I

By the time Norah walked into her first class of the day, she’d calmed down somewhat, but still kept a wide berth from other students as they funneled in with their flurry of first day jitters. Although, being the first term of their junior year, the excitement was limited. Mostly a bunch of over-it teens counting down the days until graduation.

Norah’s eyes widened when Josh walked through the door, she was even more surprised that he made a beeline for her. He smiled warmly, his puppy eyes filled with concern, “Hey, I was hoping I'd run into you again”.

Norah couldn’t help but smile, she hadn’t noticed before, but Josh had these cute dimples, “Really?”

Josh leant against one of the desks and put his bag on the floor, “Yeah, I wanted to apologize”.

Norah frowned, “What for?”

“I feel like I freaked you out earlier”, he rubbed the back of his head to ease his nervous energy, “I swear, this school’s great – you can handle the occasional ritual sacrifice, right?”

Norah distracted herself by picking some schmutz off the desk with her finger, “That isn’t why I ran away…”

Josh gave a knowing nod, “Ah, so it was about the body blow you served Halle this morning”.

“What?! No, I–”

Josh raised his hand to quiet her tirade and began to laugh, “Chill, it took some badgering, but she told me what happened”.

“I can explain, it’s not how it sounds.”

“Actually, I was hoping it was exactly how it sounded”, said Josh. That was blunt.

Norah stared at him with a cocked head trying to work out if he was joking, “You want me to abuse your friends?”

Josh rolled his eyes, grabbing his backpack off the floor and slinging it over his shoulder again, “I love Halle but someone seriously has to knock some sense into her. She’s so delusional about Ravi”.

“He does seem to treat her pretty badly.”

“Yeah!” Josh scoffed, rubbing his forehead in exasperation, “They’re neighbors, right, so they’ve had this ridiculous secret romance going on since, like, Junior High, and the worst part is pretty much everyone knows, but the reason nobody talks about it is because Ravi's basically the crown prince of Hogarth”.

“That’s a lot to compute”, Norah grimaced and slumped down against one of the desks, “Still, I didn’t have to say it like that…”

“Trust me, it won’t make a lick of difference, she’s in so deep she’s hit mantel”, Josh gave Norah a reassuring pat on the shoulder, “I'm sure we can find a way you can make it up to her”.

Norah followed Josh towards the front of the class where he took an empty seat, “I don’t know, she was so mad at me. I think I actually saw steam come out of her ears”.

Josh pulled his books out of his bag and spread them over his desk, “That’s also not a big deal, that’s pretty much Halle's default”.

“Not to be rude but why are you friends with her if she behaves like that?”

Josh shrugged, “She’s okay when you get to know her, plus she wasn’t always this high strung. She got worse after her sister got accepted into this Tennis camp in Korea, now she basically only sees her parents a few times a year”.

“So, she just sits home alone all night by herself?” that kind of broke Norah’s heart.

Josh nodded, then furrowed his brow in thought, “It’s like, you know when you eat something bitter, but then you kind of crave it?”

“I guess…”

“Halle's like that… if that bitter thing also liked to hit you in the face and balls after”, said Josh with a huge beaming smile, “I figure if I run interference and you kill her with kindness we might just get through that tough hide of hers”.

Norah gave Josh a thoughtful look, trying to summon her confidence, “Hey, sorry if this seems forward, but would you maybe wanna hang out tonight?”

Josh sucked air through bared teeth, “I'd love to but I'm working”.

Norah’s face flushed hot and she hoped she wasn’t blushing, she couldn’t tell if she’d read the situation wrong or not, “Oh right. Where do you work?”, she tried to sound casual.

“Just your average soul-sucking minimum wage up at the East Hill Cannery.”

Norah couldn’t think of anything else to say and stared impotently at the ground. Taking pity on her, Josh gave Norah’s sleeve a playful tug, “How’s about tomorrow night?”

