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Jezebel

I wolfed down the last of my Pop-Tart that I had to purchase, courtesy of Tucker.

Tucker Harrison.

I had just finished my prayers and was looking forward to enjoying my BLT when Tucker swiped my lunch onto the cafeteria floor. Humiliated and hungry, I cleaned up the mess. My tears disrupted my vision of the gaudy blue and white checkered tiles as I blocked out my classmates' laughter and pushed through. I was on a mission to disappear as fast as possible, and I wouldn't be thwarted. I escaped the cafeteria, but my pride and dignity were left behind with my lunch in the trash can.

I spent the remainder of my lunch period cowered in the shadow of a large oak tree in the courtyard. There were other students who ate, socialized, and basked underneath the Texas sun. Some girls had rolled up their shirts to "tan" their stomachs. It was a seductive ploy to attract the boys with their taut abs and sparkling belly button piercings they picked up over the summer. I could practically hear my father calling them jezebels and damning their souls to Hell.

"What do you think about the new guy?" I overheard.

"Erik King? Oh, my God. He's hot as fuck," one girl answered, causing the trio to titter.

"What's his deal, though? He's rude for no damn reason. Ashlynn returned to the table and was damn near in tears."

"Who gives a shit. The bitch deserves it. She always thinks she's better than someone. If she keeps dyeing her hair, she will look like Cynthia from "The Rugrats." It's about time someone knocked her down a peg or two."

I snorted. If I wasn't mistaken, these were the same girls who proclaimed to be Ashlynn's best friends.

I guess the saying is true. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

"I was in the office fixing my schedule, and I overheard some of the staff talking about Erik, and they said he was expelled from his last school in Washington because he put a kid in a coma."

"Damn. It sounds like he has anger issues!" one of the girls exclaimed.

"I'd let him take out all that anger on my pussy."

The girls cackled while I cringed in disgust. That didn't sound pleasant at all.

I have to stop being so judgmental because no matter how much I try to deny it, I reacted to Erik as well. How sick am I? This boy is clearly another Tucker Harrison. I will stay as far away from him as possible.

***

P.E.: it is the bane of my existence.

P.E. was a waste of time because my father pulled strings and had me exempt. He explained that he didn't want me to participate because our class was co-ed. Technically our class was co-ed, but most of the time, the boys did their own things. He reasoned that P.E. required running and jumping, and he didn't want me being a jezebel and tempting the boys with my bouncing lady parts.

Although I was exempt from participating due to "religious beliefs," I still had to dress out with the rest of the girls and sit on the bleachers. The locker rooms were horrible. Walking into the locker room felt like walking into a gas chamber. Instead of being met with mustard gas, it was a bomb of Victoria's Secret and Bath & Body Works fragrance mists and perfume from Juicy Couture, Vera Wang, and Marc Jacobs. It was suffocating and unnecessary. If someone lit a match, we'd all catch fire and burn to death like witches from the Salem Witch Trials.

The gossip and locker room talk were overwhelming. The girls constantly talked about hooking up, who was the best in bed, and who had the biggest...

I almost threw up when one of the girls mentioned Tucker was hung like a horse. I didn't want to hear that. I wanted to remain in my fantasy that the big truck and loud mouth were overcompensation due to lacking in the manhood department.