+++ DISCLAIMER Okay, so we all have that one person in our lives that we can't stand. And you know what? You're probably right and that bitch really deserves a rubbing. But nobody deserves this! So DO NOT try in real life what you read about in this chapter, please. It's a criminal offense (and a tort), and times have changed since the 1970s, when this story plays, so I promise you'd get a lot more trouble than you bargained for! :( +++

It was the day after the water balloon attack. All day, Brian and his buddies made comments to Marilyn that were water related. Nothing very original, things like, "Ugly-Edmond, are you dry, yet?" or "I guess the wash didn't help, ugly-Edmond. You still stink!"

Marilyn didn't even look at them. She stared at her books, or out the window, or just at the wall for want of another option. She pretended they weren't there or she wasn't there. Either of the two. She didn't care which one.

Between classes Thomas and his girlfriend Josie were making out against the wall right next to Marilyn's locker, but to her they were invisible. Actually, she had never understood why they felt the need to make such a big show of being a couple, as they were the item of the school anyway, and on that day especially she refused to pay any attention to their game.

The most unsettling thing about Josie and Thomas was that Josie actually wasn't a bad girl. Not at all. She was the girl. She was pretty and flawless, beautiful even, and good at anything she touched, and Marilyn had to admit that she admired her. Josie was tall and lean, wore white Indian blouses with tight jeans shorts, that ended right above her knees, and her slender legs seemed endless despite her always flat sandals – she never wore heels. Her skin was as even as the surface of a cup of coffee and just as dark, and her hair fell down her back in countless beaded braids that never seemed to grow.

Had she been a bitch, it would have only confirmed Marilyn's assessment of Thomas as a bad person. But Josie was helpful and friendly to everyone, also to Marilyn, when they came across each other, and the fact that she saw something so irresistible in Thomas made Marilyn wonder, if not she, Marilyn, was the problem after all.

In Josie's presence, Thomas didn't openly bully Marilyn. He still looked at her with contempt, yet said nothing – but in those moments he only really had eyes for Josie anyway.

The mystery of Josie's never-growing braids wasn't really one. She was the daughter of a hairdresser. Marilyn still thought she was like a goddess of the night, who had turned into a young woman. But beyond an occasional Hello and Good-bye in school, they had nothing to do with each other. Though Josie didn't live far from Marilyn's house, Marilyn didn't even know where exactly she lived, or what she and her friends did in their free time. Marilyn and Josie just weren't the same weight class.

When the lunch break came, Marilyn quickly went to the restroom, before she attempted to sneak out to her usual hiding place, while everyone else rushed to the cafeteria to grab the best seats, or the best food, or whatever else it was that drew people there like a magnet. In the emptiness of the restroom with its yellowish tiles, Marilyn relaxed for the first time that day. She looked at herself in the mirror. The water treatment had ruined her permed curls, but she hadn't had the strength to redo them, so she had just bound her hair in a tight ponytail that bobbed at the back of her head.

She was just fixing her make-up, when the door opened and Josie came in. In the corner of her eye, Marilyn saw her hesitate for a fraction of a second.

"Marilyn."

Marilyn was so surprised to be addressed, that she looked around despite her resolution to ignore everybody that day.

Josie came closer and leaned against one of the sinks. "I'm sorry for what they did to you yesterday. You know, for Thomas being a part of it and all."

"Thank you," Marilyn said.

"That was really mean, you know."

"Yeah."

After a moment, Josie smiled a little and squeezed Marilyn's arm. "Don't let them upset you."

"Yeah."

Time stretched. The situation was awkward. With another smile Josie detached herself from the sink and disappeared into one of the stalls.

Marilyn wrapped up her things and left the restroom. She felt humiliated.

I'm sorry for what they did to you yesterday. That was really mean, you know.Like, really?? Of course she knew! What was Josie thinking? What were they all thinking? That Marilyn was so used to it by now, that she didn't even notice it anymore, when she was mistreated? And so someone had to tell her? Yesterday. Like all the other stuff they did to her on a daily basis weren't mean? Really? Good Lord!

