✅ A Dose of Humiliation

21. Betrayal

"Heeey, pee pants!" The shout carried across the yard as soon as I stepped out of the door, and I could see Todd striding towards me. He was laughing again, and talking to the people around him. "You know her? Lorna Pee, just like the name. Wets the bed like a little baby. And she wants to pretend she's so important. Playing at being on the sports day committee. We didn't see you today, pee!"

I gritted my teeth, and turned away. I wanted to run again, to get away before any more of my friends heard what he was saying, but I didn't have that option because I was supposed to be meeting Serena today. I could only hope that Todd would get tired of his joke soon enough. He was wearing his football shirt now, and there wasn't a game on, so I could only guess that he was hoping the big sports star persona would get some girls' interest. He wasn't wearing all the padding, just the shirt and shorts, and probably shoulder pads in the hope of making him look stronger than he really was. I thought it was pathetic, but I could take some comfort from the thought that if an attractive girl even spoke to him he would forget about my accident in an instant.

"Is he for real?" Elspeth shook her head in disgust. "Name-based humour, like we're still six? And how long's it taken him to come up with that obvious pun?"

I glanced across, and realised that I hadn't told her yet. She didn't know that he had something he could actually laugh at me for. And I knew I'd never live it down if he was the one to show my friends that terrible photograph.

"Actually..." I mumbled. "I went to a party Monday night, and I might have been drinking shots until I passed out. Stupid, I know. I blame the stress. But I might have... Umm..."

"Nobody cares," Nikki appeared to reassure me. "You think all the cool kids haven't been in your place at least once? It's a thing that happens if you drink too much, and nobody can blame you for trying it out. The weirdos are the ones who keep on putting themselves through that once they know how the day after will feel."

There was a little awkward laughter from the crowd, from the people who didn't know me at least, as Todd made another joke about my name. It was even worse than his first attempt, but one person seemed to find it funny.

"Oh my god, that is so clever!" The voice was slightly higher than usual, with a hint of breathless excitement, but my head turned as if there were a string pulling in it. It really was Serena walking up to Todd with a huge, vapid grin on her face and fluttering her eyelashes. This was one twist IU'd never anticipated, and I couldn't begin to imagine what was on her mind. She really wasn't stupid enough to fall for his insults being some kind of macho power was she? He was trying to intimidate me, but I couldn't see how anyone could find that kind of bullying attractive; and Serena had seemed so smart.

But as she continued sucking up to the racist jerk, I wondered if that was what she was really looking for. She had blond hair and blue eyes, an hourglass figure, and skin perfect as porcelain. If this was a movie, she was exactly the kind of girl who'd end up with the alpha male. And she'd said that Todd might have something she wanted. She had thanked me for making her realise that. Did she have a secret thing for racists or something, and hung out with a brown girl for a few days because she was having trouble figuring out who the leader of the pack was? I couldn't believe that for an instant, but what else could she want from him? I hadn't said anything except that he was a total jerk. And the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I had absolutely no idea what was going on in that girl's head. But I was starting to think I'd have to find my own lawyer.

"You know," she was practically purring now, "something comes over me when I see a guy who can take control like that."

"Well, I do have a kind of... dominant attitude at times. Maybe you'd like to see what I'm like in a more... discreet setting?"