"For real? Wow!"
"Yeah it was crazy. She hit Helen with a padlock and Helen's been too scared to do anything."
"She actually made Helen scared?"
"When I saw her fighting back there even I realized that she's not someone to mess with."
"But why's she suddenly scary? She wasn't like that before."
"The kids who don't seem bad turn out to be evil and get scary when angry. It was only a matter of time before she hit a breaking point."
"People were pretty shit to her."
"Well Delaney had it coming."
"Does that mean her minion Lia is getting it next?"
"I'm just shocked she didn't know when to stop. I mean messing with Delaney is a death sentence. Her mother is a shrew so-"
I opened the door to the classroom and the whispers died instantly. Everyone stopped talking and turned towards me as I walked to my seat. I know they were all shocked that I came back to school again after facing the Dean. I guess everyone's heard by now that Delaney's mom tried to get rid of me already.
Well I survived.
"Um..." I looked up and saw that girl with the pink bob looking at me nervously. "I-I heard about what happened with Delaney and her mom. It's all thanks to you that she's out of here now. If you need anything, I'll get it for you so don't hesitate to ask me."
I looked at her... and could only remember how rude she was to me when I came back to school. And I'm pretty sure this girl was following that brunette bitch, who I now know was named Lia, around willingly. She was just strategically always in the background watching and hoping it wasn't her.
She's witnessed countless humiliations of mine and now she was trying to realign herself.
The audacity.
She can't be trusted.
"Why's a kid who wanted nothing to do with me at all thanking me so suddenly?" I rolled my eyes at her feeling the vibe go cold. "You were too scared to speak up in my defense and watched bad things happen but now you're thanking me? I don't give a damn what happens to you from now on. So piss off. I really don't feel like talking to you now."
Pink bob looked shocked, along with the rest of the class which dissolved into hushed whispers. But I had my mind on bigger things.
Escalating.
As soon as Lia entered the classroom and took her seat quietly, I stood up and walked over to her desk. She was shaking and avoiding my eyes. "You have to know that not looking at me won't work for you, right?" I shook my head.
"Um... what's up, Melody?" She asked. "What do you need with me?"
"Why do you look so scared? I've decided to get along with you from now on. We're now friends, remember?" I smiled pleasantly.
"R-right... I remember."
"So to symbolize our truce, I've got a nice game we could play," I said reaching into my bag.
"A game?"
"Yeah, it's called Walking The Dog," I said pulling the dog collar and leash out of my bag. Lia paled because she knew very well what this was. The temperature in the classroom dropped considerably.
"Just to be clear... it's not what I'm thinking right?" She shivered.
I remembered. Last year, after Lia's dog had died, she had tried to force me to be her new one under the excuse of grief. With Helen basically holding me down, she put the dog's collar around my neck and walked me around the classroom. If I didn't bark when she said to, Helen was there to hit me hard. They then forced me to drink a bunch of water to the point where I couldn't hold my pee and wet myself. To make matters worse the teacher wouldn't allow me out to change so I just had to sit in it.
Helen hit me good for being disobedient and not peeing in the bathroom. In the end, even though I was bleeding and hurt and in distress, I was forced to clean up the mess and received three days of detention.
To my surprise she suddenly stood up and smacked the collar out of my hands. "FUCK THIS!!!"
"Oh, that was expensive you know," I said.
"Shut up you piece of shit! Is this how getting along looks to you?!" She snapped. "The worst you can do is-"
"I was really trying to be civil with you, Lia." I sighed.
"That's a load of shit! You crazy bitch!"
"Alright then if you don't want to then we won't do it," I said reaching for my phone. "I'd never force anyone to do what they didn't want to, but you being cold made me a bit sad. I need a mood booster."
"Mood booster?" Lia had the sense to look worried.
"I mean there's nothing like posting a few good professional photos to take the stress away," I shrugged. Lia's face dropped into fear. "Am I right? I have tons of photos commemorating our memories. Should I share them online?"
Lia tried to grab my phone but she was too slow.
"Melody, listen p-please not that!" She pleaded.
"What? Everything I want to do you keep saying no to," I shook my head. "You don't want to get along at all do you? I'm sick of compromising. If you don't play the game I'll post the photos."
Lia's eyes were wide and I could see her really starting to sweat profusely. No matter what was going to happen all eyes were on her at the moment so her humiliation was inevitable. I could see on her face that she was wondering just how the hell she ended up in this position too and that made me angrier.
How could she not know?
She looked between me and the dog collar on the ground. I picked it up and looked at her feeling a bit conflicted myself. "We've got a half hour of break time left so you'll play right?"