The Other Hailey

18| the pitiable

   

     I've completely gone off the rails.

A train comes off it's rails, and it's a potentially serious hazard. A car slides off the road, and everyone in it could literally cease to live. Same thing goes for a truck driver who ignores a traffic light. And it's the same way I know that with every bad decision I make, I am headed for a beautiful, yet life-shattering disaster. I've lost it. I'm aware that this is self-destruction.

However, I can't seem to stop.

I mean, what the hell was I thinking when I ran away from home? Sure, I was pissed, and needed to get away from that awful place, but to run away and cut them off? I must've gone mad. And unfortunately, that's not the only terrible decision I've made in the last two days: I have tattoos now.

After I left home with Gabe and Dimitri, we made a stop at a tattoo shop. Their intention was to prevent the fuck-ups in the previous week from repeating itself. They really got into business that day. They were done with embodying, they wanted to magically transform me into the Veronica they knew which included getting the tattoos and piercings that she had. And I agreed to it. In my defense, I wasn't in my right mind, I was in my rebel mode. I wanted Sierra to regret letting me walk out that door, but I was unintentionally sabotaging my own self.

I have her tattoos now, crafted onto my skin as I walk through the halls of Brick Way High on a Monday morning. I've got to say, Gabe and Dimitri deserve a thumbs up for this one. They've gotten what they wanted:

Hailey -> Veronica.

"Having a tattoo" will never be on my bucket list. And even if I get one, it'll have a certain meaning behind it; a meaning unique only to me. But now, I have someone else's life, aspirations, feelings, and someone else's past crafted onto my skin. At this moment, I am her.

I won't be surprised if I can't spell my own name anymore. 

Since I've agreed to this, I need to learn to deal with her haters.

All morning, I've been thinking. What exactly did Veronica Gates do to make everyone hate her this much and why did she do those things? So far, I've only been able to come up with two possible answers-"Hell is empty, and the devil is here." If that's not it, then, "Hurt people hurt people."

Not knowing what to think of that, I continue my search down the halls for the one boy who can help me with the haters, and hopefully get me back on the right track.

I maneuver my way past the students as I take another turn. Running my hands through my hair whenever it falls forward becomes a habit as I bump into several people. Classes just ended and hopefully, Mikey is at his locker. His locker is at the other side of the school, which means I have to walk for quite some time before I find him.

I let out a sigh of relief the moment my eyes fall on the bruised, black boy, struggling to get his locker opened.

My heart sinks in my chest, noticing the cuts and injuries all over him. His left eye is swollen and dark; matching the color of his hair. The corners of his lips are covered with band aids and his cheeks have gone purple. The boy I once admired the first day of school for having such great skin has been ruined by Adam fucking Richards. It's even sadder that Adam's walking free after what he did. What I witnessed can only be described as attempted murder. It hurts that Mikey had to go through that.

And that's more reason to do what I'm about to do.

"Mikey, hey." I pant as I reach his locker. "I need the name of an Aloe Vera member, preferably the person in charge."