Total pages in book: 215
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 199344 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 997(@200wpm)___ 797(@250wpm)___ 664(@300wpm)
“It’s okay if you don’t finish the day,” she tells me. “It’s not like you’re being graded on whether you make it to the final bell or not. I can drive you home if you—”
Her gaze snaps above my head, and just as I go to turn around to see what’s caught her attention, a shrill laugh breaks through the cafeteria.
Tarni Luca.
“Oh my god,” Tarni laughs at my back, her tone loud enough to gain the attention of everyone around us, and I reluctantly turn to face her, preparing for the worst. “Who the hell are you trying to fool? A wig? Really? Are you that desperate to fit in?”
Her laugh chills me to the bone, and I try to force myself to appear indifferent, that her comments don’t bother me in the least, but the fact she’s drawing attention to my wig puts me on edge.
“Fuck off, Tarni,” Hope seethes, spitting through her teeth as she stands, more than ready to throw hands.
Tarni barely spares Hope a single glance as her gaze slices right back to mine with disdain. “Where’s your fucking backbone?” she throws at me. “How humiliating. You can’t even fight your own fights anymore. Are you that pathetic now that your boyfriend is gone? Shit, I don’t know what he was thinking wasting all that time with you. What was I thinking? I wasted years being your friend, but turns out you’re the type of girl to throw everything away because of good dick. Do you have any idea how dull it was to listen to your drivel day in and day out? You have the personality of a blank wall.”
Not prepared to waste what little energy I have left on Tarni’s shit, I turn back toward Hope and brace my elbow on the table before leaning my head into my hand. “Go and find someone else’s day to ruin.”
Tarni scoffs, and her hand snakes out, smacking my elbow off the table and causing my head to fall away, leaving me scrambling to catch myself. “I’m fucking talking to you, bitch.”
Hope launches herself right over the table, anger flashing in her bright blue eyes as she drops right down between me and Tarni, ruthlessly shoving her away from me. “Touch her again, bitch,” she spits, mimicking Tarni’s tone. “And I’ll fucking end you.”
“Holy shit,” Tarni booms, flicking her gaze between me and Hope. “I fucking knew it. You two are riding the fucking pussy train together, aren’t you. It all makes sense now. Tell me, is it just the innocent scissoring shit, or are you hard-core? I bet you take strap-ons to a whole new level.”
The whole cafeteria booms with laughter, but Hope isn’t having it. “I told you to fuck off,” she says. “I’m not going to ask again.”
I put my hand up to Hope’s arm. “She’s not worth it.”
Tarni scoffs, pushing around Hope. “Oh, I’m not worth it?” she spits. “Look in the fucking mirror.”
With that, she reaches forward and grips the back of my wig, yanking hard and tearing it right off my head. My hands whip up to my head, trying to catch it and save myself the humiliation, but she’s too fast, and the wig quickly drops to the ground.
My eyes widen in horror, feeling disgustingly exposed as Tarni sucks in a loud breath. “HOLY FUCK,” she booms, the whole cafeteria pointing and staring right at me, their laughter already drowning me. “SHE’S BALD.”
My heart races, and panic grips me around the throat, squeezing tight as my gaze darts around the room, feeling smaller by the second. My chest heaves, and as their taunting laughs get louder, I find it almost impossible to breathe.
Scrambling up from the table, I run. My feet carry me through the humiliation, and just as I reach the cafeteria doors, I glance back to find Hope taking Tarni to the ground with her fists swinging. Tarni’s terrified squeal is the last thing I hear before I race out of the cafeteria and down the hall, my feet barely able to hold me up.
People stare at me, their brows furrowed as the sobbing bald girl races through the school. I stop at my locker to grab my things, stumbling with each step, but I push through it, the humiliation and devastation more than I can handle.
With all my things in hand, I keep running, straight through the front doors of East View High and down toward the student parking lot as the exhaustion quickly catches up to me. I was late, so my Range Rover is toward the back of the lot, and as I weave through the endless number of cars, falling against them as my knees start to give out, the dizziness reaches an all-time high.
I hurry to my car, desperately needing to block out the horror of the cafeteria, and just as my hand touches the back end, the dizziness claims me. The last thing I see is Principal Daniels racing toward me as my world fades to darkness.