Charlie was still mad when she woke up the next morning. So mad that she didn't even speak to Stolas or Octavia, or stop for breakfast or to ask if Stolas would be able to drive her to school. Instead she just got dressed, fixed her hair, grabbed her book bag, and walked on to school. She didn't know what she was doing to be honest, she just knew she had to get away from them. She wasn't in the mood to have a long talk or listen to a lecture. Granted going to school where she was bullied wasn't any better, but where else could she go?
Unfortunately, school just made things worse for her today. For starters, as she was walking into the hallway, she noticed some of her peers looking at her and snickering, muttering mean words under their breaths like,
"Wide load."
"Heffer."
"Double chin."
"Double belly."
"Fat ass."
Charlie pretended not to hear them. She tried her best to let their words get to her, though she couldn't help but wonder about something.
"Calling me fat now huh?" She thought. "Well that's a new one. Though I don't know how that got started. Stolas feeds me only health crap."
But she discovered source of such insults at lunch time. She was on her way to sit at a cafeteria table with Angel and Vaggie when she overheard Helsa, Velvette, and Niffty talking about something in the corner of the room.
"Helsa you've gone too far this time! Delete this at once!" She heard Niffty demand, sounding utterly appalled.
"No way!" She heard Helsa reply. "Do you know how much it cost me to get one of those science nerds to do this?"
"This is sick and senselessly cruel!"
"Shut up Niffty! She's doing it for me!" She heard Velvette snap. "That slut deserves for trying to steal my man."
"Oh who are you trying to fool? You don't even like Seviathan." Niffty argued.
"That's not the point! She messed with me and we're getting even."
"I'm going to tell Ms. Mayberry, I cab't let you do this!"
Niffty suddenly hurried past Charlie as fast as she could, not noticing her.
"You get back here you little traitor!"
Velvette was right on her tail and she took did not see Charlie. But Helsa did. Charlie then noticed a bunch of students gathering around Helsa, looking at something she had on her laptop and when they all looked up at Charlie they started laughing at her. Before she could ask what this was about, Helsa turned her laptop around to face Charlie and what she made her feel sick to her stomach. It was an edited video that photo shopped Charlie stuffing her face with food and getting fatter and fatter. Like she was some kind of gluttonous, disgusting, pig with no self-control.
"You know Charlie, I heard about how you came on to my brother yesterday even though you know that he was dating my best friend, and screwing around with my family and friends can't go unpunished." Helsa told her. "So I decided that maybe the time has come for everyone to learn about your not so-little problem with food."
At first Charlie couldn't find words to put in her mouth. She was too in shock over what was happening to even think of speech. But after her mind comprehended that she was awake and that this wasn't another nightmare, she forced herself to say something. Anything. She didn't want to look like a weak coward in front of everyone.
"Why would you do this?" She asked Helsa. "What is wrong with you?"
"What's wrong with me? You're the one with the problem. And you know it's bad enough that you're a nasty binge eater, but to actually think you're hideously, over-weight body is good enough to steal away my brother, that's repulsive."
"I am not a binge eater!" Charlie cried out, trying to hold it all together. "And I did not come on to your brother! He came on to me!"
"Don't bother denying it. Seviathan and Velvette told me the whole story, and you definitely shouldn't bother denying your eating disorder. Good thing the guy you're living with is rich, otherwise you wouldn't be able to afford any clothes to cover your fat-ass."
"Whoa! She's living with some guy?" One of Helsa's friend interjected.
"Yeah, some older guy who's loaded. That's another reason why she doesn't have a boyfriend. Because little orphan Annie here is banging big Daddy Warbucks."
"That's a damn lie!" Charlie screamed furiously.
"Then why did his marriage break up? Because his wife found him in bed with a gold-digging, little slut. I heard it started when she was thirteen and when her parents found out, they were so ashamed that they killed themselves."
"Shut up!" Charlie screamed. "Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"
That's all she could say. She clutched her blond hair and kept screaming those two words over and over again with tears in her eyes. But no one at that table felt any compassion or remorse, they just continued to laugh at her, and call her names like fat, dumb-ass, gold-digger, pedo-lover. Charlie couldn't take it. So she ran. She ran out of the cafeteria and headed for the nearest exit.
"We really should try to pity her." Helsa told her friends in a mocking tone of fake kindness. "After all, she is a nobody who is so desperate for attention that she is actually having sex with an old man."
Then BLAM! Vaggie came charging right up to Helsa and punched her so hard in the jaw that she fell to the floor, and was spitting blood.
"Tell me something Helsa." Vaggie said cracking her knuckles. "Are you really talking about Charlie or yourself?"
"Bitch!" Helsa retorted. "You prissy, little bitch!"
"Yeah I'm a prissy little bitch, but that's better than being a psychopathic whore like you."
"What did you call me?!"
"You heard me. And if you honestly think tormenting Charlie and spreading lies about her is going to keep your parents and everyone else from finding out your dirty little secret, then you're not just a psychopathic whore, but a stupid one too."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure you do. The truth is you're the nobody who's so desperate for attention that you'd be willing to screw anything that moves."
"What does that mean?" Another student asked.
"Helsa is having an affair with Mr. Stephens! I caught her giving him a blow-job last week!"
"Liar!"
Helsa tackled Vaggie like a rabid hyena, but Vaggie fought back like a lioness. They punched, kicked, scratched at each other. Pulled each other's hair, tore at their clothing, Helsa even tried to choke Vaggie. She retaliated by throwing her across a table. Everyone else either watched or tried to get through the crowd of students to figure out what was happening. Luckily though, Niffty managed to find Ms. Mayberry and tell her about Helsa's cruel prank, so when she went to the cafeteria to investigate, she broke up the fight and sent both girls to the principle's office. They were suspended for a week and both of their parents received a phone call regarding the incident, which meant that Vaggie would be in deep shit when she came home tonight.
