by S. J. Smith
When Alexis had read her timetable that morning she'd thought that there could be nothing worse on a Friday than having a content heavy class for the last period of the day. Then she read the board and realised that something could actually make this worse.
April Hale.
Themis College was a Catholic school, so it made sense that there would be a lot of deeply religious people here. Most of them were really nice people who held strong to their beliefs without enforcing them on others. April Hale however was not one of those people. She used to be one of their closest friends. That was until Em confided in her that she was a lesbian. April had laughed in her face, thinking the whole thing was a joke. Then she had started telling Em that it was just a phase, she was wrong about being a lesbian. She said that a woman could find another woman pretty without being gay.
When Em finally convinced April that she wasn't confused, but that she was actually attracted to women, that was when April cracked. Alexis hadn't needed to be there to know the look that Em had described on April's face. She'd seen that look of disgust before, but she'd never thought it would be directed at someone April had claimed to love like a sister.
That day Emilia was left sitting in the empty dance classroom as one of her only friends walked away without another word. The next day it was almost as if they had never been friends, like they didn't even know each other. Alexis gave April a day to process, not happy with how unsupportive she'd been, but understanding that what April was raised to believe in was in direct conflict with her own forming beliefs.
When nothing changed the day after that, Alexis stepped in. She confronted April about Emilia's confession. Rather than acknowledging that she'd handled things badly, April started on her diatribe about how being a homosexual was wrong and Emilia was going to hell. Then she told Alexis that she felt uncomfortable around Emilia, sure that the girl had a crush on her and was going to make a move now that she'd come out of the closet.
Alexis hadn't been able to believe it. What was more, she couldn't believe that April thought she agreed with her. After a number of choice words detailing where exactly April could shove her homophobic opinions, Alexis walked away. It had been almost a year since that happened. Since then, Emilia hadn't spoken a word to April, and all the ones that Alexis spoke were dripping in sarcasm and disdain.
Normally having April Hale in the same class wouldn't have been an issue. They would just sit on opposite sides of the classroom and ignore each other for the four hours a week that they would be breathing the same air.
Unfortunately the powers that be had decided that not only would they be inhabiting the same half of the classroom, but April was sitting between them. Em was in the front row, April had the seat directly behind her and Alexis sat behind her.
The girls looked at each other, the apprehension was clear on Emilia's face.
"So, this is going to be fun," Alexis said, knowing there were better times for her sarcasm than this, but it was how she dealt with most situations.
As the girls walked to their seats, Alexis was scanning the room, looking for the demon spawn and Em was suddenly very interested in the floor. Once everyone present had taken their seat Mrs Leschenelle started the lesson. The seat between the two friends remained empty, prompting Alexis to risk sending a text to Em.
14.10 - Maybe she finally burst into flames or got struck by lightning
She watched as Em kept watching the teacher, as though she hadn't noticed her phone vibrating in her pocket. A few seconds later Em's hand reached into her pocket slowly and moved her phone between the books in front of her. When she was sure that she wasn't going to get caught, she looked down at her phone.
Twisting in her seat as though stretching her back, Em gave Alexis a small but grateful smile. The mental image that had accompanied the text had cheered her up a bit.
However the good times were not meant to roll that day. At that moment, almost ten minutes after class had started, April walked through the classroom door, put a late slip on the teacher’s desk and walked straight to her seat.
Alexis had a burst of irrational anger at how April didn't even both to look at the whiteboard to find her assigned seat. It was irrational because every other seat in the room was taken, so her place was obvious. She smirked at Alexis as she took her seat, which of course resulted in Alexis sneering back at her. The rest of the class took an eternity to pass by, and that was saying something for a Friday afternoon.
By the time class let out, April had flipped her hair twelve times, 'accidentally' kicked Emilia's chair three times and smirked at Alexis four times, not including her initial smirk when she sat down. When Alexis relayed this list to Emilia as they walked to the pickup zone, she felt the need to question it. "So why did you include the hair flipping?"
"Because... it annoyed me. Her breathing annoys me. Arrogant homophobic bitch. How do you think her parents would react if they found out about all the guys she hooked up with? Bet they wouldn't think she was a perfect pure little angel then, would they?"
Em found Alexis' anger towards April heart-warming. Ever since she'd found out about how April reacted that day, she'd been unbendingly protective and loyal. Not that she hadn't been before, but it was different this time. It wasn't directed towards someone they didn't have any relationship with. This righteous anger that Alexis had, it was for someone that they had been best friends with for years.
