Brielle's Bitch

Altercations

"Do you think the altercation between you and Miss Ford, could have been avoided?" I looked straight ahead as I chose to ignore Mrs Layton. She sighed as she tapped her pen against the wooden desk.

"Miss Carson, do you think the altercation between you and miss ford, could have been avoided?" She repeated, still ignoring her I folded my arms as I leaned back in the chair.

"So by being silent, are you saying that you're are refusing to cooperate, which will lead to your suspension." I still remained silent. Clearing her throat Mrs Truman interjected.

"Err Mrs Layton is that totally necessary, I mean Lauren is one of my quietest and most well behaved students, obviously what happened earlier must have been just a misunderstanding between the two peers..."

"Ruth are you questioning my authority?" Mrs Layton sipped her coffee as she waited for Mrs Truman to answer. "No Mrs Layton, I just think it's unfair to suspend a prized student over a silly mishap. At least review some of the statements that a few of the students wrote..."

Shuffling the statements, she began to read. She stopped and then looked up at me. "You mixed mutt!?" She said with disbelief, as she looked back and forth between the statement and me. My mouth flung open. "Mrs Layton I did not say that!"

She shook her head, "We do not tolerate racial abuse at this sixth form, we haven't in the past and we won't start today." Getting teary eyed, I moved in my seat. "Mrs Layton... I swear I never said that, please check the other statements!"

She gave me a dirty look before moving on to the next statement. She skimmed through the rest of them, before neatly stacking them together and placing them on her desk.

"I cannot recall once ever having to scold you, but to say I'm appalled would be an understatement, the profuse language, racial slurs and the fighting is disgusting; and you should be ashamed of your self Miss Carson..."

"I have no other option, but to suspend you for 4 days." She continued to sip her coffee. "Mrs Layton the only word I called Jada was a bitch, can I see those statements please."

I reached for the neat stack of statements but she quickly scooped them up, and put them in a drawer. "No, you can not. Now get out of my office. The duration of your suspension is light considering what happened earlier."

"Ruth..." She jutted her chin towards the door, and Mrs Truman rested her hand on my shoulder. "Come on Lauren..." I got up, and picked up my bag. I followed Mrs Truman to her classroom, and sat down in my chair.

I saw the eyes of all the students avert from their laptop screens to look up at me. Noticing too, Mrs Truman cleared her throat. "Everyone mind your own business, and continue with your research please." As I sat down I took out my phone. A girl named Nicole tapped me on my shoulder and passed me a scrunched up piece of paper. I looked at her with a puzzled expression. "What's this?" She shrugged before she uttered an irritated "I don't know.."

I scowled and began to unfold it, wondering what it was. As I began to read, I felt my heart beat in my throat. 'You fat whore, lay a finger on Jada again and watch what happens... You won't be getting away with this...watch your back bitch!' I looked up and started looking around to see who could have written this.

"Nicole, who wrote this?!" She shrugged her shoulders. "Lemme see." She took it from my hand, and read it her expression changing as she neared the end. "Lauren! Omg! I don't know who it could of been, but right now all of Jada's friends are suspects..." She was right about that, I wasn't scared, but I didn't take threats lightly.

"Alright class, remember to continue your research, in preparation for next week. You can go off to lunch now." After shutting off the laptops, they put them in the trolley and went out the door, a few of them looked at me before leaving.

Once all the students cleared out of the class, Mrs Truman walked over to me and sat down. She exhaled, before starting to speak. "What happened earlier Lauren." I stopped playing with my swipe card, and looked up at her.

"I came in, and Chris called me over, talking about how he heard that I contracted an STD, and then this other girl said how she had heard I had two abortions! Two abortions miss! I've never even had sex before, I'm still a virgin....Then I saw Jada laughing and looking at me...

I asked her if she had been the one who had started those rumours, she just started smirking and then she said 'Me?! Why would I do such a thing' really sarcastic like." Mrs Truman giggled at the way I altered my voice, so that it could sound just like Jada's high pitched blood curdling one.

I shot her a 'bitch, it ain't funny' glare and continued. "Then after that, it was a blur, I just lost it..." She sighed. "Where did all these rumours come from Lauren..." I shrugged my shoulders. " I don't even know, I mean there was a party on Saturday, and I was with this guy..."

She nodded, and tucked her thick wavy hair behind her ear. "And because I was a bit intoxicated he brought me upstairs, but we didn't do anything..."
She sipped her coffee, before speaking. "I'm just not getting why Jada would have a reason to start anything?" She said.

"Well the guy I was with that night, had really embarrassed her...he showed everyone some footage of him and her having sex ." Mrs Truman grimaced. " What an horrible thing to do, that boy sounds like trouble..."

"Nah miss he's lovely, but they were a couple for a short while...until he broke up with her for some reason." Mrs Truman pursed her lips. " So what...is she jealous that you and him are now getting a bit comfortable with one another?"

"Yeah probably, whatever her reasoning was, she didn't have to make up lies about me...she even said that my best friend Brielle was the one who started it..." Mrs Truman's eyebrows rose.

"Look Lauren...I'm not saying she could've been the one who started those nasty rumours about you...but never underestimate anyone...ever, not even the ones you thought would never stab you in the back." I nodded. " Miss I understand, but Brielle wouldn't do that to me."

"Lauren stop being so naive...And open your eyes! Anyone can be a backstabber..." I huffed and leaned back. "Miss trust me...Brielle wouldn't do that to me." She threw her hands up in the air

"This is useless, you'll have to learn for yourself. Anyways see you next week Monday...and don't ever let anyone take you to the point where you have to get physical with them, Lauren. You're better than that..." She gave me a hug and passed me a Polly pocket full of papers.

"Errr what's this?" She chuckled. "If you thought you weren't going to do anything for 4 days, you were wrong love, the worksheets in there should be nothing for my star student anyways."
She patted my back, and I sighed walking out the classroom.

***

Waiting patiently for the bus to arrive, I put the novel I was currently reading in my bag and sighed heavily. "What's up with the bus?! It was meant to be here 10 minutes ago!" I thought aloud. I walked over to the bus stop, and looked at the bus schedule. As I began to read I felt the presence of two people behind me, taking out my earphones I listened as they began to initiate conversation. "Is that her?"

A deep voice I didn't recognise answered. "Yeah, she's the one." I felt a tap on my shoulder, and I stupidly turned around, just to be met with a powerful punch to the face. I fell back, and the two masked people continued to assault me. They kicked and punched me repeatedly, as I begged for mercy. I felt myself slip in out of consciousness as I tried to fight back, but my fists were no match for them. Finally gaining the upper hand I hauled back and punched one of the men in their faces as hard as I could, he grunted as he stumbled back, holding his nose. "You bitch!!!" He roared. He ran up to me and kicked me in my nose and my head hit the pavement with a loud thud. Through my blurry vision, I saw one of the masked assailants remove the ski mask, and spit on me. "I bet you'll think twice about who you touch, hoe!"

I cried softly as I began to slip into unconsciousness again. For some reason I thought about everything that mattered to me: my mom, my nan...Brielle, even the blossoming relationship with Mickel. Please don't let me die god... I was too young to die dammnit! A single tear escaped my eye, and I exhaled heavily before my world went black...