Relief washed over Norah, until the bell rang and their teacher, Ms Greene, came trotting towards the front with an armful of books, “All right everyone, settle down!”

Ms Greene had swathes of wild curly hair, and wore embroidered bell-bottom jeans, that perfectly matched her hippy-dippy vibe. She couldn’t have been much older than twenty-five. Their teacher placed her books down and surveyed the room, catching Norah still standing.

“Please take your seats”, she said pointedly. Norah floundered for a seat but all of the one’s nearby were taken.

“It’s assigned seating by the way, go check over there”, said Josh, pointing her towards a back corner.

Norah’s heart began to race, she really didn’t want to sit away from him, but with the classroom filling up fast there wasn’t much choice. Luckily, there was a desk near the back that thanks to the classroom layout was as far from everyone else as Norah was going to get.

She took her seat but her shoulders were pinched up. Norah tried to disguise her anxiety by arranging her books on her desk in color order. Unfortunately, a miserable looking girl who rushed into the class late, took the seat in front of Norah and began emanating waves in all directions.

No one would notice, y'know.

It'd be so much easier if you weren't here.

What are you waiting for? Just do it...

Norah slowed down her breath in an attempt to focus herself, when Ms Greene clapped her hands together to draw the attention of the class, “Okay, did everyone have a good summer?”

There was some murmuring in the class as people discussed the question.

“Welcome back, everyone. For those of you who had me last year, Hi. For those who didn't, prepare for your worst nightmare”, Ms Greene began to laugh maniacally, but most of the kids seemed to find this amusing, which calmed Norah’s nerves somewhat, “Does anyone have any questions before we start on Hemingway?”

As Norah was looking around she noticed that horrible blonde girl in the too-tight polo dress sitting at the front near Josh, her hand shot right into the air. Ms Greene’s eyes seemed to slacken in irritation as she pointed to the girl.

“Yes, Sophie?”

“There’re some new faces I don’t recognize, Miss”, Sophie’s voice was syrupy with vindictive joy.

“Oh, yes, of course”, Ms Greene scanned the class for new faces, “Who’s Norah Woodhouse?”

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“I think she’s there”, Sophie turned and pointed directly to Norah with a smirk.

“Ah, yes. Hello!” Ms Greene gave an earnest smile, dazzling them with her perfect teeth, “Everyone, we have a new student joining us all the way from New York City–”, the teacher locked eyes with Norah and began waving her up to the front of the class, “Why don't you come up and tell us something about yourself?”

Norah felt outside of herself as her feet began moving towards the front of the room, unable to hear anything much above her own heartbeat. She stepped in front of the class and for a moment there was an earth shattering silence, during which Josh gave her a supportive thumbs up…

Who’s that?

I thought New Yorkers were supposed to be cool…

Who does she think she is?

Norah winced, trying to keep her eyes on Josh, she wanted desperately to speak but her mouth had gone completely dry.

Are you going to say something?

God, this girl is boring, why do we have to listen to this.

Josh’s smile waned, while Ms Greene put a sympathetic hand on Norah’s shoulder, “Don’t be nervous, just tell us a bit about yourself. What are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here?”

Get off the stage, loser!

Is she a mute or something?

Come on, kid, I’ve got a class to teach.

The wave of thoughts kept hitting Norah like fists and she clenched her eyes shut trying to block it out.

Is she having a melt down.

What’s wrong with her?

I think she’s having a stroke.

“Please… I just need a second…” Norah kneaded her temples, trying to stop herself from hyperventilating.

Loser!

She’s such a loser!

Why don’t you say something, idiot!

There was a several bangs at the window that caused the entire room to become silent. There was bright red circles where birds had hit the glass. Everyone stared at them in shocked.

“Oh my god!” gasped Ms Greene, walking over to look at the birds on the ground, “I think they’re dead”.

Where did those birds come from?

That was spooky.

There’s always something in this town.

How gross!

