11

  Ruby’s eyes lit up in recognition of the platinum blonde hair. She had seen a woman walk into Nate’s office, she couldn’t see the woman’s face but she was quite sure she was one of the prettiest women alive. She looked like she just walked out of the cover of a vogue magazine, the hair bore a striking resemblance with that of Taylor’s.

  Taylor had bullied her constantly that Ruby couldn’t forget the distinct color of her hair. She could feel the throbbing of her heart. Could it be that Taylor was still Nate’s girlfriend? She had heard Taylor moved to Beverly Hills and was pursuing a successful career as a model.

   She felt a sickening taste form at the back of her throat. It had been thirteen years since she was last bullied but the memories were still very fresh. She could remember how violently Taylor always yanked her hair even when she yelped in pain.

    One particular incident between them had scarred her for life. She couldn’t think of it without almost crying. Taylor was monstrous.

   It was on a Friday after school hours, there was no extracurricular activity for Ruby that day so she decided to head home to help her mother with the restaurant. She wasn’t the type of girl to hangout after school hours to party.

  “Yo! Ugly duckling” she heard Taylor call out

She pretended not to hear and quickened her pace. Her house was fifteen minutes walk from school, the road wasn’t usually busy so it was only her walking on the pavement while Taylor was driving on the main road. She knew running or walking fast wasn’t going to save her from Taylor as she could always catch up with her car. 

The tires screeched and the car came to a halt in front of Ruby. She could spot Nate in the passenger's seat, his eyes focused on his phone.

  “Taylor, what do you want from me?” She squeaked as she took steps away from her

  “You ugly little thing, do you think you can run from me?” Taylor laughed mockingly and moved to ruby like a predator would move to its prey. Her blue and white cheerleaders uniform complemented her skin and revealed her shapely legs.

Ruby could feel her body shake with fright as she awaited what Taylor was going to do to her. Esme had offered to drive her home but she decided to take a walk, not knowing that she was going to run into Taylor.

  “I saw you staring at my boyfriend during biology class” Taylor spat as she flicked Ruby’s forehead.

Ruby stood, rooted to the ground helplessly as tears formed in her eyes, blurring her vision. She knew no one was so going to save her from Taylor so she accepted her fate and allowed Taylor to do as she pleased.

  “You piece of shit, can’t you keep your filthy eyes off my boyfriend for a second?”

  “I swear, I wasn’t looking at him” Ruby cried, defenseless 

   “Oh really? I bet you keep a little diary at home where you write your thoughts about how much you love my boyfriend. Don’t you have any shame?”

Ruby didn’t reply, after being bullied consistently by Taylor, she had learnt that replies infuriated her more. She decided to stay quiet and not upset her further.

 “Who the heck do you think you are? You’re just a poor scumbag who would amount to nothing in life” Taylor whispered into her ears

Ruby looked at Nate for help but he was too busy doing his thing. Her heart felt heavier that he allowed Taylor to bully her. Now, the tears rolled out nonstop.

  “You need to know your place. You're on scholarship and you can’t afford our school fees. You should be grateful that you were accepted and we are trying to accommodate your filth”

Taylor’s words sliced through Ruby’s heart like a knife. Each time she bullied her, she had more and more hurtful things to say.

  “Do you really think Nate is interested in you? Look at how ratchet you are, each time you look at the mirror, the reflection you see is the reflection of a dirty wannabe”

Ruby had had enough of her hurtful words.

“If you’re so perfect, why do you bully me all the time?” Ruby cried. 

She could see Nate staring at her but she couldn’t tell what his facial expression was.

“I let you bully me all the time and I’m tired of it. You can have Nate all you want! Yes, I don’t stand a chance with Nate so why don’t you leave me alone?”

Now, the clouds were darkening and the thunder rumbled.

She was still hoping for some sort of intervention from Nate where would save her or at least scold Taylor.

  Taylor laughed, jeering at her. Her laughter filled the air.

 “Look at who is speaking for herself now” she clapped her hands and then placed them on her slender waist

“I’m shocked and I admire the little courage you mustered up but it doesn’t change the fact that you belong below me”

  The rain began to drizzle lightly. Ruby thought of so many options on how to get away from her bully, Taylor was stronger than her and could easily overpowered her. She hoped silently that Taylor would leave her alone since the rain was going to pour soon.

  “I don’t want to ever see you six feet close to Nate” Taylor warned, her voice low and dangerous. With that, she pushed Ruby against the pavement, sending her crashing into a thorn of roses. Her glasses broke, she had to change her glasses quite a number of times after they ended up broken when Taylor or the other girls gave her a beating.

Ruby remembered laying in a bed of roses, the rain pelleting against her skin and Taylor driving off. She had sustained injuries and had to skip school for the rest of the week.

The clicking of heels against the tiles disrupted her train of thoughts. An angry blonde woman left Nate’s office, her pretty face was twisted in a malicious scowl.

Ruby’s mouth fell open, it was Taylor!

Her guess had been right. She felt a little shiver run down her spine. Years later, she was still kind of scared of the wicked things Taylor was capable of doing.