“Cara?” Blake called as I sat worrying my lip between my teeth, I jumped a little, glancing over at him, to see he’d logged into the computer and was sitting with a search engine open, waiting for my input.
“Huh? Sorry Blake.” I answered and he gave me a small smile, that was replaced with a frown when something over my shoulder caught his eye.
He turned quickly around as someone appeared behind me and touched my shoulder gently.
“Cara, can I have a word?” Marty asked in a deadly voice and I turned around to see him trying to hide the fury that was evident on his face. I shrugged and Blake glanced at me out of the corner of his eye.
“Sure.” I answered, then pushed my chair back.
“Blake, I’ll be back in a minute. Do you want to try and see if we can find an eyewitness account of the soldiers who freed the concentration camps and we can discuss it when I get back?”
My voice shook as I stood, Blake only shrugged and began typing without looking at me again. I didn’t know what his problem was, but since Marty was standing impatiently waiting for me, I couldn’t ask.
Marty grabbed my arm roughly and dragged me away from our classmates, over to the study rooms beyond. We didn’t go in because we didn’t have a pass and you needed a keycode to get inside from Mrs. Gerald.
“What is going on with you two? Why was he holding your hand?” Marty asked me, squeezing my arm roughly and I glared up at him without speaking until he released me. Once he did, I rubbed at my arm as it tingled.
He watched me impassively, but I could see his impatience building and I knew him well enough to know he was about to blow his top.
“Nothing is going on. He was just pulling me along because I spaced out on him,” I told Marty in a rush, watching as he sagged against the wall at his back. My frustration must have shown, because his eyes narrowed as he stared at me.
“You expect me to believe that?” He asked and his eyebrows rose.
“Believe what you want. I can’t be dealing with this today. I have work to do and have track, then detention. So, if you want to make up that something is going on between us, then have at it…”
I spun around and was about to walk away when he tugged on my arm again.
“I’m sorry, Cara. I just don’t wanna … no… I can’t lose you too.” His voice crackled and broke as he spoke, and he sucked in a deep breath before continuing.
“Chase won’t even talk to me, or look at me and I don’t know what to do and then there’s this whole thing at home with him…” He spat the word him with pure venom and I turned back to look at him as guilt and sorrow battled inside me. I was being a shitty friend. I was even shittier because I was lying to him.
There was something between Blake and I, but Marty was my best friend. He had been for years and this thing with Blake wasn’t worth ruining our friendship over. My stomach was writhing with snakes inside and I moved over to Marty, pulling him into my arms and giving him a hug. I was about to speak, when Mrs. Gerald came over.
“What are you two doing in here? Do you have a pass to be here?”
She took off her spectacles and glared between us, her overgrown, grey eyebrows, rising dramatically as she stared between us. Her hair was cropped short and she stood only a little taller than me, and she was much smaller than Marty as he towered over her, but she was always a force to be reckoned with. Her long, green skirt and yellow blouse made her look like an overgrown flower and her round stomach and double chins, made her look even more threatening.
“No. Sorry, we were just talking.” Marty answered her in a low voice, and she bristled angrily, hissing out at us.
“Get away from here or I’ll have you both put in detention. You stay in the main library area and don’t let me catch either of you in here again.”
She glowered at both of us as we began to walk back to our classmates. I couldn’t look at Marty for fear of laughing, so I made my way back to Blake and sat down beside him. He didn’t look at me as I did, too busy talking to Klaire Watters and ignoring me, which caused a little swoop of jealousy to rise up in my gut. I ignored them, or tried to, but her tittering laugh was beginning to get on my last nerve. So instead of waiting impatiently for Blake to turn around, I began logging into the desktop in front of me. My fingers slammed on the keys, and while I waited on the screen to load, I shoved away from the desk, walking towards the opposite side of the room and around the corner to where the literature books were kept.
