Masked Girls

11. POWER STRUGGLE

Gillian Bishop was triggered. And I say, triggered.

"She gave me six demerit points! I didn't even do anything!" The girl's indignant screech could be heard loud and clear as she furiously  down the hallway towards the cafeteria with the rest of the clique.

Hah, you sure about that, Gilly? 

Lisa did her best to sound sympathetic, though I could sense she wasn't really sure what to say in response to this. "It's okay, Gilly. Just try not to chalk up any demerit points anymore this year - " 

"She gave me detention. DETENTION!" Gillian snapped, "It's going onto my disciplinary record!"

I froze as I listened, my back turned as I folded my blazer as neatly as possible. Since it wasn't compulsory to wear the navy blue blazer all the time in school, I tended to keep it inside whenever I didn't need. This happened to be conducive for me to stall as I stood before the tiny square box of storage that each student was provided, tuning in to the drama in an inconspicuous manner.

"Someone did this. Some snake who I happened to accept into my spam reported me." Gillian growled in an almost-feral manner where I could imagine in my head without even turning as I folded my blazer in slow-mo. Oh crap, the girl was angry. But she'll never know.

I hope!

"You have any idea who it is?" Addison asked. "Did you piss anyone any Mrs Walters stans recently or something?"

"No!" Gillian seethed. "Some two-faced bitch out there is getting bold, I swear to God. Who would like Mrs Walters anyway?! She's freaking annoying, dude."

"Facts. Everyone hates Walters. She's a desperate little wannabe who tries too hard to please all her students, acting like that witch in Hansel and Gretel when she tries to fatten us all up!" Addison stated with a dramatic scoff, "I feel like it's someone you had past beef with."

Erm, nope, she's trying to be nice and Gillian's demeanour is an enemy-making machine.

"Fair," Avery acquiesced, "But you should probably filter out your follower list, remove some people. Maybe 312 is too many followers for a private account."

Gillian made a noise of disgust. "This is so stupid."

I quickly turned and shoved the folded blazer into the locker, shutting it and quietly walking off, hoping that I wouldn't be-

"Yo, Selene!"

Noticed.

Nervously, I put on my trademark innocent smile as the Populars turned to me from their position, most of the members leaned against the wall at the end of the locker hall, their tall, athletic figures slightly intimidating although I wasn't all that much shorter than them - almost as tall, in fact. "Hey! Oh, Gillian, what happened with Lorenzo just now?" I asked as cluelessly as possible, my blur look on display. (It was one of my famous, more notable expressions in Physics.)

Gillian's expression was once again twisted into a snarl as she said simply, "Some telltale bird snitched on me, what else?"

Well, at least you didn't get expelled, Gillian, and I'm sure that's because your parents own a law firm. Probably not best that perfect little Rifton gets sued due to one of your tantrums.

"Oh shit," I grimaced, faking a sympathetic look as Gillian crossed her arms, huffing.

"It's fine," she growled, clearly displeased at the concept of potentially showing weakness. "Haters can stay pressed. When I find out who did this, it's all over for them."