Chapter 2

___

Present

My alarm beeps at 7:45, I jump up, damn, I hit snooze too many times, and now I’m going to be late for class. I run to the bathroom, quickly shower then head back to my room. When Stephanie walks in, I’m putting on my clothes; I try to hide my body.

“Ewww, piggy? Put some clothes on. Nobody wants to see that.” She screams. I quickly pull up my skirt and throw on a top; I’m used to her comments by now. When I moved in two months ago, they used to hurt and would even make me cry, but I made peace with the fact that I was a couple of pounds heavier and my stick-thin roommate was a bitch

“I’m borrowing your shoes tonight, the strappy black ones.” I remain silent; it’s not like anything I say will stop her.

“What, you don’t want to? You should be thankful your fat ass wears the same size as me. Why should I be grateful that she’s wearing my stuff without my consent? I want to ask her, but I can’t; she’s a cheerleader who has the power to make my life more miserable, so I can only grin and bear it. I smile at her and nod.

“Okay.” I grab my books and head to the door, praying I don’t run into Noah. Since that night, he started bullying me; it began the Monday after the party. I saw him in the cafeteria and tried speaking to him, but he looked at me as if I had a contagious disease; he spilled milk on me that day, pretending it was an accident. Every day after that, he would find some way to corner me and torture me, calling me fat and ugly. I can’t understand how he’s the same person I spoke to that night; maybe he was drunk.

When Mel was here, she would stop them whenever she could, and her friends did not join in bullying me; they still don’t, even now that she’s gone. However, they don’t speak to me; I guess no one wants to go against Noah.

I’m running across the lawn to the English building when I see Noah and his lackeys at the front door. F**k just my luck, I try to turn, but he already spots me.

" Niagra!”Oh, he also calls me everything but my name nowadays. I clench my fist but turn back and smile.

" Yes, Noah.”

“Come here.”

“Noah, I have class. Can we do this later?”

“Come here now!” I sigh before walking up to him.

" Didn’t I tell you not to wear that skirt? You look like an elephant.” I want to ask him how that is any of his business, but I can’t. I can only smile.

“I’ll remember next time.”

" You better; we don’t want to see a cow in a skirt, right fellas?” My turn red with embarrassment as all his friends except Arthur laughs; Arthur is Noah’s best friend. He speaks to me sometimes when I’m at the library, and he often apologizes for Noah’s behavior but never stops him. I wish he would talk to him, but I’m happy to have him as a friendly face.

“I’ll wear my pants then.”

“That’s even worse; your ass looks huge and not in a good way,” he says. I clench my fist. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

" So, I should not wear a skirt or pants. Do you want me to walk naked?

" Eww, only if you want us to dig out our eyes” They laugh, and I feel the sting of tears threatening to fall. Yeah, I’m a cow, an ugly cow, I know it all too well, but I won’t let him get the satisfaction of seeing me cry. I nod okay before running past him into the building, heading straight to class.

I put my head down on my desk, trying to push his words from my mind. He’s nothing but a rich asshole, so what if I liked it two years ago? That was a lapse in judgment. I didn’t know better; a pretty face fooled me. I sigh. Just seven more months, and I’ll be gone forever. I smile with this knowledge as Ms.Peart starts class.

“Everyone turn your book to page 150; we shall pick up where we left off.” She says. I look up, pulling out my book from my bag when Noah walks through the door. F**k, I forgot we have this class together. He smirks at me as Ms.Peart glares at him; she is the only teacher in the school not intimidated by his parents and their wealth.

“Nice of you to join Mr.Calybr.”

“I do like to make an entrance.” The class breaks out in laughter as if he said anything funny.

“Silence!” She shouts, glaring at the room. Everyone stops laughing. “Take your seat Mr. Calybr.” He strolls past me with a smirk, sitting two desks over. The class passes without much incident until Ms.Peart announces our class assignment.

“Your assignment is to write a poem it’s due in two weeks. Because I don’t trust you to pick suitable partners, I will be assigning each of you a partner.” My heart drops; I’m a straight-A student and love writing poetry but working with these people who bully me wasn’t something I was looking forward to. If I beg her would Ms.Peart allow me to work alone; I raise my hand.

“Yes, Nygeria.”

“Can I do this alone?”

“What? Are we not good enough for you?” Noah shouts before Ms.Peart can respond. I ignore him, something I know I will pay for later.

“I’m sorry, Nygeria. If you worked alone, then your assigned partner would also work alone. It would no longer be a group assignment.” I nod my head and sigh, only praying that my partner was reasonable. I sigh as if I would be so lucky; when my partner’s name gets called, it's, of course, Noah. I slam my head on my desk; I think Ms.Peart just signed my death certificate.

" Huddle up with your partner for the next 10 minutes so you can decide where and how often you need to meet and get this done. Let me remind you this counts as 30% of your final grade, so do it well.” I feel an oncoming headache as everyone moves seats to get closer with their partner. I look back at Noah, pointing at a chair by his side. I groan before gathering my belongings and making my way over to him. As I walk past his desk, I feel my foot hit on something, almost causing me to fall. I glare at him as he pulls back his foot and laughs. I sigh, yeah I’m not making it out of this project alive.

