Last week, dear reader, we promised a slight detour on our journey of a day in the life of Hailey. Our attention turns now to Bella Atropa, the glasses wearing gal who agreed to help tutor our heroine tonight.

They story of Bella’s afternoon begins just as her friends leave the classroom. Once again, we rewind the inexorable march of time, but merely a minute.

As the chattering trio of Hailey, Theo, and Missy heads out of Mr. Memely’s class, Bella sits at her desk for a moment. She does not share the next class with the three, so they hardly find it odd that she does not head into the hallway with them. As always, they assume she intends to interrogate Mr. Memely for a few more tidbits of information from the lecture. But if they knew the truth, they might stay behind and wait with her!

Mr. Memely is unavailable anyways, once the bell rang he motioned for the director and the two speak in hushed and intense tones even now. Bella glances over trying to catch his attention and failing as he starts to wave his hands around in anger. Every so often one of the men raises his voice just loud enough for her to catch snippets of the conversation. Clearly, Mr. Memely does not appreciate the suggestion that he needs a new acting coach!

Bella sits in class counting backwards from sixty. That's exactly how long it will take her bullies to cross through the hallway and move past the doorway to the classroom. Sometimes she does waste the time asking Mr. Memely questions. This time however his acerbic responses to the film crew are just intimidating enough to compel her to remain in her seat, leaving him to his fight. So, she dithers and tries to pretend she's continuing to pack up her belongings.

In the corner of the classroom, the argument between Mr. Memely and the director increases in volume and heat. Face turning red, Mr. Memely snaps his grading pen in half. The director smiles and waves over a camera to record footage the red ink dripping on his hands.

Then with an annoyed curse, Mr. Memely says something to the film crew and walks out of the classroom in disgust. His departure is fast enough that Bella only catches him as he opens the door to leave. Unfortunately, he opens the door at exactly the wrong moment and the bullies walking outside have a clear view of a suddenly defenseless Bella!

Sauntering into the classroom comes a trio of girls with smirking expressions. You and I might recognize these dolled up harpies, dear reader, for this is none other than Ally, Trishia, and Maggie!

Nervously and with a hint of trepanation Bella speaks first, "H-hi girls."

Turning to her Trishia, Ally says in a mocking tone, "Ooooh it didn't use our names. That's not nice, considering we're so nice to it."

Mumbling, clutching her books to her chest and looking at the floor Bella stammers. "Hi Ally, hi Trishia, hi Maggie."

Smiling, Ally continues to speak, "Well that's much better. With all those brains,” she flicks Bella on the forehead before continuing, "I'd expect a freak like you to remember something as simple as a name. Or are you one of those freaks who likes numbers more than people?"

In a low tone, so low that the girls have to strain to hear, Bella answers. "More than some people."

Flicking her forehead again Ally replies, "Some people? Who might that be freak?" She turns to her friends. "It definitely doesn’t mean us three."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Bella's eyes widen in fear, she clearly did not think the three would hear what she said. Shaking her head frantically she backs up into her desk.

Ally looms forward, and reaches up to flick her on the forehead again just as the director jumps in.

"YES! Perfect, a bullying scene! That's exactly what this slice of life drama needs to spice things up a bit. Okay, just continue exactly as you were but this time I want the other two girls to get involved. Maybe they could do the flicking thing too? We can reshoot the very last thing. Just push her into the desk this time." The director then scurries over to the cameramen and begins pointing and waving his hands around frantically.

Ally blinks twice, then smiles. Looking back to Bella, a wicked grin graces her face. "Yeah I think that's a great idea. Trishia? You want first dibs?"

Trishia moves into Ally's place and shoves Bella back into her desk, moving it slightly. Then she leans in close and flicks her on the forehead. "Hey freak, if you're so smart how come you're always waiting here for us? If you were smart maybe you'd just leave."

The director rushes over, "No no no that dialogue is terrible! Look, I need you girls to be meaner! I really need to feel the emotion of the scene. Take me there!"