For as long as Emilia and Alexis had known each other, Alexis had always defended her friends to a fault. Even if she knew they were wrong, she wouldn't let other people attack them. She made sure they understood they were wrong, but no one else was allowed to. She was like the big sister they all needed. So for her to turn her back on someone she'd been friends with since they were nine, that was a big deal. Emilia also knew that Alexis' anger could land her in a lot of trouble one day, especially if she lashed out at the wrong person at the wrong time.
"Lex, please promise me that no matter what April does, you'll let me handle her."
"What's wrong with the way I’d handle her?"
Em hesitated in responding for a moment, wanting to put it as delicately as possible, "Well, you don't exactly think before you act, you let your anger get the best of you. Just promise me that unless she comes at you directly, you'll stay out of it."
"Yeah. See I don't think that's going to work for me."
"Alexis. Please." There was a seriousness in Emilia's eyes that Alexis rarely saw. For some odd reason that she didn't understand, it was important to her friend that she not get involved. It wasn’t for her to question though, so Alexis agreed.
"Ugh fine, if you're going to give me that face then I don't have much of a choice, do I?"
The pair walked down the line of waiting cars till they found Emilia's driver and hopped in the back seat.
"Home, Jeeves," Alexis grinned at Kyle, the driver, through the rear-view mirror.
"Never gets old for you, does it miss?"
"Nope, I like my traditions." Alexis liked Kyle, he wasn't like some of the drivers her dad had gotten for her over the years. He was a lot more chilled out and let them play whatever music they wanted, plus he always took them through the drive through after school.
Chapter 5
Now while it was fair to say that Emilia avoided all forms of communication between herself and April, the same could not be said for April herself. No, April was a taunter. It was her life's work to try and taunt people into punching her in the face. At least that was how Alexis had described it one day when Em had vented to her about her interactions with the she-demon.
Today, it seemed would be no exception. It was a Tuesday, week three of the semester. Miss Lesch, as she had insisted on being called rather than listening to another student stumble over her name, had been forced to go back to her office to reprint the assignment sheets. April was taking this teacherless opportunity to once again torment the shy lesbian she knew wouldn't fight back. Her latest brain fart was to sing unde
r her breath, "Dykes going to hell, dykes going to hell, all the ugly dykes going to hell."
"Shut the actual fuck up." Alexis emphasised her curse by slouching down and kicking the back of April's chair. The students around them slid their chairs away ever so slightly. All of them too timid or too smart to get in the middle of this. Every class had been like this for the past week. A pot ready to boil over, but always settling to a simmer before anything could happen.
The energy in the room was different today. April had been going out of her way to be more of a bitch then she normally was, and Alexis had become far less tolerant of people being pricks to her friends. Especially those who didn't fight back.
April turned in her chair and gave Alexis a sinister smile. "Oh, don't you worry Lex, you'll be joining her. I'm sure there's a special section for lesbos and mob sluts to get together."
Mob slut, that one was actually new. She'd been called a lot of things referring to the mob, and a slut, but never had the two been put together, or at least if they had then no one had said it to her face until now.
"So long as it’s far away from the ring of hell they've got waiting for you," Alexis replied with her own sweet smile.
April's smile died away and she turned back to face the front. She was the kind of person who had to prepare her insults in advance and once she ran out of smart comebacks, she resorted to general name calling and senseless cursing.
The class had been instructed to do their worksheets on nerve cells, but as it was, Miss Lesch had been gone for more than five minutes and seventy five percent of the class had the attention span of a goldfish. There was a lot of whispering and the rustling sound of notes being passed between friends, but the sound Alexis was trying to focus on was April's voice. It pained her to do it, but she needed to pay attention, especially since April had rocked her chair onto its front legs so she could lean further over the work bench and was now telling Emilia how no one would ever love her, whether she stayed as a dyke or went back to being straight.
Alexis could feel herself becoming more and more angry, but she'd made a promise to not interfere, to let Em to deal with it her way. They had argued about what the best way was. Em believing that if she just ignored April, eventually she'd go away and bug someone else. Sure, maybe she would move on to someone new, but she shouldn't be able to.
It was closing in on the ten-minute mark when it happened. April was leaning over the work bench again, this time it wasn't so she could say something else cruel, no this time it was so she could reach for Em’s hair. As her fingers made contact, they curled and pulled, dragging Em's head backwards. The moment she let go of the other girl's hair, April fell forward. Her chair had tipped out from under her, causing her to fall in such a way that she clipped her chin on the edge of the wooden work bench.
Before anyone else had a chance to react Alexis was out of her seat and by April's side, 'checking if she was okay.' She seized the opportunity to whisper some words of her own. "You lay a hand on my friend again, you even speak to her again and this mob slut is going to do a lot more than just make you bleed."
As if on cue, Miss Lesch was running back into the classroom. It took her a moment to absorb the scene in front of her before she took charge.
