The Worst Journey Of High School

The Warning

Wednesday 2:30pm Sports
The wearing of my P.E. uniforms for the day finally came to use as this last period was for Sports and the period that comes before my detention.
Ugh.
I checked myself out in the girl's restroom, packing my long hair in a ponytail so to not get in my way during Sports.
I left the restroom aiming for the school basketball court which was a whole other building on its own, where I stopped to my name. I turned around.
"Leo. Hey."

"Hey. About earlier-"

"Look, I've already forgotten about that and I have a class to go to now." I said hastily wanting to be early.
Being new at a school and being late to class was very embarrassing.
"No Holly wait. I wasn't going to scold you. I just feel like the advice I'm giving doesn't feel important to you. That's why I need to tell you what happened."

That definitely stopped me. I looked at my watch. I didn't have enough time and insisted on leaving but Leo held me back persisting me more. His grip on my arm was firm but gentle.
I stayed.
We both sat on the hallway bench as he started his story.
"This whole thing, from the day you came and till the trouble this morning, it's like a whole repeating cycle. This happened with one of my classmates, a senior as I was. Her and Jessica didn't have a good history, since Jessica never had respect for her. Jessica depended on her money to gain her the popularity and power in this school and with that, Jessica used that to always provoke Melisa, that was her name."

I suddenly became interested. "Okay..."

"She always ridiculed and disgraced Melisa. A junior bullying a senior, it was improper and so wrong. But at the same time it couldn't be stopped."

" Why?"

" Because everything Jessica ridiculed her of was true. From her poor background to her being not so educationally bright and Melisa making herself better just to prove Jessica wrong would just expose that Jessica hurt her pride."

" I wasn't happy to always see her angry. Everyday, she lamented against Jessica, cursing her and actually threatening to kill her one day. I really tried to calm her down, but the more Jessica came to sight, the more the anger she stored was close to blowing up. "

"Did she let go or do something about it?" I asked

"She did the exact same thing you wanted to do. Fight Jessica. It was light at first but it began to get dangerous as we senior student watched her beat the crap out of Jessica.  Some of them even kept encouraging her. It was so bad.
I couldn't take it and reported to the principal, in turn betraying her. Jessica was hurt but she made it look very serious.
Her parents having control of our principal-"

"Principal Brian? " I asked shocked.

" No. The old one. His name isn't important. He was under Jessica's parents control, bribed by their fame and money. He didn't allow justice to be done and Melisa got expelled. She almost got arrested, since Jessica claimed she had bled. The principal believed her even when most of us protested against it. "

" As for me," He paused, then continued,
"I wanted to apologize, but Melisa wouldn't talk to me. She stayed away from me and when she left Able Brighton College, I lost all contact and connections of her." He shook his head sadly.

" The point is, Jessica got to her and she fell into that trap. She didn't realize that Jessica had power over her at that moment but at the same time I couldn't blame her."

Leo suddenly looked at me with such a determined and sad look.
" Holly, please, don't let Jessica get to you. She wants you to fight. If you do, you'll just prove you're one of her fun-battle puppets. Don't make Melisa's mistake... "