" Where should we meet?” I mumble nervously, hoping he tells me to screw off and let me do it alone, but I should have known he would use this opportunity to torture me.

“My penthouse, I’m free this Sunday, don’t invite your slutty friend.” He scowls at me as I wonder who he’s talking about. Mel is my only friend but transferred out Junior year because of her parent’s move, and slutty wouldn’t be a word anyone would use to describe her.

" My dorm is closer or the library,” I reply, ignoring his question.

" We need to talk, so the library is out; I don’t want to enter your Dorm. I’m sure it smells like a cum dump the number of boys you have going in and out of there.” I look at him, confused. What is he talking about, cum dump? Men? Oh, Stephanie, he thinks I’m sleeping with all those men Stephanie brings in my room. Does everyone think that? I wonder? Does everyone think I’m easy? But no one had tried to get with me. Even Brian had stopped trying after I became Noah’s target. I scoff if only they knew the truth; the farthest I’d ever gotten was an almost kiss on a balcony two years ago. I’ve never kissed anyone, much less had sex. I should correct him, but he probably won’t believe me, so instead, I nod.

"Okay, your penthouse.”We work out the details and exchange phone numbers. For a moment, I forget that this is the guy that bullies me. He’s treating me like a normal human being for once. When the bell rings, I gather up my stuff and say goodbye to him, but he pulls me back; I feel the unpleasant jolt of electricity that always shatters me when he touches me.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

" My next class.”

“Aren’t you thirsty?” I look at him, confused.

“No, I’m not….” I feel my bag get wet and realize he's pouring water on me. I pull away and glare but say nothing, the tears are coming, and I can’t stop them this time. The first one trickles down my face.

“Thirst quenched; remember not to wear that skirt anymore.” I pull my hand away and run out of the room to the sound of laughter as running into the closest bathroom. I run into the stall, close the door, and allow the tears of frustration and hurt to fall. I spend a good five minutes crying before my tears stop flowing. I pull the tissue and wipe my eyes. Suddenly the door opens, and the stall beside me slams close.

I hear shuffling and heavy breathing as they slam against the side of the stall. I look down and see four feet. Are they doing this here? In school? Who’s that horny at 9 in the morning? I contemplate whether I should go out or not when the sounds of loud moaning start echoing in the room.

“Noah, oh Noah, that’s so good. That’s so fucking.” Gretchen screams. My heart drops; it feels like it’s breaking. No! Why should I care who he fucks? He’s just a rich asshole, I try to tell myself, but the pain in my chest doesn’t believe me. I can’t take this any longer, so I decide I should quickly go before they finish. I open the stall door slowly and get out, but it slams back when I let the door go. The moaning stops. I try to run to the exit, but the stall door opens, and he sees me.

“I bet you wish it was you, huh slut?”

Nygeria- Real World

______

Nygeria

I stare at my phone screen at this ridiculous book, am I supposed to believe she falls in love with that asshole? My anger flares; these authors love glorying toxic relationships. Are we supposed to believe that asshole suddenly has a heart of gold? So he’s bullying her because he loves her? What kind of fucking logic is that? I’m tempted to throw my phone across the room, but I close the app and delete it. I’m not interested in reading the rest of ‘My bully loves me.’ The concept is utter trash.

What’s even more insulting is this bitch has my name and is nothing but a whiny pushover. She has that whore roommate wearing her shit and that asshole throwing water on her. He calls her a slut, but her heart breaks because he’s fucking someone else? She feels electricity when he touches her? Are they trying to insult my intelligence with this bullshit? The only thing she should feel for that asshole is intense hatred.

That f**k boy, I wish that was me. I would teach him a lesson. I grab my pillow and scream into it. That book pissed me off. I feel my anger dissipate as I breathe steady breaths. I should stop thinking of this and go to sleep. I look at the time; it’s 11:05 pm. I have work in the morning,  at a coffee shop, I’m 21, no college education, and books are my only escape from my sad reality, but I had to find the one book that made me angry tonight.

I close my eyes, trying to sleep but Nygeria and Noah keep coming back to my mind. I want to know what happens, but I can’t get with it. Nygeria in the book is way too weak. If it were me, I’d ruin the plot. I drift off to sleep, still thinking of the book Nygeria and Noah.

The sound of an alarm goes off; I look at it, it’s a glow-in-the-dark alarm; when did I buy that? I look at the time. It’s only 7::30. I don’t have to be up for another hour. I close my eyes and press snooze. A couple of minutes later, it beeps again. I look up, now I see the desk it’s on. There isn’t a desk in my bedroom. I jump up, still exhausted, as I look around my surroundings; two bunk beds? Two desks? I’m in a door room. Wtf?

While scanning the room, I spot a picture of me with a woman I don’t recognize on the desk next to the alarm. What the hell is going on? I start to panic, pacing the room when the door swings open.

“Fat bitch I’m borrowing your dress tonight.”I stop and face the blond bitch who just called me fat, she seems familiar, but I can’t place her. Then it comes to me; she was described with a long face, blond hair, and a skinny body in the book.

“Stephanie, the slut?”The words slip out before I can think; she stares at me, shocked, my heart starts racing. Am I in the novel? I’m in that stupid novel. My head throbs before the world goes black.