Fragile Bones

Chapter Twelve

I walked down the hallway looking like what I can only assume to be a giant walking trash can. I was in a long sleeved shirt and some old sweatpants with my hair unbrushed. I had huge bags under my eyes because I barely slept at all last night and I kept getting little pangs of pain in my stomach. Yesterday, I hadn't eaten a single bite and I felt proud of that fact, even though I was paying for it today. The scale told me I had lost an entire three and a half pounds between two days ago and today. So really, I couldn't afford to eat if I wanted to keep up this winning streak. It didn't help that Ashers cruelness had been on my mind all day, automatically making my appetite lost. I really have no idea why I expected him to be any different than any of the other people who waltz their way through high school. I had known from the beginning that he was popular and yet I still found myself wanting to be around him. I had no one to blame but myself.

I felt my shoulder get harshly shoved into the lockers next to me and I let out a quiet whimper as pain shot through my arm. I looked over to see Spencer (what a surprise) and Lindsay looking at me with their judgmental glares. "We saw that argument you had with Asher yesterday. Did you actually think that your fat ass could be friends with someone so popular?" Lindsay asked, twisting her lips into a mean little smile. I shook my head and tried to walk away when Spencer grabbed my arm and yanked me back, gripping my wrist tightly, even worse than last time. I winced at the sudden pain in my arm, wishing that they wouldn't physically hurt me any more than this.

"Don't walk away when we're speaking to you slut," Spencer seethed, squinting at me through angry eyes. I tried to twist my arm out of his hold but it was to no avail considering he was probably ten times stronger than my frail body. "Consider this your final warning to not get in the way of us. Asher is a part of our group, and you're a nobody. He only talked to your briefly because he pitied you, until we had to tell him otherwise," he said, looking back at Lindsay and laughing.

"What did you tell him?" I asked, so softly even I could barely hear my own voice leaving my lips. They both looked at me like they were surprised I had said anything instead of saying silent like I normally would. Spencer looked at me, pondering whether or not he should tell me whatever hurtful thing they made up about me. He finally flashed me a smile and leaned in until his mouth was right up against my ear.

"I simply told him that you were, well let's say, doing some things with that english teacher to get better grades, like the whore you are," he whispered, his breath fanning the side of my face. He pulled back from me and smirked, while I stood in shock. It must have looked like it when Mr. Henderson kept me after class and touched my shoulder like he did yesterday, so I can understand why Asher might believe it. Even still, I would think that given my social anxiety, he would know that I would be far too scared to do anything like that. I looked back at Lindsay to see her looking off to the side, with an almost sorrowful look on her face. It confused me because she usually loves to see me getting bullied like this, but she must be off her game today.

I felt Spencer's grip release and I almost forgot he had been holding my wrist. I grabbed it and cradled it to my chest and wasn't surprised to see bruises already formed. He had had a death grip on that wrist. I saw Lindsay's eyes shoot down to the bruise and then to Spencer's cruel face. "Let's go babe. We'll be late if we keep wasting our time on her," she sighed to him, grabbing his hand and intertwining her fingers through it. He gave me one last shove before walking off with her, and my eyes trailed after them. At least tomorrow would be the weekend and I wouldn't have to deal with them for a couple days.

I inspected my wrist once again and poked at it, making me immediately retract my finger and hiss in pain. I debated whether or not I should go to the nurse and ask if she had any pain killers but thought that that would raise too many questions. I hurriedly made my way to english. I had to talk to Asher before he heard even more things to make him loathe me.