Chapter 5

When I got to school the next morning I wasn’t really surprised to see Leia and her friends standing not far from my locker. I tried my best to ignore them, but that never goes over very well. And now they had new ammunition against me as well. “Oh my god. What the hell did you do? Hack your own hair off?” Leia asked, walking over to me and flicking my short messy hair. But I just shrugged her away from me while I got my books out of my locker. “Oh. I don’t think she wants to play anymore.” Ingrid said, leaning on the locker on the other side of me. “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” I asked. “Where’s the fun in that?” Leia asked. “I think she loves the attention. Look at the way she’s pawing all over the twins.” Izzy said. But I just side eyed them when they said that. If they actually believe that I’m the one pursuing them, then they are completely blind. They’ve seen me literally push them away. “Well, maybe she needs to be taught a lesson.” Leia said. “It looks like someone already taught her a lesson.” Ingrid said, pushing on the cut on my forehead. But I just moved my head away from her so she couldn’t touch the wound again. Surprisingly though, it didn’t hurt me as much as I thought it would. I’ve been hurt by Marilyn plenty of times where it’s left scars, and they usually hurt for ages. But not this time. “Hey, why don’t you go and pick on someone your own size.” A girl yelled, walking over to us. I turned to see a skinny, beautiful looking girl with brown hair and brown eyes approaching us. I’d seen her in a few of my classes. She’s never been one to pick on me though. She always stayed out of it. “This has nothing to do with you Wendy.” Leia said. “I don’t care. Leave her the hell alone.” Wendy said, getting between myself and Leia. I turned around to look at Wendy. To see if she was actually serious right now. But she was. She was staring Leia in the eye, telling her to leave. No one ever sticks up for me like this. Who was this girl? “Whatever. But make sure that she gets the hint and stays away from the twins.” Leia said. “Don’t you forget that the twins are the only reason you’re still here.” Wendy said. What does that mean? How could the twins be the only reason why they are here? They definitely aren’t related, and if they are, that’s just sick. But Leia took one last look at me before she left with her friends. Wendy turned around to look at me and she had a really nice warm smile on her face. “I’m Wendy.” She introduced herself. “Ella.” I said. “Yeah. The new girl. It’s not a very big town.” She said. “It’s tiny.” I corrected her. “Yeah. It is.” She chuckled. “I saw you in class yesterday. Your new haircut looks cool.” She said. “It looks like a hack job.” I said. “Why would you say that?” She asked. I couldn’t wonder why she was being so nice to me. Is this just a prank that other students have cooked up to humiliate me? It wouldn’t surprise me. Not with the welcome that I’ve already gotten from this place. “Are you alright?” She asked. I must have been looking at her strangely. I didn’t realize that I was doing it. “Thanks for helping me with Leia and her lackey’s.” I said, turning back to my locker to get the rest of my books. “Have I done something to upset you?” She asked. “Not yet.” I said. But I said it without thinking. I guess I was just being over skeptical, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Waiting for the inevitable backstabbing to happen. “Oh. Listen, I can understand why you would think that of me. Believe me, I do. But please don’t lump me in with the rest of the assholes that go to this school. I’m really not like them. I like you.” She said. “You don’t know me.” I said, closing my locker and turning back around to look at her. “Well, I know that I don’t hate you. I would like to get to know you. Is that alright?” She asked. I hesitated for a moment, wondering if it was a good idea or not. I wasn’t sure if I should trust her. It was hard for me to trust anyone. But I guess if I was going to get anywhere around here, I had to start. So I nodded my head and her smile widened even more. Wendy and I had the first class together that morning so she walked with me and no one really said anything to me as I made my way to class. We walked in and sat at the back of the room and Leia and her friends were on the other side of the room, where they were yesterday. Talking amongst themselves and laughing and whispering, but making it obvious that they were talking about me. Just another way to taunt me. “Listen, don’t worry about Leia. She’s all kinds of bitch. She’s entitled, she’s rich, she’s never been told no and worst of all she did have a fling with Tristan. Which is why she now thinks that she belongs to the twins.” Wendy said. “What do