Norah began gagging like she was trying to swallow air, like she was about to vomit. “I need the bathroom”, she said while sprinting out of the room.

----------------------------------------

II

Norah felt giddy as she rushed through the empty corridors and ended up in the girl’s bathroom, which thankfully was empty. It was relatively small with only three cubicles and three white basins. The tiny faded blue tiles covering both walls and floor were enough to make a person dizzy, but it seemed as good a place as any to hide.

Norah locked herself in the center stall and sat on the toilet with her feet pressed against the door and her head in her hands. It felt like the deliria she’d experienced in fifth grade when her entire class came down with a bad flu that put half the kids in hospital. Her head was pounding and she couldn’t string together a coherent thought.

Norah thought she’d gotten the sickness badly back in New York, but this was on another level. There was something weird about this school, about this town. She needed to get out of there before she lost control, but every time she tried to move her head would swim forcing her to sit back down.

Eventually Norah felt solid enough to sit upright, “Come on, Norah. Get it together”, she said, forcing herself to unlock the cubicle and peak out. Unfortunately, at that very moment, the bathroom doors swung open and a waif of a girl rushed in to use the sink, forcing Norah to retreat back into the cubicle again.

Norah watched the girl through the crack in the door as she began examining herself in the mirrors. She had long dark hair, that was thin and lifeless, much as the girl was. She had gaunt cheeks and large dark circles under what looked to be beautiful dark brown eyes. The girl was fidgety, her aura bristling, thoughts flowing through her head incoherently.

Apple is 78 calories and a rice cake is 35.

3 for black coffee which leaves 384

Mom's making Daal so if I skip lunch I can still be under 500 for the day…

The girl stared at herself in the mirror, running her hand over her loose clothes to study the body beneath them before averting her gaze in disgust. The girl looked agitated, her hands flitting over her face and neck like she was trying to sooth a panic attack.

Focus, Nina. You have Ravi’s birthday meal on Friday, so you have to save some calories for that.

You’ll have to run for an hour tonight. No excuses, I don't care if you're tired. It's an hour.

Norah could barely breathe, she sat on the toilet and pulled her legs up to her chest trying to block out the tirade of negative thoughts pouring off the girl. She hiccuped, her breaths becoming ragged, as her body began convulsing.

Why are you even bothering? You'll never look like those other girls.

You’re disgusting. You’re nothing.

Black smoke flickered at the corners of Norah’s eyes and a searing pain as the corners of her mouth began to split, extending up her cheeks. It was happening. Norah yelped in pain as energy began to crackles from the tips of her fingers. She had to get out of there.

“Is someone there?”

Norah opened her eyes to see the outline of Nina stood outside of her cubicle door. No no no, please go away. Norah tried to cover her mouth to silence herself but she was gasping, razor-sharp teeth erupting from her jaw and preparing to chomp down. Run, you’re going to die. Please.

The lock began to twist from the outside, “Hello, are you okay in there?”

Norah’s eyes filled with tears as she tried to scrambled towards the back wall of the cubicle. She wanted to scream, to tell the girl to run, but the only noise she could make was a strange guttural growl. A searing pain erupted in her face as her jaw dislocated, her mouth widening like a snake ready to devour its prey. Luckily, Nina was distracted by another loud bang as the bathroom door was thrown open, followed by the titter of mean-spirited laughter.

“She was such a freak, seriously”, Sophie’s voice echoed around the bathroom, as she and two other girls clopped in on their high heels. There was a shocked silence as they realized they were not alone.

“Wow, nice outfit, Nina. I had no idea Goodwill was having a sale”, Sophie laughed, her perfectly white sneakers visible through the crack in the cubicle door, as she moved to preen herself in the mirror.

Norah could see the three girls from that morning, Sophie, the tall thin girl, and the redhead with the boobs. They took up all three sinks to begin primping themselves, seemingly having forgotten Nina was even there.

