The Class Reject: A Damsel in Disguise (Featured Story)

Act I: The Transition

Miren Eze was still talking herself out of murder as she cleared the deep stain of diet soda on her school uniform. Penelope's doing. On purpose.

It would be for the greater good, Miren mentally justified. But she pushed the homicidal thought away as she watched the stain fade slowly under the blow dryer. She bit her lip frantically; she had no time to waste. The Fall Honors Recognition Assembly was in fifteen minutes. And here she was, stuck in a bathroom with soggy boobs.

"You look like shit." Miren's attention shifted to her only friend.

"Just the words I was looking for."

Chara set her backpack on the counter, sizing up the damage. "She really did a number on you this time," she said, hissing. "Geez, what you do? Spit on her Porsche?"

"I'd like to spit in her face." Miren tried not to think about the hell Penelope gave her. Constantly. She shook her head. "Whatever. I just need my button-up to dry."

"You can't get your award looking like that," was Chara's encouragement.

"You're right. How about I go naked?"

"Ha."

Miren scowled; she wished she could laugh at life right now.

"Hey, why don't we just switch clothes?"

She looked down at her friend. Chara had the frame of what one might expect a young Japanese girl to have—slender and petite. Miren had a similar flat build—but almost five inches on the girl.

"But—"

"Switch!" Chara began to unbutton her uniform. "We're wasting time."

With no other realistic options, Miren stripped with a groan. Chara nodded in approval when they completed their exchange.

"Now you look sexy."

"We go to an all-girls Catholic school for Christ's sake." Miren wrinkled her nose as she tugged at the tightness of the blouse. It fit her form much better than the other one, but that was the problem. Sister Francesca didn't need a reason to rain heavenly fire on her. And now she had one. "I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to look 'sexy'." Chara rolled her eyes.

"I'm pretty sure we don't have enough time to change your outfit and your attitude."

***

The hallway was empty, but Miren didn't like the idea of running down it. The school was a thousand years young, with Splashers (Penelope's unofficial minions) probably lurking like bitchy ghosts within the shadows. Ready to douse her again. And although it usually felt like a cold slap to the face, she couldn't afford to be fazed by it today. The assembly was her one chance for redemption (well, as much as a black scholarship student could hope to claim in the midst of lily-white, self-proclaimed high school aristocrats)—and recognition for something that wasn't The Incident.

But she wasn't going to go into that right now.

When they made it to the assembly hall in one undamaged piece, the sky had finally cleared, either mocking her or assuring her that things were actually looking up.

Sister Francesca, an older nun and her Ethics in Religion teacher, however, gave Miren a snide look. Before Miren could make a mental note of how un-Catholic her gesture was, Headmistress Castro shooed her toward the backstage.

Thank-you, Miren mouthed to her friend. Chara nodded before taking a seat in the back.

"So kind of you to join us, Miss Eze." There was hardly any venom in her voice, but it was hard to hear her over the crowd—it was a joint assembly, with the neighboring all-boys school taking part in the festivities. Miren sucked in a breath, hoping the act would ease her mind. But this was a big deal—she was apparently a big deal.