you mean ‘belong’? Why would any woman want to belong to a man?” I asked. “Oh. It’s just a figure of speech.” She said, but it looked like there was more to it than that. Like she was holding back on something. But I wasn’t really one to pry for information. If she wanted to tell me, then I guess she would. Wendy and I were facing each other, just making small talk when the class went quiet again. I looked up and saw the twins walking into the classroom. “Hi guys.” Leia said, starting to walk over to them. But they didn’t even spare her a glance as they made a beeline straight for my desk. “You two aren’t in this class.” I said. But they put a bottle of juice and some snacks on my desk without saying anything at first. And Tristan handed me a note. I looked at it and it had their information on it. Both of their phone numbers and their address. “How about we get your number as well. It might save some time.” Nathan winked at me. “I don’t think so.” I said, softly. But Tristan hit him on the shoulder and he stood up from leaning on my desk. “Come and see us after school.” Tristan said. And with that, they turned around and left. I looked at the juice and snacks that the twins had given me and I only just realized that I hadn’t actually eaten in a couple of days. But I put those things in my bag and I looked over at Wendy who was sitting there with her mouth open. She started moving it like a fish out of water, but no words were coming out. “Are you alright?” I asked. “Yeah. I’ve never seen them do anything like that before.” She said. “Like what?” I asked, a little scared. “Like being nice to someone. Actually nice to someone instead of just whoring around.” She said. “How well do you know them?” I asked. And she looked at me with a confused look on her face. Then I could see that she was trying to add it up in her head. “Honestly, I can’t remember when we actually met. But we’ve known each other for years. We were friends way back when we were kids. But sort of drifted apart as we got older.” She explained. “And you’ve never seen them do this?” I asked. “Never.” She said, very profoundly. “So, what the hell was all that? I know that you’re poor and everything but I never actually thought the twins would consider you a charity case.” Leia said, walking towards my desk. “Maybe that’s the only way they can think of getting into her pants.” Carson said. “You know what, I never thought of it like that. Of course that’s why they would be buying her food.” Leia said, smacking her own head because she didn’t think of it herself. But I just kept my head down and I didn’t engage with them at all. I wasn’t going to give them a reason to keep teasing me. I wasn’t good in confrontations. I didn’t like them. I started feeling really panicky. I could feel my hands start to shake and I was sweating a little bit. Everyone in the class was watching us and it was humiliating. I don’t know why the hell she can’t just leave me alone. I never asked them to do any of this for me. Wendy finally stood up and pushed her desk off to the side of the room, causing me to jump as she did it. It scared me. She did it so fast and with a lot of strength that I wasn’t expecting it. “You said what you needed to say now fuck off.” Wendy demanded, getting right in their faces. I was surprised that she was so demanding, but what surprised me even more was that they listened. Even Carson. He looked back at me once, but he walked back over to his desk with Leia and they sat now, not even whispering about me anymore. Wendy pulled her desk back over and put it in place next to me just as the teacher came into the room. I was still staring at her in shock and a little bit of fear. “Sorry about that. Sometimes they really need to know who’s boss and who won’t take their shit.” Wendy said, smiling that warm smile at me again. I smiled back, but it was not a normal smile. It was a very nervous smile where I wasn’t sure if she was going to lose her temper again or not. I couldn’t concentrate all the way through class that day. I would steal glances at Wendy and then at Carson and Leia. I would also think about the twins occasionally and something didn’t seem right to me. Something wasn’t sitting right. It was like they all were in on some little secret that I didn’t know about. Their behavior, their mannerisms, everything. It was so different to what I was used to. And some of the things that Wendy had said today, belonging to the twins, Carson and Leia needing to know their place and them two also just bowing down and doing what Wendy said when she yelled at them. It seemed like that was the reaction that they wanted from me, but when Wendy did it, they backed off completely. Not another word was said and they weren’t even whispering about me anymore during class.