Killer

Chapter 5: The Sexy and the Mysterious

I ran to the nearest bathroom without turning my head to look back at all. I burst through the door to see that no one was in the bathroom, which was the perfect time as I hid in one of the stalls. The bathroom smelled awful as always—like someone either snuck in to smoke a cigarette or took a massive dump. I looked around to spot carvings and writing on the walls. Every time I came into the bathroom, I would read the horrible stuff people were putting on these walls.

I slid my back down until I was on the grimy floor and hugged my knees. My breathing was so loud that it pierced the silence, and my throat was burning. I wanted to cry, but I chewed on my bottom lip to stop the tears from flowing. I then buried my head in my knees, which were sticky with ketchup, and thought about what just happened in the cafeteria.

For starters, Tre and I never had sex in the woods. Or either gave him a blowjob, something I would never do to a guy. All we did was talk and kiss each other. As I was thinking about all of this chaos building up, it started to make sense as I put it all together. Quinn, or maybe Rachel, had to be in the woods that night. One of them had to be standing there watching Tre and me. It made sense because, at the party, Quinn was lingering behind me, and just now, Rachel blurted out to everyone that I gave Tre head in the woods, which was not true at all. It made me think extra deeply about what would happen if I was still sitting at their lunch table. Would they decide to bring it up or make an ass out of me? So many thoughts were circulating inside my head about the situation. Rachel had made up a lie that wasn't true. She had thrown a bucket of shit at me once again, and I was beyond furious about it. I was so glad Tre finally snapped at her for that.

I didn't want to be known as a whore. I was nothing but a virgin.

The door to the bathroom suddenly opened, ruining my thoughts. I heard the sound of high heels clanking on the tiled floor. I slowly crawled my way onto the toilet and pulled my legs out of sight, listening some more. I dropped my eyes below to see a pair of black heels getting on her knees. I strained my ears to hear gurgling noises followed by her puking into the toilet in a loud manner, thinking no one was in the bathroom but her. I covered my mouth and stayed quiet. The girl in the stall next to me was puking for like a good ten minutes. I had no idea who was throwing up. I had heard in the past that there was this thing called bulimia, an eating disorder that consisted of a heavy body image and overeating, which led to vomiting. I never really thought about it until now.

I felt like whoever she was needed to push all that insecurity out of her stomach. The purging went on for another five minutes. I pinched my nose because the smell was getting to me. It smelled like stale vinegar and orange juice together. When the toilet started to flush, the smell slowly died away. The girl coughed and opened the stall. I leaned over as far as I could to peek through the crack of the stall. I had to shift and squint closely to see who that girl was that just threw up.

My heart sank when I noticed her reflection in the glass mirror. It was Mila. Her long, brown hair was messy down her back as she wiped her mouth with a paper towel. The makeup around her eyes was a bit smeared, as if she had either been crying or rubbing her face.

I was thinking to myself: should I stay in the stall until she left or talk to her? It was so strange that one of the most popular and prettiest girls at Tanglewood High was suffering from something like this. I had to break it down to her that she wasn't alone and that everyone, including me, had something about themselves that they were ashamed of and insecure about.

I unlocked the stall door as Mila turned her head around. I didn't want her to think I had bad intentions or anything. As far as I knew, her group of friends was nothing but bullies. They never once were nice to me or thought about the way they were treating people. But I thought, why not be kind to my bully and not use her dark secret against her?