03

I called my mother when I got home, shivering and coughing. I explained that I had just been caught in the rain and I had fallen over at school. I explained that I wasn't feeling well. She rushed home, calling the doctor.

The doctor came to our home, explaining that I would probably get a nasty cold and that I need rest. The doctor had been the same one who had diagnosed me all those years ago.

I stayed home for the next week, sporting a flu and some chest pains. I told the doctor that I had tripped and fallen into the pool, she probably didn't believe me to be honest, and she explained that I would still be a bit weak, but the chest pains should go away. They've gotten better since my first day.

It was now the Monday after, and I was getting ready for school. No doubt I'm the subject of every piece of gossip at the school.

Usually, I would plan a huge prank on the guys to get them back. The problem with that is, it seems like they would never stop retaliating and it would probably just keep on getting worse and worse. Plus, my heath couldn't keep up with it all. The first time they chucked me in a pool, what would they do next?

I sighed and walked to the bus stop. I made sure to pack extra clothes from now on, incase another pool incident, or something like that, happens.

I hoisted my bag further onto my back and boarded the bus, taking my seat in the front again. Instead of everyone carrying on with their usual conversations, they stared and whispered.

Jeez people, get over it. I stood up to the assholes and they got revenge. Time to move on.

I ignored them and plugged my earphones in, putting some music on. I took a deep breath and relaxed, wishing that I could just keep riding the bus to wherever it goes.

I know I sound dramatic but c'mon, who willingly wants to go to school?

When we got there, I was once again the first off the bus. I put my head down and entered the building, ignoring the snippets of gossip that I heard from my fellow students. Some of it was praising me and saying I was a 'badass'.

Others were saying that I was an attention seeking... yeah, I'd rather not repeat it.

I went to my locker, putting my bag away. I checked my schedule, realising I had the exact same classes that I had last week. I groaned.

I started making my way to the English classroom, even though I was really early for it. The teacher was in there, reading.

I silently made my way to the farthest desk that I could find that was well away from everyone else.

A little while later, a girl came and sat next to me. "Hi, I'm Kaitlyn. You're the new girl right?" she asked.

I nodded, giving her a small smile. "Yep, that's me. I'm Stephanie, call me Stef."

She nodded. "You were the one who stood up to.. the jerks?"

I laughed. "Mhm. Was a bad idea though. They got revenge."

"What're you talking about?"

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion. "You don't know?"

"I don't pay attention to rumors."

"Oh, well, they chucked me in a pool after school last week."

She was a little shocked. "Wow, what jerks." I nodded in agreement.

"Anyway, what you did was cool. No one has ever stood up to them," she said, grabbing out her books to get ready for class.

"I can tell by the way their faces looked," I snorted. I grabbed out my books too. Kaitlyn and I couldn't talk any further since the teacher had begun his lecture.

"Who are those boys anyway?" I asked, getting bored of the class already.

"The players, the jerks, the bad boys, whatever you wanna call them. There's Xavier, the leader and the one who bumped into you. He's the biggest asshole on this planet. There's Ethan, equally an asshole too. There's Jordan and Blake, who are kinda the nicer ones but they can be assholes," she explained, being as quiet as possible.

"The one in this class, that's Blake. He can be super annoying," she continued.

"I can tell," I snorted, pretending to write notes down by doodling on the edge of my notes. I had already learnt all of this, I just needed to read the book that was being handed out now. The teacher gave us the rest of the lesson to get started on reading it, leaving the classroom to go and sort out some work.

"Just be careful. No one messes with them. I'm sure they wouldn't hurt a girl, but still." I had to bite my tongue, stopping myself from saying too late. I winced at the memory of the bad chest pains I had that night.

"I will," I promised.

The rest of the lesson went by, the teacher giving us very little homework that I could easily finish in an hour.

I walked out of the room, heading to my locker to put my English books away. When I turned around, however, there was Blake, standing right behind me.

I didn't mean to, but I flinched as soon as I saw him. He obviously noticed it, narrowing his eyes.

"Just leave me alone, you've had your fun," I said, backing away from him. "You've done enough damage."

I walked away, leaving him standing there. I probably should have listened to see what he was trying to say, but I really didn't want to hear it. I was going to stay away from those boys.

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In cooking, I avoided Ethan as much as I could. He kept giving me evil smirks through the class, making me want to stay away from him as much as possible.

I bolted out of class, heading to my locker again.

>< >< ><

I had forgotten to pack lunch this morning. This sucked because now I had to buy food from the cafeteria.

I walked in, heading straight to the lunch line. I noticed that the boys were all sitting at their own table, girls sitting around them. Xavier and Jordan both had girls on their laps, making out with them. I internally snorted, how cliche and gross. Seriously, PDA alert.

I bought a chicken wrap and an orange juice, finding an empty table and sitting down there. Most people didn't notice me, thank god. I was sick of all the attention.

Surprisingly, Kaitlyn came and sat next to me.

"You sure you want to risk your reputation?" I joked, taking a bite of my chicken wrap, which tasted pretty good.

She scoffed. "Didn't really have one to begin with."

I chuckled. We started talking about school and stuff, comparing our schedules and seeing what classes we had together.

>< >< ><

After school, I said goodbye to Kaitlyn and grabbed my bag.

Then, someone grabbed my shoulder. I flinched again. I turned around to see Blake.

"What the hell do you want? Want to throw me in another pool?" I sneered, pushing his hand off my shoulder.

"Why weren't you here for the past week?" he asked, ignoring my other words.

"Maybe because I nearly fucking drowned, asshole. Maybe be more considerate next time you decide to gang up on a girl," I spat at him, turning around and walking away. I did sort of lie, I did nearly drown but that was only a part of why I was gone. I was gone because I was too sore to freaking walk, thanks to those jerks.

I walked out of the building, getting on my bus that I didn't miss this time. I huffed and sat down in my usual seat, even though I've only sat there twice.

When the bus was pulling out, I managed to catch a glimpse of the four boys hanging back, talking. They caught my eyes on the bus and I immediately looked away, ignoring them.