The Downside of Popularity

27|New loyalties

Alina
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Once in kindergarten, I ripped Kylie’s colouring of a sunflower into bits and flushed them down the toilet because Miss Luan, our teacher said she was more creative and “artsy” than I was. At that time, I derived pleasure watching her cry her eyeballs out because she’d lost her pretty picture, but a strange feeling hit me hard in the chest when she didn’t show up the next day because she’d fallen sick from crying.

Kylie didn’t deserve what I did to her; it wasn’t her fault I wasn’t very creative. And Addie didn’t deserve to be the pawn in my silly popularity-driven plans.
But I guess I wasn’t so different from the rest of the popular girls. I was just as sneaky and manipulative as they were. No wonder I wanted to be one of them so badly.

At this point I had two choices: listen to my guilty subconscious and come out clean so these students whispering and pointing fingers at Addie would stop, or stay quiet and watch them bully a girl because of her sexual orientation. But choosing the last option equalled game over for me—I’d gone too far and put a lot of work into this plan to chicken out now. It was far more reasonable and a lot less cowardly if I kept the plan going.

A circle of students gathered around Addie’s locker, flinging her books out of her arms, dragging her by the wrist, and pointing judgmental fingers at her.
Ashton and Freddie stood out in the circle, wearing cocky smirks as they popped two fingers in and out of their mouth, miming a blow job.

Sheesh, have some dignity. I rolled my eyes.

“Who would have thought?” Ashton taunted, smirking arrogantly. “Pretty girl Addie was a bull dyke.”

I scoffed. Addie was one of the girliest girls in Elm Valley. She would be better described as a mean bitch than that. Plus, couldn’t Ashton come up with something better? Never mind that I’d had enough of their sick taunts already.

I wormed my way through their bodies, interrupting their cynical laughter. “Hey, leave her alone!”
They paused and their eyes zeroed in on my tiny frame.  The expressions on their faces ranged from surprised to irritated.

“Why is it your issue Sasquatch?” Freddie groaned, rolling his eyes. “She isn’t complaining.” He shrugged.

I stepped between them, pulling Addie next to me. “Because I can’t stand the way you’re all treating her.” I pointed accusing fingers at each of them. “It’s just cruel.”

My stomach rolled nervously. I was way worse than they all were, yet I was the one pointing fingers. This entire thing would go south if someone figured that out.

“Hmmm, rebound girl’s got a spark!” Ashton guffawed, placing a hand over his chest. “Someone call for help, oooh, I’m terrified...”

Freddie shoots Addie a malicious smirk and she attempts to slip away from me. Holding her to the spot, I cupped her face and stared into her almond brown eyes. “You have to stand up against these jerks if you want to be treated fairly.”

She hiccupped, and slowly nodded back. Somehow, I’d managed to break one of the most feared girls in Elm Valley into she was a hot hiccupping mess. When I was certain Addie was a lot more settled, I turned back to Major and Fred. “You’re both disgusting,” I spat.

Ashton’s grin transformed into a glare. He leaned in closer to me, lowering his voice.  “How about you move aside and mind your own business?” he growled.