Clare

  “So we’re not sitting with the cool kids today?”

  I ignored the disappointment in Lissa’s voice and shook my head as I turned the bend leading into the school’s cafeteria. “No. Elijah is busy with student council stuff and Sawyer and Koda didn’t come to school today, so there’s no reason to sit there. Let’s just get our food and sit in the courtyard out in nature.”

  I was also hiding the fact that I didn’t want to face Hester’s glare on my own, especially after our last encounter, where her attitude toward me had taken a drastic turn for the worse.

  When I walked into the cafeteria, several people glanced at me and then looked away. If they’d just glanced at me a few times before looking away, this would have been a normal day in the cafeteria. It had become a normal experience since I became close to Sawyer and had somewhat intensified when I got closer to Elijah as well.

  However, something about today was different.

  Because Lissa and I came to the cafeteria a little later, the line had vastly reduced, as the best foods everyone wanted to get were all gone. Everyone we met either stared at me curiously, with disdain or with both curiosity and disdain.

  “What the hell is going on?” I whispered to Lissa as we walked out of the cafeteria after I’d almost tripped on two people’s feet, receiving a fake and lackadaisical apology for it.

  Things got weirder when we took a spot on one of the few benches outside opposite two other girls and they glanced at each other, avoided my gaze and scuttled away to another bench with four seated people as if we were the scourge.

  Lissa and I exchanged a speechless glance before Lissa pulled out her phone from the front pocket of her backpack. “I’m going to investigate.”

  I opened my small sized pudding bowl and took a spoonful as I watched Lissa’s face turn red as she stared intently at something on her phone.

  When she glanced up at me with timid eyes, I realized that everything that had happened since we got to the cafeteria had something to do with whatever she had seen on her phone.

  “What is it?” I asked, reaching for her phone.

  She shook her head and her hands tightened around it as I tried to pull it out.

  “Let me see.” I insisted until she released her phone to me.

  When I saw the video she had been staring at, I realized what had gone wrong.

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  The video on the screen was of me wearing what could only be classified as lingerie, dancing provocatively on a swing.

  Because of how confident I looked doing the dance, I knew that it was my ‘debut’ dance at the Diamond Gentlemen’s Club. I’d tried so hard back then to pretend I wasn’t uncomfortable wearing so little in public in front of tens of men who saw me as nothing other than an object of desire.

  From the dance and the way I brushed off my mistake as if they were not mistakes, one would think I was a pro at what I was doing. They wouldn’t realize that I was missing the beat at several points because the song I was singing in my head was, ‘You’re on a beach, Clare and this is just a two piece.’

  My mouth turned bitter as I ignored Lissa’s inquiring gaze and looked around the courtyard, where several people were glancing at me. The giggles and whispers from the surrounding tables seemed targeted at me, and I didn’t know what to say.

  “Clare…is…is that really you?” Lissa whispered her question.

  I really wanted to know what she thought, so I met her gaze, which was full of disbelief, a little distaste and disgust.

  That made me stand up before my brain could register what I was thinking.

  I took my tray of food and rushed back into the cafeteria to place it back among the used trays so I could just leave school as soon as possible, as I tried to think of a way out of this.

  I placed my gaze on the floor trying to avoid the feet spread out on my way to make me trip, but that didn’t prevent me from tripping on a trickily placed feet.

  I closed my eyes for a second, hoping and praying that this was a nightmare and I would wake up from it.

  I was about to stand up from where I was sprawled on the floor when the icy cold drink dumped over my head with a cold, fizzy rush that trickled down my neck, soaking my shirt, made me realize that this was not a nightmare.

  I looked up to meet the gaze of the girl who was smiling down at me, holding an empty cup in her hands just as someone else poured another icy drink on me. This time, the drink was something sweet and syrupy, adding to the chill and the shock. The liquid dripped into my eyes, making me blink rapidly as it mixed with my disbelief.

  Before I could figure out what it was, though, someone else poured a lukewarm drink on me.

  I refused to just sit there and get drinks poured on me, so I struggled to my feet but slipped on the sticky drink on the floor, allowing someone else to dump a bowl of pudding on me.

  It landed with a heavy splat on my head, its thick, creamy texture oozing down my face and clothes. It felt like a sticky, sweet-smelling mask, adding to the humiliation of the moment. My skin felt clammy, and I was acutely aware of the laughter and whispers around me.

  I sat there, stunned and embarrassed, the weight of the pudding like a gooey helmet on my head. My heart pounded in my chest, agitated by a mix of anger and humiliation. I wanted to get up and run, but I was rooted in place, overwhelmed by the mess and the attention.

  “What the hell are you doing?” For a second, Elijah’s voice felt like the voice of hope.

  Until I remembered that video. I suddenly felt like standing up and pulling Elijah out of this room so that he could never see or hear about that video, which was a testament of what I had to do to survive.

  Unfortunately, I was a slobbering mess, and I didn’t even know how to leave the cafeteria without slipping now. How could I run away with Elijah in my state?

  Knowing that he would inevitably see that video and anticipating the look of distaste and disdain in his gaze when he saw it made me bow my head lower and lower.

  “I’ll ask again, what the hell are you all doing?” Elijah repeated.