"Want that cigarette now?" he offers, continuing to whistle after the query. I knit my eyebrows together and begin to scan his body. My eyes widen but I'm quick to glower at him. A rectangular shape is blatantly positioned where Bender's crouch is. What prank is he going to initiate this time? "Well, Nightingale, looks like if you're desperate for that cigarette, you'll have to get it yourself" I'm not that forlorn without a cigarette, I've got my own spare cigarettes in my bag anyway.
"There is no way in hell, I'm putting my hand down your pants, Bender" I say in a drone voice, my eyes fixated on the package.
"Do you know what the great thing is?" We stare at each other for a moment. What is this grand thing Bender is drivelling on about? "These aren't my cigarettes. Check your bag, Nightingale, and you'll see that your cigarettes have vanished into thin air"
Our eyes meet, chaining themselves to a battle. If I'm fortunate, they won't actually be located in his boxers. Instead, if luck is on my side, Bender's just simply creating the illusion they're down his boxers.
I launch out of my seat, charging at Bender who soon starts to circulate the three desks in the middle row.
"Bender!" I scream, chasing him around the wooden tables at a gradual speed due to my shoe choice. "You're making me run in fucking high heels!"
We both halt. Bender's at the top of the set of desks and I'm at the bottom, both of our humid palms glazed in sweat press against our ends of the table. When I entered detention today, I had already foretold that the quaint library would become a frenzied battle arena. With John Bender, it's almost impossible for it not to convert.
"You tired yet, Nightingale?" he questions, challenging my strength with the typical smirk spread over his lips. "I'll be nice, what lullaby do you want me to sing? I can do Mary Had a Little Lamb, Rockaby –"
The crusade to rescue my cigarettes instigates once again! I grasp a section of Bender's plaid shirt, tugging him backwards vigorously. I'm dreading this moment. I can't believe I'm going to do this. The only reason I'm doing this is because these cigarettes belong to my father. They are his only source of pleasure in life. This morning after preparing myself for today's tediousness, I cunningly pocketed the cheap brand of cigarettes before slipping out of the door unnoticed along with my Walkman blaring The Bangles and a banana to nourish me for the day.
I grimace as I thrust my bare hand down Bender's trousers. Unfortunately, what I have just felt wasn't the packet of economical cigarettes, and it will scar me for the rest of my natural born life. My dark brown eyes peer up at Bender, only for them to encounter his. His smirk has heightened. Why did he have to escalate the smirk to construct an even more awkward atmosphere?
"You're not wearing any boxers" I mutter, glaring at him.
"No, I am" he chuckles, using his free hand to produce the cigarettes from out of their hiding place. "You just made the mistake of putting your hand down the wrong place" My plump lips part, shocked from what event had just occurred. "It's fine with me though"
He winks, copying what I did earlier on. Bender's eyes flick over to the entrance, and suddenly his face contorts into something I've never seen before.
"Oh my God, Simmone!" Bender exclaims erotically, interweaving his fingers in my hair and compressing my head onto his robust chest. I raise my eyebrow once again. What the hell is he doing? A cough distracts me from musing over what devious scheme Bender is playing at currently.
My eyes widen, and my mouth opens and closes at a dynamic speed. In front of us is the Janitor, standing there with his eyes enlarged and the most embarrassed glow of scarlet beaming from his cheeks. My head snaps back at Bender who is smirking triumphantly; it's only now I realise that my hand is still down his pants. I remove it instantly, wiping it on my stirrup pants to eliminate anything that may be contagious. After all, if the rumours drifting around the boisterous hallways of Bender and his love for women are factual, I don't wish to take any risks.
"The man took my cigarettes. Sometimes, a girl has to do what a girl has to do" I attempt to defend myself, snatching the white packet from Bender's possession and rattling them to justify myself further with a nervous giggle.
"Don't listen to her, Sir. After all, this is Simmone Nightingale whose hand was down my pants. Everybody knows what that means" Bender snaps, all of his biting words directed at me.
The anecdotes have survived to this day. Everybody adores inventing malicious stories about me. All because of that one accident when I was eleven. It wasn't my fault. I was infuriated, my temper was ferocious that fateful day. But I have to suffer the excruciating consequences of all the words I ever uttered. Not only that, but the harrowing memories are practically murdering me, rupturing my heart at every chance.
A tear seeps out of my eye and cascades down my cheek. I shove Bender away, meandering to my seat, feeling the dishonourable sensation of Bender watching me as I do so. The Janitor has since left, leaving me with a man I despise.
"I know it isn't true"
Anger explodes inside of me, portraying a seething fire surging throughout my body. I twist around to face Bender whose face is now melancholic with an element of guilt. This isn't the Bender I have known since elementary school, it's someone different.
"Then why the fuck say it?" I bellow, catapulting all of my emotions onto him. Bender is unaffected as usual and is just sat there with his arms overlapping, and eyes intent on viewing my reaction. "If you know it isn't true, then why would you say it to him?"
"Rumours hurt, don't they? Though you don't say them, you listen. You listen to every goddamn one with pleasure because you're fed up of others doing it to you"
He's correct. I am fatigued from every little story disgorging out of peoples mouth like a typewriter typing up the latest scandal. None of them are sincere, there is no honesty entangled in the words. But because of the shame engraved into my name, I endure them.
Finally got another chapter wrote! Wow, I'm really impressed at the response I've gotten for this story! Thank you everyone for everything! Please review because I'd really like to know your opinion on this chapter. Also, I just like getting them, it's fun to see what you guys think.
Thank you for reading :D
~VogueCharlotteVogue