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"Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armour, and it can never be used to hurt you." — Tyrion Lannister
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Chapter 11
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My head was aching. It felt like I just took a huge hit to the skull.

My vision swam as my eyes roamed over the pictures that were stuck on the walls, stuck in history. I stepped closer to one of the pictures. It looked like I kissed Carter willingly.

God, how wrong those pictures were.

Who could have done this? Carter and I were the only two people there last night, unless...

I felt a presence next to me. "The fuck is wrong with you?"

Immediately, I spun toward him.

My face reddened to the color of a tomato. "What's wrong with me?"

"That's what I asked."

I snatched one of the taunting pictures off the closest wall next to me. "You did this, didn't you?!"

He looked at me for a moment, then grabbed the picture from my hands, his eyes roaming over it. They rose back to mine. "You seriously accusing me of this?"

I felt the rage slithering into my bloodstream, taking its rightful place in my heart. "You were the only one there, right? Maybe you and Carter planned this entire thing out."

A mirror of anger shadowed his expression as he stepped closer to me. "Quit accusing me of shit I had nothing to do with."

My face reddened with the rage. "Don't lie to me, Kade. You and your friend were the only people there! Did you set this entire thing up to humiliate me?!" My vision blurred as I shook my head. "God, how could I be so stupid?"

His fists tightened on either side of him. I saw his eyes darken after every single world either of us said to one another. "Kimberly, I'm telling you I didn't do—"

I cut him off with words of my own; I didn't want anymore of his bullshit, "I don't care! God...how could I ever think it would be okay to let someone like you into my house?" I immediately regretted saying that last part aloud, but I couldn't focus on it too much right now.

His jaw worked back and forth. "Stop it, Kimberly," he demanded. "You need to—"

"No." Tears blurred my vision. "Maybe this is what I get for trying to be nice to you. Maybe this is my fault for letting such a hot-headed, crazy, selfish asshole like you help me."

Whatever thread he had left had been ripped from right under him. His entire demeanor changed. He took menacing steps to approach me, even closer then he already was. Before I could make a move, the guy that I'd seen with Kade a couple of times, joined in.

He placed a pale hand on top of Kade's sun kissed shoulder. "Ryder, chill."

Kade jerked around toward him, the devil himself controlling his every move. "Don't fucking touch me, Luke." He shoved him back with all his strength, yet his friend remained unfazed.

Luke raised two hands to show his surrender but, stepped closer to Kade. "I'm not trying to do shit to you man, I just need you to chill the fuck out right now."

Kade obviously wasn't having this. He shoved Luke back again, causing his back to hit the orange wall with force.

"Quit talking to me like I'm a goddamn child," Kade snapped at him.

I took a look around, to see the students that were originally outside, were inside now. They began to gather around all three of us, awaiting something that I dreaded.

This time, Luke replied with a shove of his own. "I said stop this shit, man! You know you can't afford another suspension." His eyes skipped over me before moving back to Kade. "Besides, you're really going to do this shit over a fucking girl?"

Kade paused then looked at me, and I mean really looked at me. Hatred was the only emotion that I could decipher in those rich eyes.

His lips curled into a heartstabbing grin before he rolled his eyes. "You're right. I shouldn't waste my time on a piece of shit like her anyway."

And there it was.

That tightness of my insides, that same raw slice at my heart. That same humiliation that managed to work past my pain.

"Miss Wrighton, are you—" Our principle's sentence stopped once I bolted past him and the rest of the students.

I needed to get far away from them, before I lost my shit in front of everyone.

The door of the bathroom slammed behind me, before I hurried into a stall. The only thing that could be heard in the quiet bathroom, were my sobs.

I covered my wet eyes with my hands, melancholy filling my insides to the very trenches of my soul.

My mind was swimming for answers. I didn't understand why Kade would mess with my feelings like that, if it even was him that did this. I didn't deserve any of this.

All of my life, I had heard that saying 'it gets better' but in reality, it only gets worst.

Memories slapped me in the face so hard, that I felt my face redden from the collision.

"Did you do this, you little shit?" my mother yelled, motioning toward the white substance on the ground.

I shook my head, my chin quivering. "No, ma'am."

Her laugh scratched at my insides. "Then who did it? Huh? Was it Emma?" She gave me a nasty grin and stood on a pair of skinny, bony legs. I felt my insides chill as she walked over to my little brown bunny. My friend.

"No mom, it wasn't her! It was-"" But before I could finish, she snapped the neck of my only companion.

She threw my dead bunny toward my dirty feet. "Touch my shit again, and it'll be you next time." With that threat, she left the large room.

The marble floor began to spin from underneath me. I scurried closer to Emma, tears floating to the surface of my eyes.

"I'm so sorry, sweet girl," I whispered to the dead bunny in my arms.

Tears slipped from the corners of my eyes, dropping on the dark fur of the dead animal. It had been Grayson who spilled her 'medicine' not me.

The bunny laid still in my arms, it's black, soulless eyes staring up at me. Taunting me.

My ears hurt, my heart hurt, everything. It hurt.

The only thing I could hear, was the snap of my bunny. My only friend.

Amongst my my emotions, I heard the door slam loudly.

I immediately recognized the voice. "Was he telling the truth, Amber? Did you sleep with him?" I heard Raven ask, well yell.

I lifted my legs up on the toilet to stay hidden. I stayed as silent as possible while they continued to bicker.

"Raven, I don't know what he told you—"

"He showed me the fucking pictures, Amber! For once in your life, don't be a goddamned liar."

Amber sighed loudly, her words coming off as annoyed. "Okay, fine, Raven! I did fuck him, okay?"

"Wow." I heard a scoff, then a entire list of profanities before Raven erupted, "You seriously threw our friendship away over a guy."

"I—"

"No, you don't get to talk, Amber. I was your best friend," a sob tore from the back of Raven's throat. "I should have known this was going to happen. My mom told me so many times that I should have never been wasted my time on people like you! A lying, backstabbing, slutty—"

A slap sounded out before Raven finished. It reached the root of my ears, then Amber's voice came along with it, "Never call me a slut again, Raven. It's not my fault that your boyfriend preferred me over you. Maybe if you satisfied him better, he wouldn't have came to me so soon, did you ever think of it like that?"

I slowly placed my feet on the ground, my heart already accelerating to the ceiling above us all. I managed a peek through a small crack of the bathroom stall.

Raven held her cheek in hand, her sparkling eyes spiraling a deathly glare toward Amber. I watched as Amber wrongfully raised her hand at Raven again to strike.

I feel bad for her. No one deserves this.

Having a mind of their own, my fingers unlocked the small lock. I stepped out of the bathroom, probably looking like a mad woman.

"Leave her alone," I snapped at Amber.

Her eyes flicked over to me, a unexplainable anger burrowed inside of them.

At that moment, that was when I knew I had fucked up. For both Raven and I.