"You know babe, if it's any consolation." Angel said as they walked home together. "I thought what you did back there was pretty awesome...And hot."
"Thanks." She said sarcastically.
"Hey I got an idea, how about tonight, we sneak into Helsa's house and cut off all her hair while she's asleep? Or better yet, we get my cousin in on this, and he'll put a nasty tattoo on her bald head. How about a tattoo of a dick? She'll never be able to show her face in public again."
"First of all Angel, there's no way Helsa will sleep through getting a tattoo. "
"She will if we slip her my grandma's special, nighttime tea. Just one cup of the stuff caused my great-grandfather to sleep through Pearl Harbor."
"And second, we would all get arrested for breaking and entering, also doesn't your cousin already have a prison record?"
"Technically he's on prohibition now, but yeah, we probably shouldn't bring Blitzo into this. One slip up and it's twenty years in the slammer."
"What did he get arrested for anyway?"
"Blowing up the circus where he used to work in and releasing all the lions, bears, elephants, and gorillas. He only got prohibition because no one was hurt and because all the other circus freaks wouldn't testify against him out of fear that he would squeal on their secret acts of cruelty to animals."
"Your cousin is so weird. Weirder than you, and I never thought that was possible."
"Weirdness runs in the family. Speaking of which, how did your mom take to the phone call from school?"
"She didn't get it yet. She's still at work. God, she's gonna kill me when she finds out."
"Well maybe she'll go easy on you if you tell her that you started the fight to protect Charlie. Where is she anyway?"
"She ran straight home. I've been trying to call her for hours but she won't pick up. I'm going to try to sneak over there tonight to see if she's okay."
"Want me to come?"
"Bad idea. You're related to Blitzo so if Stolas finds you in Charlie's bedroom, you're a dead man."
"Good point."
"You just go on home, I'll give you the details tomorrow."
"Alright, in that case I'll pray for your soul because knowing your mother, mercy isn't exactly her best virtue."
Vaggie couldn't help but crack a smile.
"See you around Angel."
"See you around babe."
They parted ways when Vaggie was only a few inches away from her house, her mother had been waiting for her by the window and this was the first time she had ever seen Angel and she didn't like what she saw. She also didn't like that Vaggie had never told her about him. This combined with the phone message she received from school, put her in a very particularly foul mood.
"Suspended!" She scolded her daughter. "I can't believe you got suspended! Do you have any idea how this will look when you apply for college?"
"She had it coming Mom." Vaggie said. "I couldn't just let her get away with that."
"Then tell a teacher for God's sake, don't jeopardize your future!"
"My future! It's always about my future! It's never about my present is it? You never think about what's happening with me now!"
"How could I? You don't talk to me anymore."
"That's because you're always working. You're never home."
"Neither are you. Don't think I haven't noticed you sneaking out at night. Running around late at night with that boy, I'm sure."
"What boy?"
"The one I saw you with! Who is he?"
"No one, just a friend from school."
"Then how come you never told me about him?"
"I don't know. I didn't think it mattered."
"What have two been doing together?"
"Mom it's not what you think. We're just friends."
"Right, like how you and Velvette were just friends?"
"Okay so I lied about my relationship with her but that's only because I knew you'd never approve. And I was right, because when you did find out, you told her parents and she dumped me!"
"She was a thug Vaggie! Niffty's mother told me that she once landed a kid in the hospital for assault and battery! There was no way in Hell I was letting you have a relationship with someone like that! And now here you are fooling around with some boy-"
"We're not fooling around! He is my friend!"
"Who is he? What's his name?"
"We call him Angel."
"His real name."
"Anthony Giannelli."
"That crazy woman's grandson?"
"She's not crazy Mom. She's just different. You're getting upset over nothing, all we do is hang out."
"But you're starting to like him more than as a friend, right?"
"No!"
"I saw how you smiled at him. I've made that same smile before, and what followed after got me into a lot of trouble."
"Angel isn't like that Mom. He's weird but he'd never do anything to hurt me."
"That's what we all think and then the next thing you know, we're throwing away our dreams, getting knocked up, and he ends up being the person who hurts you the most!"
"You regret having me, don't you?"
"Of course not."
"Then why are you always talking about what a terrible mistake you made by going off with Dad? You know if you never did that, I would have never been born!"
"I don't regret having you! I never regretted that! It was your father I regretted! He used me, he never loved me!"
"You're the one who left him!" Years of frustration and unanswered questions were finally building up and pouring out of Vaggie. "It's your fault the marriage fell apart! You didn't love him enough!"
"No Vaggie, he didn't love us enough!"
"You're liar! He loves me! Even if he doesn't love you anymore!"
"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Inez shouted, forcing her eyes not to water. "And don't you dare act like you know everything about our marriage and why it fell apart! Because you know nothing about it! You were too young!"
"All I know is that you left and you took me with you!"
"I had to!"
"Why?! Why did we have to leave?!"
For a moment it looked like Inez was about to answer her questions but a thought occurred to her. One that made her re-think her actions and wonder if this was the best time to confess certain truths.
"Go to your room Vaggie. We will talk about this in the morning."
This only made Vaggie more angry and upset.
"You know it's all your fault! And that's why you can't tell me what happened!" Vaggie shouted in tears. "I wish I lived with Dad instead of you!"
She then stormed off to her room. Inez couldn't follow her and argue her case because she couldn't hold back her own tears any longer. She ran to her own bedroom and cried so quietly and softly that it was impossible for her daughter.
"Damn you Ernesto!" Her thoughts cursed at her ex-husband. "Because of you our daughter hates me and if I can't tell her the truth about you because then she'd hate herself! Damn you! Damn you straight to hell Ernesto!"