Chapter 7

The first half of Ariel's day passed without incident, but when lunch rolled around and she spotted those girls in the cafeteria, she decided to eat outside on one of the boulders surrounding the school, under the shade of a maple tree.

I don't even need that long to eat. She bit into her sandwich. I need to find something else to do with my time other than wait in the hall for the bell to ring.

"So, this is where you scurried off to after you saw us in the cafeteria."

A chill ran down Ariel's spine. No, not her. Not again. Why can't she just back off? Ariel glared up at her and took another bite of her sandwich.

"Tch. Did you not learn from yesterday?" Janice asked, hands on her hips as she looked down at Ariel with her two friends behind her. She swung at her and knocked the sandwich out of her hands to the ground. "There, that's much better. Now the sandwich suits you."

"You mean it suits you now," Ariel snapped. Dammit. Why'd I do that?! I'm probably right, but don't antagonize the bully.

"What was that?!" she screeched, her right eye twitching. "How dare someone like you talk to me like that?" Janice shoved Ariel back off the rock.

"Ah!" Her head hit the school bricks. Warm liquid trickled down the side of her forehead.

"Janice, what are you doing?" her friends called out to her.

"Teaching her a lesson." Janice rounded the rock and kicked Ariel in the stomach.

"Arg." Ariel held back from screaming again as Janice continued to kick her.

"There's blood! Let's get out of here." Janice's friend grabbed her and dragged her away.

Her breathing ragged and pain spreading, Ariel fought back her tears as she blindly searched the grassy ground for her glasses. Why? She sniffled. Just why? She put her glasses on and sat in the grass with her hand to her head, putting pressure on the wound as she hoped it would stop bleeding.

When she finally stopped shaking, she forced herself to stand and waddled to the nearest bathroom to look at the damage. "Damn," she muttered and winced when she touched the wound. Should be enough to get her expelled, but no one will take my side. Hope I don't need stitches or anything. I can't go to class like this. She glanced at her watch and tried to carefully wash the blood off of her forehead.

"Damn, it's bleeding again..." She took a step away from the sink and a dizzy spell hit. "Oh..." She braced herself on the nearby wall. That can't be good.

After a few deep breaths, she headed to the nurses' office on the other side of the school, ignoring any weird stares as she tried to hide the wound with her hair as she went.

"Yes, may I..." the nurse trailed off. "Come, sit down." She led Ariel over to a bed. "Let me see." She lifted Ariel's hand and cringed. "I can clean it up and glue it closed, but if you have a wound like this on your head, I worry about a concussion. I'd advise you to go to the hospital."

"Uh... The wait periods nearby are horrible. I'd rather you just do your best; the rest is up to my body to heal up." Ariel shifted her position slightly and winced as pain spread through her ribs.

"May I ask what happened?" the nurse asked as they cleaned her wound.

"I fell."

"This will hurt, but hold still, please."

Ariel clenched her fists in her lap and closed her eyes as the nurse glued the wound and patched it up.

"Thanks," Ariel said, as the nurse stood.

She held her hand up to stop her from leaving. "Are there any other injuries?"

"I'm okay—"

"Oh, your arm." The nurse pointed at the scrape from the fall that she hadn't noticed. "I should fix that up, too."

"I don't have much time before class starts."

"Class can wait, and I can write a note to excuse any tardiness."

Ariel shut her mouth and waited, figuring it'd take less time if she didn't argue.

"There, that should do. Now, I'll write you a note; I just need your name first." She sat down at her desk.

"I'll rush to make it there before the bell." Ariel took off.

"Don't run in the halls! That's dangerous." The nurse sighed and shook her head. "Was that really from a fall?"

Ariel skidded into her next class in time, but gained a few off looks from the teacher and whispers from the students.

Always have to stand out, don't I?

At her last class of the day with Janice and her friends, Ariel kept her head down and avoided eye contact. She quickly opened her textbook, hoping to hide the nail polish on it.

Mr. Lux's eyes stayed on the book for a moment before he started the class.

That's it, I'm busted, and it's the first day since the incident.

When Mr. Lux gave them their class work for the day, Ariel dove right in. Once he was certain everyone was busy with their work, he knelt down beside her desk. "Ariel, is everything okay?"

"Yup," she replied, her eyes not leaving her papers.

He poked at the red splash he could still see on the top of the pages. "Are you sure there isn't something you want to talk to me about?"

Dammit, why can't he take a hint? He's being nice and all, but this will fan the flames! "Textbook got ruined in an accident, sorry. I'll save up to pay it back."

"No, I'm not worried about the textbook. You'd be surprised how many get ruined, and we have to order new versions every other year. Is that a bandage on your head?" He resisted the urge to reach out to inspect it.

"Separate accident; I'm fine." Though I wish this headache would go away.

He lowered his voice to a whisper, "I can help you if something is going on. You can talk to me."

"Nothing's going on." She shook her head. "Everything's fine." Her mouth tightened in a line, refusing to explain. It's not fine, but you doing this will probably make it worse. Why are those girls so crazy?

"If you say so. Please know I'm here if you need me." He tapped on the corner of her desk lightly and continued doing his rounds.

It's sad that him being nice is a part of the problem.

Ariel tried to focus on her work, but the stares from behind her in class bore into her, making the hairs on her neck stand on end.

Focus on your work, not me. She shook it off and tried to concentrate as time slowly clicked by.

Thunk. Ariel jerked forward from the impact to her chair when Janice kicked it in passing.

Janice glanced back at her and smiled before approaching Mr. Lux. "I'm having trouble with this one. Can you help me?"

"Sure thing, Janice."

All smiles when she's talking to him, and spite and disgust when she turns to me. Ariel held onto her head as the pain spiked. Maybe if I do end up with an issue, I won't have to come back to school. But do I really want to tell my brother what's happening again?

Ariel finished early and packed up her things, ready to bolt as soon as the bell rung. She stared at the clock above the door, her leg bouncing up and down and fingers fidgeting.

Ring.

She took off before anyone else in the class had their backpack on. Not bothering to stop at her locker, she rushed down the halls filling up, and out of the school.

Freedom... for today.