Plan B

Chapter Four

Fran made it up until the end of lunch on Friday before her luck ran out.  As she left the cafeteria ahead of the other A-streamers in her year, who had mostly taken her under their wing (she’d felt the need to escape partially because she felt rotten receiving their kindness when she was lying to them all about who she really was and partially because she didn’t really feel like eating), she bumped into a tall, powerfully-built guy.  It felt like walking into a brick house.  Fran bounced off him and nearly fell over.

“Use your eyes, man,” grumbled a voice.  Fran looked up, massaging her head.  A fair-skinned boy with heavy features stood there, glaring.

You’re so big you block out the light, Fran wanted to reply.  “I’m not blind.”

The guy did a double-take at her voice.  A curious look passed through his eyes, and then a smile began to spread across his face.  “Well, I never.  It’s the newbie.”

Fran sighed.  “What about it?”

The guy brought his head level with hers.  Fran couldn’t help leaning away: his breath stank.

“You look like a girl.  And we haven’t given you a proper introduction to Darkwood yet.”

“If you’re planning on flushing my head down a toilet—” Fran began indignantly, but he grabbed her wrist and towed her away.

“Oi, Kevin!  I got the newbie.”

Another guy popped up out of nowhere.  “Is it time to say hello?”

Fran saw Joey and a couple of others from her science class trailing behind him.  It had to be Kevin. She tried to yank her arm out of the other boy’s grip.  He dragged her down a corridor intersection to the left.

“Simon, Joey says he’s already making a nuisance of himself, this newbie.”  Kevin strode alongside them.  Fran dug her heels in.

“Relax,” Simon told her.  “We’re just getting you a uniform.”

Fran had long since decided against trusting him, and her suspicions were confirmed when they halted outside the girls’ toilets.  She found herself hemmed into the door by five big guys.

“Oh, no,” she said.  “I am not going in there.”

Joey knocked the door open and Fran fell through.  A pile of clothes was thrown on top of her.

“Get a uniform!” he crowed.  Before Fran could respond, the door had been pulled to behind her.  She threw her weight against it, but it didn’t budge.  There were muffled sniggers from the other side.

Fran sat on the floor.  It can’t be too long before somebody’s going to need this bathroom.  “What do you want?”

“Put on your uniform and we’ll let you out.”  More sniggers.  Fran pursed her lips.  They couldn’t have been more obvious.

“I don’t think this is a very nice welcome,” she called out.  “Kevin never said hello to me properly.”

The door opened and Kevin and one of Joey’s friends popped their heads around it.

“Oi.”  Fran folded her arms.  “Girls’ bathroom.  Get out.  Let me out.”

Joey’s friend smirked.  “We told you.  When you’re in uniform.  Get on with it or we’ll dress you.”

Fran picked up the skirt at the top of the pile, faking disgust.  “This is a girl’s uniform.”

“Of course.  To complement your looks.”