They watch me as I walk up to my locker and grab the handle. I can feel their gazes on me, but I don’t think anything of it—
Until I open the door and green slime explodes outward.
“Oh fuck!” I jerk backward, but I’m too slow. The slime hits me squarely in the face and chest. Ew, ew, ew. This stuff smells like shit. I’m just glad it didn’t get in my eyes. Is this stuff toxic?
I spit a few times to make sure none of it got into my mouth, blindly groping for a towel or shirt or something to wipe off my face.
My hand lands on what feels like my t-shirt, and I use it to clean off the worst of the goop. It doesn’t hurt, thank God. It’s not eating my skin or anything; it just smells like ass. I can feel everyone staring—but only a couple people are laughing.
Alyssa, of course, and her crew.
I toss my ruined shirt in the trash then turn and glare at them, my hands curling into fists. “Oh, you wanna go?”
I’ve just about had it with these fucking girls. You want to whisper and gossip and be passive aggressive? Fine, that’s your damn business, but you can’t get upset when someone finally decides to call you out on your shit and makes you face the music. You want to act like an entitled asshole? You have to be prepared for the consequences.
And in this case the consequence is gonna be me kicking their asses.
“Because that’s fine with me,” I growl, stepping toward them. “Then let’s go.”
Megan’s jaw drops, and Kendal looks like she’s contemplating turning and running, as though she didn’t quite sign up for a fight. But Alyssa just glares at me, her blue eyes cold. “Oh, like you could possibly—”
I’m not proud of this. I just want to say that up front. I’m really not.
But I throw myself forward and basically tackle Alyssa onto the floor.
It’s been a tough day, all right?
The bitchy blonde squeals, shrieking that I’m getting the goo all over her clothes, and she does manage to land a good punch, I’ll give her that. Everyone’s yelling as pandemonium takes over the locker room. A professor is going to walk by any second now and hear what’s going on, and I’ll probably get in trouble, but at the moment, I don’t even care. Not as I grab a fistful of disgusting green goo and smear it all over Alyssa’s face. Her howl of rage is the most satisfying thing I’ve heard in a long time.
She rolls us a few times, scratching at me with dagger-like pink fingernails, until we bang into the lockers and finally separate. We scramble back from each other and face off, both covered in the green slime. My chest is heaving, and my stomach boils with rage. It’s a damn good thing we’ve got our braces on. With the way I feel right now, I know my magic would be out for sure if it weren’t suppressed, and I’d be throwing everything I had at Alyssa.
She looks a mess right now, all covered in goo just like me, and I definitely got at least one good hit in—her eye’s starting to swell up. Ha.
“You’re insane!” she shrieks, her voice shrill.
“Says the girl who booby trapped my locker!” I yell right back.
Everyone’s whispering and pointing at Alyssa, and I think she’s starting to realize she’s not the one who’s coming off looking all that great right now.
“You got a problem with me?” I snap. “Then fine. But you settle it like a fucking adult. You don’t prank me. What are you, twelve?”
A few bystanders laugh. Alyssa goes bright red. “Well, you—you—” She cuts herself off with a scream of frustration. I keep waiting for her to stamp her foot like a spoiled toddler.
The other three girls glare at me and hustle Alyssa out of there. I just storm off to the shower. Good riddance.
I’m not looking forward to going back to my room after this. The goo takes a long time to wash off, but even when the smell is gone and the water runs clear, I stay in the shower, letting the steam and hot water surround me like a security blanket. I can’t stay in here forever, but I don’t have any other classes today—and as much as I’m not afraid to confront someone when I need to, that doesn’t mean it’s fun. The adrenaline from