Sophie grimaced when she saw Nina’s reflection in the glass, “Is it too much to ask for some privacy?”

“No, I’m sorry”, Nina rushed out and immediately Norah began to feel slightly better.

“You know that's Ravi's sister”.

Sophie waved this away, “Thanks for the update, Katie, And I’m supposed to care about this, why?”

Katie, the redhead, look mortified, she stammered something then turned her attention back to the mirror, where she obediently touched up her lipstick. All the while under the snarling, watchful eye of Sophie.

Sophie was about half as pretty as Katie, and it appeared she knew it too, as her menacing eyes studied Katie, “Why don't you do something useful and give me your lipstick”.

Katie glanced at Sophie like a rabbit in the headlights before hesitantly obeying.

Sophie snatched the golden bullet of peach lipstick from Katie’s hand, “Speaking of Ravi. Kyle said he caught Halle sniffing around him again this morning. That girl needs to buy a clue”. Sophie painted her thin lips with a delicate hand, “That’s a nice colour”, she said, blowing herself a kiss in the mirror.

Though Norah was trying to keep quiet, her foot slipped and she accidentally kicked the door causing the girls to flinch in fright.

“Hey, peeping tom. It's rude to spy on people”, moments later Sophie appeared, she had her hands on her hips, and was glaring at Norah through the crack in the door, “Hello?” she hammered on the door.

With her cover blown, Norah flushed the toilet and slowly opened the cubicle, doing her best to keep her head down as she walked unsteadily towards the sink. When Norah caught sight of herself in the mirror she looked sweaty and disheveled, she could see the girls talking about her and laughing, but she did her best to ignore them as she washed her hands.

Eventually the girls became bored with her and congregated around the end mirror, where Sophie continued to touch up her makeup, while Norah used the reprieve to splash her face and neck with cold water.

“Hey, Katie – didn't Kyle ask you to Fall Festival?” said the tall girl, causing a big smile to brighten Katie’s otherwise nervous face.

Sophie side-eyed their conversation, irritated by their lack of focus on her, “Evony, I need your brush”.

Evony nodded, fishing into her stylish satchel, but without taking her attention off Katie, “Are you gonna go?”

Here, she seemed much softer than she had in the courtyard that morning. Katie seemed embarrassed due to the toxic aura emanating off of Sophie, who ran the brush through her wiry hair with a look that could curdle milk.

“Oh, yeah, I guess–”, said Katie.

Evony grinned, “You have to! Kyle is so cute”.

“I wouldn’t”, said Sophie shoving the brush back into Evony’s hand, “Max told me he only asked you because he knows you’ll put out”, Sophie shot them a nasty smile that made Katie’s face turn bright red.

“He said that?” Katie looked devastated.

“Yeah, sorry to be the one to tell you”, Sophie said sweetly, she held the lipstick out for Katie to take, but let go before she could reach for it causing the uncapped bullet to roll across the filthy bathroom floor. Evony stared at Sophie in shock, before turning to look at herself in the mirror to avoid the situation.

“Whoopsie”, Sophie grinned, smirking as Katie shamefully bent down to collect her soiled lipstick.

Silently, Katie stood by one of the mirrors, her eyes filling with tears as she fixed her hair without looking at either of them. The girls continued to primp themselves in silence like nothing had happened. Katie eyes were unfocused but her mind was running–

God, why do you just let Sophie walk all over you like that?

Is she right, do the boys think I’m a slut?

Why does she always have to ruin everything?

Look how you’re dressed, you are a slut–

Norah grabbed the edge of the sink trying to keep her cool, as Katie turned to Sophie with a nasty look in her eyes.

It’s not my fault you’re a stuck up frigid bitch who none of the boys like.

Norah grunted in pain accidentally breaking the sink off the wall and sending water spraying in all directions, including over the other girls. They began running around the room and screaming before fleeing from the bathroom. Despite everything that had happened, Norah kind of enjoyed that part.