Chapter 30 - A Million Rainbows

Mrs. Bailey, my guidance counselor, was speaking to me, but her voice was both muffled and booming at the same time, and I couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying, “Deadlines … applications … scholarships …”

The dismissal bell blared through the halls outside, jolting my focus back. “Yes, thank you. I’ll make sure to get on it.” I rose from my seat, pulled my backpack over my shoulder, and flung open the door.

School was out. The classrooms were emptying, and the hallway was filling up. I couldn’t breathe, and I was about to lose it in front of everyone. I elbowed past a line of kids, not paying attention, getting shoved and pushed back, dirty looks tossed my way.

I stumbled into a bathroom. Everything was black for a moment, and I fell against the wall and onto the floor, because the blackness was swirling …

“What the hell do we have here?” I recognized the voice as one of Lyndsay’s cronies, Taylor. She was always giving me shit. I also recognized Lyndsay’s cackle, which followed a second later.

I scrambled to my feet, the room, the world, suddenly coming back into focus. I had to get Charlie. I didn’t even know what time it was or how long I had been sitting on the bathroom floor.

I hitched up my backpack but stalled, taking a shallow, gut-sinking breath. Lyndsay and Taylor, both wearing their green and white cheerleading outfits (because of the game in a couple of hours), were blocking the door. Of course.

“I have to get my sister,” I said, not knowing what else to say, foolishly hoping they might politely step aside.

Lyndsay cocked her head, planted a hand on her hip, and looked me up and down with her trademark fire-hot glare.

Taylor spoke. “I don’t think so. We’ve been meaning to have a little chat with this bitch. Isn’t that right, Lyndsay?”

“Guys, please,” I begged, my fears misplaced because all I could think about was Charlie when really, I should have been focusing on the two hungry lions in front of me.

Lyndsay’s mouth opened, a haughty laugh filtering from her throat. She stared me down, a look of disgust on her face. “You think you’re so cute, don’t you?”

She and Taylor stepped forward. Dammit. It was two against one, and they both obviously worked out. “Look, Lyndsay. I’m sorry. For everything. I am.”

Shit—a half-sincere apology was definitely the wrong move.

Lyndsay morphed into a viper. Right before my eyes. Her irises burned red with rage, her throat tightened. Her fists were clenched. She was about to strike.

This was my fault.

It was Friday, and Kyle and I had sat together at lunch all week. And we had moved to the back of math class together since I had glasses now and didn’t need to sit so close to the board.

It had been a stupid idea. Really stupid. I saw that now.

I might have been able to fend off Lyndsay if she were alone. But not the two of them.

And Taylor was a big girl. Not fat. Tall. Her big bones, all muscle. With her straight, jet-black hair and the black eyeliner around her piercing blue eyes, I thought she looked like that old wrestler, Chyna. Not someone I wanted to be confronted by. Not in an empty bathroom. And definitely not when they were both obviously out for blood.

“What the hell does he even see in you?” said Lyndsay, her rage fading for a moment, and a human actually asked that question. She was hurt. I knew that. The pain was clear in her eyes, and I was sorry.

I didn’t have an answer for her. It wouldn’t make a difference, anyway.

Lyndsay stepped forward, pushing me back. I saw an opening and attempted to maneuver around her, but Taylor was quick and put an arm out to block me. She shoved me back—hard. My bag dropped from my shoulder as my head hit the wall.

“She just doesn’t learn. Does she, Lyndsay?” Taylor said, her lips snarled, her teeth showing, and now I thought she looked like a Doberman. She pinned me to the wall, leaning across my chest with an arm and bringing her knee up, digging it into my hip. She moved her other hand to my throat, and I was left breathless.

Viper Lyndsay returned. Red viper. Her whole head was on fire. “Fucking slut!” she screamed, and with a fist full of pretty silver rings, she punched me square in the jaw.

The stones on her rings cut into my cheek—I felt that. The rest was just shock as my mind tried to make sense of what I’d slammed into … and then the taste of iron as a cut inside my mouth bled.

Taylor released her grip, stepping back, laughing at me. Then she moved in with a sucker punch to my gut, and I fell to my knees, gasping for air.

“You need to stay on your side of the tracks with the trash where you belong,” spat Lyndsay. “Stop trying to weasel your way into my life!”

I had passed Lyndsay in school and was now the top of the class, and I had her boyfriend. That was the first time I’d put those two things together.

“Lyndsay, come on, let’s get out of here,” said Taylor.

They left the bathroom, laughing. Their voices faded down the hall. Then silence.

I was hunched over, on my knees, still trying to catch my breath, when the door opened again.

Shit. They were back for more …

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Sadie Jones, another beautiful cheerleader, rushed over to my side. Sadie was dating one of Kyle’s friends, so, as far as I knew, she wasn’t Team Lyndsay. That was a big relief. “Did Lyndsay and Taylor do this?” she asked, grabbing me by the elbow and helping me up.

“Yeah, thanks. I’m fine.” My head was spinning. I just needed to get my backpack and go.

My glasses had fallen off at some point and Sadie picked them up and handed them to me. “Are you sure? It looks bad. I can go get someone?”

“No, no.” I grabbed a paper towel and wiped the blood from my face, then opened my bag and reached for my phone; it was ten past three. “Shit. I have to go get my sister.” I was a panicked mess as I left Sadie in the bathroom, forgetting to thank her.

I had missed Charlie’s bell. I had also missed my chance to pick up the donated groceries. We had been counting on those for Christmas this week, and I was cursing at myself as I rushed out the door.

I entered the front office at Charlie’s school. She was waiting on a bench just inside the door, her back to me. I touched her shoulder. She twisted around and the tears in her eyes shot me with regret—the bullet, piercing my heart. I gave her a hug. “I’m so sorry, Charlie.”

I moved to the front desk, reaching for the sign-out sheet. “I’m sorry I’m late,” I said to the receptionist.

“Sweetheart, your face?” She yanked a tissue from a box and handed it to me.

I took it, pressing it to my cheek. “I slipped on a patch of ice.”

“Mrs. Harvey, the nurse is still in.” She pointed outside the office to an open door across the hall. “Why don’t you stop in and have her take a look at it?” She picked up the phone and was dialing the nurse before I could say no.

Charlie and I sat quietly, side by side, in a row of chairs. We were in the nurse’s stuffy office, and she was examining my face.

“I slipped on ice,” I said, answering the question she had just asked.

“That’s a pretty nasty gash. You must have hit a rock.”

I laughed inside, thinking of Lyndsay’s sapphire ring.

The nurse looked at me with concern, reading something in my mood, or my posture, or my eyes—that tell grownups sometimes saw even when you thought you weren’t giving anything away. “You’re a student over at the high school?”

“Yes.”

“Did this happen at school?” I didn’t answer that. “If this was something else, you can tell me,” she said. “We can document it.”

I didn’t see how making an issue of it would do any good. The most that would happen was Lyndsay might get suspended. But that meant sitting through meetings, talking about what happened, talking to Lyndsay about what happened. That meant giving Lyndsay another reason to hate me.

“No,” I said. “I just fell. That’s all.”

The nurse sighed and continued with the mending. “It might leave a scar.”

She wiped my cheek, cleaning the wound with a clear solution. Then she dabbed it with ointment, before covering it with a bandage.

“Thanks,” I said, getting up and pulling Charlie with me. I just wanted to get home.

“Merry Christmas,” the Nurse said as we left her office.

“Yeah, Merry Christmas.”