Tragically Beautiful

The Queen B-itch

Class seemed to be dragging today. I was still a victim of constant glances in my direction, but thankfully it wasn't as bad as yesterday. I could hear people whispering as I passed them in the hallways, things like how I wasn't hanging around with Madison, or why I seemed so closed off. Obviously this got to me, but I just kept my head down and continued walking.

But as the first classes of the school day were drawing to a close, my luck finally ran out when I was spotted by the one person I was avoiding the most. 

I could feel her glare from where I was standing, which may I add, was pretty far from her. I shut my eyes and stuck my head in my locker, holding my breath. She might just ignore, please just let her ignore me.

"You look pathetic." Madison laughed next to me, and my heart accelerated. 

I grabbed a book from my locker and slowly retreated from the small, safe place inside. Madison had her eyebrows raised, a vicious smirk playing at the corners of her perfectly shaped, red lipped mouth. Avoiding her eyes, I searched desperately for a way around her, but her followers blocked every possible exit. 

"Seriously Madison? You need back up to make fun of me?" My voice didn't sound like my own, it wavered a few times before I even finished the sentence, and Madison noticed this with absolute joy. 

"I heard you were back, but I didn't believe it until I actually saw your miserable face." She shut my locker door with a perfectly manicured hand. Her nails were a blood red, as was the fake smile plastered on her face. 

"Can I get past?" I asked, I wasn't ready for this confrontation, not yet, maybe not ever.

"It may have been months ago Laurie, but I won't forget what you did. Anything good that comes your way this year, I'm going to destroy it, because you don't deserve any sort of happiness." Madison's smile was replaced with an almost feral glare. 

"You're right." I said as I shouldered my bag and pushed my way past her followers. I caught Holly's eye before I turned the corner, to my surprise she almost looked guilty. 

Once Madison was out of sight, I slumped against the wall and tried to regulate my breathing. God that was horrible. My hands were shaking, actually my whole body was shaking, and I felt like I was going to be sick. 

"You shouldn't let her treat you like that." 

I whipped my head to the side and found Toby Reid rummaging through his locker. I bet it was empty, like he cared about a place to put his books. 

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I said mostly to myself. 

"I'm not worried about you, I'm just saying, when you let her treat you like that you look pathetic." Toby ran a hand through his messy brown hair, then he grabbed a box of cigarettes from his locker. 

"You know what the funny thing is?" I said after a few moments of silence. "I don't even know why she hates me so much." 

Toby looked at me for the first time, he was clearly perplexed but all he said was, "Girls and drama, not my thing." He stuck his cigarette in his mouth and lit it up right there in the hallway. He looked at me one more time before he started towards his next class. In my head I replayed the way I wanted our conversation to turn out, me saying sorry for not acknowledging his pain when he lost his mother, but what was the point? I couldn't take it back. I couldn't take back how selfish I was.

I jumped out of my reverie when the bell buzzed through the now busy halls alerting everyone to get to their next class. I shouldered my bag and did as the bell warned. 

* * * * * * * *

What I really wanted was a drama free lunch, but I realized I wasn't going to get that when I spotted someone familiar walking towards me. The closer he got, the more my stomach seemed to churn.