No-one was in this section of the library, so I began browsing and scooped up The Diary of Anne Frank, A survivor’s tale from Auschwitz and The boy in the Striped Pajamas. I knew the last was a work of fiction, but I thought we could use it to show how propaganda can be used to the detriment of mankind. I was standing trying to see if there were any more books I could use when Blake rounded the corner. His eyes widened as he saw me standing there and he moved towards me.
“Everything okay, Caralynn?” he asked in a low voice as I stared at him. His eyes swept over me and he grinned as he prowled towards me, like a cat stalking his prey. His steps were deliberate, and I was hidden from sight around the corner. before he reached me. Klaire spoke and he froze, turning back to face her.
“Where are you going?” she asked in a babylike voice that made me want to vomit.
“I’m looking for my partner. I want to get this project started today.” He answered in a playful tone, that made me want to throw a book at his head. He stood with his legs apart and his hands by his sides as she moved closer to him. I could only see a little of what was going on, but when she moved closer and touched his chest, I’d had enough.
“Excuse me,” I hissed as I marched by them.
I didn’t look at either of them, but I heard Klaire squeal in fright as I stormed away from the pair of them and back to my computer, which had thankfully, loaded up. I took my earbuds from my pocket and popped them into my ears. Pressing play on my cell phone and blocking out the sounds from the library.
I scanned the internet for eyewitness accounts of the liberation of the death camps and the march of the Allies. I ignored Blake completely as he sat down and began doing his own research, but I couldn’t help noticing the smudge of pink lipstick on the corner of his lip, which annoyed me to no end.
After half an hour of searching, I had some good ideas, but when I turned to tell him, he was sitting with his back to me, talking to Klaire. My eyes watered and I turned back to face my screen, wanting to laugh at how ridiculous I was for feeling so upset. I refocused for the next hour and printed off some materials, making notes and flicking through the books to see if they would work.
I decided not to use The Boy in the Striped Pajamas or Anne Frank’s Diary because I saw at least four of my classmates sitting with those on their desks, as I walked towards the printer to pick up my copies. Blake hadn’t moved as I stood up, but when I got back to the workstation, he was alone and was writing something on his notebook. I accidentally brushed against his arm as I sat back down and he flinched, hard.
“Sorry,” I muttered as I turned away from him and began trying to concentrate on my notes for our project. He continued to ignore me and when the bell sounded, he was up and away before I’d even began packing up my stuff.
I shoved everything in my bag and took the books to the library desk, setting the ones I wasn’t using on the return trolley beside the desk and scanning the book I wanted to use out, as I left the library and headed to practice.
In the weeks that followed, Blake continued to ignore me. Although, I sometimes caught his eyes on me and came across him on the trail or in the clearing, but he didn’t speak to me then, either. He just acted like I was invisible, but I was used to it. We hadn’t spoken at all for days and he sat beside me, ignoring me in class and in detention, but still, I kept trying to speak to him. I was always nice and cordial to him, but I had no clue if we were even going to be working together at all, or if I would have to do all the work for our history project alone.
It was even worse in school and even though we sat together in the library during history class for our project, we didn’t speak. I began to panic that I’d fail, but I was just holding out hope that he’d get over himself and we’d be able to work together on the project. Although, I didn’t hold out much hope for it.
Chapter Eight
Bullied
Cara
A few months later, Blake and I were late into class because some moron had tripped in front of me as I was rushing to class and Blake and I ended up helping him to the nurse’s office. We didn’t speak the whole way to the office, but on the way back, he turned to look at me and smiled sadly.
“Cara are you okay?” he asked in a low voice and I turned towards him, about to say no, when Klaire sidled up beside him and wrapped her arm around his waist. Causing me to snap my mouth shut and walk away from him.
Before I reached the classroom door, he caught up with me with his cheeks flushed.
“Cara, wait?” he implored, and I turned with my hand on the door handle watching him.
“Really, Blake? You went for the town ho?” I asked in a low voice and he stepped back away from me.
“Well, that’s none of your business, is it?” he asked, his expression closed off.