The three roll their eyes in unison. Upon seeing this, the director leaps up, "YES! Exactly! More of that okay?" He then scurries back to his camera and frantically starts gesturing at his crew to get into position.

After staring at the man for a few seconds, the girls turn back uninterested. With a shrug, Maggie steps up and shoves Bella over her desk sending her and the contents of her backpack spilling out onto the ground. Ally puts her heel down on the book Bella clutches to her chest in terror and leans over her. Then she leans in and puts pressure on Bella. "Hey freak, think you'd be so smart if you didn't have all your textbooks?"

Trishia grabs her fallen backpack, upending it completely and spilling the contents out onto the floor. "Ally look at what the freak's got in its backpack! It's got class notes from today labeled 'to share' like it has friends to study with!" Laughing she passes them to Ally who waves them in front of Bella's face.

"Bad move freak, nobody's friends with a freak like you. They just want to pick your robot brain." Ally then hands the notes over to Maggie.

Maggie smiles wickedly at the other two and holds them up. "You know freak. We should probably do you a favor and prevent those bullies from taking advantage of you. You'd like that freak?" She pauses for a moment, staring at Bella, and then shouts at her, "I said you'd like that, right freak?"

Ally pushes her foot down harder causing Bella to whimper in pain. "Maggie asked you a question freak. Answer her."

Bella can only gasp and whimper under the pressure of the Ally's heel however. A moment passes before Trishia speaks, "It's too stupid to talk! Hey freak, answer the question or I'll start tearing out pages of your textbooks."

Bella stammers in between gulps of air, "I... I'd... like that..."

With that, Ally leans back and alleviates the pressure and smiles at Maggie. "Well Maggie, should we do it a favor?"

Maggie smiles back and leans over so Bella can watch as she shreds the first page of her notes. "Say thank you freak." She says pausing after ripping apart the first one.

"Thank you." Bella mumbles through tears.

"Look Maggie! It's so happy it's crying! You're such a nice person." Trishia says with a laugh.

Maggie rips the next page. "Say 'thank you' again freak." She lets the pieces of paper fall down on Bella's face.

Shell-shocked, Bella quietly says, "Thank you."

Maggie then rips the next page and forces Bella to thank her again. The ritual continues until all the pages lay scattered on the floor around Bella. The trio then walks out of the classroom laughing leaving Bella and her scattered books behind.

The director walks over and begins packing up her bag. "Great stuff. You can really see the devastation in your eyes during those scenes." He continues chattering, ignoring Bella, as he hands her the bag and walks back to his camera.

"You know, I figured this was another one of Napp's crazy projects when she called. But this place is probably the most authentic set I've ever been to, and all the quality actors and-” turning to Bella he smiles and tips his imaginary hat before spinning back around and continuing to walk, "actresses have really convinced me I can make something great here. I always wanted to do arthouse films before joining Marvelous Studios. I can see the title now 'A Day in the Life'”

The director pauses and twirls his moustache for a few seconds. Then he continues, “No, no that's stupid, how about 'Student for a Day' I'll weave together the stories of a bunch of different students throughout the school day in a poignant look at the futility and wonder of the American school system. God this has Oscar bait written all over it!"

Smiling he continues to blab on, “The Academy doesn’t think the Ferrous Man films are serious art, but they don’t realize how much work goes into juggling six superheroes in one movie. I’m finally going to get all the critical acclaim I deserve with this movie. Then I can start pitching my own movie ideas, I’m thinking crossovers, to Marvelous.”

He chatters on excitedly, not realizing that Bella has long since walked out of the room in a daze. She continues through the school day in an uncharacteristic gloom, hardly bothering to ask questions of her teachers or write down anything from their lectures. As the final bell rings, she decides to skip her cross-country practice, instead wanders over to the library, and finds herself a quiet table in the back to begin recopying her notes before the scheduled meeting with Hailey.

A meeting we will hope to see next week as we return to Hailey’s point of view in her 'poignant and futile' finish to the day in... "An Evening in the Life!"