Another science teacher was called in to supervise the rest of the class while Miss Lesch took a now sobbing April to the nurse. The poor guy tried to keep them focused on nerve cells, but no one was paying any attention to what they were supposed to be doing. They were all trying to figure out what happened.
Everyone nearby had seen April rocking on her chair and leaning over the work bench. They'd seen her touch Emilia, they'd heard the things she had said but what they hadn't seen was Alexis' foot coming up to give April's chair that extra little push it needed to tip, and what they hadn't heard was Alexis threatening April. To the rest of the class it looked like divine intervention. Alexis was thinking more along the lines of instant karma.
Chapter 6
The day after the incident in the science room was surprisingly devoid of drama. Only a few people were talking about April splitting her chin open, and most of them were laughing about how she'd deserved it.
She knew she shouldn't have, but Alexis swelled with pride. For so long April Hale had been the torment of their year group. Now, maybe, they could all get through year eleven without the sound of her voice throwing judgement at anyone she deemed to be a sinner.
For the rest of the day, there was a spring in Alexis' step that she wouldn't explain to people. It was one thing to secretly cause an injury to another person, but another stupid thing entirely to brag about it. No, if there was one thing that Alexis had learned from her father, it was to never brag about the bad things you do, even if doing them helps someone else.
Brennan was instantly suspicious of her good mood. Though when Jess suggested it was because she'd met a boy, he suddenly became very uninterested. Even after Alexis assured everyone that her good mood wasn't because of a boy, Brennan avoided her.
Every time she was with Emilia, Alexis could feel her friend watching her every move, almost like she was studying her, contemplating her existence. Alexis hadn't told Em what she'd done either... better her friend stay in the dark.
Thursday morning however, was a very different day. Alexis was running late for school. So long as she made it to first period on time no one would really care, but for some reason, when she walked into her homeroom class that morning all eyes were on her.
She didn't even have a chance to sit down before her homeroom teacher, Mrs Allsop, was calling her up to the front of the room.
"Alexis, you're needed up at the office. Katie will walk you up there. Take your bag with you."
"I know where the office is."
"Katie will take you." There was a finality in the woman's voice that dared Alexis to argue, and she hadn't even looked up from her computer screen. Alexis was starting to feel like a criminal.
Her mind raced as she went back outside and grabbed her bag from the rack while Katie trailed hesitantly behind.
"So, what'd you do?" the other girl asked when she caught up.
Alexis had a feeling that she knew exactly what she'd done. Other than 'April' she hadn't done much in the past few days that would warrant a visit to the office. However she wasn't going to go and admit that to anyone, especially not the biggest goody two shoes in their entire year group.
"Your guess would be as good as mine. Did anyone say anything before I got there?" Alexis deflected.
"No, if anything Mrs Allsop went all quiet and serious. Then she called me over and asked me to walk you to the office when you got in." Katie's curiosity was obvious on her face, and Alexis wasn't going to be the one to satisfy it.
Even dragging her feet as much as she was physically able without going backwards, they reached the office within a few minutes. When they got to the doors of the office Alexis stopped and turned to Katie. "Yep, okay, I think I've got it from here." Whatever was to come next, she didn't need an audience.
Katie shifted awkwardly. "I think I'm meant to walk you in."
Alexis lost the fake smile and her eyes hardened. "Go. Away."
It worked. Which wasn't a surprise. Her dad called it her Mob Boss Face, the one that threatened to spill blood.
Katie tried to save face, but Alexis could see the fear dancing in her eyes.
Good.
Once she was sure that the girl wasn't going to reappear and snoop, Alexis went into the office. There were two receptionists behind the desk; one was on the phone, probably dealing with a parent calling in to say their child was sick, the other, an older woman that Alexis had never been able to learn the name of, but every time they'd interacted, she'd always been nice. The nice lady looked up from her computer screen with a smile. When she saw who it was that had come in, her smile faltered for a split second. Anyone else might've missed it.
"Apparently I'm needed?"
Before the lady had a chance to say a word,
a door opened down the hall and heavy footsteps could be heard. A few moments later the principal appeared behind the receptionists.
"Alexis, why don't you step this way."
"Do I really have a choice?" Alexis asked with a cheeky smile.
"Not today, Alexis." He didn't smile back. Today he had his serious face on.
She'd always liked Mr McNeil. As an Angelo she was well known to all the teaching staff. She was just one in a long line of Angelo cousins that had attended Themis College. McNeil had pulled her into his office when the rumours about her family had hit an all-time high after her uncle Marco went to prison. He'd wanted to make sure that she was okay. It had seemed like he was insinuating that he was a 'friend of the family', or maybe he was just concerned about one of his students being singled out.