“Nope.” I answered popping the ‘p’ and went to open the door. “But you should know that she makes it her mission to broadcast her sexcapades to the whole school.”
“Noted,” he hissed at me and I turned the handle of the door, only to have it yanked open from the other side by Mr. Dennis.
“You two, detention this afternoon. Now is not the time to be discussing anyone’s love life. Am I clear?” His said sternly and my face went scarlet as I followed after him into the classroom, trying to ignore Blake and his stupid presence.
I was running late for track practice and brushed by Blake as he stood kissing Klaire. He kissed her randomly and went from seeing her to seeing no-one, but everyone knew they weren’t exclusive. I rushed from the library heading to track practice and ignored the giggles from Klaire and her sycophants, as I moved past them towards my locker. I quickly shoved my textbooks and workbooks from my locker into my backpack and grabbed my gym bag, rushing through the corridors until I reached the locker room. It was blissfully empty, and I quickly opened my gym locker, shoving everything inside and started to change.
As I was changing into my sports bra, the locker room doors opened and Klaire and her idiotic friends, Jerri, Harley and Karlyn came in. They were all in the cheer squad together and were all pretty and popular, and only spoke to me if Josh was around. So, I ignored them and continued getting dressed, but I couldn’t block their words out completely.
“So, he’s taking you out again?” One of them asked Klaire in a really excited voice and my stomach swooped again.
“Yeah, Friday night. We’re going to the movies and for dinner.”
Her words caused a jagged spike to puncture my chest, but I tried to ignore it and pulled on my training leggings. Once I had them on, I quickly pulled my school, sports shirt out and was putting it on, when someone else asked her about them kissing.
“Did you actually sleep with him?” Jerri, I think it was, asked her and I froze for a beat with my top half on.
“Yeah, he’s such a good kisser…” She broke off and glared over at me.
“Nosy, much?” she asked, I met her eye, before turning away from them as I resumed pulling my top on and searching in my locker for my sneakers. Once I had retrieved them, I pushed my feet into them and snatched up my water bottle, slamming my locker closed and rushing from the room, with my cheeks still burning in embarrassment.
Practice went well and I fell into step beside Sarah, one of my track friends. We chatted about school, bitched about the cheerleaders, who were practicing in the center of the field we were running around and talked about going off to college. On our last runs, Coach set us up into teams and we began to relay against each other. My team was the quickest, so we won, but then Coach split us up and put me with Martha Menders, and she hated me. So even though I ran as fast as I could, our team lost because Martha was a part of Klaire’s group and had hated me since Junior high.
We were all dismissed and had to walk down by the pitches where the football team were still practicing. Their Coach was a tyrant, who would only let them go if he was satisfied with their plays. Sarah and I stopped to watch Josh throw a precision pass to Blake, which he caught and quickly threw to Benson Bradley, another of the boys from our class.
Ben was a good guy and was friends with everyone, but he was also going out with Martha, which made him less approachable than he’d been before. Ben and I were cool though, because he was one of Josh’s best friends. I heard Coach whistle to his team and quickly checked my watch. I had ten minutes to get to detention, so I quickly said bye to Sarah, leaving her standing at the fence watching the plays.
I broke into a run and was in the locker room within a few minutes, opening my locker. My heart dropped to my toes when I saw that nothing was in it, even though I’d locked it before practice. My eyes scanned the room, but I couldn’t see anything, so I began walking through each row of lockers until I reached the shower room. I could hear the trickle of water, so I opened the door and walked inside, seeing my book bag opened and my textbooks scattered all over the wet floor. I began scooping them up and putting them all together for me to sort out later, gathering up my textbooks and pens, but I couldn’t find my cell or my clothes. Once I’d gathered them and put them all into my damp backpack, I stood on shaking legs and began walking through to the bathrooms. My notes were all ripped and damp, but it was my clothes that made me want to cry.