You know, for Thomas being a part of it and all.Then why didn't she tell him she didn't like what he did? That might have made a difference. He did and said mean things to Marilyn all the time, and it wasn't like Josie could possibly not know. Why didn't she disapprove of his behavior openly? Why did she tell Marilyn only when they had been all alone in a restroom, and otherwise kept sucking his face and God alone knew what else?!

Don't let them upset you.Don't let them upset you??? Upset? Was it that? A little upsetting? It followed her everywhere she went. She couldn't shake it off. She had difficulties sleeping. Don't let it upset you! That line really topped it all!

The closer Marilyn came to her hiding place, the more the humiliation turned to anger – first at Josie, and then at herself.

Why hadn't she told Josie all that, when she had had the chance? Thank you. That was all she had managed. Thank you and Yeah. Brilliant!

Alone on the fire stairs at the back of the gym, surrounded by only the silent audience of discarded furniture, Marilyn recited all the clever answers she could have given Josie, both angry and friendly ones.

The problem was that she knew Josie had meant well. But what she had said, and the moment she had said it in, had helped no one except Josie's conscience alone. Maybe Marilyn could have made a friend and ally in Josie, if she had just had the right reaction. But the opportunity had passed, and she had spoiled it. As Marilyn contemplated the situation, her anger vanished and left her depressed and in despair. She was awkward and stupid and not a complete human being. She couldn't act like humans did, try as she might. She was a toad, who tried to fit in and kept failing. Inevitably. Maybe she deserved the treatment she received from Thomas and Brian and all of them. The more she thought about it, the more she despised herself. So could she blame others for despising her?

She willed the day to be over, like she willed every day to be over, so she could go home, anywhere, just away from them. And like all days it passed. The last bell rang, she took her books from her locker and walked off the premises.

She hadn't walked far, when someone called after her, and before she knew it, Samantha and Brina had caught up with her. They were one year below Marilyn. She knew them from seeing them around school.

"Oh, Marilyn!" said Brina as she reached for Marilyn's ponytail, "Oh, Marilyn, your hair!"

Marilyn looked at her puzzled. True, Marilyn's hair wasn't in the best state due to what had happened the afternoon before, but it certainly wasn't that bad.

"Didn't you notice?" asked Samantha from Marilyn's other side.

"Notice what?" Were they really serious?

"Your hair is full of chewing gum! Look!" And this time it was Samantha, who reached for Marilyn's ponytail, and then showed it to her. "Oh, it's disgusting! What are you going to do now?"

Marilyn was in shock at the sight of her black curls clotted with white gum.

"There's some here, too," said Brina. "Right above your ear. Oh, it's so gross!"

Marilyn grabbed her head where Brina had touched her, and felt the sticky substance under her fingers. "Oh, God..." was all she managed to say.

Students who were in the parking lot, had stopped what they were doing and were now looking over at the scene. Marilyn wasn't sure, if she felt more despair at her ruined hair or at the thought of everyone looking at her head full of chewed gum.

"Nathan did it when you were taking your books out of your locker," said Brina. "Didn't you notice it?"

"No..." breathed Marilyn. Nathan was a guy from Brina's and Samantha's class. She knew him. She had had a class with him the year before. She had never had any real problems with him. He had just ignored her.

Marilyn hadn't noticed Nathan anywhere near her while she had been at her locker, but she had spent all day trying her very best not to notice anyone.

"I'm so sorry," Samantha tucked a strand of her own hair behind her ear. "We thought you should know. You should go home and try to get it out."

"Yes... yes..." Marilyn stammered and hurried away not looking left or right.

"Miss, Miss!" she heard a woman's voice, when she reached the next crossroad.

She tried to ignore her. She didn't need someone else telling her that her hair was full of chewing gum.

"Miss! Please, Miss, wait!"

Defeated, Marilyn turned around. The voice belonged to a short, middle-aged, heavily tanned lady with sunglasses and heavy earrings that pulled her earlobes down.

"Miss..." she huffed out of breath, "I've seen what happened! It was those two girls who put the gum in your hair! They did it while they were talking to you. I saw it! Little bitches!"

"Oh!"

