Together Apart | ✓

|Chapter XII|

Stop trying so hard for people who don't care

Chapter 12: You. Are. Just. Like. Me.

When I walked in school this morning, no one focused on me anymore. The gossip was still going around but I tried my best to ignore it. They thought the worst of me and I couldn't do anything about it.

I approached my locker expecting spray paint on it like last time. Instead I was greeted with my usual locker that looked at peace.

Cautiously, I put in my locker combination. There possibly could be more letters, the old letters will still be there or even something worse. I looked around expecting a camera being shot my way but things seemed almost normal.

I swung the door opened and grabbed some of my books. They were all neatly stacked just how I left them before the letters were there. Jordan must've cleared it out since he was the only one who knew my combination. One thing went through my mind was, how did they get in my locker? I still wondered 'til this way how they got in the last time. This was violation to my privacy even though I had any personal things in there.

I was still hurt, so hurt that revenge almost seemed like the only solution. But that would only make things worse. Besides how would I get back at all those people who commented? It wasn't as easy as it sounded.

I didn't tell Aunt Cali about any of it. Knowing her she would go straight to the principal. The principal would most probably try to shut down the website. People would end up hating me even more, none of that was necessary.

When she got a message from the school, notifying her of my absence yesterday, she had asked if I was sick again. I lied to her that it was indeed a case of the flu. I know that she knew I was lying since I couldn't lie to save my life.

Thankfully Jordan was there and confirmed that I was sick. It didn't feel right lying to her but bothering her with my problems was the last thing I wanted to do. She already did so much for me.

I went onto the website again like I had the many other times. When I refreshed the page, the video was gone. I wasn't sure who got the website committee to take it down. Even if the video wasn't present, there were still some people who had it—Kyle sent it to most of the seniors.

I was just glad that the comments were no longer physically there. But I had every single one of them imprinted in my mind. I shouldn't have read them more than three times.

All those people I knew who they were. Every person entered the website with their email and they made up a username that had to contain their name. It was supposed to ensure that people wouldn't create fake accounts. But what they should've been doing was making sure there was no bullying. The initial purpose was to make people aware of what was happening around the school, not with the students.

Just when I thought that my day wouldn't be that bad, Emily showed up. She had a devilish look when she glanced at me. I couldn't tell her to leave me alone because her locker was right next to mine. This was why I always made an early stop to my locker, to avoid her.

"Well, well, well. Back so soon?"

I ignored her and grabbed my things just to get as far away from her.

"Are you mute or something?" She shut my locker in my face. I jumped from her surprise attack but was entirely annoyed with her.

"Are you an apodal or something?" I retorted.

"What the f*ck is that?"

"You would know if you'd pay a visit to the library instead of to the boys locker room." I had no filter to my words.