I walked through the room searching for my clothes and when I found them, they were all shoved into one of the toilet bowls and my shoes were in the next one. They were absolutely soaked through. I walked towards them and scooped them out, fighting back tears. I opened my gym bag, which was lying beside the bowl and shoved them inside. I also retrieved my shoes and pushed them into the bag as well.
My body shook as I pushed up from the floor, stifling sobs and trying to force my tears back. My eyes were burning and there was a lump in my throat, as I walked back out into the changing rooms.
I kept my eyes on the ground as I walked towards the door to the hallway. Before I reached it, Klaire stepped out in front of me and barged into my shoulder, knocking me sideways. My eyes shot up and I moved towards her. I wasn’t a pushover and wasn’t about to let her intimidate me. Harley stood behind her with her cell up and I assumed she was recording me, and I just saw red. She glared at me as I shoved her hard, away from me.
“What the hell is your problem?” I asked her in a venomous voice as my body trembled with fury. I hated her, like really, really fucking hated her and anger was boiling up like a volcano and about to erupt as I glowered at her, wishing I could make her burst into flames. My hands clenched into fists at my side to stop myself reaching out and smacking her on the jaw. Her eyes narrowed and she stepped right up into my face, hissing at me.
“Maybe next time, you won’t be so damn nosy.”
I was stunned and took a step back from her. She was the one that flushed my clothes because I’d overheard her. What kind of dumb shit was that? My whole body was shaking with rage and I was fighting hard to rein it in, when she shoved me away from her against the wall.
“Dumbass bitch,” she muttered and threw my cell at my feet. I didn’t need to hear the crash to know she’d wrecked it.
Before I knew what, I was doing, I grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground. She screamed loudly, then went to get up and I smacked her in the mouth with my fist, the way Josh had taught me.
I knocked the stupid, skanky ass, bitch flat on her ass and she growled at me. She reached out to kick me, but I shifted out of the way and laughed as she spat blood from her mouth on the tiled floor. Two of her friends came up behind me and grabbed my arms as she stood, but I though
t back to my self-defense lessons and elbowed one of the girls in the solar plexus. I was about to hit the other with the heel of my foot, when someone else grabbed me around the waist.
My arms thrashed as I tried to get to them, but the arms tightened, and Blake’s voice sounded in my ear.
“Easy tiger. I got you…” he said in an amused whisper.
I spun around on autopilot and accidentally smacked him on the jaw, but he shrugged it off and held fast, until I deflated enough to see who was with him. Three other students and Mr. Dennis all stood watching me with their mouths agape. The fight suddenly left me, and I sagged in Blake’s arms. He stared around me at the mess of our classmates. Jerri was doubled over on the floor, holding her abdomen and Harley was standing against the door.
Mr. Dennis glared between us and asked in a furious voice.
“What was happening in here?” His eyes took in my disheveled look to my cell on the floor, then to Klaire in her cheer uniform, with blood staining the white collar where I’d split her lip, to Jerri, who was still struggling for breath.
He turned to face me, and his face made me shrink back a little, so Blake had to hold me up as the adrenaline left me. My legs were shaking hard, so were my hands and Klaire glared between Blake and I wordlessly.
“Ms. Daniels, you better speak now, or I will be taking all of you to the principal’s office.”
“Ask Harley.” I spoke in a weak voice pointing to Harley who stood between the lockers and stared at me open mouthed. She hadn’t moved, nor had she stopped filming.
“Harley, come here and bring your cell with you.”
Harley blanched and her eyes went to her friend. When she didn’t move, Mr. Dennis spoke again, and she jumped into action.
“Right now,” he commanded, and she rushed over, handing him her cell.
“Pull up the video you just recorded. I want to see it.”
He watched the video and I winced as I heard myself lose it. The video didn’t start with the altercation. She’d been there filming me the whole time, as I searched for my things and she’d even been in the bathroom recording me as I discovered my sodden clothes. Mr. Daniels watched the whole thing, then turned to me.
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