"Yes! My name is Dorothea Simon. I live over there. Do you see the white house with the flag on the porch? That's where I live. Those two have to pay to have your hair sorted out, Miss. And if they deny they did it, tell them I saw it. Dorothea Simon saw them do it!"

Marilyn couldn't thank her enough. She was so grateful that anyone had bothered to notice what had happened and, what was more, to run after her to tell her. She felt a little lighter at heart when she walked on. But that light feeling wouldn't last long.

At home, Marilyn realized that she had no idea how to remove the gum from her hair. She had pulled the biggest chunks out, but her hair still stuck together. She tried to wash it, but that had no effect. Combing was impossible and just made matters worse.

In her despair she called her hairdresser. The answer she got was bad. There was no way to remove the gum. She would have to have her hair cut off. Marilyn burst into tears on the phone. This just couldn't be true.

The lady at the hairdresser's tried to calm her, but to no avail. Finally, she gave Marilyn her private phone number and told her she could call any time she wanted. She lived above the shop, and she would come in and cut Marilyn's hair whenever she felt ready, even in the middle of the night.

After that Marilyn called her parents. Her mother was appalled. Her father was wild with anger. In accordance with his temper, he thundered something about lawyers, and that the parents of those girls would hear from him. Indeed he called them right away. They were as angry as he was, promising that their daughters would pay for the damage done, and that they would be punished.

He also called the major manufacturers of chewing gum to ask, if there was a way of removing their product from his daughter's hair, but these calls were less successful. Even though there were chemicals that would dissolve chewing gum, none of them was fit to be used in human hair.

By the end of the evening, Marilyn's hair was short.

The next day, Brina and Samantha apologized to Marilyn. They said it had just been meant as a somewhat rude joke, and that they hadn't known that the gum could not be removed.

They paid the bill for the hairdresser and told Marilyn that they really thought the short hair suited her very well, much better than the long hair had. Marilyn could have especially done without the last remark.

When Marilyn entered her English class first period that day, everyone looked at her new haircut. Marilyn hated it. No only had she lost her hair, now she was the center of attention on top of it all. She didn't feel like making up a story about how she liked her new style, and she also didn't feel like talking to anyone of her classmates about what had happened.

But no-one cared about what Marilyn's wanted. As the incident had happened upon leaving school on the way home, the school was in charge of it. Brina and Samantha had both received a demerit. Mr. Smith, the teacher, took the opportunity to lecture the class on inappropriate behavior, using Marilyn and her hair as an example. He, too, certainly meant well, but he talked about her, as if she wasn't there. Or as if she was just an object used for show-and-tell.

All the students turned and looked at her, stating how terrible they thought it was, and how sorry they were for her. In truth, Marilyn was certain, they didn't care about neither her nor her lost hair (maybe the girls did care about their own hair), but they loved the opportunity to demonstrate how wonderfully good, caring people they were. And it was well received by the teacher, leaving Marilyn in the position to thank them for their sympathy and their kind words.

She clenched her teeth and kept it as short as possible, wishing for nothing more than for the subject to be dropped and the class to continue.

It finally did. And as Marilyn had expected, her classmates went back to not seeing or caring if anyone did or said anything unfriendly to her.

~~~~~

Hey! :D You're still here! So far no one was killed, had sex, got pregnant, was bitten by a vampire or turned into a werewolf. And you're still here! I'm flattered! XD

No, seriously, you've made it through the first part of this story, and through what I think is the harder part. Now we have met all the main characters (I think) and set up the framework of our story, so in the coming chapters we'll see a bit more of Michael, which I know is what you're all looking forward to. ;)

Well, while the part with the water balloons in the last chapter was made up, this is actually a true story. It happened to my friend, when we were in school. While I was writing this chapter, I was wondering how those two girls actually did it. I mean, did they store the chewing gum all day to put it my friends hair after school? I have no good answer to that. But this really happened! :(

As always, if you've enjoyed reading this chapter, please think about if it's not maybe worth your vote.I'd be very happy, if you'd think it is. :D

Any kind of comments are always welcome! Tell me what you like, tell me what you don't like: Tell me what you think! :D

Alright, that's all from my side. I hope you have a lovely day, and that I'll see you again soon. :)

Much Love, Birdie <33