WHEN MONDAY ROLLED AROUND, Scarlet dreaded entering Winter Bay. Not because she didn't want to sit through hours of classes she was never going to need in life, but because she didn't want to stumble across Elliot. They shared History class, and his stares bore on the side of her head every time. The thought of cutting class appealed to her, but with Gwenn's efforts for her to pass senior year, she knew she couldn't.
She trudged past the entrance, eyes focused on the dim hallway. She checked the time before heading to her locker, finding that she had enough minutes before the bell rang for Ms. Stanford's English class. Students walked around the school, head low into their phones and murmuring against each other.
A frown settled over her features when multiple groups of people stared at her as if something was wrong with her. She gazed down at her outfit to check if she had a stain, but nothing was out of the ordinary: black top and black jeans all remained untouched. But everyone continued to speak in hushed tones as if trying to keep their words from reaching her ears.
She couldn't help but wonder what happened.
Putting on the combination on her locker, she opened it up to ignore the growing murmurs. She switched out her books for the ones she needed for the rest of the morning, trying to ignore the heavy stares falling over the back of her head. Her pulse jumped as she turned to find a group of girls from Winter Bay's band club studying her with an air of disgust.
Scarlet had enough and slammed her locker shut.
"Okay!" she announced to everyone who already paid attention to her. Her voice traveled the length of the hall, freezing everyone in place."Would anyone like to explain why the hell they keep staring at me? Did I grow a horn or something?"
No one bothered to answer, only staring at her without attempting to hide it. She blinked, waiting for a response from everyone. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. If there was an explanation for all the staring, they weren't divulging in it.
"Scarlet?" a meek voice came from her left side. Bonny Park, the adorable girl who also worked behind the scenes for the play, waved at her to follow. Scarlet threw one last glare at everyone in the hall before walking beside her.
Bonny led her to a janitor's closet and closed the door behind them. Scarlet frowned at the setting, and gave her a quizzical look.
"I told you Elliot was dangerous," she started. Scarlet tilted her head to the side. That had become true last Friday when he broke Jake's nose and then proclaimed he deserved it. At least Jake would make a quick recovery in time for the play. "He does not sit around when people confront him, and he'll drag you through the mud for it."
"What do you mean, Bonny?" Scarlet knew about Bonny's mishaps in the past. The rumors that encircled her were heinous. Having people gossip about one's sex life and criticize them for having STDs practically ruined her reputation. Bonny was a soft girl with a quiet temper who liked to help others. When news broke out that she apparently had STDs and tried to spread them to others, everyone painted her as dirty, and other adjectives Scarlet didn't think were nice.
"You know about the crap I've been through," she whispered. Her eyes teared up and she blinked them away. "It all started with Elliot. We were friends before it all broke loose."
Scarlet widened her eyes at the information. "You were what?"
Bonny nodded. "We were friends, but he got so possessive, so obsessed. I was new in town and started meeting new people. He started warning me about everyone to the point where he forbade me from talking to them. When I had enough, he... I don't know. It's like something broke inside of him. He started acting out and he spread those lies about me."
YOU ARE READING
Forever Crimson
Teen Fiction"The vultures are disguised as humans." Scarlet Turner has her last semester of high school planned out: graduate as best as she can and take care of her sick mother. But when she's told she won't graduate because of the pile of tardies she's collec...
